The sanctified tradition that a detective was an agile
person with a variety of side-whiskers no longer obtains
even in light literature, and the most imaginative of us
is frankly aware of the fact that a detective is just a
common man earning (or pretending to earn) a common living
by common and obvious means. Yet in spite of ourselves
we are accustomed to attribute superhuman acuteness and a
lightning-like rapidity of intellect to this vague and
romantic class of fellow-citizens. The ordinary work of a
detective, however, requires neither of these qualities.
Honesty and obedience are his chief requirements, and if he
have intelligence as well, so much the better, provided it be
of the variety known as "horse" sense. A genuine candidate
for the job of Sherlock Holmes would find little competition.
In the first place, the usual work of a detective does not
demand any extraordinary powers of deduction at all.
Leaving out of consideration those who are merely private
policemen (often in uniform), and principally engaged in
patrolling residential streets, preserving order at fairs,
race-tracks, and political meetings, or in breaking strikes
and preventing riots, the largest part of the work for which
detectives are employed is not in the detection of crime and
criminals, but in simply watching people, following them, and
reporting as accurately as possible their movements.
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