The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1918-02-01

@@3 peace; there was hardly n man
@S who had matched wits with
the foreign government experts
The story of how this menace met
yet be told only In part. But not the least in
terestfng part concerns the men who have
done the work.
Chief of the weapons which at hand
the secret service of the department Of justice
Its agents unobtrusively efficient lot, but
woefully small In numbers and for the most
part, inexperienced in international affairs
white slaves and predatory business had been
their chief game. The smaller force Of
the treasury secret service almost fully
cupied with Its routine duties of guarding the
currency and the presidents life. It. too has
rendered amazing service against the spies. but
upon the department Of justice agents fell the
chief burden.
They were called upon to match the craft,
the experience and the ruthessness OF the keen
est of German spies, who were backed by
renowned secret service organization and unlim-
tied funds.
Their chief the man who had developed the
government detective force. who had Laid the
foundation for extensive, loosely geared,
running mechanism, and who promptly assem-
bed 1t when the need came, Is Alexander Bruce
Bielaski ('Home Run" Bielaski they called him
In his high school days). He entered the depart
ment a dozen years ago, when the development
of a bureau Of investigation to handle secret
work for which no other provision had been made
started.
IhiS bureau was commissioned TO wreStle with
violations Of neutrality, with those of the nation
al banking laws with antitrust cases, bucket
shop cases, white slave" cases 1t was to prose-
cute those who impersonate an officer Of the
government to pursue those who flee the coun-
try and seek to evade the long arm Of the federal
law.
There already several detective agencies
in the government each created for specific pur-
pose and limited by law in its operations. For in
stance there was the secret service in the treas
ury department. There customs agents to
prevent smuggling. land agents to protect the
public domain post office inspectors to make
difficult the misuse of the mails. But the special
agents of the department Of justice had field
many times as broad as that occupied by any other
detective agency. One phase of Its work alone
that of circumventng violations Of neutrality
became a herculean task when the war broke.
The department of justice refused to follow
precedent in Its creation Of detective agency 1t
built staff of operatives that a new thing in
the field of detective work In doing 90 1t made
brains its first requisite of selection OF men and
held that education was developer OF brains
The youngsters of this service have succeeded
where veteran police have failed. Every case an
operative undertakes Is an entirely new problem
In which his past experience is by no means an
infalllhle guide. 1t needs brains ana initiative
young agent of the bureau of investigation
formerly salesman for a wholesale grocer, went
into the Alleghenes on his first case and cleaned
up nest of moonshiners that had dehed local
Another of these men worked as a laborer on the
docks of New Orleans and found out the meth
DDS employed by the sugar samplers In SO grad
ing imported cargoes that the loss to the govern
ment was hundreds of thousands In duties every
year. Still another "roped In with Mexican
revolutionists in FL Paso.
The inheritance of the work of these special
agents may be measured by an account OF the
circumstances back of the seizure of the port Of
Vera Cruz in April, 1914 and the part played in
tyya
was some months before that event that huge,
bearded Russian attracted the attention OF a
house detective In a New York hotel by the dis
play of a draft for S3,oOOOOO signed by President
IIuerta of Mexico The house detective teie-
phoued the special agents, who watched the opera
tions OF the Russian.
That individual bought firearms ana amnuni-
ton in sufficient quantities to load a ship. 1t
was the business of the government TO see 10
IT that he did not send this to Mexico as there
was an embargo on firearms to that country Inc
ship however. cleared for Odessa. Russia, ana the
special agents traced 1t to that point ana Wit
messed the refusal of the Russian government 10
allow the ammunition to be landed, because OF
a fear that It to be used by revoiutlohlse'
They saw the ship again traverse the Medterra-
mean and unload its cargo at Hamburg Inc
special agents noted, however, that the Russian
had disappeared and suspected that he was more
loyal to his own pocket than to the Mexican
government.
The ammunition reshipped from HAMBURG
to Vera Cruz As 1t approached the latter port
the United States under the influence OF the In
formation furnished by its special agents. entered
and seized the port that Huerta might not get