U.S SECRET SERVICE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11446, 28 January 1918, Page 2

U.S SECRET SERVICE.

SILENT AND SUES. HOW A PACIFICIST WAS CAUGHT. German agent, arrested in the United States, who found that every movement he had made for several weeks was known to the Secret Service, exclaimed bitterly, “This is worse than Russia.” He was right—from his point of view, writes Hamilton Fyfe in the Daily Mail. One point of view is different. For the allies the American Secret Service is better than that of Russia—the “Ochrana,” beloved by sensational novelists —ever has. ®lt is far more energetic. It is more intelligent. And it cannot bo bribed. . The head of it—Mr Bielaski, a Pole by origin—was asked one day how it had discovered so much about German plotting both before and after the United States was at war. Not a week passes without some fresh revelation. Mr Bielaski said drily, “We work w'ithout a brass band.” This Secret Service is secret. Its agents are every were. Not a pleasant feeling, even if you have nothing to conceal, that eyes may,bo watching you, that your goings out and comings in may be noted down. For those who are plotting and spying a very uncomfortable feeling indeed I , _ , Here is an example of the method of working “without a brass band.” A pacifist wss arrested. He had been talking in a train. When he got out a man followed him and took him into custody. “But why?” the pacifist inquired, putting a bold face on it “Youhave just been making a speech in the car, ’ ’ the Secret Service man replied quietly. “Well, what of it?” his prey blustered. “You have been making that speech a number of times. You, made it in the train from B—to M—last Thursday; you made it again the next day, between P—and F—. Twice this week I have heard it before today.” “But I don’t “remember .your face,” the pacifist faltered, unable to deny. NETWORK OF SURVEILLANCE Once a suspect comes,, under the notice of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation he is surrounded hy ingenious and imperceptible network of surveillance. Mr Bielaski’a agents are about his path and about liia bed. They spy out all his“ways. “Shadowing” is an art which has been raised to a very high degree of nicety in the United States. Bielaski is an interesting character. He is not in the least like the detective chiefs of fiction. Ho is known as a “crank on exercise.” Ho works in his garden before breakfast or takes a long •walk in the pleasant country round Washington. Ho has been a devotee of hard physical training for many years. Now, at thirty-five, he is a model of fitness. One day a visitor with a grievance began to'talk loudly about what he would do to Bielaski if ho were not in his oitice. Bielaski stood up. ‘ ‘Don’t lot that worry you, ” hojsaid politely. The angry one looked at ins broad shoulders and taut figure—and hade lim good day. “Übique” (Everywhere) might he the motto of the United States Secret Service as it is of the Royal Artillery, and its übiquity is so unobtrusive. The local detectives usually have their calling stamped all over them. The Federal Force is never noticeable. I know men 'belonging to it who pass in all companics without remark. Their clothes are well cut, their manners well bred, As soon os a detective becomes known, through carelessness or boasting, Bielaski has no further use for him. Th-;t is why the American Secret Service has found out so mucii.