GERMAN SPY SYSTEM

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 18 October 1918, Page 2

GERMAN SPY SYSTEM

WORLD-WIDE ACTIVITY. ' [Melbourne ' Argus' Correspondent.] It has been a source of surprise to many people who have watched the events of the past four years, how large have been the sums of money devoted ail round the world by Germany for purposes -or espionage and propaganda. It has been stated that Berntstorii's tund in America for eoirupt purposes in the States, Canada, and Mexico was more than 10 mil.iouu sterling. Another enormous sum was administered by Wagenheim in Turkey, where Enver and Talaat were " in lii-s pocket." Egypt, in the days of the last deposed Khedive, drew heavily upon Berlin. Bubery and corruption cost Germany huge sums in Morocco and in Spain, and both Franco and Italy were honeycombed vith German agents and their money bags. In Europe Germany's agents were more succcs-tul in Kuisia ;than anywhere else. The of the Tsars Government was helped by German gold. Itwas also German gord m the early days of the campaign that saved a great German army from envelopment by tho Grand Duke JSicholas. There was only one gap of oscape from a ringed fence, and that gap was lidd by a traitor general, who revealed the Grand Duke's pians. German money has stirred up trouble in Ind.a, and the Japanese tell us it has reached China. Ire.and. too, has been smirched. It would be childish to deny there has been no bribery in England; but much gold would not be" needed here. The simple trust of tho Br.tish character- enabled tne German to gather mot<t or the information ho desired to obtain, even from official soiu-ces. 'Our dockyards and arsenais, certainly up to the time of the Boer Wax, were as freely open to German officers as to Englishmen. People are (asking: How did Germany raiso the vast' sum.? .which she has been expending upon her secret 6eiV.ce —naval, military, and economic. Some Lglit is thrown upon this subject in the recently-published book of the Abbe E. Wettorie, the wellknown Alsatian Deputy in the Reichstag. In that work he discusses the German Budget, and endorses the word of Herr Muller-Fulda (the Labouchere of the Reichstag) that the national is specially drafted to hide from tho' foreigner the credits that axe devoted to military preparations, propaganda work, and espionage. The modest sum of £150,000 is set down to Secret Service, but "in all the ohaptera of the Budget ihere are credits wlrkh, under the most varied titles, are devoted to the tamo use. Moreover, we put our hand deeply into the sec.et funds of the other German Stales." Imruenso funds for secret service and propaganda purposes are likewise provided by Krupps and other armomiakeis and the Rhenish manufacturers. The organisation of espionage has for years past been one of the most important parts of German administration. Tne official maps of all countries of possible enemies were studied mile by miie by tho Headquarters Staff. Young officers, or innocent-looking men of commerce, were 3ent to those countries to check tho drawings. In England such a precaution was hardiy necessary. Our official ordnance maps afforded almost nil the information that was required, and these could be purchased in every large town. German maps, with notes for visiting "observers," were turned out by thousands from the Berlin Government printing offices, bated upon

our own ordnance maps. German officers in mufti were scattered over England every summer. It was their duty to check our official maps from the military point of view, and m report upon all local resources. Plenty o; people have personal knowledge of these doings. I heard of ono case, two years before tlnwar, where a lady from" a village on tho Thames met a German gentleman at the daily table d'hote of her hotel 1 . They struck up an acquaintance. On learning what pan of England he came from, the maudecribed the village, asked about tho church on (he hill, tho blacksmith's shop, and the water •supply, with apparently local knowledge. He told the lady he had never been ia England, but he had studied the maps of hex district. The lady afterwards discovered that ho was ono of a large staff emplovcd upon checking and making maps of tins country. For 20 or more years there have been groups of spies at Chatham, Portsmouth, Dover, and other seaports. Many were employed in the hairdresser shops, some worked as laborers on tho quays and dockyards, and each group had its chief, who was directed by the German Embassy in London. It, was so" e«ey to get all the information that was wanted in England that no elaborate system of bribery and espionage was required, as in the cases of Franco, Belgium, Italy, or Russia. These countries were covered with a network of spies and agents. Some of these men were employed watching over the agents of other countries. It is said that several of the British spies in Belgium obtained much of their information from the spies of other States, who were operating in that country. Our own official class have boasted that, notwithstanding all her lavish expenditure, and the number of her spies

and agents, Germany has not been anything like so well 6erved by the Secret Service as we have, especially on the natal side.