ACTING on the principle that it is our sacred duty to right a wrong whenever possible—deeply concerned over a number of important events that have transpired in the Western part of our country during the past three years which tend, if unchecked, to undermine the foundations of our beloved national institutions — I have undertaken the task of writing this work, which is a true and authoritative description of the secret and inner workings of detective agencies in general, and Pinkerton's National Detective Agency in particular.
An institution which poses as a faithful and solicitous guardian of society from the aggressions of the criminal elements in order that it may the more secretly and effectively operate through cunning and intrigue against the moral and material welfare of the people is all the more dangerous because of its underhand mode of operation, the more treacherous by reason of its gross abuse of public trust and confidence, and the more infamous for seeking to cloak its shameful acts with the mantle of justice.
Pinkerton's National Detective Agency stands out pre-eminently as the dean of the many institutions of this character which infest our country. It is by far the biggest, the richest and the best organized. That it has existed and enjoyed an uninterrupted growth of prosperity and reputation for more than fifty-six years