South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-02-13
Sees Small Group of Unprin-
ciPled Men Working for
Greed, Not Patriotism.

BERLIN. Feb. 1Z.-Cormau spies.
making up that vague. mysterious
army credited with spreading bombs.
M, poison and propaganda in allied
lands. kept the home sector on the
alert until the armistice. Even now
the newspapers occasionally report
German spies or their ghosts stalk
Ing through the land perpctrating
fearful deeds.
A high German officer for many
years an Influential leader in the
great general STAFF. in an exclusive
Interview pulls aside the curtain re-
veaiing Germany's peace time army
o. 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 German spy ecIps.ng all OF
northern France. the shadow fades,
and one finds scattered here and
there wee pigmies Of men, revealing
in their soul nakedncss human vice
and frailty.
spy Stories Popular.
The SPY story was a popular plot
for magazine fiction during the war
The German spy, according 20 the
author. was usually soulless. a devil
incarnate. but leading . dashing life
Of picturesque adventure. a glance
behind the scenes shows more fire.
quently "a weak and shivering soul,
living in ugly sordidncss, experience
ing none Of the devil y-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. 10 pun
ish officers who incur its displeas-
Ure) was in the military intelligence
section Of the general staff when the
war broke out.
How many thousands Of agents
did Germany have in France in
peace time 2" the correspondent
asked him.
Thousands" Herr von-von gave
a sharp look as though he were
>.afraid OF falling into the trap of an
other American joke. Thousands?
How on earth could YOU expect us
10 use a thousand agents in France p
How could YOU keep them en-
ployed ?"
zone OF Americas most popular
weekly magazines published an
article three years ago which showed
how Germany had planted 10000
spies in northern France before
1914. and told 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 al all"
The article stated that the Ger
man agents were badly paid" the
correspondent replied.
One Hundred Spies.
THE truth is we had about one
hundred military agents IN France
when the war commenced" stated
the officer. "Our maxim was quail
fly. not quantity. The popular the
DRY OF using walters, dancers, porters
and the like is the creation Of the
brains OF novelists. We needed
trained military minds.
Even an ordinary lieutenant or
captain I'm the foreign army was of
no value. IL was our practice. and.
as we proved by exposures, the prac-
-~tice Of the French. 20 seek only the
highest officers as agents. a chief
Of state or a general who could give
us mobilization plans was of some
value But a captain in the other
army who could only report that
that regiment so-and-so did close
order drill for three hours this
morning was worthless.
\ Typical Case.
The continental espionage sys-
TEN used by both the French and
Russians IS typihed by the case of