Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-07-23
4tically stopped, and that Sweden has
been forced to draw on the supply Of
the T1pjtnd Sto tor EgNA slns "a @f

~
the United States. y
In the preceding two articles it was
shown that the Scandinavian govern
ments are doing all they possibly a
to prevent re-export Aof imported
goods to the central powers. that they,
in fact, are cooperating with the
government in Washington although
ton with the European allies are
making great efforts to force the o
thern countries to recede from their
neutral stand.
Repeated assurance have been
given to the effect that the Scandi-
navian countries r maintaining an
absolute neutrality. The allies expect,
however. h the neutrality must be
benevolent only toward their govern
ments. Any indication Of goodwill
shown toward the central powers is
taken as a sign of hostility to the
..allies. But-one nay we'll ask, how
can aScountry remain neutral and at
the same time obey the commands Of
one group of belligerents? Neutrali-
ty, In its wider application, is gener-
ally taken to mean that there is no
difference in the attitude toward bell
ltgerents. The allies, nevertheless,
seem to think that neutral European
countries should invite the hostility
OF the central powers, and the Ameri-
can export embargo Is really the most
powerful step taken in that direction.
Papers arrived from Scandinavia
during the last few days contain news
articles which give the reader a vivid
the three small countries have to
bear. S NJ
! Denmark six persons have re-
Gently fbeen arrested on a charge Of
commercial espionage; five of the in
dicted men have confessed, and the
sixth ts placed in such a situation that
his plea Of not guilty will be of no
avail. The story is.a as follows:
a fisher from the city OF Aar-
hus had noticed a couple of men who
were always together conversing in
German and evincing a peculiar in
terest in the hours Of departure and
the cargoes Of steamers lying In the
harbor Of Aarhus. He had also OBJ
served that they were making nota-
ions IN their note books and thought
that their actions generally were rath-
or suspicious. He then informed the
military authorities of his observa-
tons. and Lieutenant-Colone Ulrich
Of the Danish army reported the mat
ter to the police. Shortly afterward,
three German citizens were arrested
after being pointed out by the fisher.
To begin with, the Germans refused
to give any, Information, but when
they were given separate hearings and
without being allowed to consult with
each other, they told the authorities
that they were agents for q fish i'm
porting nee in Hamburg. Two
Of the men soon declared that the
third one in the party, Merchant
Publiee. Is years old, was the gen.
eral agent OF the Hamburg firm. They
further stated that when they had
been seen so much at the harbor it
was simply because they were look
Ing out for their legitimate CONNER
lice that theyNwould gladly submit to
having their residences examined. De-
tectives found, of. course, only a few
innocent looking sheets Of papers,
which apparently confirmed the mems
statements that they were agents for
the fish import concern In Germany.
But suddenly the detectives discov-
a peculiar sound coming from the lin
ing of Mr.. Publiee's vest, and an In
vestigation revealed the fact that a
very thin scrap of tissue paper had
been pasted OF the inside Of the An-
ing. This was the key to a secret
code. Here is what some Of the COM
mercfal terms, written on the tissue
paper, really meant:
Ten bushels Of herring-Commer-
cial steamer.
Tenscore eels-Submarine.
Twenty lbs. salmon-torpedo boat.
"A hundredweight codfish-Cruiser.
Twenty pounds f1ounders-battle-
ship. E
Furthermore. there was a long list
OF words which plainly indicated
names Of ships and ports. etc, and
this discovery made it evident to the
police that the men were not only
commercial. but also military spies.
The Hamburg firm whose agents
the arrested Germans were. ID
Kunardt & Co., which, true enough,
trades In imported fish. But It was
soon found out that while the dirm
was a bona-flde commercial concern,
it's correspondence dealt chiefly with
subjects Of espionage in a wider sense,
The papers found in the residences OF
the arrested men proved to be i'm
mense1y valuable.
Kunardt & Co. had given their
agents a. written acknowledgement OF
receipt of each Jcablegram the agents
had sent, and by reading. these re-
ceipts, seemingly 10 unimportant and
innocent, the Danish authorities came
to the conclusion that the three men
had really been devoting practically
all of their time and efforts to milf
tary espionage. It was even discoy-
cred that at least n Of the steamers
-