Show HK united stales secret service which Is the bone of con between the president and cop gicas in a controversy that promises to become historic Is denominated the least know branch of our government whether the present agitation will dispel the mystery that has long existed Is veri doubt ful it a debate Is precipe fated there will doubtless be an airing of certain phases of secret sen icci work but it Is not to be ex thai there will be any lifting of the adl fia regards the means and methods of Uncle Sam a black cabinet to the stipulations made b con gress in providing tie last annual tion for the maintenance of the secret ce ahe selfsame limitations under which president roosevelt Is now the op erat lons of the secret service are at present restricted to what might be termed tag ml namely the apprehending of counterfeiters counterfeit ers and the protection of the of the chief magistrate until con gross a halt however there was a gradual but continuous expansion of the ac of the nations secret police until they bade fair to outdo their european lr ethren in the scope 0 o their sur vell Sance for instance secret cervice op era tives were loaned to the secretary of the interior and ren dared the most important ice in securing evidence in connection with the land fraud cases in the west other secret berv ice men had a band in exposing the sensational cotton report leak in the department of agriculture and so the list might be prolonged to include practically all the executive depart ments of the government not forget ting th part played by these clever cst of plain clothes men in investigating charges against naval officers because of the fact that its primary purpose and principal function at the was the trailing of counter deiters the secret service was made a branch of thel united states treasury department in connection with their shadowing of suspected counter felters the secret service men have been enabled to gather much informs alon of the greatest value regarding ciack hand organizations and the op era tlona of anarchists yet other in along these lines have re bulled from tho responsibility of the secret service for safety of the president and thus without overstep pang law or oriza alon the secret service has been enabled to accomplish much in the field that la the chief concern 0 foreign secret police namely eternal vigilance as to the plans and ambitions of the plotters against the world s rulers un 01 congress shut down upon it last year the treasury department part ment also used the secret service to detect smuggling enterprises and other frauds upon the customs service and to investigate robberies and ot all kinds and there have recently been some notable ones in branch mints sub treasuries assay offices etc one 0 president roosevelt a most bitter complaints jias been against the hampering of operations in these directions the headquarters of tho secret service are in the treasury building at washington here are the private offices ot the chief of the bervice mr john E wilkle who receives a salary of per year and the assist ant chief william herman moran who Is paid per year there s a clerical division employing some halt a dozen men and a large store room where can counterfeiting outfits spurious coin and other contraband seized by secret service men Is deposited and allowed to accumulate until at intervals of about a year a committee Is appointed to superintend the destruction of these unlawful articles the equipment of the secret service headquarters embraces some interesting features including delicate scales for weighing coin whose genuine nm is questioned and a rogues gallery consisting of a monster file ot photos of counterfeiters counterfeit ers and other of fenders against the law however the secret service bureau at washington is a nerve center from which are directed the opera tlona in the 25 districts into which the country is BY WALDON bawa rr y 1 paea av v s gained in no other manner than by cal secret service work for all that the monetary rewards ot a secret service career are by no means excessive there la never any dearth of applicants for the limited number of positions in this confidential corps following any occasion such ns the present when the secret service Is brought conspicuously to ther attention of the public chief wilkle receives applications by the score from young men in all parts of the country who are executive makes a tour 0 the country or participates in any great public function it is this field service which makes it necessary tor ot secret service man to abandon all thought every fixed habitation with social and family ties lie may be ordered from new york to texas or from the moun balna 0 tennessee to san francisco at an hours notice and it Is impossible to predict in advance how long he will remain at any given place true to its name and policy the secret service alms to let the public know just aa little as possible regarding ita personnel no secret service operative allow a hla photograph to be made much less published it he can help it and he seldom acknowledges hla vocation at the headquarters of the secret service there la a rule against disclosing the leuchs and in no the name or address of any 0 government publication not ean in the blue book which is supposed to list every government employed emp loye can there be found any roster of the secret service men or information as to the salaries paid them however it may be stated that the pay is not high considering the hardship and danger involved and the secret service Is likely to attract only men whose love of a life of adventure and excitement outweighs desire for monetary regard A new recruit in the secret service starts out as an assistant operative at 3 per day and it he proves worthy it promoted in due course to tha rank of operative at 5 per day As an operative his pay may increase to 7 per day but the secret service operative whose salary reaches the point just short of 50 per week must have proven his worth by long service and have the experience which can be ambitious fo shine as sleuths A large majority ot the aspirants naive ly confess that they have bad no experience whatever which would fit them tor this highly specialized field many 0 the inexperienced apall cants are obviously impossible but even among those who are sufficient ly promising to receive more than passing consideration the proportion of inexperienced is overwhelming indeed ot the men whose names are now on the waiting list ot ellal bles at the secret service that Is men who have compiled with the civil service regulations governing applications for places in the secret service more than admit that the are totally devoid of practical experience in this line with a profession which above all others needs devotees who can bring to it wide knowledge and thorough training yet with most applicants sorely deficient in these alons the question naturally sug bests itself where does the secret service secure its agents in reply it may be said that upward of a doz en different callings have demonstrated their value as fields ot apprenticeship some of the most ca pable secret service operatives now on tancle sam a payroll have come from the claim departments of the training with the mercantile agencies and ittu oth ra have come from law offices where certain classes ot detective work are frequently necessary two of the best men on the force were formerly heads of municipal police departments others served for years in legatt mate private detective organizations or independent police departments maintained by the great ballway terns A proportion have had the benefit of pre as united states deputy marshals and not a few hava come to the secret service from the de apartments part ments of public safety in foreign countries these latter by reason of their knowledge of foreign tongues and mannerisms have been invaluable to the service As may be surmised secret service duty Is preeminently work tor young men the average age of the field operatives is under 35 years and bome of the best men in the corps are under 30 years chief wilkle himself who by the way was one of the bright young men whom lyman gage brought from chicago when he was secretary of the treasury ie but 46 years of age and was into his present responsible position the portion ot president roosevelt s message which evoked the ire ot congress Is last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for the secret service which provided that there 3 should be no detail from the secret service and no transfer it Is not too muan to say that this amendment has been of benefit only and coald be of benefit only to the calm inal classes the chief argument in favor of the provision was that the congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by secret service men very little of such investigation has been done in the past but it Is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for tho indictment and conviction of a senator and a con bressman er essman for land frauds in oregon I 1 do not believe that it Is in the public interest to protect in any branch of the public service and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such crial nals who were in the executive branch of the government so in my belief we should be given am pie means to prosecute them it found in the legislative blanch but it this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the secret force in invests gating members of the congress it would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done and strive to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by the executive branch of the government in a later message mr roosevelt said A pending case illustrates the ramifications of interest with which the government has to deal charles T stewart of council bluffs was inducted at omaha tor conspiracy to defraud the government of the title to public lands in mcpherson county neb also indicted for maintaining an unlawful inclosure of the public lands and also under in for perjury tn connection with final proof submitted by him on lands filed on by him as a homestead in als final proof he swore that he and his family had resided on the lands in mcpherson county which are within hia unlawful enclosure when as a matter of fact his family has at all times resided in council bluffs la he Is engaged in the wholesale grocery business his store being lo 10 bated in omaha in the wholesale district there he la reputed to be quite wealthy stewarts attorneys are harl of council bluffs la who are also the attorneys attorn eya at that place tor the amaba and council bluffs street railway company la which company hart holds considerable stock stewart being also a stockholder and possibly a director of the company he Is also represented la omaha bya W J connell one of the there for the same company stewart Is also represented in his perjury case by bill gurley of omaha neb who at one time was bulto closel connected la a political way with tho IL P R it corn pany stewart Is also closely associated with C B hazle ton postmaster at council bluffs harl and hazleton aro all members of the same lodge another close personal friend of stewart s Is ed hart alias waterworks Water works hart president of the council bautts water company and interested in tho street railway stewart s father was interested in and practically owned and controlled during hla lifetime a large ranch the U P R R in nebraska concerning this case the united states attorney at omaha states there are three cases against stewart one for fencing one conspiracy one perjury all good cases and chances of conviction good the in question was of benefit to no oce excepting to criminals and it seriously hampers the in tho detection of crime and the securing of iu tae c V f P t oArt bartjis JiS |