The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-11-25
USE OF SECRET CIPHERS.
Justified by Reduced Expense and
Public Policy.

Public Policy.
Considerations of expenses and
sound public policy, both in peace
and war, compel all governments to
communicate with their diplomatic
and civil officers in ciphers and by
telegraphic codes.
Cipher experts,call communications
in which each word is used in it's or
binary sense plain language mes
.sages, ineligible at sight, of course,
to any reader of the language en-,
ployed
sCode messages are those in
which each word; phrase or sentence
! ofgthe plain language meant to be
understood between the sender and
receiver is represented in the message
by an arbitrarily selected word or
group of letters taken from tele-
graphed dictionary, a copy of which
is In possession of all concerned, and
to which reference is made to ascer-
tain the real meaning of the commu-
nication.
IA cipher is any means of giving
i language, hidden or secret mean
ing, Understandable, at least in the
ory, only to the initiated, and either
plain language or a code message
may be enciphered, in which case the
latter is said to be cipher CODE
Telegraphic codes are employed
primarily for economy, cable tolls be-
ing reduced by causing one word,
which is transmitted and paid for,
to represent several plain language
! words, which on receipt of message
the receiver looks up in his tele-
graphic dictionary or code book. Such
codes are common in the commercial
world. All large industrial concerns
have them, and several publishers
find their sale profitable. They
range in size and completeness from
small booklets to huge volumes OF
hundreds of pages, comprising
enough phrases for the coding, Of
messages on any ordinary commercial
subject.
Government codes differ from
these principally in containing thou
sands of words and phrases peculiar
to the public business, the technical
Language of far more diplomacy and
war. They are far more adaptable
too, ITO enc1phering for secrecy.
IN handling it's communications
) our government, in it's several
branches and departments, uses all
the leading commercial codes. These
1T Supplements by private codes held
5 confidential in the service, and pre-
pared by it's own officers and experts.
The State department employs a code
bearing its name, copies of which are
&in the Office of the secretary of State,
/. and in the hands of our diplomatic
and consular agents everywhere.
The war department telegraph
code, revised and distributed from
the Office of the chief signal officer
iof the army, is kept under lock and
Key IN the department, in the Office
of every post commander, in the
headquarters of every army force in
the field, and is issued individually
tosevery officer of the United States
signal corps. The navy likewise has
aJcode of its own, and each OF the
three departments mentioned uses,
when necessary, the codes OF the
other two. :,
One of the most used and jealousy
guarded government codes, that OF
the bureau OF insulaF affairs, never
has been printed. It's compiler, an ex-
pert codist III the Office of the chief
5of that bureau, personally typed it on
thin sheets, making four copies which
then were bound One was sent by
special messenger to the governor
general of the Philippine Islands, an
other to the governor of Porto Rico.
J third was retained in the bureau,
and the fourth is in the hands OF
trusted government officer who .for
confidential reasons cannot be named.
other copies exist, and the four
made are guarded with the utmost
( vigilance. It is the vehicle of secret
communication between the govern
ment and our colonial possessions and
Is, the only government code in whose
certain secrecy absolute confidence is