Evening star., 1915-12-12
Talking Aloud Dangerous
in England Nowadays
Special Correspondence OF The star.

! LONDON, December !, 1915.
TT THERE is little chance of Il German
spy remaining at liberty in Eng
land these days, There was time
when there was a great deal of spy ac-
! tiyity. professional and amateur. but
now the evil has been stamped OUT OF
| at least so the authorities believe. IL
is accepted as an axiom here that every
German or pro-German person is a po-
! tential spy, and in way the same
thing can now be said of every Eng
lishman.
| 1t is unsafe these days for any oile
| frankly to express his opinloh' iol
everywhere there are ears 10 ileai, "i
| the slightest comment on the pFosi
| of events which is unfavorable 10 'he
British is more than likely 10 rea.n
Scotland Yard, where the alreaos e
| cient staff of detectives has peeh aug
meated SO that no tip, no mater Nv"
| trivial it may appear on the surlaoe'
| is not thoroughly Investigated IL
ma rticularly undesirable for foreisnei
| tn nernit himself to say anything ae
ropatorv of England or the allles' or
ANYTHING favorable about the Gerhiahs .
! Americans. who are easily spotted oS
,ooart are marks of suspicion
for the people here are now tho. ' ous s'
familiar with the "hyphehateo A ~
loan An Englshman may say of o,ll'.
things about ms s;t,,ntinn in the
ga binet ministers, the SITUATION III .iie
Dardanelles and so on, ana nothiiis
may happen, but for an Amerlcaii VI VI
other neutral foreigner 10 empress
similar opinions is, to say the least III
judicious. :. small
town adjacent to London an American I,al
family of q semi-Germah naihe,
man of the family was American 10 lne
core, ardently pro-aliy IN his
natbies and long resident of England
Rut unuuestionably his name had
German tinge. No sooner hao ne sI..
tied down than he had VISIT from the
nolice. He explained his status to them
mite satisfactorily. showing his pass
nort, and has had no further troupie III
NAT quarter But his wife is having dif-
ficult. es.
,ccount and was received with con-
siderable suspicion. 1t was with some
difticulty, and only after she had been
Identified by other customers OIL thls
seller of meat. that she maze arraise
ments for providing her family with
food. At other shops she encountered
similar difficulties. The baker asked her
quite frankly if she was German, with
an air that indicated that if she was
1t is said that Scotland Yard gets
hundreds of tips day from outsiders,
besides those the police themselves
pick up, Every one is Investigated, and
more than one unsuspecting person has
received a surprise visit from an agent
from 1.-The Yard who politely asks
what he meant by saying SO and 20 and
who was he and where did he come
from.
The Yard isn't unreasonable about it
at all. and a great many. innocent but
careless people are bothered because
no clue shall pass unnoticed. Thou
sands are investigated. Most come to
nothing. but once in while the police
find something worth knowing.
1t used to be considered funny to
make hippant remarks in German in
these parts. \ playful 'gesundheit in
this atmosphere was at ono time anus
ing. II isn't any more, and, except for
til" foolish. people have given it up.
Scotland Yard gets Information from
all quarters. 1t is said that servants
bring in many tips. They overhear
conversations of the hearthstone, often
they repeat only fragments that sound
bad, but when linked up with the whole
dicate nothing.
1t is especially unwise to talk politics
in restaurants, for people at nearby
tables are always listening, while wait
too. Sometimes there is spite work. A
dismissed servant will rush off to the
police and tell terrible tales.
In one of the great hotels here there
is a smoking room where each evening
before dinner many congregate to talk
things over. including all sorts of army
officers and many Americans. Living
in the hotel there is Il Hollander. His
presence is doubtless known to the po-
lice. and he is probably perfectly inno-
cent. But he is inquisitive.
He comes into the smoking room and
looks about. He has an unfortunate
habit of listening to conversations and
of sizing up every officer in the place,
glancing at all his insignia. He is al
ways alone and never talks to any one
1t happened that. on one occasion there
was a war correspondent who recoe :
nized the stranger as one he had seen
in Rotterdam and The Hague.
Consequently the man is now under
suspicion. If he doesn't get into some
! little difficulty 1t will be surprising,
FOR by his manner and his intense and
| ill-concealed interest in everything
going on around him he is simply ask
| ing for trouble.