Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-07
LORD NORTHCLfFFE TELLS
 OF GERMAN SPY SYSTEM
News Sent by Code Through Neutrnl
 Countries to Germany.

News Sent by Code Through Neutrn | Countries to Germany. | Washington, July 6.-Lord North
 cliffe, head of the British missions ir | this country, today authorized publi- | cation of parts of a confidential speecf | on spies and censorship made to tht | National Press Club July 4. He de l scribed the work of spies in England and the floods of fatal information that pour over the cables through neu- tral countries to Germany, and spoke | of the dangers of any except technlca military and naval censorship of the press Only on two occasions m the last month, Lord Northc1iffe said. hao can newspapers that might have been of value to the enemy. The address follows:
 What does not yet seem to be un-
 derstcod here, and what we did no' understand at the beginning of the war is that the really deadly high ex- plosive news is not newspaper news
 out the news sent out by spies is code to neutral countries for transmission to Germany. It is by means of check ing back cables addressed from Eng land to neutral countries that we have
 caught many of our spies.
 Not Difficult for Spies to Get News
 'Tt is not difficult for spies to get
 news Their task is the delivery of
 the goods and on that task they con-
 Centrate.
 "Now that ocean travel has become
 so difficult the enemy spy working in
 your midst is thrown back entirely on
 the cable and one or two steamer
 routes.
 q do not know whether you have a
 mail censorship on letters to Spain,
 but I venture to think that if you
 have not start opening letters to that country you will get as rich haul of information as our secret service department did out of the censoring of American letters to Europe.
 '"The7 cable censor must be remorse- less if he finds constant domestic tele- grams going to one particular place At the risk of disturbing happy homes, he must hold up or destroy the cables. A world of meaning can be concealed behind the words Mother better or Mother going to sea shore
 Divided Into Five or Six Glasses.
 "The German spies are divided into five or six classes, working independ ently of each other
 Some worked under the guiSe of business men, some as servants. Oth- CTS were hotel proprietors and there was a series of spies who moved in good social circles, picking up any in formation they could get. Further, there were the military and naval spies. This kind of spying is regard ed as legitimate among all nations. Carl Lody, whom I saw tried by court martial and who had a passport and spoke American with the slightest German accent, was a legitimate naval spy and was so regarded by our au- thOritieS. who treated him as well as he could be treated in the circum- stances and finally very properly shot him. He was captured owing to on his part. Among other fooHshness, he kept his code in his pocket and therefore knew at the mo- fnent he was arrested that he was to his detection was the cable censor ship.
 Incident Told by Lord Fisher.
 "I can now relate with safety, inas- much more than two years have passed and both the British and Ger man codes have been changed. an in cident told to me by Lord Fisher in the early days Of the war. He had given instructions that eight ships should be cOaled at a port. That same afternoon one of our destroyers picked Ip a wireless from an enemy subma- -ine to another making q rendezvous 1t this very port for the following day and naming the eight ships. The coal ng order was of course at once can :elled. but the incident showed that must have come from in close touch with the gov department concerned. It indeed almost too mysterious -o be true, but 1t was true
 Not Many Submarines Sunk.
 If I may make a suggestion. it is hat the American people should take stories about the sinking of subma- ines with grain of salt. Your news papers have sunk very large fleet of during the last four weeks. Every gunner who fires at a periscope md can see no periscope after the S1 of inly hoc l. submarine. I will give you a little story. A certain man of-war report d that it had fired on a German sub marine and sunk it. An English sub anne location on the same day, re- ported that it had been fired on by German battleship and had dived to scape it. I fear that these constant ,hecll American inventive effort on which the allies rely so greatly
 Picture May Disclose Information.
 "I have no idea of the preparations our government has made for the | censorship of pictures. A picture may asily disclose dangerous information | The Germans have system of enlarg- | ng newspaper photographs to see If | hey can find any valuable informa- ion. Thus when we had been at war | long to invent tanks we lad got wise, as you say here No |
 
 r. other machine of war should be | ublished here
 "As to the censorship in general, if | instructions are given to newspaper | eople, they themselves form the best ensors. Trained news gatherers and | resenters of news are much more in | than the kind of man who | sually drifts into censors' offices. Nei- | her military nor naval men care for | he task Of censorship. They want to | e at the front or at sea Judging " my own colleagues in England, I | elieve the American newspapermen | hould be very largely trusted to do he censoring themselves, provided, of curse, that General Pershing has a ystem such as has been adopted by | fir Douglas Haig, who, while allow 1g the utmost freedom of correspond nts, sees that the despatches are read | nd examined by competent members f his staff. The dangers of misuse f the power of censorship are well nown to those who know what we uffered from the hiding of the truth bout the war for the first two years"