Little FBI

One hundred years ago, one of the first credit correspondents in the U.S. reported to the Mercantile Agency that Peddler James Sampson "drinks two glasses of cider brandy [applejack], plain, every morning and evening--never more; has lost a large double tooth on lower jaw, back, second from throat on left side; has a scar an inch long on his left leg kneepan; cause: cut himself with a hatchet when only three years old." Credit sleuths have been weighing financial responsibility with the most intimate details of a man's personal life ever since.

Last week, with no fanfare at all, 101-year-old Dun & Bradstreet (which grew out of the Mercantile Agency) celebrated ts first anniversary of special sleuthing for he U.S. Government and its war contractors. D. & B.'s 7,000 trained investigators are now answering some 100,000 inquiries a month for war agencies and contractors, thus freeing J. Edgar Hoover's G-men for more sinister detective problems. D. & B.'s sleuthing involves no special FBI or police-court tactics, but its routine provides a careful check on where people have traveled, and what their jobs, friends and loyalties have been.

When Donald Nelson gets a letter from John Doe in San Francisco asking for an appointment, D. & B. tells Mr. Nelson (in the short space of one hour, if need be) whether John is a substantial citizen or a time-wasting crackpot. When a new or expanding Federal agency has to hire a big staff in haste, D. & B. rechecks on its appointees at leisure. It checks up on the character as well as the financial status of war contractors for Government agencies handing out contracts, checks on new employes for a contractor faced with a sudden increase in his staff.

Many firms forearm themselves with a clean-slate report from D. & B. before going out to look for war work. One such investigation recently proved to the startled head of a large war plant that his own secretary was a Japanese agent. A similar check for a high Washington war man had him in a cold sweat last week. Said a terse X & B. report on a man he was about to promote: "This man has held several responsible jobs. His habits are good. But ie is of German extraction and his loyalty is questioned. His closest associates refer to him as 'the Nazi.' " Last week, thanks to D. & B., "the Nazi's" days in Washington were numbered.

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