The Washington times., 1915-07-12

between the United States Government |
md the ,belligerent European powers
turing the last six months. which In |
,ludes Germany's reply to the Lus!-
tania note. How these notes are en-
ciphered, coded, guarded against er-
rors, cabled, deciphered. and their
secrecy preserved. Is one Of the me-
chanical features Of interest In these
communications. While
these important papers come through
the State Department and always bear
the signature of the Secretary OF state.
It Is generally known that President
Wilson drafted and composed the Lusi-
tania notes, which we're then considered
by the Cabinet and later by the legal
star.
with the entrance OF italy into the
war the means of exchanging notes
with Germany were made more DIM
cult. The Lusitania note, sent on june
9, was cabled and telegraphed by the
way of Copenhagen. one
of the previous notes. forwarded
by the French Gable Com
pany was held UP for some unaccount-
able reason for nearly two days. Ihis
was attributed unofficially to delay In
the cause. It was too slow for the Presl
dent. who thereupon ordered the next
ton to 60 by another route:
The procedure OF sending the Iatest
of the Lusitania notes was siinilar .n, IN
as to the route after reaching the
cable terminal. After secretary OF
state Robert Lansing had anlxed hlS
signature to 1t at 1850 p. m. he hana.
Department. Benjamin Davis. who TOOK
it downstairs to the main floor. where
the telegraph and cipher rooms are
situated. The pages Of the note. con-
sistnE alsose.ses di,trepteS ~ among
the cipher clerks, and the work OF en-
ciphering II began Immediately. Ihe
irst page OF the note was cooeo AT
p. m. and an operator began 10 .e
erraph Il from the State Department
20 the Commercial Gable Company's
Office at New York.
Guard Against Errors.
Before important notes. such as
this, are placed on the wire. IL ls the
custom generally TO prove the ac-
curacy of the coding by decipherins II
and comparing the result with the
original. When 1t is thus tested ana
the codinR Is found 70 correspond pre-
ciseiy with each particular word. the
note Ia SO disguised that no one not
having access to the secret cooe oooh
would be able to read or understand
6tnRl0 WOTQ OF IL. HIbuhoSoo'i
in Germany had the only key to the
mysterious characters with which ne
alone vas enabled to unlock the dis
guise and read what the, ngures ana
letters of the code represented.
The code books from which the SYM
hols are taken as represented by figures
and letters, and sometimes by groups
of both, together with spaces. are
kept in locked safes when not IN use.
and are never permitted TO- reach any
koI who nave 10 90
with this particular branch OF the
State Department work. In fact. the
code books Of the state Department arc
guarded with the same visnance as
necessity. tho first duty OF the nava
OFFICER is to throw the code book INTO
the sea. The navy code books are
bound in heavy leather covers SO 'ha'
they will sink instantly.
When the telegraph operator Passea
the telegraph sheets to the caole op
orator. the latter prepared for fiashine
II under the Atlantic by translating tne
note from the Morse code TO the G9h. ,n1.
tinental code OF the cable systems TINS
he did by cutting dots and dashes In a
narrow ribbon of paper passing emo
iessly through a special form OF type
writer having a keyboard contaln'ns a..
the letters Of the all aiphaeet .aocna anp but M in
place OF reproducing the letters and rig.
ures and spaces the cutting ends or tmne m
typewriter keys cut characters In tnt
strip of paper which correspond TO the
letters in the Continental code
Transmission by Cable.
The cable tape is slightly more than q
half inch in width. 1t Is yellow from ar
oil preparation to toughen and facili
tate its movement over the pivot whee
which carries It to the transmission ma
chine close by. In the center OF TIT
strip OF paper, 10 q continuous line o
minute holes by which the little stee
pins Of the wheel move the paper along
It takes nearly yard Of the paper Z
convey the characters Of six saverag
Should the operator make a mistake II
sending. touching the wrong key. or re
peatine word unintentiona,iy n, tS. IN ~
desired characters. and begins again.
As the paper runs under the spool o
the transmitter the message 1t contain
IL conveyed direct to the land wire con
Of metal points topped with platinum
and operating somewhat similar to
music roll in an automatic playin'
plano, although the perforations giv
forth no sound In passing through IN
or" such as used in ordinary telegraphy
| the cable signals may be heard. Usual!
a duplex sounder Is attached at tn
| sending end OF the table, not TOT TN
aid OF the sending operator. but to en-
| able tho supervisor of the operating
room to determine II the cable Is work
ing properly.
| In tha Morse code dots and dashe,
| follow in a horizontal line. Both arr
| aent and read by sound. The cable. ol
Continental code, Ia sent and read onl,
| by sight The reading OF the cable cod
Is more difficult than the operation o
sending, as the perfectly made perfore
| tions in which II 10 started on its 500
miles under the ocean cannot be repro
duced In anything like their orr rigina
| form at the receiving end. Instead. th'
! dots and dashes come out In a continu
| Gus line Of small curves and loops mad
by the syphon recorder. which include
| a needle suspended by a silk thread anC
| carrying a tiny inkwell on the top ar
| ranged to allow the ink to flow through
a hollow in the needle TO the cabl
| paper.
Experts To Read Cables.
| Above and below an imaginery line VI
the center OF the cable tape the record
ing needle moves without a break. push
ing always forward and connecting tn
loops at top and bottom with angula
| lines, The curves. or little loops abov
the imaginary line, arc read as dots
those below are dashos. These loop
arc not always alike. depending upor
l. = aRWN