Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11

OF war ISCOIuS, LIE Hoover wal
Library at Stanford University,
4 has released for publication an
other of the secret documents
in its archives. This document. min
ute of the Russian council of ministers
of July IS, 1914, containing important
evidence on war origins and hitherto
kept secret alike by the Czarist and
Soviet governments Of Russia, is now
to appear in Sidney B. Fay's forthcom-
ing volume on the origin of the war.
When this library two years ago per-
mitted the publication of similar doc
ument, the European press picked up
the news with interest. But there was
surprise and skepticism at the notion
that facts of such obviously European
interest should be coming to light in
California Many Europeans still think
of the Western United States as a land
of the cowboy, Indian and buffalo. They
felt about the Hoover library disclosures
as we would feel If we were to hear
that an interesting United States Sem
ate document had just been disclosed
in Timbuktu. They have now come to
realize that through Hoover's timely &C
tivity there has been preserved in the
Hoover War Library at Stanford Univer-
sity records of the war reconstruction
period accessible nowhere else In the
world.
Forehanded Policy.
AS result of Hoover's forehanded
policy in rescuing from loss and dis
persion a great mass of historical ma
terial which, in the postwar crisis Eu-
ropean libraries, starved of funds, were
unable to preserve, scholars from abroad
nov come trooping to America to study
aspects of European war history; Euro
pean libraries borrow essential docu-
ments on European affairs and even
European governments themselves have
sent agents here to find documents
which are lacking in their own archives.
Since its beginning in Paris in 1919
the Hoover War Library has become a
great international organization, with
acquisitions now amounting to over
100000 volumes Agents of the library
are sent on missions throughout Eu-
rope In organizing this institution,
Hoover followed his usual method of
making use of expert counsel. A body
of directors. representing branches of
the social sciences, controls it's policies,
and European scholars serve as curators
in their respective countries. supervising
the collection of material there.
An air of mystery pervades the dim
vaults and stacks of the Hoover War
Library. Many are the secrets Of state
awaiting disclosure, tangles of espionage
as yet unraveled, dramas of personal
experience never told. that are bound
up in the volumes that fill the long
tiers of open shelves awaiting the pa
tent investigation of students.
Secret Service Reports.
Here in heavy brown bindings stands
2 series of secret service reports made
by spies of the British war government,
edited by Max Mueller for the foreign
office and printed under the red-letter
heading which is used for British state
papers which are to be kept secret.
Nearby stands a bulky volume printed
on blue paper and marked "confiden-
tial" on every page. 1t contains weekly
budgets of private letters which the
officials of belligerent
copied out of the neutral mails
which passed through their hands.
This red-bound volume is a file of
Libre Belgique, the little newspaper Sc
cretly published by Belgian patriots in
Brussels under the very noses of the
German military government. And
here is a set of the Polish Documents
of the Moment" another contraband
publication produced by hid
den printing press and circulated in
defiance of the Austrian military au-
thorities.
This thin black pamphlet which one
pulls idly from the shelf falls out of
ones hands and hits the floor with a
thud. It's innocent black
covers contain sheets of lead, and bear
the significant hint, This book is
weighted with lead and If thrown over
board will sink" 1t is volume of Brit
ish admiralty instructions for British
merchant captains who encounter enc
my submarines. The captain of a cap
tured vessel could keep valuable infor-
nation from reaching enemy hands by
tossing the book overheard.
One From Kaiser's Library.
Conspicuous in it's green and gold
binding is a German book, THE Or
ganiZation of the Russian Army" pub
lished in 1912. 1t bears the bookplate
of William II and came, in fact, from
the Kaiser's private library. This very
volume may have fatefully influenced
the German ruler when in the crisis Of
1914 he decided that Russian mobili-
cation meant war.
Huge sets of official government pub
LEGATIONS are ranged on either side of
the long central aisle on the main floor
of the library These heavy red vol
umes on the left are the French par
liamentary papers and administrative
reports. Nearby are similar German
government publications. Nor are the
smaller governments neglected. In ad-
dition to the government documents of
the principal European powers. the Ii
brary contains such sets as the official
OF the CeyloneSe govern
ment lin PalD and the documents of
the Tasmanian government A set of
administrative reports. bound in heavy
silk and lettered in gold, is the gift of
the King of Siam to the Hoover War
Library.
Important Documents.
In the steel vault which occupies one
corner of the main floor are deposited
under seal those documents which,
though in the possession of the library,
are not available for study. The ma
terial which Hoover has brought to-
gether includes many important manu-
scripts, which were placed in his hands
with the condition that they be kept
the policy of the library to maintain
depot where such material may be pre-
served in perfect safety according to
the restrictions imposed by the donor.
Here in the locked vault may be found
sealed packets of letters. diaries and
other documents which are to be
opened for the first time so years from
now. Other ClossierS. in accordance
with the pledges made upon their ac-
ceptance at the library. have already
been opened to the use of scholars.
Some of the restrictions are curious