The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1916-06-01
HOLLAND FULL OF
FOREIGN SPIES
International Secret Agents Fol-
low in Footsteps of All
Travellers.
HAUNT HOTELS AND CAFES
Attempt to Place SpyNn American Min
ister's House Fooled - Marked
Fondness for Things Ameri-
can Among the People.

The Hague.-Holland is full of spies
of all nations, but an overwhelming
majority of them are in the service OF
the central empires.
In Rotterdam the German spy is
everywhere-in the hotels, concert
halls, theaters and cafes. He, in turn,
is spied upon by the paid agents of the
opposing powers, and all of these spies
unite in looking into the affairs and,
when circumstances permit, the pri-
vate papers and correspondence of
new arrivals. Not even the American
minister at The Hague is immune, as
only few weeks ago he foiled
scheme which had for it's object the
placing of spy of one of the belliger-
ent powers on his pay roll as domes-
tic servant.
When / reached Rotterdam / went to
the ever crowded cafe attached to the
Grand Hotel Couymans, and while sat
there, bewildered by the sound of
tongues that outbabeled Babel, dap
per, clean-shaven man, who might have
passed for twenty-five, but really was
about forty years of age, took chair
next to mine and opened the ball by
asking, Are you an Americana"
Also German Agent.
During the next ten minutes he men,
toned the names of score of New
York business men who were-I let
him tell it-intimate friends, and then
he sought to discover why l was in
Holland. AS a reward for frankness
which rivaled his own, and therefore
revealed nothing, he warned me to
guard my papers carefully and never
to leave them in my hotel, as there
were hundreds of German spies about
who would not stop at anything to
gain information for the fatherland.
AS he left the cafe London acquaint-
ance dropped into his vacant chair and
whispered, DO you know the man
with whom you were talking?"
NO" replied, but like his brand
of cigar"
Well" said my Englishman, be
ware Of him; he is a German secret
agent who poses as an American"
l thanked him for his warning, &C.
cepted cigar from him, too, and was
told next morning that he also is a
German agent
This is no place for another T1no-
cent Abroad" was my thought, and ]
quickly left for The Hague, only to
find that had stepped from the fry
ing pan into the fire.
Here l have obtained first.hand
knowledge of the wonderful German
intelligence service which has succeed
ed after nearly two years persistent,
unremitting labor, in converting a sec
ton Of the opulation-whose pockets
have been hit by the blockade-to
anti-British, though not pro-German
views.
"Gott Strafe England"
1t must be said, however, that as a
general rule these propagandists are
shrewder than the agents who were d.
rected by Doctor Dernburg, in the
United States, and they have concen-
trated their energies in the promotion
of Colt strafe England" sentiment
among the Dutch. If they have not
succeeded to the extent hoped for by
Berlin, it is due, not 10 lack of zeal or
effort, but to the common sense of the
Dutch government and people, who,
when the German agents charge that
the English blockade is forcing the
workers of the country into idleness
and compelling the inhabitants to eat
war bread" reply that while England
is undoubtedly partly to blame for the
deplorable state of affairs, Germany,
which has torpedoed and mined many
Dutch vessels, is from this same Dutch
point of view quite as culpable.
There is only one attractive thing
about these spies in Holland-their
money, which they spend freely.