in criminal investigations and set them to work.  The plan worked so well that when John Sherman was secretary of the treasury he gave his approval to the organization of a separate bureau for suppressing the output of spurious currency.  Under foreign governments the handling of counterfeiters is in control of a centralized police organization, which looks after all kinds of criminal offenses against the general governments.  The one bureau has surveillance over criminals of every class.  The tendency is in that direction in this government.  The secret service bureau is now being used by a number of departments of the government.

The operations of the secret service are confined by law to the suppression of counterfeiting and the investigation of back pay and bounty cases.  This is all the law permits the officials of the service to work on, but every day they are at work on other matters.  That the law may not be openly violated the secret service operators assigned to do other work are practically taken off the secret service rolls and the department employing them is required to pay their salaries and expenses.  Nearly all the departments now recognize the efficiency of the service and call upon the bureau at any time for a man.  The Department of Justice has used a number of the operators in the last few years.  In the course of time this will become so general that this government will probably build up a great criminal bureau, one that will supply officers for investigation of any crime.  The Postoffice Department now has its own system of inspectors, who investigate violations of postal laws, and the plan of pitting specialist against specialist is regarded as perfect.  This could be continued, though, if all the criminal organizations of the government were centralized.

The United States is divided into thirty secret service districts, each in charge of an operative who has under his direction as many assistants as the criminal activity of the section demands.  The force is concentrated in one district if there are counterfeiting operations in progress, and then sent to another district as required.  A written daily report, covering operations for twenty-four hours, is exacted from each district operative and from each man under him.  These daily reports frequently contain many fascinating stories, many details of criminal life and espionage that would make columns.  The reports received by the bureau in Washington are carefully filed away in the offices of the Treasury Department.  Accompanying the reports are the photographs and measurements of every man arrested for counterfeiting.  The Bertillon system of measurements is used by the service, as well as a plain indexed card system.  The two are so complete that even without the name of a man his name and record can be obtained if his measurements are forwarded.