Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-10-08
USED CHINAMEN rs SPIES.
THE JAPANESE HAD A HIGHLY
EFFICIENT SECRET SERVICE.
Disclosures in Regard to the Late War
Which Emphasizes the Need Of Re-
organizing the System in the Ar
mics of Europe.

mics of Europe.
During the war between Russia and
Japan. Manchuria was inhabited by
spies and soldiers. There was, it is
true, conflict in the open field-the
one we all read of in the newspaper
dispatches with the alphabetical jun
BILE for the names of places; and there
was another contest going on, as ii
were, underground. We shall not
know how the Japs did in their con,
duct of the elaborate spy system, save
as the Russians tell of it in their pres
ent discussion, among themselves, OF
the Russian secret service. The dis.
closures take the form of an exhibit
of Russian failure in an important
developed with the mysterious, hidden
elements of communication.
We may absorb this Russian story
of defeat and failure, as it is trans.
lated from the reports which have
now become accessible; it is import.
ant to this country just now because
it throws a side-light on japanese
methods. 1t is well to know of them
in advance of whatever may happen,
instead Of learnings things when it's
all over, as the Russians did
In the first place, the Russians had
to put their main reliance upon the
Chinese residents of the district with
in the zone occupied by the military
forces. and they speedily discovered
that the Japs had corraled most of
those willy persons by various devices.
The Chinaman hates the Jap with an
abiding cordially, but the Jap over
came the prejudice by dexterous in
fiuences. The Chinaman is a suscep-
tible creature under some blandly
commercial stimulation: but he is
also cruel and vindictive with a
strange mixture of generosity and
sentiment. He was tough customer
in the Manchurian problem of the
pestered Russian, who never once
arose to the occasion of the alert de-
ception habitually practiced by the
ingenious Jap. One incident, remark
able for its originality, shows to what
extremity the Japanese went in be-
fuddling the Russians
1t is described in this report, filed
by Russian officer upon the Russian
system, that one of the Chinese spies
brought in a gaiter which he said had
been picked up at Kan-ping-san. and
this was identified by the interpreter,
also Chinaman, as having mark
which showed that it was once the
property of certain private of the
first company Of the Twenty-sixth Ia
kahira infantry regiment. About the
same time, another spy arrived at an
other headquarters with another gait
er, which he said he had picked up at
Kaikai-yuan. The marking was the
same as that of the gaiter picked up
at Kan-ping-san, and according to the
sign it should have belonged to the
same Japanese soldier, who must, in
deed, have made a gigantic step to
have lost the two CATERS at such
widely separated places. An investi-
CATION was instituted and the Russians
found that the Japanese had .estab-
lished at Ta-fa central agency where
Information was doled out to Chinese
spies for the edification of the Rus
Sans. Not only that, but articles were
manufactured to the end that these
same Chinese hirelings of the Rus
slams might have documents" to
show that they had been here and
there and picked up relics belonging
to the enemy. In fact, the Japanese
exhibited a keen shrewdness in this
little detail of operating to counter
purpose against the Cinnamon who
were employed by the Russians The
Japanese. therefore, were able to use
the Russian spies for Japanese pur-
poses, and in the end to outwit the
Russians at every turn. This was so
much the case that the Russian Off
Ger who describes the situation says
that on some occasions the Russian
spies disappeared by the hundred,
taking their permits with them!"
Then. there were such difficulties as
finding spies who could read or who
could even tell what they had seen.
Most of them knew nothing of badges
or insignia of rank, not to mention
the important military operations or
situations of which they had been the
wooden spectators. For all the good
the system did the Russians in send
ing out Chinese to take in a situation
within the Japanese lines. they could
as probably put in their time contem-
plating the laundry ticket of an Orien-
tai establishment in our own Oshkosh
The Japanese exercised so careful
a watch over the Cinnamon whom
they imagined to be in the employ of
the Russians, that they established a
permit system and when a Chinaman
was found in the zone of operations
without pass, or who was unable to
fully account for his presence, he was
promptly buried alive-at least this
is the charge made by the Russian of
ficer, who is philosopher enough to
observe that it is small wonder the
Cinnamon fiocked over to the Japanese.
and thst even when apparently with
the Russians they were there for the
purpose of aiding the Japs.
These disclosures have served to
emphasize the need of a thorough Sc
cret service in the armies of Europe,
and probably those in charge of the
system of information have been duly
impressed by the adro,tness of the
Japanese, although under other con-
ditions and elsewhere, the military
experts say they are not likely to en-
counter such difficult conditions as
were created by the uncertainties of
the Cinnamon The Russians are led
to observe that their officers. if they
are going to have work in the Far
East, shoald acquire the Oriental Ian
guages. and that military training
hereafter must take into considera-
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