The Meeker herald., 1906-03-24
FINDING covNTERfElTERs.
Branch Of Government Secret Service
That Was the Beginning ofth
Present System.

The secret service bureau Of the treas
ury department is not an old concern.
It has not been In operation many years.
compared to the existence Of other bu-
reaus. but 1t grows In importance each
year. There are now . large number
Of Investigators. by some called detec-
tives, In the fleld. but the exact number
Is not known and Will not be made pub
lie. says the Washington Star.
Counterfeiting money is an old Of
tense. It was done before the United
States became Q government, but does
not seem to have become So widespread
until the United States beror r1'ir
its own paper money durin~ th' I'll
war. Prior to that time the offsrs's had
been dealt with by states and mnnici-
palities. with such help as the general
government cared to give. The increase,
In the crime. however. caused recofni-
ton by congress In 1860, when $4,000
was appropriated for Its suppression. to
be expended under the direction n thr
secretary of the treasury. The sum was
paid out In rewards to private detec-
tives. municipal onicers and others in
strumental In bringing to trial and pun
ighment those engaged In making bogus
money. With the turning out OF freen-
backs by the government an increase In
the appropriation and more organized
fight against counterfeiting were neces-
sary. In 1864 congress appropriated
500. 900 and placed upon the solicitor OF
the treasury the responsibility and su-
pervision of keeping down counterfeit
ing. This really inaugurated method
ical system Of hunting and Furnishing
counterfeiters. The solicitor OF the
treasury gathered about him corps Of
men experienced In criminal invcstiga-
tons and set them to work. The plan
worked SO we'll that when John Sher-
man was secretary Of the treasury he
gave his approval to the organization OF
. separate bureau for suppressing the
output of spurious currency. Under
foreign governments the handling OF
counterfeiters IL In control of central
lied police organization. which LOOKS
after all kinds OF criminal offenses
against the general governments. The
Sne bureau has surveillance over trtml-
nails of every class. The tendency Is In
that direction in this government The
secret service bureau Is now being used
by q number Of departments of the gov
eminent.
The operations Of the secret service
are confined by law to the suppression
Of counterfeiting and the Investigation
Of back pay and bounty cases. This Is
all the law permits the officials of the
service to work on. but every day they
are at work on other matters. That the
law may not be openly violated the Sc
cret service operators assigned to do
other work are practically taien of the
secret service rolls and the Gepar. nlent
employing them ID required to pay their
salaries and expenses. Nearly all the
departments now recognize the efficiency
Of the service and cali upon the bureau
at any time for man. The department
Of justice has used number Of the oper-
ators in the last few years. In the course
of time this will become 90 general that
this government will probably build up
. great criminal bureau. one that will
supply Officers for investigation of any
crime. The post once department now
has its own system OF inspectors. who
investigate violations Of postal laws, and
the effectiveness Of this plan of pitting
specialist against specialist is regarded
- a good one This could be continued.
though, II all the criminal organizations
Of the government were centralized.