The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-04-22

Treasury Department. by the Bureau OF
the Secret Service. A key to it is in the
hands of every field agent. The title OF
field agent is euphemism for detective.
OF course, the detectives Of the Secret
Service are engaged almost exclusively
4 in the business of catching counter
feiters and their Ework has to be sdone
with the utmost secrecy. Hence it is
very important that they shall be ablo to
hold private communication with Their
chief in Washington. 1t is worth men
toning in this connection that the first
cryptographic code devised for the War
Department was made by Arson Stager,
in October, 1861, and the first key of it
was intrusted to the famous detectiy e
Allen q. Pinkerton, while employed by
the Governments on dangerous mission
in Kentucky. The War Department. to-
day has cipher Of Its own, but rarely
uses it. 1t was employed at the time OF
campaign of 1890-91.
| The cipher employed by the Navy De-
partmeht is one of the most elaborate
| systems ever devised. 1t is the work,
mainly, of Admiral John e Walker,
lately retired. There is a copy Of the key
on board of each flagship in the service,
and the offic er in command is hell re-
sponsible for its safe keeping. The key
| makes two large volumes. each half as
big as an unabridged dictionary they are
bound in Russia leather and enclosed in
heavy leaden case, kept always under
lock and key on shipboard. The case is
perforated, SO that, should the vessel be
taken, it may be thrown overheard, sink
ing and preventing the enemy from get
ting possession of it. Nearly all of the
cable correspondence between the Navy
Department and our ships in foreign
parts is conducted by the help CT this
cipher. During the trouble with Chile
the Government was put to an enormous
expense for cable tolls, which would have
been quadrupled butssfor the fact that for
every cipher word sent there were saved
four in English.
When the secretary of the navy wishes
to send message, he ictates it in plain
English to a type writer. 1t is then given
to two officers who are especially skilled
in cipher work. They translate the mes
sage into cipher, the process being very
laborious one. inasmuch rs the utmost
care must be taken not to make any mis-
take. But the most difficult task is to
unravel the messages in cipher that are
rive at the department., because they ar
so apt to contain errors which throw out
che whole meaning. 1t sometimes takes
several hours TO deolpher a despatch of
twenty words. The system is based on
the substitution of numerals for words.
and than for the numerals are put made
up words that have no meaning what
ever outside the cipher. Thus the mes
sage in English undorgoes double trans
formation. Most trouble is had with
messages from South America, because
they have to be repeated over several
lines and the telegraph operators are
poor. During that rebellion in Brazil
several dispatches we're two days on the
way.
The State Departments cipher is much
like that used for many years by the
French foreign office. The French code
was composed entirely of numerals, each
representing a word or phrase. The key
of this cipher was stolen more than once,
but shifting key made Its variations so
complicated that the foreign Office con-
timed to use it, merely Notifying cor
respondents of changes decided upon.
| In most European countries the telegraphs
are under Government control, but in the
United Statos it is different, and Uncle
Sam must pay like anybody else. He
pays as much as anybody for cable SER
vice. One Of the most expensive mes
sages was from Rio, and cost $500. When
the Trenton and Vandalia were lost in
the Samoan hurricane, message was
sent from Auckland which cost nearly
$1,000. 1t WAS made much more expensive
by the fact that the cipher key was lost
with the Trenton, and every word had to
be cent in plain English. The saving by
the use of the navy code Is about three
and one-half words to every word of
cipher.
Lib WORK VI 6ultIuS anu puDll6nlng
the records Of the civil war has been
greatly increased by the circumstance
that many of the dispatches sent to and
by commanding officers during that con-
flict were in cipher. The keys of the
oiphers used are not always obtainabls,
aud the kilograms have to be made ou.
by sheer force Of ingenuity and perse-
verance 1t is stated that the dispatches
sent over the lines of the Federal military
telegraph during a single year of the war
numbered /, 200, 900. The last important
use made of the military telegraph of
those days was to aid in the capture of
the assassin of President Lincoln Beck.
with, cipher operator, who became
famous as member Of General Grants
staff, was one of the first to get on the
track of the murderer, and it was upon
Information which he sent to Washing
ton in cipher that Booth was located
Booth having been shot while attempts
ing to escape. Beckwith received $500 of
the reward offered by the Government
for the capture.
The queersst of the ciphers used by the
Government is employed by the Weather
Bureau. The kilograms which come to
the Weather Bureau from 100 signal
stations all over the country are curiosi-