The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1921-02-03
BY Frank E. Mason
(By international News Serviee)


BERLIN, Feb. 3.-German spies
making up that vague, mysterious
army credited with spreading bombs,
flu, poison and propaganda in Allied
hands, kept the home sector on the
alert until the armistice. Even now
the newspapers occasionally report
German spies or their ghosts stalking
through the land perpetrating fearful
deeds.
A high German officer, for many
years an influential leader in the
General Staff, in an exclusive inter
view with the International News
Service, pulls aside the curtain re-
vealing Germany's peace time army
of military spies in France. Shadows
cast by distant light silhouette as
giants the tiniest Of men. AS the light
falls on the giant shadow Of the Ger
T man spy eclipsing all of northern
France the shadow fades and one
finds scattered here and there wee
pigmies of men, revealing in their
soul nakedness, human vice and
frailty.
Spy Stories Popular.
The spy story was popular plot
for mazagine fiction during the war.
The German spy, according to the
author was usually soulless, a devil
incarnate, but leading a dashing life
of picturesque adventure. A glance
behind abe scenes shows more fire.
quently weak and shivering soul,
= living in ugly sordidness, experience
ing none of the devil-may-care thrills
of the magazine villain.
Herr von-von (the name and rank
of the officer must be withheld for
the German military cast still has its
methods such as ostracism to punish
officers who incur its displeasure)
was in the military intelligence Sec
ton of the General Staff when the
war broke out.
"How many thousands of agents
did Germany have in France in peace
time?" the correspondent asked him.
"Thousands?" Herr von-von gave
a sharpe look as though he were
afraid of falling into the trap of an
other American joke. Thousands?
How on earth could you expect us to
use a thousand agents in France?
How could you keep the employed?''
zone of Americas most popular
weekly magazines published an arti-
Gle three years ago which showed how
Germany had planted 10000 spies in
northern France before 1914 and told
r how these agents were organized to
cooperate with the German Army
when war should occur.
"Why, even the Russian Car
couldn't have supported an espion-
age system of those dimensions. We
had sufficient difficulty getting
enough money from the Reichstag to
keep up the work at all.
1.-THE article stated that the Ger
man agents were badly paid" the
correspondent replied.
One Hundred Spies.
1.-THE truth is we had about one
hundred military agents in France
when the war commenced" stated
the officer. "Our maxim was quality,
not quantity. The popular theory OF
using WATERS dancers, porters and
the like is the creation of the brains
of novelists.
even an ordinary lieutenant or
captain in the foreign army was Of
no value. 1t was our practise, and,
as we proved by exposures, the prac-
tise of the French to seek only the
highest officers as agents. A chief OF
staff or a general who could give us
mobilization plans was OF some Vaiue'
But a captain in the other army who
Seould only report that regiment So
and-so did close order drill for three
hours this morning was worthless.
A Typical Case.
The continental espionage system
used by both the French and Russians
is typified by the case of an Austrian
colonel in Prague. This colonel was
chief of staff of the Austrian Army
division which had headquarters In
Prague. He was one of about three
or four officers who knew the secret
notifications plans of his corps which
included some Of his corps. which
included some of the German divis-
ions in southern Saxony. These secret
orders stated exactly where each
unit of troops was to go in case OF
war against Russia. Obviously the
Russians were very anxious to secure
this information.