which looks after all kinds of criminal offenses against the general
governments. The one bureau has surveillance over criminals of every
class. The tendency is in that direction in this government. The
secret service bureau is now being used by a number of departments of
the government.

The operations of the secret service are confined by law to the
suppression of counterfeiting and the investigation of back pay and
bounty cases. This is all the law permits the officials of the service
to work on, but every day they are at work on other matters. That the
law may not be openly violated the secret service operators assigned
to do other work are practically taken off the secret service rolls
and the department employing them is required to pay their salaries
and expenses. Nearly all the departments now recognize the efficiency
of the service and call upon the bureau at any time for a man. The
Department of Justice has used a number of the operators in the last
few years. In the course of time this will become so general that this
government will probably build up a great criminal bureau, one that
will supply officers for investigation of any crime. The Postoffice
Department now has its own system of inspectors, who investigate
violations of postal laws, and the plan of pitting specialist against
specialist is regarded as perfect. This could be continued, though, if
all the criminal organizations of the government were centralized.

The United States is divided into thirty secret service districts,
each in charge of an operative who has under his direction as many
assistants as the criminal activity of the section demands. The force
is concentrated in one district if there are counterfeiting operations
in progress, and then sent to another district as required. A written
daily report, covering operations for twenty-four hours, is exacted