GOVERNMENT BY SPIES By Theodore Schroeder in Century Magazine. In every age and every country the spy has usually been esteemed the most contemptible of human creatures. So thoroughly is this appreciated by our official masters that automatically they attempt to ward off the odium and lull the people into a deluded feeling of security by changing the names of these creatures to something less suggestive of terror to the innocent. We now call them "special agents," "inspectors," "secret service men," etc. The suggestion that spies are indispensable to a government is in itself a very strong circumstance to prove the government to which they are indispensable has in it much that is bal, or at best that it is performing many functions it should not meddle with. At every recurrence of public outrage, such as the assassination of Mayor Gaynor, the chiefs of our spy system get into the limelight, to prove the usefulness of the system by which they live, and the sentimentalists, who know of no moralization except by force, also rush in to demand a larger increase in the number of spies publicly employed. Politicians who are ever on the lookout for legislation which will increase the patronage at their disposal, lend a willing ear to any argument which means the creation of a large number of new offices for spies to perform. The establishment of a national department of health would in a few years develop a vast extension of the army of spies and blackmailers, and no doubt on that account will have many supporters, framing arguments which conceal their real motives. Probably very few Americans have any idea of what it means to have our national government spend nine million dollars annually for the maintenance of a spy system. Still fewer can form an adequate conception of what it would mean to double that expenditure, as it would seem President Roosevelt desired to do. Many men of progressive tendencies approved Mr. Roosevelt's suggestion, never dreaming that the power they would confer would some day be directed against that very liberty and justice which they desire to promote by it. At such times it never occurs to us to inquire if we had not better abandon that function of government which makes spies necessary than to promote government by spies. Therefore, it may not be amiss to supply a few hints as to the workings of the spy system. Probably the greater number of spies employed by the gov. ernment are taken into the service temporarily only, for investi gation of special persons, or cases for which they have some peculiar qualifications. The salaries of these range from seventyfive dollars to one hundred dollars per month, and this is a fair indication of their mental and moral worth, because it fixes the price at which they are willing to betray confidences. The spy-chiefs have permanent employment, and of course receive better salaries and do a cleaner kind of work. It is probable that the average salaries of the employes of our spy system will not exceed fifteen hundred dollars per annum. This means that the American appropriation of nine million dollars, the present cost of maintaining our spy system, employs an army of six thousand spies. The gentle and liberty-loving (?) President Roosevelt, perhaps in the interest of justice and liberty. seemed to desire to have this army doubled, so as to bring it to about twelve thousand federal spies to superintend the private as well as the public affairs of approximately ten million voters, or one federal sty for every eight hundred voters. Add to this innumerable private detective agencies, pretentiously named blackmailing societies, state and municipal spies, and we would probably have in the United States a detective for every four or five hundred voters. This makes it important to inquire, what are the methods of operation of spies? Let it be known that no government system of spics ever limits its endeavors to the investigation of past crime, or where investigation is requested by the injured parties. Especially in our postoffice departments, it is considered part of the work of the spy to induce persons to commit crime who have never violated the laws before, because it is the record of convictions, no matter how secured, that will insure the continuous employment of the spy. A similar condition of affairs was disclosed in the recent "white slave" prosecutions in New York City. Four thousand dollars were spent by public spies to find some one weak enough to cominit a crime at their solicitation. They found no evidence on past crime on which to convict. No matter how good the intention of the founders, every system of government by spies, among the multiplicity of its subordinates there will always creep in those who cannot resist the temptation of levying blackmail by using the system and the knowledge acquired through it for the silencing of personal and political antagonists, or otherwise furthering the personal interests of the spy or his superiors in the system. Those who may be interested to know how an innocent man may be compelled to spend a large fortune to prove his innocence simply because he has incurred the ill-will of intluential persons in charge of a spy system, should read a book entitled "The Shame of the United States Government, in which are exposed the outrages committed by Mr. Cortelyou, who directed the postal agencies to spy against the Lewis Publishing Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, which cost this company probably several hundred thousand dollars to prove innocence of crime and se cure reinstatement of mail privileges to publications which were wrongfully excluded. The innocent reader will ask, "How can this be possible?" The answer is that although the people of the United States do not yet know it, ours has long since ceased to be a government according to law, and in many departments is now a government according to the arbitrary and despotic will of officials. This condition is brought about by innumerable paternalistic statutes which are so uncertain in fixing the criteria of right, or of crime, that no man can know with certainty whether his conduct violates the law or not. Every citizen therefore, is at the mercy of that spy, or other person in authority, who "interprets" the uncertain statute by reading into it his personal prejudices, whims, caprice, or such meanings as promote his personal and political interests. There is another and more insidious method of running a man's business by the spy system than that of blackmailing or the coarse preversions of justice such as were used in the Lewis case, and here is the method. Let us assume that some one has given offense to the executive head of the spy system, or any political boss who has influence with him. A spy is set upon the trail of the offender. His mail is inspected, both that which is addressed to him and that which he sends out. 'The mail boxes in the nighborhood of his business are watched. The envelopes which bear the offender's name are withheld long enough to copy from them the names and addresses. Then in a very few months the government spies have the addresses of every man with whom the prospective victim has any business relations. In many instances the mere possession of these names and addresses are an asset worth thousands of dollars in the hands of an unscrupulous spy or an unscrupulous business competitor. The spy department of the government now sends to every one of the correspondents of the man whose business it may desire to injure a very innocent looking letter, which reads like this: 570 Return all papers promptly with reply. Case No. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT --190 Sir: :- With the return of this letter, please inform me whether your business transactions with (naming the intended victim) have been satisfactory, and if not, advise me fully as to the particulars thereof, and forward all correspondence received from them, together with the envelopes in which the same was enclosed, having first written your name on each for identification. It is thought proper to make the above request because of inquiries received at this office as to the business of the firm named, and this letter should not be regarded as in any way reflecting on the character or reliability, and should be treated as STTRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. Your early reply under cover of inclosed envelope, which does not require that a postage stamp be affixed, will be duly appreciated. Respectfully, Inspector. Suppose nothing wrong is disclosed by this investigation, yet every one of the thousands of persons to whom this letter is sent becomes suspicious and many naturally change their business relations. The offending man whose business has been "investigated" by the spy system may never learn the cause of his loss of patronage, and his business is injured or ruined without his ever being able to discover the cause or counteract the influence which has brought about that result. If, however, he should have a confidential friend among his correspondents, who informs him of what is being done, he is without remedy or redress against the insidious and all-powerful spy system. Where the prize being contended for is financial or political supremacy in a great nation, it is unlikely that any man can be safely trusted with the power of such a tremendous spy system. Even if the executive head happens to be relatively high-minded and well-meaning, they are not infallible, and besides, it would be impossible for them to instill in the minds of every one of the other five or ten thousand spies those same high ideals, so that, whether or not it has the sanction of those high in authority, the spy system will ultimately and inevitably degenerate into a machine for securing results, without regard to justice or truth, but always results believed to be desired by persons of influence in or over the system. Promotion will come according to the number of convictions secured, without any investigation of the method by which they are achieved. In several recent trials in the federal courts, convictions were secured on the testimony of federal spies, who for months. or perhaps years have been holding confidential positions in de fendant's employ, placed there by the government because it was known that they would violate the trusts imposed in them by the future defendants. In the sugar trust prosecutions, confessed criminals were kept in the public employ, thus in effect bribed to be witnesses for the prosecutions. In the case of man recently murdered, it developed that a counterfeiter, pardoned by President Taft, immediately upon his discharge from the peni. tentiary was given employment in the federal spy system Once admit the propriety of government by criminals for any pur pose, and soon we will have it for all purposes. Every wayward son can thus be made the means of destroying his influential father if he gets under the influence of the spy system, and soon every man of consequence will have a government spy in his business or household. There are other insidious methods, well known to every chief in the spy system, by the use of which the innocent can be ruined and convicted as guilty. Let us assume that an executive of the spy system has elected some one for slaughter. He directs an investigation. The spy understands that what is wanted is not the truth so much as to secure the results desired, namely: the ruin of the man to be investigated. A shady piece of business is about to be transacted. A decent man will hardly engage in it. Some nan or woman with a shady past can best achieve the end, and most willingly does the dirty work, which often is the only means to that end. Such a man or woman with doubtful past is sent out to arrange pitfalls for the unwary citizen who has offended some one with influence in the system. Perhaps they find little or nothing in the conduct of the investi |