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.

Hanging on the walls and in racks in the two rooms that are occupied
by the chief and his two assistants are the photographs of every known
counterfeiter in the country. Among these are the faces of William E.
Brockway, the veteran dean of counterfeiters; Emanuel Ninger, the most
expert penman the service ever knew, and Taylor and Bredell, who hold
the record as the cleverest counterfeiters in history next to
Brockway. There are hundreds of others who have at some time or other
gotten into the clutches of the service, many of them the most
desperate characters. Some of these have taken human life with the
same ease they would make a paper dollar or a silver coin.

The development of modern processes of photolithography, photogravure,
and etching has revolutionized the note counterfeiting industry. So
famous a counterfeiter as Brockway realized this. In the old days all
counterfeiting plates were hand engraved and it took from eight to
fifteen months to complete a set. Now this part of the work may be
done in a few hours.

Information as to the personnel and operations of the secret service
is carefully withheld from the public. The names of the heads of the
various districts and the operators are unknown and are seldom
published unless in case of the arrest of a c