become acquainted with such men as they might, on observation, consider suspicious, and endeavor to obtain from them, by association, a knowledge of their intentions." Later, Pinkerton, under the name of "Maj. E. J. Allen," directed the intelligence department of Gen. McClellan's Ohio army.
Brig. Gen. Lafayette C. Baker was the organizer of the military secret service that performed the detective duty of the Civil War. At the outbreak of hostilities, a national detective bureau was an idea entirely new, and was regarded as contrary to republican institutions. The service went out of existence with the close of the war.
The present day Secret Service, proper, is a division of the Treasury Department. It was created at the time "shin plasters" were in existence and counterfeiting thereof had become general. Its duty at the outset was to run down counterfeiters, but later its duties were somewhat broadened, and in recent years it has been intrusted with the safety of the President.
In April of this year, the United States had at its command (besides M. I. D. and Naval Intelligence) the Secret Service, the investigators of the Department of Justice, the Immigration Bureau inspectors and the inspectors of the Post Office Department. These organizations for the detention of criminals are now working in close harmony against the common enemy.
With these agencies also worked the American Protective
League, regarding which this comment was printed and
should be reprinted:
It is no exaggeration to say that the American business
men who conceived the plan and who to-day constitute the
myriad meshes in the spy net cast over America, have accomplished
a feat which, for efficiency, for secrecy, for loyalty and
patriotism has never been equaled or approached by the men
of any nation since time began.
The St. Louis division embraced a membership of 3,000
operatives, the large majority of whom made up the listening
and reporting organization. The number and variety of
cases developed and investigated are as follows: Alien enemy
activities, 225; Espionage Act cases, 1,142; sabotage, 11;
anti-military activities, 15; printed propaganda, 1,741; I. W.
W., including pacifism, 48; bribery, graft, etc., 45; impersonation,
2; naturalization, 600; counter-espionage, 53;
