Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the
due regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become
injurious to the public, I recommended a special appropriation for
the better enforcement of the anti-trust law as it now stands, to be
expended under the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by
the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of February
25, 1903, 32 Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the
purpose of enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate commerce
laws, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under
the direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special
counsel and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings
and prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States.
I now recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency,
the extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may
be available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until
used, for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in
general and especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to
public lands and the laws relating to postal crimes and offences and
the subject of naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a
deplorable state of affairs in these three matters of vital concern.
By various frauds and by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of
acres of the public domain, embracing lands of different character
and extending through various sections of the country, have been
dishonestly acquired. It is hardly necessary to urge the importance of
recovering these dishonest acquisitions, stolen from the people, and
of promptly and duly punishing the offenders. I speak in another part
of this Message of the widespread crimes by which the sacred right
of citizenship is falsely asserted and that “inestimable heritage”
perverted to base ends. By similar means—that is, through frauds,
forgeries, and perjuries, and by shameless briberies—the laws relating
to the proper conduct of the public service in general and to the due
administration of the Post-Office Department have been notoriously
violated, and many indictments have been found, and the consequent
prosecutions are in course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the
reasons thus indicated, and so that the government may be prepared
to enforce promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties
for such violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with
sufficient instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the
investigations and trials which will be necessary at many different
points of the country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of
making the said appropriation available for immediate use for all such
purposes, to be expended under the direction of the Attorney-General.
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