Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-08-15
SPIES At CAPITAL Al
Guards and Doorksepers Serve
No Purpose.
Recent Theft Of the Plans for New
Battieship Not IN Isolated Case
nia Business Interests Seek II.
slnsids information"

Il
Ainslds information"
Washington.-The furry occasioned
here recently by the disclosure OF the
1 fact that certain tracings Of the plans
for the projected new battleship Penn
| sylvania had been stolen from the
navy department served to enliven q
| dull period and add note OF excite
ment to the waning discussion OF the
California; Japanese crisis"
The officials OF the navy department
seem entirely in good faith IN their
| declaration that the missing tracings
are Of comparatively small importance,
and do not disclose any naval secrets
| which would be of value to anybody.
The experience has been q valuable
| one, II only because 1t has brought to
notice q condition of carelessness and
loose management making 1t possible
for any person in or out OF the depart
ment to purloin papers or other things
Of value. The same is true OF nearly
all Of the departments. The corridors
Of all the public buildings are lined
with so-called doorkeepers and mes.
sengers: more than would be needed
to guard the treasures of royalty. Gen.
orally speaking, they serve no purpose
whatever except to multiply the an
noyance OF persons having legitimate
business in the department. Right un-
der the noses Of this horde OF hang.
ers on, and Of regiments Of clerks-to
say nothing Of bureau chiefs-infor-
nation of supposed value is taken. and
no one the wiser
Evidently the drawing first stolen
was Disappointing: for several weeks
later duplicate, presumably IN q
more finished condition. was stolen
from the same room.
And there have been other thefts
since of things of lesser value, but all
contributing to indicate that some one
within the navy department was
guilty. As usual, the empty stable was
carefully locked and a force Of de-
tectives was set to work to watch
every person who might have access
to the place.
1t is typical Of the present state of
the public mind that there should be
all this furore over a thing OF this
kind, affecting the subject of war. The
theft of a so-called military secret"
is received with a gusto attaching to
no other kind Of theft. Espionage Of
forts and ships and such like is no
doubt terrible thing. and the foreign
spy" or domestic traitor who does X
should be forthwith arrested and Wis
tied with dire penalties.
Yet upon second thought one won
ders Of what special use it would be to
q foreign naval commander to know.
however infinitely, the system Of cleo
trio wiring on the ship with which he
was going forth to do battle. With
which Of his heavy guns will he aim
so accurately as to cut the slender
nerve that controls the forward turret
or all the turrets of the .enemy? Gun
merry has attained remarkable perfec-
ton. no doubt; but hardly has 1t
reached the point where the location
of wires becomes part of the cur
riculum of the gunner.
AS for the general plan and con-
struction of the battleship, everything
practical that one could learn from
drawings may be observed by any Wis.
itor upon the beautifully accurate
models of the ships of the United
States navy which line the corridors
of the navy department and afford
material for the eloquence of Score
Of guides. =
1t Is most likely that some poor
creature in one OF the navy depart
ment bureaus saw in these drawings
for the Pennsylvania, so ready to his
hand and unprotected by even the
most superficial system Of care,
chance to peddle. supposedly valuable
secrets to the naval attache CT some
foreign embassy. In any club OF
Washington you can hear plausible
tales Of this sort Of thing. the nation
Of the alleged offender varying with
the nationality Of the narrator. -
+ Now. YOU must be careful of the Gel