The Washington herald., 1912-11-17
BY JAMES b. MORROW.


Business spies of all nations-though
- spies may be harsh name for them
are hard at work throughout the world.
They wear frock coats and stove-pipe
hats and are received Hospitality wherever
they go. Governments welcome them.
Manufacturers and bankers freely talk to
them and often entertain them at their
homes. Were they spies In a war OF arms,
instead Of a war for money, they would
be shot as soon as found
II they learn OF a valuable trade pro-
cess, they are likely to lay hands upon
it and send 1t home. Some Of them will
enter factories and buy blueprints of new
machines from mercenary employees II any
such faithless workmen happen to be
around. They watch new buildings for
hints in construction and study tariffs and
the rates of land and water transporta-
tiOn. German spieS-able and technical
men, speaking English and making no
secret Of their actiYities-are posted in
every part of the United States.
Many cities, having the trade scouts
of foreign countries right in the thick Of
their own affairs, often overlook them,
unless there is a monument to Kossuth
or Rochambeau to be unveiled, or the
British-Americans hold reunion with
Caledonian games, or the "Wacht am
Rhein'' is sung at a festival of merry and
unforgetful Teutons. At the same time
American spies overrun the earth in all
directions. Once they were big-voiced
politicians uttering ready and maybe
shady recoIlections Of State and national
conventions and yoicing boasts of their in
innate relations with Senator's, Cover
nors and judges. Nowadays however, the
words, American Consul" stand for
something very much better than loud
eloquence on the stump, or party diligence
in wards and precincts. Then there are
special and extraordinary spies, or COM
mercial agents. as they are called, with
rowing commissions who travel the globe
in a search for facts and the guarded
discoveries of industry and applied chem
istry.
The Chief of the Spies.
In sense. AIbertus H Baldwin is cap
tain of the spies. common and uncom-
mon, stationary or itinerary. The con-
suls officially, are employees of the De-
partment of State. Mr.. Baldwin. however.
is permitted to call on them for informa
ton and copies Of their trade reports go
over his desk. So they are auxiliaries to
his own stan. which numbers more than
eighty men. Moreover, under a new law,
he is TO observe and help domestic trade
within the United States-to keep tabs on
sales here and abroad and to promote all
kinds Of business whenever and wherever
he can.
Furthermore, he is when asked, to sup
ply Congress with figures and the gen.
eral state of matters. industrial and COM
mercial so that Congress. whether Re
publican or Democratic. may write and
enact a tariff law that will give this
country full protection, incidental protec-
tiOn or no protection at all. The tariff
board, just abolished by statute, collect
ed the facts and interpreted them as well.
Congress. hereafter, will send to Mr. Bald
win for the bare elements of a situation,
such as rates of wages cost of raw mate
rial and 50 on, and. reading its own
meaning out Of the data so transmitted,
legislate according to it's political lights
and economic prejudices, not to mention
the orders or the threats 1t gets from
home.
1t will be seen, therefore. that Mr. Bald
win is a very important man govern
mentally. Until lately he was known as
the chief of the Bureau of Manufactures
His Jurisdiction, which is a favorite term
In Washington, concerned foreign trade
If bridge were TO be built over the
Ganges, he was supposed to spread the
news that bidders here might negotiate
for the contract. The Bureau of Statis-
tics was separate organization. 1t raked
the country for figures and then put them
into long tables so that writer's, speakers
and scientists might use them as a ther-
mometer to get the social and financial
temperature of the nation. Congress. in
its closing days this summer, consolidat-
ed the two bureaus and created in their
stead the Bureau of Domestic and For
eign Commerce. President Taft chose
Mr.. Baldwin for the new chieftaincy thus
established.
Started on $50 n Month.
All wage-earners, all business men, ev-
cry American. indeed should be more
than ordinarily interested in Mr. Baldwin
Boards of trade and chambers of COM
merce are to feel the thrill of his re-
viving touch and personality. He is to
stir things up, to put the case plainly.
Work for the American workman and
dividends for the American capitalist
could properly be written over the door
of his private office. Like many another
useful man in national matters, Mr.. Bald
win is the son of a preacher, of a Presby-
terian minister, who preached all his life
in New Haven County, Conn, and who,
through his interest in oyster culture,
started journal devoted to fishing that
is still being published.
1t is said that Washington mummifes
youthful energies and aspirations. Yet
Postmaster General Hitchcock was
government clerk. So was George B. Cor
lelyou, once Secretary of the Treasury
ana now president OF the Consolidated