SPIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3118, 23 June 1917, Page 13

SPIES

GERMANY'S FAILURE IN ENGLAND

A TRIBUTE TO BRITISH EFFICIENCY ■ HOW THE PROBLEM WAS SOLVED One examplo of British efficiency that will most surprise tho Germans -after tho war, when they can know about 11, writes tho London correspondent of (ho New York "Evening Post," is the successful solution of tho epy problem, Britain was unprepared ou u largo scale to do anti-espionage work when the, war began. The espionage work has 'neon largely carried on by amateurs, iliat is to say by men not heretofore 'engaged in such work. Oxford and Caj'jbridgo dons and other highly-trained minds, are doing great work in this department, as in almost all others. There ara practically no women, in spy or contrespy work. Tho 'jivo societies organised, for tho purpose, have done, of cour/je, α-emarkablo work in frustrating the 'Gorman system. 'Ono thing worth emphasising in America is that private individuals not em"ployed by the Government who interfere in tho work of catching spies do no good, and make needless .trouble, and even at times do serious hoCrm, Tips -on "Spies," In the beginning of the wnr the papers here did much needless howling against all German residents and excited individuals reported everybody they thought suspicious characters. They accomplished nothing except to annoy a few German governesses and small shopkeepers. Melodramatic and useless things do riot happen ,as in tho play called 'TJnder lire' and similar theatrical productions. Sinuo tho beginning of tjje war forty thousand tips havo been given the Admiralty concerning possible spies by private individuals. Tho Government has heard them all patiently, but has not obtained one single item of real information.

■All really, important spy woi'k is conducted % comparatively few centres, and they mire best discovered (by officials unlielpfed by the .public. ' The detective iorca is indeed somewhat hindered by pulylic hysteria. -.Basil Thomson, the t-'Mof of tho Scotland Yard Detective ■Bureau, said to mo:

"When I discover a line of comiuum'.'ation 1 -never interfero with it." • And ho added that he wished Ballin 'ami other 'Germans would come over and livi) in England now. Mr. Thomson was ['formerly Prime 'Minister of a small'island in the Pacific. He has written iin amusing and widely-read book of reminiscences on his "Prime- Miuistership. Ho is a'most'interesting character,-with a. long and successful delectivo record. Tho experience of tho police has been somewhat different.

■Since the 'beginning of the war a. quarter of-a million peoplo havo been in with tips. About one in two hundred ■prove of value, and tho occasional valuable point is worth all tho troublo necessary to 'investigate'them all. One species nl- crank, however, wholly worthless and very annoying to tho police, is-tho mini who discovers cyphers in newspapers. I'ho police are always polite to I'hcni, but their 'fears always prove absurd. They usually find these cyphers ■ in the personal, columns and .the advertisements of Help Wanted. Tho polico having becu much annoyed by such communications onco put in an advertisement themselves and suro enough a man' turned up tho next day presenting proof .that Lho ;i(J. vertisemont was a Gorman cypher.

Alien Must Register. One way in which the British public has been extremely -valuable ia in cooperating -willingly with tho polico in lurnishing information- about iieople who navo failed to register. Tho public-has noither protected nor sympathised with lho iguilty. Tlio ■ registration, of uialo ahens began early in the war, and the polico were able.to-keep-track of "thorn' with few internments imtil the publio and newspapor clamour' forced more general internments later through ad of Parliament.

America will have numberless spies 'When discouraged hero Von Pane* and others have told tho German Government that' America, was an-easy place for spy work. Certain lessons.wo' can learn easily. 'It. ia important that no -letters could bo carried out of'the country W ■travellers althouuh thero ivill-'-be no' roii-.' sorship in America^to dbmestic-ma.il 'J'ho censorship can make a complete list «f a I doubtful addresfies ljoth at'homo :intl abroad and watch tho mail coinu l a thoso points. . ~T h<H '°.,™n he dose co-operation with ™Jntiili nohco iii watchin- - S n c l, doubtful addresses abroad. The <-rcH : value of tho polico in war time has'bein proven here. Their work'has• beea : 'tho " oughly done and ■Iβ most important T|will be necessary 'as tho war dUnlof. to have-lho polico forces of (ho r--■/ cities in the United' States unifi- /i»"! is probably tho only practicr'/"* ' , at America as here. All tho • -*f- Iva J tor then work closely with th<- .i!? llce ,, iorc< ; s menl. There are two 1- y ,*V« -Dcparl-'polico-forces in Enelai- /<mdred .eepai-alo they have been ore' ,d and Wales, and and effective co-ope- under a close /flhon. Messr . 11, is import- ,f 5 , '" m * s - , pers bo exr ■* - no - '■ ,oo ' is an " !'*• unless they A t° neutral 'countries publisher aj'o mailed direct fioni tho municat"m'p '■'• favollrile . method ot comaud paftw ■ls l:0 p,li - messages'in books evon * re " 'J-heso sometimes suceted Iwoks ' pn lne Publishers dispatch tho takes ,+hems(Hlvc , s becauso tho sender exiip .*' lo book'away for , a few 'minutes, on,' ijhing it like an ordinary purchaser, [ p i then asks the publisher to mail it

/ft. given , address. Britain'has tho great AlVantago of being-an island. it, is only necessary lo watch tlio porlu in order lo protect tho' coniilry 'siEainsl. tlio export of information. A country liko I'VancD has crosit difficulty with its lioidcrs. Spain is full of (icriuan epics, us is Switzerland. Also tho coast, is lone and thoro aro many loading places, and epics got through the occupied territory. . . Consequently them have boon more- explosions caused by spies in Franco than in. England. '.America will have a problem similar to that of Franco. Kho is somewhat more isolated by her coast lino, but there is the Mexican frontier and thero are a-greater imiiibcr of individual.enemies.inside the country. One reason for the success of tho con-Ire-spy system here was that Germany was not ready for England's entvanco into tho war. There wero but a few 6»y centres. The English knew of these, and when the war broke out'mopped them up, as they express it here. The Germans were, compelled to start new ones, and the British watched these develop, tapping telegrams and letters, until the time was rine and then mopped them up in turn.

Givo U.S. Information. The, only effect of private activity m capturing these spy centres was thai if a private individual learned ol' such a ccnLi'o and complained, Jareihg the police mto activity, it would beconfe impossible to nurse tho project' along until all possible information had been obtained. A ii'icnd of mino wrote n letter from Knslaiid'ito America about an important matter. Tho Austrians gol. a copy of it. When I asked him how ho knew that they had it Jic said tliat the British Secret Service told him. Tho British have also informed the "American authorities in advance about dies and explosions »et t>y Germans. Amazingly successful as tho British work has been, they take oft' their'lints to tho American Secret Sen-ice on ono point, that is the discovery of tho Zimmermium effort regarding Mexico and Japan. In fact, (ho American Secret Service is regarded with great admiration hero as being ono of the best in the world. The German spy work in England itself has. been generally a failure. The most notable exception was tho escapo of tho Goeta and tho Breslau. That was admitted as the single great triumph of tho Germans. Some also believe lhat the- death of Kitchener was the result of spies, but the best opinion horo is that it was an accident. Spiea havo accomplished some explosions, but their greatest failure, hns

jreen whom spying connects with-Urn-'judgment as lo national character, as in tho attempt to rouse a. mutiny in India, tho troubio in Morocco, the destruction of tho Trans-Siberian Railway, Alexico, and Baron Kuhlmann's trip to TTlstor in l!)li, followed by his report lo Berlin that tho arrangements for a civil war wcro such iliat England could not enter tho European war. Shooting the Spies. The number of spies shot here iias not been large, there aro more in prison, of course. Tho registry is strict, and it is important especially to prevent aliens from secretly leaving the country. Many of fc'nn most troublesoino spies aro neutral aliens, such as Spaniards and South ■Americans. Tho police aro thorough about their identification, laying a special emphasis on sears, as that is the surest form ot identification under any disguise. Anti-espionage work fits in with that branch of the censorship dealing with private mail so closely that the censorship is a most important aspect of autiespionage work to-day. Ono of the most amusing examples of the use of tho mails to send information to tho enemy was that of a handkerchief which the British authorities found, ostensibly being sent as a gift, which had the Morse code embroidered on tho margin. All principal belligerents have niany experts working over ciphers. There was much complaint in American papers early in the war because of tlic strictness and caution, of the censors about private mail. Perhaps Americans have not always realiseu that most of tho German spy messages from England went to Germany by way of neutral countries. 01 course, great caution is needed in the selection of censors since they open, all private mail regardless of what it may contain. They must bo men of tho utmost integrity in order to prevent tho misuse of private information thus gathered. And rules for violation of this confidence should be very strict. A Judge hero has just sentenced one consor for three years' imprisonment becauso of careless gossip in which he indulged after having opened privato letters of some one whose name he know. This is , an. isolated case, however, where there are thousands employed in the work. In this case there was no bad motive behind the gossip, or tlio censor would havo been ordered to bo shot. Tho Judge remarked in passing tho sentence that the ■censor must bo as secret as tho confessional. So with complaint against tho British black list. Often tho British could not explain why a particular firm was on the black list because it was not a j commercial but a secret-servico reason. ' Some of the most effective espionage has been ■done through commercial houses. 1 1 know : that tho American Government has been receiving expert reports from Germany sinco the beginning of tho war on tho working of tho censorship in 'the various countries, and is much bettor equipped to judge' of the necessities of the caso than tho public can be. Tho problems of war are not like those of peace. Tho freedom of tho individual is at once subordinated to tho public good upon a declaration of war. It took England a long time to learn this lesson. America, with her characteristic adaptability, is going ahead at an amazing rate, with tho enormous advantage of having tho experience of Europe to look back upon.