The
Pinkerton Labor Spy
by
Morris Friedman

CHAPTER XXIV.

WHAT THE PINKERTON AGENCY CLAIMS TO BE—
A FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The world-wide reputation of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency is not based on its achievements as labor-union baiter. Far from it. The fame of the institution is the result of the much-mooted skill of the Agency in the art of running down and capturing criminals. To a certain extent the Agency deserves credit for its work as thief-catcher. We are sure that no one will for a moment hesitate to congratulate the Pinkerton Agency or any other Agency on the successful conclusion of a legitimate criminal detective operation.

The Pinkerton Agency represents the following prominent organizations as authorized detective agents: The American Bankers' Association, The Jewelers' Protective Union, The Jewelers' Security Alliance and The Railway Ticket Protective Bureau.

The whole world knows that the Pinkerton Agency represents these organizations, because the Agency takes great pains to inform the world by printing elaborate yearly reports of its work for each of these societies, and in addition the fact is advertised on the official Agency letterheads. Besides, whenever the Agency succeeds in capturing a criminal who has wronged a member of any of the above mentioned associations, a careful report of the case is written up, and given to the press for the edification of those who glory in detective exploits.

In order to facilitate its criminal work, the Agency employs a number of informants who are "reformed" criminals. These men travel all over the country in the guise of tramps, and associate with the low criminal or "yegg." Whenever a crime is committed in which the Agency is interested, the reports of these informants are invaluable, as they enable the Agency to determine whether the crime was done by anyone belonging to the yegg brotherhood among which its informants circulate.

The Agency does very little criminal work outside of what operations it gets from the four organizations previously mentioned, and the bulk of this business is handled by the New York and Chicago offices. However, the institution has over eighteen branches, and all these branch offices sail the sea of prosperity under the same flag as the Chicago and New York offices. It is therefore of interest to figure out as nearly as possible how much money a branch office makes from criminal work. The Denver Agency is one of the most prosperous branches in the country, and we shall take that office as an example.

The following financial tables, as applied to the Denver office, ARE APPROXIMATELY CORRECT, and demonstrate the financial workings of the Agency very clearly.

A week's expense in running the Denver office of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency:

Salary of Manager Western Division $ 45.00

Salary of Superintendent 35.00

Salaries of Four Asst. Supt's 115.00

Salary of Chief Clerk 19.00

Salary of Bookkeeper 18.00

Salary of Cashier 16.00

Five Stenographers at average Salary of $14.00 each.. 70.00

Salary of Office Boy 5.00

Salary of Private Janitress 4-00

Office Rent 35-00

Stationery 12.00

Inter-Agency Telegrams 5.00

Telephone 2.50

Postage 10.00

Thirty Operatives at Average Salary of $15.00 each.. 450.00

Total Office and Operating Expense for one week $841.50
Total Office and Operating Expense for one year $43,758.00

It often happens that three or four weeks pass by, without Denver having even one criminal operation on hand; but, for argument's sake, we are willing to give the office credit for having as many as five criminal operations a week, EVERY WEEK IN THE YEAR. The regular Agency rate for the services of operatives is $8 per day per man and expenses; but large corporations and the societies previously mentioned get a SPECIAL RATE of $6 per day per operative and expenses. Therefore, five operatives at $6 per day yield an income of $210 per week, or $10,920 per year.

Total Agency Expense per year $43,758.00

Total Annual Agency Income from Criminal Work 10,920.00 Net Annual Loss to the Denver Agency $32,838.00

It is plain that if the Denver office were to lose the large amount of $32,838 year after year, the Agency could not hope to remain in business. It is also reasonable to assume that if the conditions which prevail at the Denver office hold good at all other offices, the Pinkerton institution would lose more than $500,000 every year. That the Agency could not afford to lose millions in this maner is something everyone will perceive. That the Agency is making instead of losing millions, the following financial tables conclusively prove:

Denver Agency's Annual Income from Criminal WorkFive Operatives at $6 per day $10,920.00

This leaves 25 Operatives unaccounted for. Of these 25 Operatives, at most 7 only are working for the Special Rate of $6 per day. Annual Income from 7 Operatives at Special Rate of $6 per day 15,288.00

Annual Income from 18 Operatives at Regular Rate

of $8 per day 52,416.00 Total Annual Income of Denver Agency for

30 Operatives $78,624.00

Total Denver Agency Annual Income $78,624.00

" " " Annual Expense 43,758.00

Net Annual Profit.. $34,866.00 If the Denver Office handled Criminal Detective Operations exclusively, the net Annual Loss

would be $32,838.00

Far from Losing, THE DENVER OFFICE

PROFITS ANNUALLY 34,866.00

WHICH IS A CLEAR DIFFERENCE OF $67,704.00

The Denver office of the Pinkerton Agency therefore has an income of $67,704 a year, absolutely independent of its income resulting from bona fide criminal operations. And can there be any questioning the source of this large income? As well question the existence of the sun at night BECAUSE IT IS NOT VISIBLE, AS DOUBT THAT THE PINKERTON AGENCY IS MAKING MILLIONS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PUBLIC BY FOMENTING AND KEEPING UP CONSTANT STRIFE BETWEEN ORGANIZED WEALTH AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

The following little story is interesting as a character study of an operative who "made good" under circumstances that would have made most men despair of success.

Sometime during the year 1904, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company called on the Pinkerton Agency at Denver for a union iron molder operative to work at their foundry in Pueblo, in order to keep watch on the movements of the Pueblo Iron Molders' Union.

The Agency secured the services of a Denver union iron molder, and was about to send him forward to Pueblo, when the new operative informed the Agency that he could not take up the work, as the Denver Iron Molders' Union would not issue a transfer card to any member desiring to go to Pueblo. The Denver union took this step, the operative explained, at the request of the Pueblo union, as the latter suspected that "Pinkerton Spotters" might try to obtain a foothold in Pueblo in this manner.

The Denver officials wrote of their trouble to the Chicago Agency, and that office loaned the Denver branch one of their operatives who was a union iron molder. The name of this operative was Walter E. Agate, No. 88.

Operative Agate proceeded to Pueblo, and at once made a round of the different foundries, applying for work at all of them; but unfortunately for him, business in the foundry line was dull, and he could not get a job anywhere. A number of old Pueblo union molders were themselves out of work, and these men pointedly advised the operative to seek a job in some other city.

Operative Agate told the union boys that he came to Pueblo to get work, and that he would remain under any circumstances; that his wife was sick, and had to come to Colorado for her health, and that he simply had to get work at something in order to make a living for himself and his wife. No. 88 proved his apparent sincerity by accepting a position repairing the sewers of the City of Pueblo, in which position he worked as a common laborer for less than two dollars a day.

The operative's devotion to his sick wife won him the confidence of the Pueblo iron molders, with the result that soon No. 88 obtained a position at his trade at one of the large Pueblo foundries. As soon as he got employment, the Agency sent the operative's wife from Chicago to join her husband in Pueblo, in order to make good the fiction about her illness.

To lull suspicion still more, the operative, in accordance with instructions from the Denver Agency, religiously kept away from the union meetings. In a short time, his brother molders, noticing his indifference to the union, began to remonstrate and labor with him, and after much persuasion finally induced him to come to a meeting.

Little by little the operative began to warm up to the idea of the union as a benefit to the workingman, soon became devoted to it, and so very skillfully did he play his part, that at the first election which occurred after his advent in Pueblo, his comrades elected him secretary of the Pueblo Iron Molders' Union.

In this case, as in many others, the wit of the Agency triumphed over the suspicious vigilance of the labor union.

Chapter XXV. The Moyer-Haywood-Pettibone Case, Now Before The Public—Pinkerton Conservatism.