The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1904-01-29
MILITARY SPIES In EUROPE.
How the DiRerent Governments Ass
certain the Secret Workings OF
the Rival Powers.

II
aches, duly accredited to an embassy,
DR. travel in those districts from which
Information is required by the intelli-
gence department.
| The work of the first class is not I'M
important. but it is risky, says the Phil
adelphia Press. The officer may not
overstep the bounds of common hon-
esty, and rarely, if ever, attempts TO
1 achieve anything secretly.
| He 4 closely watched and knows It..
if he becomes strong center of attrac-
lion he may divert the attention Of
possessing himself of the particulars
he attache is ostensibly so anxious to
acquire, but is successfully prevented
from securing. The attache is useful as
clearing agent.
| Spies become possessed of facts which
Ire OF no real value to those who en-
ploy them, but are assumed to be worth
much by the agents of other countries,
and an exchange of "pieces" is effected.
Sometimes apparently useless informa-
ion is sought simply for its exchange
value.
| For instance, some years ago two Brit
sh officers created considerable annoy
ance in Russia by their persistence in
hanging about the district in which the
autumn maneuvers were to take place
They were invited to join the staff-the
British attache was there-but this
honor they declined.
Then representations were made al
he British embassy. where the officers
we're unknown, and subsequently they
| disappeared for a time, only to be
discovered at the end of the maneu
1ers in one of the FIVE great fortresses
which protect the west frontier of Rus
,ia, and the one that had been the cen.
er of the military operations.
Had these men been Prussian officers
heir position would have been danger
)us, and an unpleasant international in
.ident might have occurred. but thu
Russo-German frontier is nothing tc
Great Britain, neither is the Franco
German.
| Each country has it's own peculiar
sphere of interest to which it deyotes
its greatest attention. Great Britain
has so many that, properly speaking
it has none. But India is always
alarmed as to Russia; and agents-Brit-
sh and native-of the India department
are very busy seeking particulars
likely to be of service when we have
% defend an empire which already, in
The military sense, extends from Alden to
Hong-Konk.
| Most of the Indian agents in Rus
;ia are officers of the Indian army,
out needless to state, they do not
ravel as such. Some affect to be
tourists of an innocent but inquiring
| urn of mind some go as commercial
travellers; some lean to religious
propaganda, while others collect Curl
| ,sities.
These agents have been so energetic
and so prolific is their DISCUSSES that
n the south of Russia the bonafide
commercial traveller excites suspicion.
The Russians now insist upon all
commercials" being licensed and
| axed; moreover, the intelligence de-
oartment has found the orders for
goods obtained by it's travellers some
What embarrassing.
AS buying agent the spy has also
worked we'll. No Briton can now go
across the Caspian to purchase skins
my more than to sell hardware, or
sven just to amuse himself, without
his letters being opened and the COM
,any he keeps carefully noted.
Elsewhere than in Central Asia the
nquisitive foreigner is likely to be de-
tained as a suspect If found, near 3
| iockyard, arsenal, fortress, masked
battery or military undertaking of
my kind. The real tourist may ex-
| lite suspicion, and no doubt many OF
! he people arrested are innocent, but
occasionally spy is captured, and
| Usually, of course, liberated after in
| Iuiries.~
Foreign consuls are apt to be much
more energetic, emphatic and posi-
i've when a government agent il
4 AIKEN than they are when the limo
,ence of the parties held is so ap-
parent that it needs no proof.
In ordinary circumstances when the
spy is known he thereby becomes in
locuous. and he knows it. If discov-
/ cred, the impolitN Russian way is te
iorbid him to enter the country OF
| % declare he comes from plague
infected port, or that he is Roman
Catholic or Jew.
The polite WY is to offer him o
guard, or helpmate, or companion.
The spy is then shown what he must
zee. and as soon as he has seen and
reported the various military dispo-
huons are changed SO that the in
:ormation he obtains is worse than
Useless, being actually misleading
The polite British way is to take the
recognized spy round the golf links or
give him pegs or whisky and tell him
soft stories as he sits on a stool en-
Toying CD interminable regimental
ricket, then to send or take him home