The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-21

of the codes and ciphers were ridicu-
lously simple, while others were in
tricate, of kind In fact to require
the services of the best decipherers
to wrest from them their meaning.
Attempts to communicate informa-
tfon by the written signs ranged all
the way from ordinary English, Ger
man, French or some other language,
written in invisible ink, TO the most
elaborate cryptogram that the mind
of man could conceive. When a letter
from suspect was intercepted and
the envelope opened, the presence of a
blank sheet of paper inside meant al
most invariably that the reading of
the hidden message was to be an easy
matter. The dipping of the sheet into
chemical solutions or its exposure to
heat usually made the writing visible.
Isolated Language Discovered.
In the service of the government
during the war there was a professor
of one of the great American univer-
sites. He was given a commission as
captain and his work was that of
deciphering, and, generally speaking,
putting into plain English the stuff
which was supposed to be so written
as to be beyond the range of explica-
ton by the experts.
This university professor, who is
well known In the West, although per-
| haps his particular gift in the matter
of ciphers is not as well known as
puzzled an unusual length of time by
letter which was handed to him to
be put into English.
One glance at the writing showed
him that the letter was not a cipher
nor a code, but was some kind of an
actual language. He found traces of
this language and that language in the
letter. and after about forty EIGHT
hours of work ne had translated the
whole thing perfectly. This letter
turned out to be an innocuous one,
! but from it men learned that in one
part of the Balkan area language
| Is spoken by few thousand people
which is a mixture Of the languages
of three or four countries, and in con-
siderable part Is a combination of
peasant words, and of slang words
which would not pass muster in an
academy of letters.
The letter in question was written
| by man who came from that part of
| the Balkans, and he wrote it just as
he would have spoken it. There prob
ably were not more than five or six
thousand people in the world. and
| these remotely removed from America,
! who could have read the epistle at
sight
Americans Bold in Treason.
The British became experts az quick
solution of cipher puzzles, and they
passed some of their knowledge on to
| the American officials. 1T was not al
ways necessary to employ an expert
to read what one American suspect
would write to another. There are
| some Americans today who are known
| TO the authorities to have sent writ
ten communications which, if they
have been "a letter or two more adj
vanced toward the field of treason,
would have landed them behind the
bars. or If this country had been like
other countries, put them before a fir
| ing squad.
1t was amazing how some American
| citizens who were more kindly in
elined to the enemy than to their own
country would put down their thoughts
in plain English, and sometimes out
line actual schemes to hurt America
and help the enemy.
In these cases where there was not
sufficient evidence from the letters to
arrest man, but plenty of evidence
| to show that the writer was an enemy
| sympathiZer, no direct action was
taken, but there are good many citi-
! zens of this country today who pre-
| sumably are respected by their neigh
| bors, but VINO are not at all respected
| by men who saw service In the in
| telligence department OF the govern
ment during the war;
| 1t would be mighty interesting read
Ing, spectacular, sensational reading,
If the letters which the government at
one time had in its possession were
to be made public in this day. Uncle
| Sam was very easy on men and women
who showed willingness to be "Ar-
| nolds' in the World war;