The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-07

office for the purpose was discussed,
and that ultimately the whole plan
was rejected. The chiefs of these va
rious investigative bureaus believed
each that his work was too special
lied to admit of its being successfully
operated under a general control of
them all So the plan of co-ordina-
ton went by the board. and each of
these~six detective bureaus has been
improved and reorganized separately.
There are some men in positions to
know who believe that the co-ordina-
ton should be effected. But, at any
rate, there is close cooperation, and
excellent work is being done. That is
about all that can be said. The ex-
tent of the expansion that was nee
essary may be gagged by the fact that
the intelligence corps of the navy has
been expanded from about five hun
dred to nearly five thousand, while
that of the army is still larger. Cor
responding expansions have taken
place in the other detective and in
vestigation bureaus While the meth
DDS and means of it's work are neces-
sarily kept secret by the government,
the public has been shown thru the
newspapers enough of the results to
give confidence that the United States
government has learned how to play
the modern game of international
hide-and- seek
There has been at least one advan-
tage in this necessity for organizing
a large force on short notice in that
new men are not known and have not
acquired any stamp of class or occupa-
ton. In Europe many of the spies
and spy hunters must be known to
each other. In this country, men
from a variety of occupations have
been drawn into the service-co1lege
men, lawyers, professional and trades
people of all sorts who have shown
10 H..
had experience in police work. For
outside of a few of our larger cities
we had not detectives or Investigators
of first class caliber, and not many in
the big cities. Men had to be found
and trained. And men of first class
ability have been found.
1t should not be deduced from all
this that the modern spy hunt is
wholly a matter of organization, of
documentary research and bookkeep-
ing. There is plenty of romance and
adventure in the game. The eternal
books spy. For charm will always
be power. And there are many women
who have other powers than charm.
When it is all over, there will be great
stories to be told. There will be a
story, for example. of a woman who
was Swallowed almost around the
world, who showed such restless ac-
tivity that her followers had to be
frequently relayed, and of her strange
errand. There will be the story of an
other woman of the New York tender
loin, a woman who had no accomplish
ments except the wiles of profession on
al coquette, who Offered her services
to her government and brought a
master spy to his undoing. A vast and
tangled skein of romance is being
woven by the followers of the paper
trail. which is a trail of danger and
high emprise. But for the present it
is enough to know that our govern
ment has learned to cope with its
problem, and with remarkably little
violence, very quietly. is defeating the
invisible enemy. -
Questions on tn above or any SUBJ
ject upon which the reader desires in
formation, should be addressed the
Topeka State Journal Information
Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin. Director.
Washington, =. c., with a 3-cent
stamp enclosed for reply.