The San Francisco call., 1898-04-27
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h URING the discussion in the British
 ! Parliament last year of the naval
 estimates the First Lord of the Ad-
 miralty made statement substan-
 tially as follows: The several powers are cognizant of the details of naval and 1 land defenses of each country, and the
 only military secrets which we may be reasonably sure of being our own are con- telnplated strategic movements planned" " The only two countries in which mili- tary secrets are we'll guarded are Russia and Germany, and published details about the materfel of the army and navy are too general in their character to be of any value to outsiders. Great Britain and the United States have until quite recently taken the public into their confidence, ana It has not been difficult for foreign military and naval attaches to observe ana report upon the minutest details of shlps, guns, Notifications and other parts or the two services. The present Bureau of Naval Intelligence in our Navy De- partment dates back to about 1883, prior to which the Bureau of Steam Engineer ing had, Ill a desultOry way, collected aata about foreign ships. In Europe, the Austrian Navy Department began as early as IS65 to issue publication giving news of foreign navies, maintaining for thls purpose staff of officers. It was not until about eight years ago that the brllsh Admiralty recognized the import ance or such an adjunct to the naval ad- @ @diiinistraton, and at the present time every country of any military importance ntS bureaus of intelligence. Naval and military attaches are now a part of each itgauon, in addition to which officers on sHipS or traVel1ng keep their eyes and ears open and make reports to their re- sPectlve bureaus. The Intelligence Bureau ect,T ec the e,h navy, besides full information 10rne6OQS daf oi the navy, besides full information about harbor defenses. Where vessels are are punt by contract, no secrecy about thelr construction can be observed, and sne same applies to guns and other war material. There are complete plans and data on file in Washington of every naval ana the construction of British and french guns, their effectiveness or short conhngs, are as well known in Washing ton as in the countries mentioned
 On the other hand, our naval and mili- tdIy experiments have given the widest publicity, through official reports, of their uo,llss; e the navy-yards, ships, arsenals, gun foundries and military posts, with thelr Qualifications, have been open to the public, and if Spain or any other country IS not familiar with all that pertains to our de1enseS 1t is not for the want of op- portunlty Of unchecked observation. In time of pending hostilities this privilege IS very properly restricted, solely because 9i the damage that may be done by evil
 
 because secrets are to be guarded. This mutual exchange of professional news is now recognized as quite legitimate, and is carried on openly and above board. It is Tarely that there is any friction caused | the only incident of that kind being in iiSS6, when Secretary Whitney advertised Tor competitive plans for some of the pro- posed ships, and Commander Chadwick, at that time naval attache to the lega- uon In London, came very near involving 6he two Navy Departments in trouble. | several officials itch. q oolyx were either dismissed or severely reprf- i manded for their connection with the Whltney ship design advertisement.
 In Great Britain the ships, forts arsen- aIs and gun foundries are not open to the | public to the same extent as here, and 1 certain restrictions are imposed In | r rance, Germany and Russia the utmost eHorts are made to exclude visitors from forts and arSenalS, yet the almighty dol lar causes the revelation of the most pro- 1 round secrets, and while they do not be- | come public property yet they are slowed ! away in the archives of army and naval ! information. In Germany, the great works [ or krupp at Essen are accessible to the | public, subject, however, to a close watch ! being kept on the visitor; but no outsider Is admitted to the gun tests at Wreppen. | ana the results which reach the public | krupp concern. The despotism, miIitar- ! Ism and general espionage system of Ger | many enables it to preserve it's military secrets better than any other Govern ment, and the following authentic incl dent shows how well the Kaiser has his subjects in hand: In July, 1897 the Elm peror invited the military attaches to breakfast, and after the repast told them It was needless keeping it a secret any longer that the German army had had it's artillery changed without anything being known of 1t outside of official circles No less than five army corps had been armed with a new quick-firing Krupp gun, capa- Die or throwing ten to twelve shells a minute. The French attache at once took train for Paris and found his Government not entirely unprepared. and orders were | It once placed with a number of factories Tor guns. of improved model The doings of the French Government did not leak put until last. February, and the secret was kept nearly as well as in Germany
 MT. .Goshen's statement in Parliament may be accepted as being the common sense view of military secrets. The pub ic knows as much about ships and guns n general way as the majority of army md navy officials, but the actual eff iciency is known only to a select few so lar as relates to foreign services. while n this country the merits and faults have been thoroughly discussed in public print, md we have no secrets to keep from for