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ofe Holey, Dre 106 { _ A great deal,if not all,of tie foregoing my Ww imoractical. I do not insist upon the wisdom of the details suggested, bit haw men- ticned them enly from the standpoint of legislatiw ypover.I migtt chanze my mind as to she expediency am ls gality of some of them.My purpose has b2en to present the theory tlat the extraiition clause of the Constitu= fon conf2rs a power on Congress,around which there may te bullt up a Yederal erime detecting agency that could be made effective against the eriminal glass. Out ef my suggestions you may be ables to onrve sous worke |. able idea tint would give the national agency more atabllity than it b. would have as a mere volunteer organiszation,or even as an afjunct of an agency for th a-prehension of Federal offoniers, IT am firmly convinced that ce need an American “Scotland Yarj9a",if th gangster and interstate criminal are to be curbed. Amsrica is with the President In his detere ination to “make Democracy safes for tis Yorld®, I am following him,ind wy suggestions are made through a desire te ald in the testovdtion of law and order under his creat moral leadershipe I come now te a question tat is more novel than my vcrevisus suggestiona.I am going te present it te you,althouch {t prolongs my letter beyond the limits of ordinary propriety,tecause 1% offers an - alternetive which, if legal, would dizpense with the red-tape and cume } f bersome machinery of extradibaom procecdings.Sriefly,the guesticn is nr whether Congresa,under its power to enferce the extradition clausa,could , x nake it a Federal offense for a person who commits a crime in om State to flee into another for tm purpose of avoiding arrest and presecution. . Ky first inpression of the subject was unfeworable, but further thought “oo Lag convinced me thxt it is not without merit. I herve ditcussed the ate ter with other members of the Bar, who have had the game reactions, 3a I destre to subait it to you far your consiteration., I franxly concede tt the Federal Covsrumint kas no direet grant of power to punish any varson for leavinz one State ond entering another,bat th purpose of an act timt is innocent,of itself, may taint the act with illegality.Ae an illustration,I cite th Mam Act.Fe legal © wrong is committed if a man transports o woman sacress a State lince,dut i if he does so fer purposes of concubinage,it becomes s punishable offense, . not upon the theory that Congress may regulzte the mors] behevier of the citizens,but beeaw e the particulur act bears a relation to the pev-er of Congress to ragulite interstate commerce. I do not say that the pover to pumish the flight ef a criminal exists under the interstate comeerce clause,although the courts have gone the limit in extending the scope of that provision. If Congress has the power to punish th: flicht of a criminal from one State inte another, auch pover exists, not through express grant, wut as an incident te its power to enforce the oxtradi~ tion clause. The rule gow rning such matter is laid 2om in U.S. ¥ 7ox, 965 0,595,879. 24 1.04. 538,1.0,546 and readta as foliose: wTewe wr ary - ee See Fe KS SS Se SS 2 owes eich topes ee gp eee "Any act committed with a view of evading the legislation of _ tf congress passed in the execution of any of Its porers,or of frauiulently securing tle benefits of such lozislation way properly be moiie am offense against the JInited States, But on act committed within a State,whetip r for 4 toot or a wad pure pose,or whether with an honest or a crininal intent,snnot be made am offense against the United States,unloss it have sone relation to the erecution of a pover of Soneress or to some matter withig "he juristictiog of the Inited 5t2ts not having any such re on is one im v*spect to vt State slone ean logiglate,*