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~Z- . df these reports are anywhere neer the truth, such conduct on the part of officials of the Federal Govermment, it seems to me is entirely inexcusable, I understand you have dismissed many of these complaints in the Detroit case, According to my understanding, this Bureau was created and exists only to investigate violations of law, and its activities ought to be confined, in my judgment, to the respectful treatment of citizens, It does not contemplate the inhuman treatment of them, or excuse it, especially when the people affected are well knownnot to be outlaws or criminals, Certainly the Govermment of the United States cannot afford to be given to third-degree methods, inflicted upon men and women, known not to be criminals, and, particularly, when they are charged with an offense which has no odium attached to it, I fear the activities of this Bureau, covering as they do the entire country, are going ts bring into disrepute the methods of our en- tire system of jurispridencs.. aed At the same time, Mr. Jackson, I do not wish to interfere with any legitimate activity in which this Bureau may be engaged. I think it has done some good work, As the head of the Department of Justice, however , it seems to me you camuot efford to permit the activities of any of your subcrdinates, or of any of the Bureaus under your control, to pursue methods whicn are inhuman and brutal, As I see it, the activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation should be confined to the apprehension and arrest cf persons charged with crime, and the methods pursued: ought to be such as not to bring the Department of Justice into disrepute. It seems to me the former Attorney General, Honorable Harlan F, Stone, now Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, stated the case concisely and fully when he said on May 15, 1924: "Inere is always the possibility that a secret police system may become a menace to free government end free institu- tions because it carries with it the possibility of abuses of power which are not always quickly apprehended or under- stood, The enormous expansion of federal legislation, both civil and criminal, in recent years, however, hus made a bureau of investigation a necessary instrument of law enforce+ ment. But it is important that its activities be strictly limited to the performance of those functions for which it was created and that its agents themselves be not above the law or beyond its reach, t ry