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Show RESTRICTION INHERED IRK Secret Service Should Have Aided Land Fraud In vestigations. Washington. Feb. 7. That the interior in-terior department in its investigation of land frauds has suffered by the legislative leg-islative limitation on the use of the secret force of the department was announced an-nounced by Secretary Garfield when he recently appeared before the sub-committee of the house committee on appropriations. ap-propriations. Mr. Garfield's testimony was made public today. The sub-committee Is drafting the sundry civil appropriation ap-propriation bill In which the secretary-hopes secretary-hopes to see Incorporated an Item of $500,000 for fighting depredations on public timber, protecting public lands, etc. , The secretary said that $500,000 appropriation ap-propriation asked for twice as large as that asked for last year, but was needed need-ed to unearth frauds committed years ago. The secretary Paid the public land laws had not been vigorously enforced en-forced in former years. He absolved congress from blame. Secretary GarOcId explained that prior to his administration both special spe-cial agents of the Interior department and men in the department of justice, which was described as procuring secret se-cret servlcp operatives from the treasury treas-ury department for the work, investigated investi-gated land fraud cases. Now the cases are investigated only by special agents of the interior department. de-partment. It was brought out that Secretary Garfield and the attorney general had agreed to take secret service men off of land fraud cases before Mr. Garfield Gar-field had knowledge of the proposed limitation. - Secretary Garfield said: "There was a force under the department de-partment of justice that was doing work of which the land office had no information and I found that they were engaged upon cases upon which our own men were engaged, aud there was overlapping of work, conflict and friction fric-tion between the two bodies of men " The hearing also brought out the fact that (he records show that the only secret service man "loaned or transferred" from the treasury to the interior department to Investigate land cahcs had not been paid for his work. The transfer was made before Mr. Garfield bocame secretary. The secretary sec-retary doubted it such a transfer was proper. Mr. Garfield admitted that, although the limitation referred to prohibited the loaning of men in the secret service ser-vice division of the treasury department, depart-ment, It did not prohibit the "borrowing" "borrow-ing" of men from the new secret service ser-vice force of the department of Jus-1 Jus-1 ticc. 1 |