New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-23
High PricePaid forWOrth-
less Matter, German
Prisoner Says.
ESPIONAGE is FULLY
KNOWN TO ENGLISH
Nearly Every Spy of Enemy in
Britain Said To Be on Scot
land Yards List.
IRy Cable TO The Tribune. !

London, Oct. GA German officer
interned with some other prisoners of
war in the South of Ireland has given
the English officer in charge of the pris-
oncrs some information which throws
interesting light on the German view
of the results of their elaborate sys-
TEN Of espionage. According to this
German officer, il was fully believed at
German headquarters that as soon as
British mobilization was ordered the
transport workers would strike. This
information was conveyed to the Ger
man headquarters staff three weeks be-
fore the outbreak of war and was fully
relied on. According to the German
officer, the information came from a
spy who was supposed to be closely in
touch with the working class organiza-
tions in England. This spy was In Ber-
lin on the declaration of war. and later,
when his information proved entirely
false, he was arrested by the Germans,
which fate has overtaken several other
spies, who evidently have been manu-
featuring information, for which they
are very highly paid. Some of these,
recording to the German officer, have
been shot.
ne nlOSl uclllllc anu apparently "N
curate information kept reaching Ger
man military headquarters up to the
outbreak of the war concerning recruit
ing possibilities in England in the
event of war. All this information,
cleaned from every part of England,
Ireland. Scotland and Wales, was con-
firmed by German military authorities,
in the belief that 100000 would see the
end of England's recruiting power.
The information which the German
government received on this matter and
raid so high price for is especially
interesting in the light of reality:
When no more voluntary recruits could
be obtained in England consumption
would have to be resorted to, and TINS
would lead to political divisions and
break up all chance of political unity.
Such, according to the German oficer,
was the information which the Kaiser
and his military organizers received
and believed. The general election
fought on the question of conscriptlon
was TO be one of the events winch
would lead to England's downfall
somewhere about October or November.
Now. apparently, great distrust OF all
the information received from the spies
who have been working in England pre-
walls in German military and naval
headquarters. and plans based on such
information are continually revised and
altered altogether.
But perhaps the biggest and most
unpleasant surprise that awaited the
Kaiser and his advisers OF the outbreak
of the war was the immediate arrest IN
England Of certain spies, which dls-
closed the hitherto unsupported TACT
to their masters that the business on
which these men were engaged IN Eng
land was fully known to the Englisn
government If there was one tning the
Germans believed more than another II
was that their spies in England were
for the greater part entirely unsuspect-
ed personages. With the exception OF
few highly placed people, from whom
alone the Germans probably received
snv really trustworthy information,
every German spy in the country IS
known to Scotland Yard. as was most
nrobablv the character of the informa-
ton he was giving, and therefore al
loved to give his government. In TINS
connection it is a noteworthy fact that
nearly all the Germans now placed !, IN
confinement in England are OF the we'll
TODD classes.