The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-08-03

Hundreds In A7anehuria Are Drawing
Maps and Destroying Bridges by
Night-Love OF Country the Prime
Mover OF Their Colossal Tasks.
Volunteers Greatly Exceed Demand.
Japan has military institution which
is unique, so far as l am able to learn,
says VIII Lexington Comfort, staff
correspondent OF the Pittsburg Dis
patch, writing from Hiroshima, Japan
This institution is known rs the school
for spies.
II the empire triumphs In this war
no small part Of the credit viii fail
upon her secret agents, and, strangely
enough, II she fails the balancing re
sponsibillty will rest upon the Japanese
traitor who baffied and brutallzed his
nation for st. Petersburg gold. But the
story Of the treacherous lieutenant
colonel has already been written.
It will be remembered that nine Sc
cret agents of japan forfeited their
lives to positively prove the existence
Of a Benedict Arnold in Tokyo. The
nine were sent TO different points along
the Yalu and the Transsiberian railway.
They were utterly disguised. They not
only had the shoulder strength Of Chi
nese coolies, but the dullness of eye,
the opium pallor, the intonation Of
voice, the immunity to suffering. They
thought in Chinese" Hundreds of
coolies were about them. The nine
were picked out by the Russians with
ease and executed without trial. Some
one in Tokyo had furnished St Peters.
burg, by messenger probably to Chefu,
and from there by the private Russian
wire, the descriptive lists of the nine
Japaaase-Spies and the points to which
they were assigned The fact that the
emperor, the elder statesmen and the
general stan alone knew of the sending
of the nine spies simplified the appre-
hension of the culprit.
The japanese spy does the hardest,
the dirtiest and the most dangerous
work OF the army. He draws no more
pay than other officers of his rank
His stupendous tasks, his granite cour-
age are unknown By the people. Single
handed he may delay for ten days a
hundred thousand of the enemy, and
though his achievement may be ap
plauded in the palace, the world never
knows. He is denied all the tender
things of life-al the amenities! He
has not even d comrade Of his rank or
people to share his yearning or stay
his ebbing zeal in the wreck of bitter
things He can neither write nor re-
ceive letters. He cannot hope, because
hopes make dreams and dreams cause
mutterings In the sleep. He cannot
sigh. yet he has to think!
He carries the greasy impediments
OF a private Of the enemy by day and
draws maps by the light of the moon.
More often than not he Is forced TO eat
his work, lest 1t be discovered By some
stealthily approaching officer of the
day. All day long he may lug ties and
set rails under the blows and verbal
orders Of Russian corporal-and de-
stroy his work and that of a thousand
others under the cover Of darkness.
He Is brigade in himself, and his
weapon Is dynamite. He is the germ
that finds the vital tissue OF the foe
and bores there, and as he bores he
breeds black death.
He wages an uphill fight, not one
against ten, but one against an army.
He carries powder where other men
carry rice. If the grains leak, the
price of the accident is his life. If
other men ask why he does not eat, he
groans that he Is i'll and cannot. If
there comes crucial moment when |
the enemy must be stopped by shat
tered right Of way or broken bridge |
for the good Of his own army, and |
there is no opportunity for working In |
secret, be cuts the fuse very short,
covers the flying sparks with his own
body and smears the triumphant de- |
bris with fragments Of his own flesh.
Common coolies die in harness. If
he comes unto death, he must mark
that his dying be silent for word Of
meaning dropped from ungripped lips
would kindle the increased vigilance Of
suspicion ana hamper the work Oh LIS /
fellow spies in other fields.
And what does he do these things
for? Neither for wealth nor woman.
Even If he survives, his achievement
must be kept secret because Of wars
to come. 1t cannot be fame, then, be-
cause fame IS anhpodal to secrecy. If
you will believe it, a thing called love
Of country Is the prime mover Of his
colossal tasks and his quick, unhal-
lowed death. Love OF country
In other wars one hero, or two per
baps, stand out like Kohinoors against
the serried face Of history. their careers
inspired by .love OF country unrnlu
gated by self. In Manchuria at this
moment there are hundreds, each
candle fame haring in tempest.
L believe that the department Of spies
in the Japanese army is the most as
founding structure Of our time Their
bodies are mortars In which various
sorts Of violent death are compounded,
and yet the applicants exceed the de-
mand threefold, and like number Of
the volunteers who offered to bottle up
porf Arthur with the Tf0kOkO MarlI +