The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-09
City Is World Hub for Network
of German Espionage.
Switzerland Fights System, but
Helpless To Eradicate 1t.
GERMAN SPIES VISIT PARIS
Kaiser's SIeuths Openly Discuss
Their Moves at Zurich.
German and American Officials
I in Same Hotel in Berne.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP sIMMs.


Zurich, Switzerland. February IA
.Cby maiD This is the spy center of
the world-the hub from which radi-
:ates the German network of espion-
.age. Nothing the Swiss may do can
prevent it remaining so.
When l was in Stockholm eighteen
months ago, that place was buzzing
with international intrigue. There
was spy behind every column in ev-
tery hotel, the first fiddler in the
sTsigane orchestra probably was in the
tpay of the Germans. There one saw
strange sights. l myself in the
smoking room of the Grand hotel ac-
fcidentally ran into Russian who a
few days before had been pointed out
to me as one of the big guns OF Petro-
grad, in full confab with a man in
icivilian clothes whom 1 recognized as
"a military attache of the German en-
fbassy in Sweden.
Spy Capital Changed.
The spy capital of the world has
.changed since then. This is it.
No neutral country anywhere has
more consistently tried to keep down
Spying inside her territory than has
switzerland. She has one of the
strongest counter-espionage organiza-
itions of any country in Europe. Tire
ilessly. she labors night and day to
prevent or punish spying. But of
course it is a hopeless job. A spy is
no good if he looks like a spy. Only
the little fellows get caught. The
Swiss courts are full of these; also the
Swiss prisons and detention camps.
1 But there are some very clever
lspies. An American official told me
The saw a German naval officer in
Paris recently and Immediately re-
ported his presence to the French au-
liberties. The American had known
M ma q Il
he no mistake. He was able to give
the secret service such a detailed de-
iscription that they recognized who the
spy was.
Tells American of Trick
The call was sent out all over
France. Yet the spy got away.
Shortly afterward, in Zurich, the
american met the officer-spy in the
tBahnhofstrasse. The German laughed.
Thought you had me in Paris,
didn't you?" he said, not at all in ill
5humor.
Pretty slick" the American COM
plimented.
The German chuckled.
Il had dinner at Ciro's three tables
from you that very night. And you
swere talking about me. There was
aSo-and-So, his wife, and our old
friend, Colonel Whathisname, with
lyou-''
All of which was true.
Yet you got away, eh?''
''Sure. And I'm going back to
Paris next week. You might tip them
off. It'll furnish them with something
ito do and won't do me any harm. Sc
long"
Allies Spies on the Job. Too.
The German spy, however, is nc
sbetter than the secret agents OF
France, England or America, as the
work of the United States secret serv-
-ice-to go no further-amply proves
SPerhaps he is not so good even. But
he is legion and what he lacks il
quality he makes up in quantity.
Life in Switzerland, since the war
Is certainly strange. In the finest
ehotel in Berne is living the wife OF
Ian American diplomat. In the same
hotel lives the wife of a German
sbaron, he being one of the military
attaches of the Germany embassy.
These two women were classma ties
in an American collegiate very best
of friends. Now these two American
girls pass each other in the halls OF
4he hotel without even nodding. Il
Heems silly. Yet, were they to speak
tongues would begin to wag at once
TO meet at the home of a mutua
friend would be more disastrous still
sfhey must be as strangers.
1t is all part of the surcharged ant
tensioned atmosphere here. That spie.
5are everywhere; that espions anC
Fcounter-espionS, traitors and. dealer.
in treason are on all sides there car
she not the slightest doubt. No one i.
-above SUSPICION