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JOHN EDGAR HOOVER Cc Vereen v i _ — Justice Wishes Publi aon P serrrne, Tew wet =. , - -’ Know It Has Agents and Dry Agents Departmen By WALKER STONE —- his activities as an agent of the ..o- laws, natutalization-laws, immigra- : _..Justice Department agents operat-] reau of Investigation, Justice De- {tion icing rin wae een ; ing under the Bureau of Investiga-| partment, instead .of classifying Federal reservations, thefts from in-| . tion have been embarrassed by the/ himself loocely as 9 Justice Depart- terstate shipments, white slave laws, transfer of prohibition enforcement | ment agent. . 7 ‘{national auto theft laws, treason and, from the Treasury Department to eNewspaper writers are being’ re-| sedition et cetera ad infinitum, 3 Y. the Justive Department, quested to obscrve the distinetlon, > { . a . - Before this transfer the public had} Necessity for ‘this distipefion is little difficulty in distinguishng be-| obvious. Suppose a Bureau of In- tween prohbition agents and Justice vestigation agent is inquiring into a Department agents. But now pro-| violation of the National Banking might be one who is having trouble || with prohibition authofities. If this witness suspects that the investi- gator might be seeking evidence against him in @ prohibition case, he naturally will not talk as freely as he would otherwise, ot Prohibition Not Their Work The Bureau of investigation has nothing to do with the securing of evidence in prohibition cases, no reore than it had when prohibition enforcement was under the Treasury Department. ; - tf The Bureau of Investiation agents |: bave,a multiplicity of duties but pro- hibition work is not among them. These investigators have to secure evidence un which the department attorneys prosecute violations’ of fraud “laws, banking laws, postal — ee agents are now general investigators, - "The two fields of operation are sep- arate and distinct. : In the public mind, however, there is confusion. It is now. no uncom- , mon expercrec for a Bureuy of In- | vestigation agent, pursuing informa- tion on some matter in no way re- Inted to prohibition, to find his at- tempts at inquiry thwarted by people “ho fear that he might be secking data on Prohibition violations, , one reverse ix true with prohibi- tion agents, / . - Must Identify Themselves - This situation is believed to be esponsible for g recent order issued dn the Pureau of Investigation di- fecting each of the agents in that bureau to identify himself in any of 1930 Washington Daily News September 30, = tes: ico pana rA9 ' = PUoert Leu 1.741930 PA =~ . Re CBT OHiN30 py OT REC SA AMTZEEX 2 a Leela le re ou oo ° ee. TO ry eee eee = me ee ee TE oe cnn ae see ee err cy ee 0 J \ \ hibition agents are also Justice De- Act, the Naturalzation Act, the & Ee & ‘partment agents. Yet the Bureau! White Slave Act or some mail frawi. a ly £0 of Investigation agents are not pro-| Some important government witness RSUICAT ‘bition agents and the prohibition{ in one of these serious crimes easily |. aL