Democracy's secret service. In fact, what work is being done in Mexico to-day for the United States and the Allies is not the work of paid confidential investigators so much as the voluntary aid of American and Allied business men and travellers. There are Allied eyes to-day on nearly every German operation; and more than one order to Imperial agents in Mexico has failed of execution because of these sleepless eyes.
It is not difficult to learn about the German moves in that country. The United States Government knows every possible means of communication between Mexico and the outside world. It knows of the possibilities through Salvador, Spain, Argentina and Japan. It knows the messengers and agents who travel between Cuba, South and Central America, and Mexico; and most of the time the United States or one of the Allies knows what is being sent. The system of watching the German agents in this Latin Republic is so water-tight that most of the danger is past.
One can meet many Americans who believe that our system in Mexico is weak because it is so easy for people to travel back and forth without passports. I heard directly of several instances where Americans went to different parts of that country without official permission; and I returned to the United States without having to give up my passport, which is required now by State Department regulations. Some opium smuggling still
