Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06

But in Cuba, the story goes, an American got
wind of it, followed the German-Swedish ex-
ample and violated the pouch'S sacred i'm
munity After ALL the news of the German
proposal to Mexico and Japan was not an
utter surprise to President Wilson He had
known since 1915 of German plan to aid
Mexican invasion of Texas.
Almost always success in intrigue hangs upon
communications.
A LIED control of the sea meant control Of
= cables beneath, most of which converged
on London. The British not only prevented
or intercepted German communications, but ap-
propriated trade secrets and business infOrmA-
ton. They would hold up cabled order Of
one-non- British firm to another while a British
firm was tipped of to bid. It was long before
the innocent Americans suspected that.
American cable censorship was under the.
Navy, which checked every message. Some
messages it passed Immediately, some it passed
but read later, some it held to read carefully,
some it changed a little before passing, espe-
cially If they mentioned numbers, and some
never passed at all During the Summer Of
1918 naval censorship sometimes passed cables
to suspect addresses in Switzerland, not despite
but because of, the fact that they conveyed In
formation about our vast war preparations.
That was to show the Germans the futility Of
fighting longer.
A favorite trick of cable or telegraphic censors
was to hold up for a few days any and all
messages from one country to another, no mat
ter how harmless. One allied authority said,
ANY telegram whatsoever, even the simplest,
even the least suspicious, con contain secret IN
formation" How is a censor to know that
Forward IS boxes Of sardineS" means "l5Oth
Regiment Of Infantry Is here" or that sell
5000 bales in February consignment means
5000 men arrived In February?
kilograms to Switzerland Travelled regular
route and passed through q sieve before they
left France. The route was to the Pontarlier
border station via Dion, where Americans as
well as French scanned the kilograms One
American I. P. sergeant snapped his fingers at
royalty and held up messages between a wealthy
American woman and Queen Sophie Of Greece,
the KaiSer'S sister, who was on every allied
suspect list. The messages were IN English
and seemed innocent, but the sergeant took mo-
chances.
Besides travelling messengers, cable and tele-
graph, especially where time was less important,
the Germans used the mails despite the allied
postal censorship. It could scarcely examine
every single letter. Thirty French censors and
eight chemists could not examine all that
came through Pontarlier. The Germans de-
veloped secret inks.
Secret writing fluids run from lemon Juice
and milk and water to those especially de-
is between the lines on note-paper rather
coarse and porous with double coating, vet
in water and dried with linen cloth. In writ.
ing, the paper must not be scratched, 90 q
blunt, ball-ponted pen Of gold or aluminium b
used. There was also white chemical pencil
to write upon purplish paper that absorbed
the marks. Spies did not use the water
marked paper that might be traced. Usually
the Germans developed the writing with iodine
"a hoI roI f7,tsA kHank no1,IA
be washed of afterward, leaving paper and
message apparently untouched.
The messages varied from reports of troop
movements to urgent pleas like the following:
Here the police have their eye on me. Tell
my wife never again to write me letters or post.
cards with German stamp All correspond.
ence should bear Swiss stamp"
Impossible 10 send other communications
1t is dangerous. I must leave the city without
fail" "~A.
"AstoniShed uneasy to have no response to
my messages. appeal to your friendship to-
free me from this fearful uncertainty and
to send me money at once so that can leave"
Those are actual messages the allies READ,
although 1t might take from one to three
months to solve q secret ink.
GERMAN master spies gave their sateliises
secret ink to carry disguised as perfumery
or medicine, With doctors or dentists label.
Colorless. fragrant, harmless, the spy could
drink it II necessary. In time it was dis
covered; so were the dissolvable cough drops
that replaced IT, The allies confiscated toilek
articles and liquids, even draining fountatm
pens Of travellers crossing frontiers Than
came new secret inks
With them messages could be written ON
handkerchiefs, shirts, collars, to be worn dry
and invisible. through frontier stations to
secret rendezvous, to be developed usually with
hot iron. Temporarily this ruse worked so
well that it led to Notwithstanding extra
supplies Of secret ink, usually in womens stock.
ings. Soaked in colorless fluid and dried, the
woman spy wore them on the train. On reach