The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-07-08

The timid spinster who never went to
bed without looking under it for the
burglar she was sure would one night
be found there, ought to have lived in
Washington in war time. She would
then have found something actual for
her imagination to exercise itself upon,
IN the righteousness Of the secret Serv-
ice operatives. We have no Seward in
the state department with his little
bell' at hand, and our fortresses are
garrisoned with something else than
civil prisoners; but any one is liable
to constant espionage and summary
arrest as a suspect, and the authorities
are in no mood to make light of what
would ordinarily be trifling evidence for
conviction.
Washington is, OF course, not the
only place where this state Of things
exists. The precautions taken every
where by the government to prevent
untowar d%accidents and defeat the
Vaccinations of the public foes assume
as many shapes as Proteus. The sud
den suspicion aroused in the mind of
Commodore Schley against the Cuban
refugees whom Consul Dent had in
troduced to him as a pilot able to take
his fleet safely through the tortuous
channel into Santiago harbor, has not
laid Mr.. Dent open to any charge
against his loyalty and good faith, but
it can hardly fail to be annoying, for it
puts him at least in the light of pos
sessing Indifferent Judgment of human
nature. News comes from one army
headquarters on our southern coast of
the dismissal of an eX-fllibuster who
had been engaged as a guide to a force
about to invade Cuba, because the
commanding officer felt some doubt as
to the mans sentiments. The capture
of the discriminating letter written by
Carranza in Canada shows how far the
ramifcations of u secret service ex-
tend at a critical time like this.
The telegraph censorship has been a
delicate task in more than one sense.
1t is all very we'll to assert the abstract
principle that an officer should do his
duty unquestioningly when the welfare
of the country is at stake; but the
same officer who would not finch for
a moment at facing a battery does
draw back instinctively at any sugges-
ton which savors of spying upon the
correspondence Of his fellow citizens,
and of Harvesting down a press whose
freedom is the common boast of the
country. 1t has been noteworthy that
every officer who has been able to
shirk the direct responsibility of saying
mo- to the newspapers or their cor
respondents in the field has tried to
foist it off pom General Greedy, who
has thus been compelled to pose as a
Spartan judge and issue prohibitory
mandates in defiance of the love of in
dividual liberty which he cherishes to
a very uncommon degree. But this
has to be done by somebody, and the
generals shoulders are broad.
In Washington the chief outward
signs of an era of uncommon tension
are to be found in the increase of the
police force at the White house and the
extra care exercised about the admis-
sion of visitors to the department
buildings. On entering the grounds
surrounding tn. executive mansion, the
stranger finds himself under the eye
of a police officer, and passes from the
supervision of one guardian to another
all the time he remains there. On en-
tering the house during the open hours
the same thing is noticeable. Always
one, and usally two, guards are Oh
duty at the front door, ready to inter-
cept any suspicious looking person. In
side the lobby, as 500 as the visitor
is out of reach of one officer, he comes
within reach of another. These are
all courteous, attentive men, willing to
give proper information to anyone who
comes there obviously for an honest