Fair play., 1916-02-12

- -------@--s--z'~
invention secrets, during the last 15
months or so, and that the plans of
many OF our important Notifications
nave been copied or stolen.
The president knows this; so do the
members of his cabinet, the naval
and military leaders, the secret serv-
ice, and some members of congress.
And with this knowledge has come
realization that if the United States
is to have well rounded defensive
force on land and sea 1t must also
have good secret service that can
keep tab on the foreign spies in this
country and can get information for
us in foreign countries.
Never has there been such an EN-.
phatic need for large, highly trained
and efficient secret service such as
other countries have to cope with ex-
actly such conditions
That the administration has at last
awakened to the need is shown by
the announcement that plan is now
on foot to combine all the investigat-
ing bureaus of the country under one
general head with sufficient suhheads
of subeXecutives to insure efficiency
and economy and at the same time en-.
able the country to combat such con-
ditions as now exist.
The nucleus around which the new
organization will be built. it is
naturally assumed, is the secret serv-
ice which for just so years has done
tho greater part of the work of con-
ducting confidential Investigations for
the federal government, has unearthed
counterfeters, has guarded the presi-
dent and all foreign visitors of note.
and has carried on the most difficult,
delicate and important inquiries for
the state department.
Into this new bureau--or perhaps IL
will be made distinct department OF
the government with a cabinet Off.
Ger at its head-will be gathered, It
Is proposed, the coast guard service,
the fleet of revenue cutters, the Gus.
toms inspectors, the inspectors of land
frauds, the immigration inspectors, the
post office inspectors, the special in
vestigators of the department of JUS.
tice and the bank examiners.
But of all these special investigators
the members of the secret service un-
der Chief William j. Flynn are by far
the most highly trained and the best
equipped by tradition and long years
of experience in handling the most
dangerous, the most intellectual and
the most astute criminals, and are
therefore best fitted to undertake the
broader tasks now set before the ma
tion. In other words. the secret serv-
ice already has been handling in
small way under restrictions imposed
b. law and by limited funds the tasks
that will be undertaken in the future
in a more comprehensive and effective
manner.
Comparatively little of the real work
of the secret service is known to the
public. The effectiveness of the or
ganization has lain partly in that fact.
Still fewer perhaps know the chan
nels for getting information which the
service and Flynn have developed by
long years OF careful study and fore
sight and hard work. 1t may be safe
ly guessed that the facts that they
have dug up in the last year are
known to very few men in the. United
States. Not even the secret service
men themselves have at times. real.
ized the magnitude OF the investiga
tions in which they were engaged
They simply followed one person, one
clue or one angle and then made a
written report which went to the chief.
who painstakingly fitted tho reports