The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-07-28

\ letter written to John Jay from Paris
/ by one Timothy Jones The letter IS
4 dated just after the outbreak of the
American revolution and apparently
contains only some Information con-
\ corning foreign markets and crops.
4 One cannot but wonder why this doc
Iument is kept carefully in the ar
chives OF the government.
II Careful examination of the sheet
of parchment upon which the letter
is written. however, will show that
the visible letter occupies less than
half the available surface and that
very fine scratches are to be seen upon
the remainder OF the sheet. The
]. scratches are the remains or the firse
oficiai code dispatch ever sent to the
Congress of the United States by It's
confidential agent in Paris, Samues
Deane. The hidden letter is the first
I"code dispatch that ever figured m
the destiny of the United States.
Time has so dimmed the invisible
ink with which the secret portion or
the letter was written that it is i'm
possible to make out it's contents. For
itunately, however, there has been
preserved a copy of the hidden mes
sage which explains the reason for the
secrecy.
What the Message Said.
Deane's secret message read: 4
shall send you, IN OCTOBER, clothing
for 10000 men, 10000 fusils, one
hundred tons of powder, two hundred
brass cannon, twenty-four brass nor
tars, with shells. shot. lead, etc, m
proportion. I am to advise you that
| If, in future. you will give commits
sions to seize Portuguese ships. yoc
may depend upon the alliance anc
friendship OF Spain. Let me urge
this measure. Much may be gained,
nothing may be lost by it. Increase,
at all events. your navy will pre-
cure, II commissioned, any quantity
Of saflcloth and cordage. A gen
era1 war Is undoubtedly at hand IN
Europe and. consequently, America
will be safe. if you battle the arts
and arms OF the two Howes through
the summer Everyone here is IN
your favor"
1t is easily seen that such letter.
had It fallen into the hands of the
British, might have seriously delayes
the progress of the revolutf ton. There
fore. the invisible ink and the harm
less letter on the upper part Of the
sheet OF thee parchment.
from Paris, agents of the state &C.
partment and other branches of the
government have made use of man,
kinds Of secret writing, simple anc
complex. to keep the authorities IN
Washington In touch with foreign az
tivitfes. The necessity for absolute
secrecy in guarding the actions of the
diplomatic agents and the exieencie>
of war have alike compelled the use
Of c'phers of various kinds, from the
"of1cial CODE OF the department o.
state. which is never used for anS
really importants secret message. to
| the codes OF the army and navy. which
are known to but few of the higneS
officials of the service.
| Code Books on Sale.
i One hears much of the value placed
upon the state department code anc
the official ciphers of other nations. In
4 diplomatic circles, however, it is ar
open secret that code-booKs of all the
world powers are on sale in PARIS,
but no one cares to buy them for the
reason that they are never used wher
1 any important message IS to be trans
mitted.
The United States government. as
such, has no official cipher or code to
be used by the entire government. For
ordinary commercial purposes one OF
the more common codes is used, bus
the state, war and navy departments
each has its own code, which IS
changed at least once a year anc
sometimes once month.
At the time of the crisis in the. Mex
lean trouble, for example, the coGe
used by the state department for
communicating with>tts agents in the
interior of Mexico was changed once
month, according to a preconcertec
schedule which covered the entire
year. A simple change IN the az
code utterly tncomprehensible to
anyone who does not possess the key.
even though he have the cookbook at
hand.
The code of the navy departments
consists OF combination OF cipher
words and numerals representing
words and phrases, based on the ac-
cepted principle of commercial codes.
It's operation is further complicated
which are designed to battle amyona
not in the secret
In Canvas Bag.
The cookbook of this cipher IS al
ways kept in a canvas bag. fined with
zinc and heavily weighted. This bag
Is placed in the PERSONAL custody o.
the commanding officer or the ship.
with orders to throw the bag and book
overheard in the event of capture by
the enemy. The advent of wireless
has made this precaution double nee
essary, for the solution of the enc
my's cipher in time OF war might cas-
lily turn the tide Of victory. So care
full Is the navy department in this re-
spect that wireless dispatches are
never given to the press in exactly
the words In which they were sent.
They are first paraphrased in order
to prevent anyone who might have IN
tercepted the wireless from obtaining
hints as to the code used.
Only one American cookbook has
ever been captured by the enemy
the copy on board the frigate. Ches-