master and mistress could be turned to profitable account.
We shudder when we hear of the system of espionage maintained
in Russia, while in the large American cities, unnoticed, are
organizations of spies and informers on every hand who spend
their lives digging pitfalls for the unwary who can afford to
pay."

One would think that we were living in the days of the
Borgias! "Ninety per cent," says Mr. Beet, "of private
detective agencies are rotten to the core and simply exist
and thrive upon a foundation of dishonesty, deceit,
conspiracy, and treachery to the public in general and their
own patrons in particular. There are detectives at the heads
of prominent agencies in this country whose pictures adorn
the Rogues' Gallery; men who have served time in various
prisons for almost every crime on the calendar."

This harrowing picture has the modicum of truth that makes
it insidiously dangerous. But this last extravagance
betrays the denunciator. One would be interested to have
this past-master of overstatement mention the names of these
distinguished crooks that head the prominent agencies. Their
exposure, if true, would not be libellous, and it would seem
that he had performed but half his duty to the public in
refraining from giving this important, if not vital,
information.

I know several of these gentlemen whose pictures I feel
confident do not appear in the Rogues' Gallery, and who have
not been, as yet, convicted of crime. A client is as safe in