As one of the heads of a prominent agency said
to me the other day:
"When we want a detective to take the part of a plumber we
get a plumber, and when we need one to act as a boiler-maker
we go out and get a real one--if we haven't one on our pay
rolls."
"But," I replied, "when you need a man to go into a private
family and pretend to be an English clergyman, or a French
viscount, or a brilliant man of the world--who do you send?"
The "head" smiled.
"The case hasn't arisen yet," said he. "When it does I guess
we'll get the real thing."
The national detective agency, with its thousands of
employees who have, most of them, grown up and received their
training in its service, is a powerful organization, highly
centralized, and having an immense sinking fund of special
knowledge and past experience. This is the product of
decades of patient labor and minute record. The agency which
offers you the services of a Sherlock Holmes is a fraud, but
you can accept as genuine a proposition to run down any man
whose picture you may be able to identify in the gallery.
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