Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1904-11-24


Is Kept upon range In Paris.
Skilled in all languages, able 10 enter
any society, the agehrs Of tie arigade
des recherches 0he secret ponce 0I the
French government nave their nl.er5
on the pulse Of public life and know
the men of high place as well as IL
they had gone through with lighted
candies. In q larLe measure il is
through them that France is governed.
Ii is a mistake, though not an unnat-
ural one, TO assume tdHt because
France is a republic the peop.e have
much 10 sag in matters of government
The word OF the people is of little
weight. The republic is parliamentary.
1t is intrenehed behind privilege and
buttressed by an irremovabie senate,
which selects the presidents. In later
years 1t has become largely a govern
ment of %hnanciers. IL has abrogated
the right of trial by jury and denied 10
the people the right of plebiscital suf-
frage.
The French republic is ruled from
the top down. The project OF police is
the agent of this oligarchy, as he was
in the time of Louis XVI. The secret
police is it's obedient servant. Presi-
dents come and GO, Liberal ministries
are succeeded by Radical ministries,
and Socialists follow the Radicals. but
always the secret police remains, and
always the oligarchy governs. The
very MAJ who is chief of state may be
ranked among the enemies, at least the
ad~versaries, Of this occult ruling power.
About the words the secret police"
there is a pretty air OF mystery. They
summon up pictures Of cloakei figures,
Of men waiting in dark alleyways and
Of stealthy steps behind the curtains of
corridors. They are woven into nine
tenths OF popular French fiction. The
woman concierge, summing herself in
what Partisan doorway you please,
feeds her Imagination on tales of null
tiple DISCUSSES. For her the agent de la
dodgers is dark with mystery. He is
'of the secret police"
AS a matter of fact this branch of
the police, though dressed in plain
clothes, is not at all occult. 1t has to
do with plain and simple crimes. Most
Of the agents OF the surete are old sol
diers, honorable men. They are supple
mented, however, 10y "a band OF quasi
police, known as Indicators. These
people. who are permanent auxliiaries
Of the service, are recruited among the
street fakirs and masterless rogues
who ~foregather in Paris.
But behind these humdrum agents
and those gloomy outcasts. their aids,
there is a mighty and mysterious "se-
cret police about which not one Pari-
sian I'm a hundred has definite knowl-
edge. The real secret police-today, as
under the empires that which Ia
known as the brigade des recherches-
hat Is, the brigade Of investigation.
The members of this force are recruit
ed In a far higher rank of society than
the fellows OF the surete. Indeed there
Ia no class, from the old nobility to the
new feudallty Of finance, which does
not contribute to this occult system %
espionage.
1t is not my purpose here to describe
In detail the many qualifications OF this
ancient and potent order Of spies. A
foreigner in France IL he associates
frequently with people Of Importance
comes In time to know them well.
They follow him In his comings and
goings, report upon his acts and opin-
ions and sift his life with ii care un-
known In our careless republic.
One Of these. who was sent out on
80 k~ou nm 20 LnAuy unru wail
What I was suspected of l know not,
though during the %troublous days OF the
Dreyfus case I fraternized with many
Nen, n of whom, the Conte du Tenn
pie. an ex-deputy. was an aggressive
royalist. Anyway. my spy and | came
to know each other very well. He
played a good game OF billiards and
was a companionable gentleman.
A little later DR.. w. j. O'Sullivan.
then assistant corporation counsel OF
New York. visited me In Paris. He was
greatly interested in the secret police.
I could hardly persuade him that. from
the moment we met and shook hands
In the Care du Nord until his departure
from the Care st. Lazare, every act
Of his had been noted. l got the evil
dence from my friend (my own pet
SPY In the brigade des recherches. The
doctors record was s~ingularly COM
plete. He had not spoken with a man.
he had not chatted with a woman, he
had not dined out or breakfasted In
my garden, he had not bought a pair OF
yellow gloves unseen by some ubiqui-
tous spy. The amazed gentleman, when
he learned how close had been the
watch upon him, shuddered as II he
had walked in peril and went back to-
New York wondering. 80 close are the
meshes Of this police net that not even
q casual visitor slips through.-vance
Thompson In Success.