The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1921-02-03

VI Cne mODlllZdJlOn ORDERS. we IlrSJ
secured wind of it by agents in Petro-
grad reporting the removal of large
sums of money from a Petrograd
bank to the Dresdner bank in Berlin.
They could find no business trans
actios behind the money payments.
Investigations disclosed that at stat
ed intervals the colonel came to Ber-
lin under an assumed name and drew
from this account.
"A few days later a committee of
three German and Austrian officers
visited the colonel in his apartment
in Prague. He broke down and con-
fessed and explained how the Rus
treason after which he had accepted
the money and continued in their
service. The senior officer informed
the colonel that he would be given
fifteen minutes to arrange his 'af-
fairs. Whether one of the officers
handed the old colonel pistol as
he walked alone into the next room
I cannot say but in a moment there
was the sound of shot. The colonel
had with his own hand carried out
the penalty for traitors,
Russia Paid Well.
"The reason / am telling you this,
and what was, especially interesting
to the German General Staff, is the
liberality with which the Russian es-
pionage system paid their agents
An examination of the bank trans
actions of the dead colonel establish
ed that the Russian Government had
paid this one agent alone in the series
of years he had been in their service
the sum of 100000 marks. That was
the amount the German Reichstag
gave the German Army to conduct
their military intelligence for an en-
tire year; not for one country, but
the entire world service"
The Germans changed their system
during the war. Money for the work
was more plentiful and there was no
time to carry out the patient plan
ming necessary to the opening OF
sources of information Of the quality
. type. The result was that agents be-
came more numerous and their value
fell accordingly.
One Wild Rumor.
Germany's knowledge of the secret
methods of her own spy service did
not prevent her from falling victim
to the unknown terrors conjured in
her own mind of the dangers from
French and Russian agents.
The first day of mobilization in
Germany many rumor gave the de-
tails of how automobiles were trans
porting French gold straight across
Germany from France to Russia.
I In the excitement of the first days
the General Staff believed the rumor
and issued strict orders that every
automobile chould be stopped by
guards. AS there was a guard about
every mile or two, it meant holding
up and seriously delaying the auto
mobile conriers speeding over the
country with mobilization orders. An
officer who was shot at five times in
getting to the post to which he. had
been assigned estimates that the Ger
man staff's gullibility in believing
such a yarn delayed the mobilization
at least twenty-four hours.
Another testimonial to the reality
of Germany's spy phobia is the wife
of a prominent business man in Ber-
lin. Born in England and a German
by marriage, she was arrested during
the first weeks of the war charged
with being a spy. Again the charge
was ridiculous; she was imprisoned
only a short time, but when she came
out her hair was white. She refused
to disc ISIS he trial. But to the pros
ecutor sincerity in attempting to
prove hyt traitor.
The continental spy system seem
to deperd chiefly on the services of
traitors, not on the resourcefulness
and sang froid of picturesque story
book types. Avarice and greed slim
ulate the service, not fervid patriot
ism.