Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-26

"TASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 1S-A few days
w ago great transatlantic liner was met
W at the dock by armed men. Her more
than thousand passengers were held 1ncommuh-
icado tor tWenty-four hours. Marines with hxed
bayonets walked the decks Everything ABOARD
searched, from letter-cases to boxes OF salVe
Finally the bearer of a code message was located
and taken into custody.
There is famous allegorical painting which
depicts royal ball upon floor supported from be-
low by scores Of bent, tOiling laborers. In the
foreground, the knotted arm of one of these has
burst through the floor where the jewellers gather
about it in amazement. In much the same way
the Great War is undershot by an elaborate hidden
spy system. Kept strictly below the surface hid
den from view few people give thought to its be-
ing and it's power Only and again, in some
dramatic climax, it bursts into view like the fist
of the toiler in the painting. Such climax was
the detention and search of the passengers on the
liner.
This incident was only the elimination of
long and dangerous game of spying and counter
spying and in this instance, America and the allies
the trick Immediately, the game sinks again
from public view. The sequence of intrigue and
strategy that preceded it. the series of new trails
started of reorganization made necessary that fol-
low it alike unnoticed. To the casual observer
of world events, it stands isolated happening,
dramatic unexpected, brief. Of course it is only
a single link in a long chain-a link that was nee
essary exposed to view when the rest of the chain
hidden.
Every warning nation must perforce maintain
spy system. The position of the spy is unique
His is often the most perilous and thankless task
of all. He carries his life in his hand from days
end to days end, playing his game alone under
heavy handicap against the best brains that the
enemy can muster to confOund and undo him. He
faces death not the fever of battle, not backed
and surrounded by comrades, not in the thrilling
rush of a battle in the clouds dash across No
Mans Land but in the coolest of cold blood at the
hands of a firing squad. An atmosphere of much
opprObrum and contempt attaches to the very
name of spy" it is the less evident that
the game often calls for high sort of courage
and devotion.
OF course, there are all sorts of spies, and many
of them deserve the bad name they bear. Men
and women who worm their way into the conf
dence of an unsuspecting and friendly people, who
trade on the hospitality of alien land to undo
their hosts and betray them, will infalliby be re-
garded with and hatred. Even more bitter
" hated is the spy, not uncommon in Europe, who
is not a disguised enemy but a bought and bribed
native. For the pettier forms of spying, such per
sons are often available. A combination of avarice
with some grievance real or imagined, against
the native land, to lead certain types to lis
ten to offers of large of money in return for
information. Their position is not enviable, for
their employers while using them, feel much
contempt for their tools as they would for traitor
of their race
But besides these types of spy. there is the
man who takes up the work in wartime, applying
his wits and risking his life, knowing that his
achievements must necessarily be without public
recognition and his death without record. 1t is
significant fact that soldiers and officers at the
front almost always speak of such with pity.
Poor devil" is the term you will hear oftenest
applied to the spy.
The spies work everywhere. Neutral Europe
is full of them, and this part of the work is least
dangerous. They operate on enemy soil both
sides, and here discovery means a stone wall and
a firing squad. Perhaps the most dangerous part
of the game is that which is played at the front
News of enemy movements. location of important