in any sense illegal. * * * The search was not a general exploration but
was specifically directed to the means and instrumentalities by which
the crimes charged had been committed, particularly the two canceled
checks of the Mudge Oil Company. * * * If entry upon the premises be
authorized and the search which follows be valid, there is nothing in
the Fourth Amendment which inhibits the seizure by law-enforcement
agents of government property the possession of which is a crime, even
though the officers are not aware that such property is on the premises
when the search is initiated."[56] In a dissenting opinion in which
Justices Murphy and Rutledge concurred, Justice Frankfurter challenged
the major premises announced by the Court. "To derive from the common
law right to search the person as an incident of his arrest the right of
indiscriminate search of all his belongings, is to disregard the fact
that the Constitution protects [against] both unauthorized arrest and
unauthorized search. Authority to arrest does not dispense with the
requirement of authority to search. * * * But even if the search was
reasonable, it does not follow that the seizure was lawful. If the
agents had obtained a warrant to look for the canceled checks, they
would not be entitled to seize other items discovered in the process.
* * * The Court's decision achieves the novel and startling result of
making the scope of search without warrant broader than an authorized
search."[57] A more limited search in connection with an arrest was held
valid in United States _v._ Rabinowitz.[58] In that case, government
officers, armed with a valid warrant for arrest, had arrested respondent
in his one-room office which was open to the public. Thereupon, over his
objection, they searched the desk, safe and file cabinets in the office
for about an hour and a half and seized 573 forged and altered stamps.
Justice Minton assigned five reasons for holding that the search and
seizure was reasonable: "(1) the search and seizure were incident to a
valid arrest; (2) the place of the search was a business room to which
the public, including the officers, was invited; (3) the room was small
and under the immediate and complete control of respondent; (4) the
search did not extend beyond the room used for unlawful purposes; (5)
the possession of the forged and altered stamps was a crime, just as it
is a crime to possess burglars' tools, lottery tickets or counterfeit
money