Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1916-01-24
j. S. SECRET CODE
USED BY ENJOYS
IS KNOWN ABROAD
Col. House Will Probably Rec
ommend Change of Cipher
to State Dept.
BY the nited Press.

ny the lnlteu fresS.
BERLIN, via Amsterdam, Jan. "a
The supposedly secret diplomatic
codes of the United States govern
ment are known To practically every
belligerent In Europe, it was learned
today. Colonel T.. NJ. House. who Is
comforting with American ambassa-
dors in Europe as the confidential
agent of President Wilson, will have
this fact impressed upon him before
he returns to Washington. Through
him the state department will be
asked to change its cipher.
1t is now impossible for any diplo-
matte agent of the United States in
Europe to cable a message to Wash
lngton with the certainty that it will
be transmitted without it's contents
being known in Europe. In some in
stances officials of more than one bel
ligerent country can know the con-
tents of such a message before it
reaches Washington.
American diplomats in Europe real
lze officials of the belligerent nations
have not the time to examine all the
dispatches they send TO Washington.
But when these officials know that
important dispatches are about to be
transmitted, as is often the case, they
can be on the alert.
Have Actually Done 1t.
Not only is it possible for European
esi.gerents to obtain such informa-
tion, but it is known that they have
done SO in numerous instances \ dis
patch recently cabled to Washington
by Ambassador Penield, at Vienna, is
an illustration. Penfield used the
usual route, cabling Via Berne and
Paris. He first telegraphed to Berne
that such a dispatch was coming;
then he telegraphed it in code -Four
days later the American minister to
switzerland wired Penfield that his
dispatch had not arrived. Penfeld
forwarded another version, which
arrived before the original message.
'fhe original was mysteriously de-
iayed.
There are now three diplomatic
codes in use by American ambassa-
eSrs said to be from five to seven
years old European governments
change their codes at least three
times every two years to keep them
from falling into the hands OF spies.
Know Daniels Code, Tos.
The "green CODE" supposed to be
the most secret of all, is said to be
we'll understood by agents of Euro
pean countries. The code by which
American naval attaches communi-
cate with Secretary Daniels Is equally
we'll known.
Formerly when Washington sent
note to a European power the en-
bassy, after DECIDING the communi-
cation, always paraphrased it. This
was done so that no code expert in
the employ of a foreign government
could lay the embassy translation by
th~ side of the cabled code message
anS TINS work out the code.
Jlecan.iy there have been several
mistakes that have made 1t simple
rr~atter for experts to learn the Amer
han cipher. The state department
for instance, gave out the copy of
Austria's recent reply to the Amer
lean note as it was translated liter
ally from the American code. Any
belligerent who saw this translation
and then saw the code message as it
passed through the hands of the tele-
graph officials on its way to Wash
ington would have little difficulty
working out the code by use of cipher
experts.
The possibilities of embassy couriers
being bribed to impart information
is another disturbing factor. One
such incident is said to have been
discovered only recently by one of the
American embassies in Europe.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24.-The state
department code experts today said
they felt no apprehension over the in
formation eabled from Berlin by the
United Press telling that codes en-
ployed by this government have be-
come known to European govern
menrs. While they have no way of
being absolutely sure this govern
ment's most secret code is not known.
they insisted they had every reason to
believe it is secret.