The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-14
SHAMELESS CRIME

Few save the victims and those
whose official or professional capacity
makes them familiar with the methods
of the vast majority of private detect
i've agencies as conducted in this coun.
try recognize in them an evil which is
rapidly becoming a vital menace to
American society. Ostensibly conduct
ed for the repression and punishment
of crime, most of them are, in fact,
veritable hotbeds of corruption, traf-
ticking upon the honor and sacred con-
fidences of their patrons and the Gre
dulity OF the public and leaving in
their wake an aftermath of disgrace,
disaster and even death.
Such pernicious conditions as shall
lay bare in detail could not exist in
England because of rigidly enforced
government regulations: they do ex-
list and grow apace in American be-
cause of inadequate laws and the
seeming inpossibility of enforcing
such restrictions as do exist.
Let it be understood that l do not
wish to give the impression that all
private detectives and their agencies
are bad. Such a statement would be
not only absurd but utterly untrue.
To my knowledge there are many men
in this necessary profession who are
as honest in all transactions as the
light of day, men whose integrity is
above question and who fulfill every
obligation to the letter. But. unfortu-
nately. the honest members OF the pro-
fession are. comparatively speaking, so
few that sooner or later. when society
awakens and takes cognizance of this
growing evil, they, too, will suffer from
the odium that inevitably will attach
to the very name private detective"
1t may seem sweeping statement,
but l am morally convinced that fully
80 per cent of the private detective
establishments. masquerading in what
ever form, are rotten to the core and
simply exist and thrive upon founda-
ton of dishonesty. deceit, conspiracy
and treachery to the public in general
and their own patrons in particular.
Proof of the truth of what say exists
in plenty, but. unfortunately, those
most often in possession of the evi-
dence are. through selfish motives, as
anxious as the dishonest detectives to
keep the knowledge hidden.
Why the Public Is Ignorant.
Persons of an inquiring turn of mind
may question that condition such as
l describe can exist unbeknown to the
public. The explanation is simple. The
very necessity for secrecy in investi-
CATION which brought the private de-
tective into existence is the lever by
which the swindlers work and the
cloak under which they hide their
dishonesty. Be the victim a client OF
the preying agency. to expose it would
be to expose his own secret to the
world; be he bridehounded victim
pilloried because of some sin, he shuns
his own exposure which would be the
price of theirs. And so it is that thugs
and thieves and criminals don the
badge and outward semblance of the
honest private detective in order that
they may prey upon society, secure in
the knowledge that their victims can
not afford to take retributive meas
ures.
In passing, let me point out the diff.
ference between the English and
american systems Of supervision
which fits this particular condition. Be
he other than a retired official, the re-
cord OF man who wishes to become
private detective in England Is sub
jected to exhaustive investigation and
the slightest incident Of shady charac
ter discovered against him would act
as a bar to his taking up the work. l
know that there are detectives at the
head OF prominent agencies in this
country whose pictures adorn the
Rogues' Gallery: men who have served
in various prisons for almost every
crime on the calender.
From time to time this great Ameri-
can public rouses with wrath at some
encroachment Of the trusts, some beef
packing iniquity or some insurance
scandal, all the while complacently Ig-
norant of this virulent sore that is