The Washington herald., 1915-08-19
DANIELS LOOKS
FOR GERMAN Spy
Investigates Providence Jour-
nal Charge that Navy Sc
crets Are Jeopardized.
WRITES TO THE EDITOR
Does Not Personally Believer. How
ever. that Teutons Have Clerk in
Department on Pay Roll.
WRITES TO THE EDITOR

That the Secretary of the Navy will
| authorize an inquiry to determine. if
| possible. what truth there is in a state
ment made in yesterdays issue of the
Providence Journal that clerk in the
| Navy Department is on the pay roll of
the German government and has fur
nished intelligence to German agents,
seems to be assured. Secretary Dan
! iels yesterday addressed a letter on the
subject to John Rathom, editor of the
Journal
The charge of the journal was to the
| effect that the supposed fact of the
presence of the spy" in the depart
ment was communicated to Mr.. Daniels
some months ago in the course of a
conference in which Mr.. Daniels, Mr..
Rathom, ard Capt. Oliver. naval men,
Der of the Neutrality Board. took part.
At that time Mr.. Rathom presented
data which seemed to support his state
ments that the Sayville wireless sta
tion on Long Island, which is con-
trolled by a German company, but
which is now being supervised by the
United States. was sending messages
to Berlin in violation Of the American
neutrality laws.
Secretary Daniels made the statement
yesterday that he could not recall tina {
Mr.. Rathom said anything about a spy
in the department In the coure of the con-
ference in question. Capt. Oliver. who was
present on that occasion, was consulted
by Mr.. Daniels. and he. too. failed to
recall that Mr.. Rathom had communicated
any information Of this chara cter. In
the letter forwarded to Mr.. Rathom yes
terday Secretary Daniels asked for more
details concerning Mr.. Rathom's charge.
Suspicious of Spies.
weeks ago naval officers became suspi-
cious that some one in the department was
, forwarding intelligence to German agents
This was when experts We're making a
test of a piece of the steamer Nebraskan
which had been fired at by a German
| submarine, to ascertain whether the Ne
braskan had been hit by a torpedo or a
mine. The tests disclosed that the dam
age to the Nebraskan was caused by a
| torpedo. About the time the experts
| reached this conclusion Germany sent
note acknowledging responsibility for
the damage to the Nebraskan. This
note came to Washington prior to the
formal announcement of the result OF
the tests. Some officials say 1t is possible
that Germany may have acquired ad-
vance information and anticipated the
claim for damages subsequently made
by the United States.
no a secretary
Daniels and his associates are disposed
to discount the reports concerning the
alleged activities of German spies
Harmless Instrument Found,
Officers of the Navy Department and
Commissioner of Navigation Chamber
lin yesterday concluded their investi-
cation of the report brought to both
departments that secret wireless sta
ton had been erected here to take
off" all messages sent by the Arlington
government station. 1t was discovered
in the residence of a German citizen,
but proved to be a harmless amateur
set of instruments that would be in
capable of doing the work attributed
to 1t.
President Samuel Gompers of the
American Federation of Labor, yester-
day was urged to make public the in
formation he possessed upon which he
based his statement that if the gov
ernment Investigated the efforts to cor
ruptly influence men in connection with
certain strikes II would be fruitful in
results" NJ. Gompers declined.
my desire is to see organized labor
protected from insidious influences and
the safety of my country assured
against such menace of attack" said
Mr.. Gompers. AT such a time as this
I must restrain myself and not talk
too much about this situation. I posi-
lively will not say more at the present
than what I said In my statement pub
lished this morning"
Great preparationS are being made