◆ SpookStack

However, the Department of Justice under Bonaparte had no investigators of its. own except for a few Special Agents who carried. out specific assignments for the Attorney General, and a force of Examiners (trained as accountants) who reviewed the financial transactions of the federal courts. Since its beginning in 1870, the Department of Justice used funds appropriated to investigate federal crimes to hire private detectives first, and -later investigators from other federal agencies, (Federal crimes ‘are those that were considered interstate or occurred on federal government reservations.) By 1907, the Department of Justice most frequently called upon Secret Service "operatives" to conduct investigations. ‘These men were well-trained, dedicated -- and expensive. Moreover, they reported not to the Attorney General, but to the Chief of the Secret Service. This situation frustrated Bonaparte, who wanted complete control of investigations under his jurisdiction. Congress provided the impetus for Bonaparte to acquire his own force. On May 27, 1908, it enacted a law preventing the Department of Justice from engaging Secret Service cperatives.. The following month, Attorney General Bonaparte eppointed @ force of Special Agents within the Department of Justice. Accordingly, ten former Secret Service employees and a number of Department of Justice peonage (i.e., compulsory servitude) investigators became Special Agents of the Department of Justice. On July 26, 1908, Bonaparte ordered then to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch. This action is celebrated as the beginning of the FBI. Both Attorney General Bonaparte and President Theodore Roosevelt, who completed their terms in March 1909, recommended that the force of 34 Agents become a permanent. part of the Department of Justice. Attorney General George Wickershen, Eonaparte’s successor, named the force the Bureau of investigation on March 16, 1909. At that time, the title of Chief Examiner Was changed to Chief of the Bureau of Investigation. EARLY DAYS When the Bureau was established, there were few federal crimes. The Eureau of Investigation Primarily investigated ‘violations of laws involving national banking, bankruptcy, naturalization, antitrust, peonage, and land fraud. Because the early Eureau provided no formal training, previous law enforcement experience or @ background in the law was considered desirable. The first major expansion in Bureau jurisdiction came in June 1910 when the Mann ("White Slave") Act was bessed, making it @ crime to transport women over state lines for immoral purposes. 2