put in the questionnaire are interesting as official tests of loyalty. The most important of them are as follows:
Has applicant affiliated himself directly or indirectly with
any organization or propaganda in any way opposed to the
position taken by the United States in regard to the war, or
with known or suspected agents of the enemy?
Has applicant at any time expressed his approval of (a) the invasion of France and Belgium? (b) the sinking of the Lusitania? and (c) the general conduct of the war by Germany? If so, when, where and in whose hearing?
Has applicant been opposed to (a) the United States' entry into the war? (b) acts of the United States in conducting the war (c) shipping munitions to France and England? (d) the draft? (e) Liberty loans?
Can all the foreign-born or foreign-descended citizens of
the United States swear before God that they are fit to gain
or to retain their citizenship under a test like that?
A St. Louis journal, in commenting on the work of the American Protective League in that city, gave a rather interesting summary of the growth of the espionage idea in the United States, for which place not inappropriately may be found here.
The dangers that hung upon the flanks of the nation, the
adroit moves of detective forces which set at naught the
plotters, and the manner and means adopted to nip in the
bud the creeping plans of Pan-Germanism, is one of the most
fascinating and in many respects one of the most thrilling
chapters in the recital of America's first months in the great
war.
Previous to the Civil War, the United States had no secret service. It came into being when reports were brought to Samuel H. Felton, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, that President Lincoln would be assassinated while traveling by special train from the West to his inaugural at Washington. Felton sent for Allan Pinkerton, who was then conducting a small detective agency in Chicago. It is interesting to note that Pinkerton, in taking the task of protecting Lincoln's life, outlined the method which is the keynote of the secret service system. In describing the work he wrote: "I resolved to locate my men at the various towns along the road where it was believed dissatisfaction existed. I sent the men to their posts with instructions to
