Evening star., 1916-01-02
Detectives Help Maintain the C0untry's Neutral

the public service" This they do by
finding books which are out OF balance
and funds which have trickled out OF
the Treasury. or are about to trickle.
into unrightful pockets. q.
When Congress, alarmed or insulted.
whichever the feeling might have
been, heard very privately that it was
being shadowed and probed by the
secret service measures were at once
taken to learn just how much money
the national government was paying
to its detectives. The inquiry was
broadened until IL included the inspec-
tion of furniture bought for the White
House and the offices of the members
of the Cabinet.
1t was found that s2s. 900. 900 annual
ly was spent ito prevent" again quot
ing the language of the report, frauds
in and depredations of the several
branches of the public service. includ
ing the protection of the public lands
and, their products from fraudulent
,entry appropriation and to appre-
hend and punish persons charged with
violations of the laws of the United
States"
The total is larger now Items OF.
interest then were: Paid to the GUS
toms detectives. 100000: to the se-
cret service. s161.0Oo: to the internal
revenue detectives, s175,000. and to the
detectives and others charged with
putting into effect the law restricting
the sale of opium, s292.o0o. The Treas
ury Department, therefore, was SPEND
ing sS2s.000 yearly for detectives, all
of whom-though nothing of the kind
was said in the report-might be
mobilized for unseen action in and
around Congress.
The interstate commerce commission
was spending S775,000 in its work of
watching the railroads netartiueQ
were regulating the killing of seals
and the catching of salmon in Alasl%
Other detectives were scrutinizing -
migrants on their arrival from Eur 4
Asia and Africa. Still others had q
inquisitorial eyes fixed upon the ofeJN
margarine factories of the country
Today even the migratory birds are
having their persons guarded during
their travels by detectives whose sal
aries are drawn from the Treasury of
the United States
At a recent meeting of the cabinet
it was agreed that all of the detectives
in all of the departments of the ma
tional government would, in a pinch,
be detailed to the serious work of
maintaining the neutrality of this
country toward the fighting nations
in Europe. Chief Flynn and his secret
service and Bielaski and his bureau of
investigation are to be reinforced at
once. however, by John c. Rooms and
his 42O post office inspectors. or as
".
Rooms, once railway postal clerk
running out of Baltimore and later a
division superintendent stationed in
Cleveland. tracks yeggmen who rob
post offices, thieves who break into
letter boxes. clerks who take from the
mails checks and other valuables which
do not belong to them, postmasters
who are short in their accounts and
persons, mostly female, who write
scandalous communications to their
neighbors. He is real detective. even
If he is officially called an inspector
The detective branch of the post Of
flee costs the nation 81 300, 900 a year.
1t has men in every city. who. on being
told into what street box a letter has
been dropped. can trace that letter
across the continent and. find it. if
lost. Maybe they will fish vt out from
behind the mail bags in a postal car
or from under the bed in some dishon-
est mans house.
Taking matters as they are, there
fore, with Chief Flynn, Bielaski and
Rooms all busy, what is likely to hap
pen. it may be asked, to the factory
burner. bombmaker. strike organizer
or bribe giver, be he alien, naturalized
citizen or native. who begins to oper-
ate in this country?
Copyright. 1916, by James B. Morrow