WALD ON FAWrFTT
HE United States
secret service, which
is the bone of con
tention between the
president and con
gress in a contro
versy that promises
to become historic,
is frequently denominated
the “least known branch of
our government.” Whether
the present agitation will
dispel the mystery that has
long existed is very doubt
ful. If a debate is precipi
tated there will doubtless be
an airing of certain phases
of secret service work but it is not to be ex
pected that there will be any lifting of the
veil as regards the means and methods of
Uncle Sam’s “black cabinet.”
Owing to the stipulations made by con
gress in providing the last annual appropria
tion for the maintenance of the secret serv
ice—the self-same limitations under which
President Roosevelt is now chafing—the op
erations of the secret service are at present
restricted to what might be termed its origi
nal functions—namely the apprehending of
counterfeiters and the protection of the
person of the chief magistrate. Until con
gress called a halt, however, there was a
gradual but continuous expansion of the ac
tivities of the nation’s secret police until
they bade fair to outdo their European
brethren in the scope of their sur
veillance.
For instance, secret cervice op
eratives were “loaned” to the sec
retary of the interior and ren
rm POGUES GAUEPYP
//
dered the most important serv
ice in securing evidence in
connection with the land fraud
cases in the west. Other secret serv
ice men had a hand in exposing the
sensational “cotton report leak” in
the department of agriculture, and so
the list might be prolonged to include
practically all the executive depart
ments of the government, not forget
ting the part played by these clever
est of plain clothes men in investigat
ing charges against naval officers.
Because of the fact that its primary
purpose and principal function at the
outset was the trailing of counter
feiters the secret service was made
a branch of the United States treas
ury department. In connection with
their shadowing of suspected counter
feiters the secret service men have
been enabled to gather much informa
tion of the greatest value regarding
Black Hand organizations and the op
erations of anarchists. Yet other in
vestigations along these lines have re
sulted from the responsibility of the
secret service for the safety of the
president, and thus without overstep
ping the bounds of the law of authoriza
tion, the secret service has been enabled toaccomplish much
in the field that is the chief concern of foreign secret
police; namely, eternal vigilance as to the plans and
ambitions of the plotters against the world’s rulers Un
til congress shut down upon it last year the treasury de
partment also used the secret service to detect smuggling
enteipiises and other frauds upon the customs service
and to investigate robberies and irregularities of all kinds
-~and there have recently been some notable ones—in
branch mints, subtreasuries, assay offices, etc. One of
President Roosevelt’s most bitter complaints has been
against the hampeting of operations in these directions.
’I he headquarters of the secret service are in the
treasury building at Washington. Here are the private
offices of the chief of the service, Mr. John E. Wilkie,
wffio receives a salary of $4,000 per year, and the assist
ant chief, William Herman Moran, who is paid $4,000
per year. There is a clerical division, employing some
half a dozen men; and a, large store room where con
fiscated counterfeiting outfits, spurious coin and other
contraband seized by secret service men is deposited and
allowed to accumulate until at intervals of about a year
a committee is appointed to superintend the destruction
of these unlawful articles. The equipment of the secret
service headquarters embraces some interesting features
including delicate scales lor weighing coin whose genuine
ness is questioned and a “rogues’ gallery,” consisting of
a monster file of photos of counterfeiters and other of
fenders against the law.
However, the secret service bureau at Washington is
essentially a nerve center from which are directed the
operations in the 25 district* into which the country is
divided on the secret service map.
In each of these districts a secret
service operative is stationed just
as a patrolman is on duty on his
heat, but in addition to the men
thus detailed to indicate geograph
ical divisions there operate from
the central office at Washington a
number of trained detectives who
may literally be sent to any place
at any time. To this class belong
the extra secret service men who
reinforce the regular bodyguard
of the president whenever the chief
executive makes a tour of the country or participates
in any great public function.
It is this field service which makes it necessary for
every secret service man to abandon all thought of
fixed habitation with social and family ties. He may
be ordered from New York to Texas or from tbe moun
tains of Tennessee to San Francisco at an hour's notice,
and it is impossible to predict in advance how loug he
will remain at any given place. True to its name and
policy the secret service aims to let the public know7
just as little as possible regarding its personnel. No
secret service operative allows his photograph to be
made, much less published, if he can help it. and he
seldom acknowledges bis vocation. At the headquarters
of the secret service there is a rule against disclosing
the name or address of any of the sleuths and in no
government publication, not even in the “Blue Book,”
which is supposed to list every government employe,
can there be found any roster of the secret service men
or information as to the salaries paid them.
However, it may be stated that the pay is not high,
considering the hardship and danger involved, and the
secret service is likely to attract only men whose love
of a life of adventure and excitement outweighs their
desire for monetary reward. A new recruit in the
secret service starts out as an assistant operative at $;!
per day and, if he proves worthy, it promoted in due
course to the rank of operative at $5 per day. As an
operative his pay may increase to $7 per day but the
secret service operative whose salary reaches the point
just short of $50 per week must have proven his worth
bv Ions service and have the experience which can be
gained in no other manner than by practi
cal secret service work.
For all that the monetary rewards of a
secret service career are by no means excessive, there is never
any dearth of applicants for the limited number of positions
in this confidential corps. Following any occasion such as the
present, when the secret service is brought conspicuously to the
attention of the public, Chief Wilkie receives applications by
the score from young men in all parts of the country who are
yjOHN.t
WILKIE
CfflfF or
p-.S.mcPBT
^srrvi.cg.
ambitious to shine as sleuths. A
large majority of the aspirants naive
ly confess that they have had no
experience whatever which would fit
them for this highly specialized field.
Many of the inexperienced appli
cants are obviously impossible but
even among those who are sufficient
ly promising to receive more than
passing consideration the proportion
of inexperienced is overwhelming.
Indeed, of the 700 men whose names
are now on the “waiting list" of eligi
bles at the secret service—that is
men who have complied with the
civil service regulations governing
applications for places in the secret
service—more than 600 admit that
they are totally devoid of practical
experience in this line.
With a profession which above all
others needs devotees who can bring
to it wide knowledge and thorough
training, yet with most applicants
sorely deficient in these qualifica
tions, the question naturally sug
gests itself: Where does the secret
service secure its agents? In reply
it may be said that upward of a doz
en different callings have demon
strated their value as fields of ap
prenticeship. Some of the most ca
pable secret service operatives now
uii i m-it: nam s paj ron nave come
from the claim departments of the
great railroads. Others have gained
men- training wuu me mercantile agencies and still oth
ers have come from law offices where certain classes of
detective work are frequently necessary Two of the
host men on the force were formerly heads of municipal
police departments. Others served for years in legiti
mate pri\ate detective organizations or independent po
lice departments maintained by the great railway sys
tems. A certain proportion have had the benefit of pre
liminary service as Tinted States deputy marshals and
not a few have come to the secret service from the de
paitments of public safety in foreign countries These
latter, by reason of their knowledge of foreign tongues
and mannerisms, have been invaluable to the service.
■As may be surmised, secret service duty is preeminent
ly work for young men. The average age of the field
operatives is under 35 years and some of the best men
in the corps are under 30 years. Chief Wilkie, himself,
who, by the way, was one of the bright young men
whom Lyman Gage brought from Chicago when he was
secretary of the treasury, is but 4« years ef sge, and was
only 36 years old when he stepped
into his present responsible position.
ine portion oi president noo sevens message which evoked
the ire of congress is:
“Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure
providing for the secret service, which provided that there
should be no detail from the secret service and no transfer
therefrom. It is not too much to say that this amendment has
been of benefit only, and could be of benefit only, to the crim
inal classes.
“The chief argument in favor of the provision was that the
congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by
secret service men. Very little of such
investigation has been done .in the
past, but it is true that the work of
the secret service agents was partly
responsible for the indictment and
conviction of a senator and a con
gressman for land frauds in Oregon.
“I do not believe that it is in the
public interest to protect criminals
in any branch of the public service,
and exactly as we have again and
again during the past seven years
prosecuted and convicted such crimi
nals who were in the executive branch
of the government, so in my belief we
should be given ample means to prose
cute them if found in the legislative
branch.
“But if this is not considered de
sirable a special exception could be
made in the law prohibiting the uso
of the secret service force in investi
gating members of the congress. It
would be far better to do this than
to do w'hat actually was done, and
strive to prevent or at least to ham
per effective action against criminals
by the executive branch of the govern
ment.'’
In a later message Mr. Roosevelt
said: “A pending case illustrates the
ramifications of interest with which
the government has to deal:
“Charles T. Stewart of Council
Bluffs, was indicted at Omaha for
conspiracy to defraud the government
of the title to public lands in McPher
son county, Neb., also indicted for
maintaining an unlawful inclosure of
the public lands, and also under in
dictment for perjury in connection
with final proof submitted by him on
lands filed on by him as a homestead.
In his final proof he swore that he
and his family had resided on the
lands in McPherson county (which are
within his unlawful enclosure), when
as a matter of fact hig family has at
all times resided in Council Bluffs,
la. He is engaged in the wholesale
grocery business, his store being lo
cated in Omaha, in the wholesale dis
trict there. He is reputed to be quite
wealthy. Stewart’s attorneys are
Harl & Tinley of Council Bluffs, la.,
who are also the attorneys at that
place for the Omaha and Council
Bluffs Street Railway Company, in
which company Harl holds consider
able stock, Stewart being also a
stockholder and possibly a director of
% TEETHY<J (WEIGHING) COUNTERFEIT COINS
the company. He is also represented in Omaha by vv. J.
Connell, one of the attorneys there for the same company.
Stewart is also represented in his perjury case by ‘Bill’
Gurley of Omaha. Xeb., who at one time was quite closely
connected in a political way with the U. P. R. R. Com
pany; Stewart is also closely associated with C. B. Hazle
ton, postmaster at Council Bluffs. Harl & Tinley and
Hazleton are all members of the same lodge. Another
close personal friend of Stewart's is Ed. Hart, alias
‘Waterworks’ Hart, president of the Council Bluffs
Water Company, and interested in the street railway.
Stewart's father was interested in, and practically owned
and controlled, during his lifetime, a large ranch along
the U. P. R. R. in Nebraska.
‘‘Concerning this case the United States attorney at
Omaha states: 'There are three cases against Stewart:
one for fencing, one conspiracy, one perjury, all good
cases and chances of conviction good.' The amendment
in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these
criminals, and it seriously hampers the government in
detection of crime and the securing of Justice”