The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-13
SPY NETWORKS
 COVER EUROPE
 LIKE IN S14-18
Masternlinds in Espionage ReIegate Women to
 Minor Roles
By RICHARD D. MCMILLAN tUnltea Press Stan Correspondent

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 NUnlted Press Stan COrrespondent)
 vienna, Dec. 13--(UP) The spy organizations of Europe, especially B those under the direct control of the big powers, are working under great pressure trying to urlravel the plots and coslnter-plots which are developing around the 1talo- Ethiopian war.
 At no time since the World War, when the capitals of both the flght- ing and neutral nations were over- run with men and women operators for the intelligence services, has espionage activity been in such full blast or in such deadly earnest.
 The beautiful blondes or bru- nettes, the post-war iInitators of the glamorous Mata Hari, who died at the shooting post at Vincennes fortress before a French firing squad, no longer are the central figures in the international spy ring, because the work to be done today is for the nasterminds alone who themselves have the political and diplomatic game at their fingertips and know the significance of every move.
 Women in Minor Roles
 The women spies employed by the European governments are usually seductive "femmes fatales" who were charged with enticing young officers into their coils to extract secrets about defence, about new war wapons or new military tactics.
 Today 1t is the intelligence serv- ice itself which is at work, trying to pierce through the veil which has been hung around the diplo- matic and secret negotiations be- tween the chancelleries as each power tries to jockey itself into the most favorable position either on the side of the Italian bloc or the anti-Italian bloc led by Bri- tain and half-heartedly supported by France. Their task is too grirnly | serious and technical for female I agents.
 The full force of the espionage | effort is, naturally, centered in | Italy. Mlsterious travellers pass from i Rome across the frontiers to con- vey their messages to their govern mesits, or send what appears to be ] simple business messages through 1 the normal telegraphic or cable | channels.
 In this manner the foreign of- i 1ices of the important powers are | assured that their ears are close l to the sources of inner information, wherefore they will not be taken by surprise by any carefully planned, sensational development.
 Eastern Europe Hotbed
 But Italy is not the only center of spy activity. The intelligence agents are now stationed in capi- tals throughout Central and East ern Europe, which figure so large in the game Italy is playing against its enemies to obtain friendship and and support to defeat the effects of the financial and economic blockade enforced by the League of Nations in an effort to bring Benito Mus Golini to terms.
 The capitals of the former Aus Hungarian Empire, Vienna and Budapest, are favorite centers for foreign spies, because so much that is vital to the future of Europe may occur in these cities. Mussolin wishes to know what is going on underground, what the governments along the Danube Valley are think mig and planning; Hitler, too, keeps his hand on the pulse of the Ger man-speaking neighbors of the Nazi state, while France and Britain ob- viously do not wish ito be kept in the dark about happenings here.
 The activities of the political spies, although elevated to a more important role during the past few months, does not mean that the normal espionage service has ceas- ed functioning.
 Men and women spies continue to try, apart from the higher in- telligence officers, to ferret out mili- tary, naval and air secrets of rival ing street, from the Quai dOrsay to powers. From the Kremlin to Down. the Wilhelmstrasse, these agents pass their information in growing volume.
 Espionage Scope Widened
 They have more to convey than ever before, as all the nations are now arming and secretly perfecting | war inventions. ,
 At present it is believed that the famous French "Deuxieme Bureau" -or Second Bureau-which is charged with informing the French government on foreign military ac- tivity, is the best informed on the development of war inventions in Germany.
 The German agents are mainly concerned, as they have been for years, in spying out the definite plans of the French system of forts along the Rhine frontier.
 The British intelligence service, working from both the Foreign Of- flee and Scotland Yard, is now bringing into play its naval spies because Britain's preoccupations now are increasingly directed to- ward naval power.