The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-10
Err NATION
HAS
Complete Maps and Filler, 81
tics Held BY Powers.
Errrt,rF,w

at is uncuestionable Tact, u said{ss
retired army officer eo,x long bust
ness in this city. that plans of every
important fortress in this counti.ySa are
in the possession OF the G enerat taft
of more than one foreign Govern lent-s
Our Government. in turn, has the
plans of the fortifcations OF every ma;
ton with which we. are likely eyertto
so to war This is part of the game.
The military spy system is now a rec !c1,;
ognized institution In every q rnl.yr
Governments could{not prevent itsi fss
they would.
We hear great deal of comment
because in this Russo-Japanese war
the spies caught and put to death.
were officers high in rank in the army
disguised as common la bcrers. With.
all nations the spies are the pick Of
the service While the Russians were
building the fortifcatfors in; Man an
chura British staff officer in the
cuise of a Persian worked on them for
months as day aborer, sketched#
every detail of the plans and got away
Undecided.
"Since was retired I have Wis ted
various countries on. the other side
and talked with important men I'M he
military service. was amazed at
their intimate knowledge of our coast.
defenses They told lae many hinssss
did not know and could not have
found out at home even If L had tried
We old Loyal Legion fellows, Wllofa
have allowed our kiow1edges OF the.
spy system TO rust since the Civil War
ended, have no fdea OF the3syvay ms
which it is carried on to-day.
Yet no precautionsare rigid5encugt14
to prevent the secrets OF a nations
forrifcations from hecornfng known
to possible enemy w en- orks3$
OF this character are built by colitT
it is virtually certain that among the;
workmen viii be foreign agents in?
disguise So perfectly are these n1eIla
trained for every possible contingency
that detection is almost out Of the
question Clever men are required
because they must make mental 2 otesS
of the forts While they work and must
be able to reproduce them from nlem-
DRY when they are in safe 8territory
1.-The English and German Govern
ments are, to my knowledge, parttcuss
larry we'll posted about eVeryth hing
that pertains to the coast defenses,s8
mobilization OF troops and $$ss n1ilar3sss
matters Of every nation w hssss hlcls
they are likely to have clash at arms
This Information is gathered in scraps:
by diplom ats, consuls, sailors, abroad
laborers tourists with kodaks and va
rious other persons who may beSsus.5
pected, but whose free action in any
country could not be interfered with
without interrupting the relations Of
commerce and involving disagreeable
complications.
"Al these things are understood BY
every Government, but they cannot be-
stopped The only thing to do is to- &
reduce the danger to minimum BY
Furnishing the offenders when caught,
In times of peace persons detected
sketching fort:fications are sent to-
prison. In war spy Knows that arr
rest means death. A man who under
takes such work faces his doom just
as bravely as the sailors who went
down in the Japanese gunboats th att
were sacrificed to blockade Port Arssss
thur.
These spy maps. as they may be IA
called, are under constant revision
The work never stops am told on
the highest authority that in Berlin
there are the most minutely prepared
maps of England, including bridges
and country crossroads. Germany AZ
so knows all about the fortif1c atfons Il
on the north and east coasts of her.
neighbor across the chlnrel. France
has the same detailed information
about the south coast. England has
complete information about rance
and Germany. All of them have Los k-sss
ed carefully over tie ground In N his
country And we know al 4 about
Dispatch