There is a clerical division employing not more than a dozen persons; an identification bureau, where are kept on file the records of all known counterfeiters and other undesirable citizens, and a large storeroom, where confiscated counterfeiting outfits seized in raids are allowed to accumulate pending their destruction according to law. There is a saying in the service that “once a counterfeiter always a counterfeiter.” The secret service was created primarily to catch counterfeiters and protect the person of the president. In 1861 there was carried in one of the appropriation acts $10,000 for suppressing the counterfeiting of coin. Annually thereafter provision was made for the same purpose, and embracing the counterfeiting of paper currency. The United States is divided into secret-service districts, each district having headquarters conveniently located in charge of a skilled operative, who has under his direction from time to time as many assistants as the criminal activities in his locality demand. Perhaps the most picturesque work of the secret service is performed by its “flying squadron”--the free-lance field workers, who may be sent to any place at any time. Most of these men are not much above thirty years of age; the average age of all secret-service men is under thirty-five. They are alert, energetic, resourceful, and capable of assuming almost any part of a sleuth demanded. A new recruit in the service starts in as an assistant operative at three dollars a day--if he proves worthy, he is promoted to the rank of operative at five dollars a day. As an operative his pay may increase to seven dollars a day, but before he can obtain the top-notch salary, he must have made good and have acquired a considerable fund of practical experience valuable to the service. One of the most mysterious phases of the secret-service work concerns the maintenance of communication between the central office in Washington and its field operatives. A message, even in cipher is never dispatched openly to his chief, but to some private individual, previously agreed upon, who in turn places the message in the hands of Chief Flynn. Secret-service men are at work all the time. When there is no particular case on hand, they are getting a line on the habits, haunts, and byways of certain people who seem to be living without apparent effort. The shadowed party does not suspect it, and he may never know. Some years ago there was a notorious counterfeiter named Emanuel Ninger, who for seventeen years kept the secret-service men of the whole country chasing him. When they finally landed him, they had enough evidence against him to convict him on a dozen counts.