porter, every storekeeper, every housekeeper, is
required to report to the police at least once a week all the details of
strangers with whom they may have come in contact, it should be no
wonder that criminals can elude the police in New York and other
American cities.

Concerning the private detective agencies, it has been said by one of
their number:

"They are no better than the regular officers so far as skill is
concerned. The only real difference is that there is a superior
intelligence in the make-up--their disguise--of the agency people. They
are first-rate at shadowing a man, but any man with ordinary good sense,
who knows how to keep his mouth shut, will make a good shadow. If you
will watch the private agency men carefully you will find that they
associate largely with the high-toned criminal class. They are solid
with one or two leaders and all the gamblers. All thieves of any
prominence are gamblers, and as soon as they turn a big trick, they are
sure to turn up here or in some other city and 'play the bank' a little.
The agency men who are associating with the gamblers hear of this as
soon as the crook strikes town, and a little inquiry set on foot will
show where the crook came from. If, then, in the course of a few days, a
complaint is lodged with the agency people from the town where the
suspected party has been that a big confidence game has been played, or
that a forged or raised check has been worked on some bank or other
institution, it is not very hard to imagine that the thief who was
recently so flush is the one who turned the trick."

There are a great many private detective organizations in New York City,
some of which are located in elegant and commodious quarters, with a
net-work of agencies covering the whole country and extending even to
Europe. Between these reliable firms and the guttersnipe operator there
are among detectives, as among other professions, every grade of
reliability and respectability, some making a handsome living and some
earning a bare existence. There are some thousands of them, and they all
occasionally find something to do which pays. It may be watching some
money-broker's exchange down-town, for the dishonest boy of some
establishment clandestinely selling the postage stamps of his firm. It
may be shadowing a confidential clerk, whose blood-shot eyes and
generally "used-up" air have attracted the notice of his employers, who
thereupon desire to learn where