Evening star., 1938-05-15

than once tracked some forlorn suspect
to Washington apartment house or once
building, and followed from there trail
Of mysterious street-corner meetings that
led to an embassy.
Just as American military and naval
attaches abroad are bombarded with bar
gains In military secrets, so the foreign
observers in this country get offers from
persons who want to peddle secrets.
Sometimes the seller represents an in
ternational spy ring, brokerage house Of
get 10 the highest bidder. These rascals
admit no patriotic duty to any land.
The government which buys their 'se-
crets'' takes its chances. 1t can only
guess whether the information is an official
fact or forged fraud.
Because there are men in factories and
women in homes who will sell bits of tech
nical information. the four STATS of Ameri-
can secret agents are constantly checking
suspected persons.
Spite Greatest Problem.
Their greatest problem is spite. The
tales Of the business man about his COM
petitor and the crank who reports a
suspicious" neighbor cannot be ignored.
1nformers must be caught, yet the in
nocent man must be protected
Why aren't all these foreign spies sent
home?
The trail itself is tricky. The profess
sionas work with methodical care, blot
ting out their tracks when they move,
watching always for the first sign of sur
veillance by counter-espionage agents
Then, America is a democracy and a
man is presumed to be innocent until
proved guilty. The Investigators cannot
strike until they can prove their case in
court. If foreign nations are involved, q
mistake may prove costly in strained in
ternational relations.
Until foreign agents steps across the
hne line between the free mans right to
look around and the criminal activities
OF spying out hidden secrets of the mill
tary, there is no way of assailing him.
Watch For False Move.
So the alert agents watch always for
the false move. the missing link in the
chain of evidence, that will convict a
suspect
When the heat is on foreign agent may
slip onto boat and off to home before
the chain of evidence ensnarls him,
Americans are not a spy-conscious Ma
ton. Unlike Europeans, they carry no
legends of glamorous secret agents like
Mata Hari Mile. Docteur and Capt.
Lawrence. Occasionally, the arrest of q
spy suspect startles the Nation
A blond German girl former Ameri-
can Army officer and a soldier stationed
at Mitchell Field, an Army air center,
were seized in February on suspicion of
a plot to sell military secrets to a foreign
power.
Agents said Gunther Gustave Rumrich
had been arrested while attempting to
secure so passports in the name of none
other than Secretary of State Hull him
self. They said Rumrich confessed obtain
ing sums of money for information con-
corning the Panama Canal Zone and other
coast defenses, as well as aviation data.
The passports, he was quoted as saying
were intended for use in getting spies
Of foreign power into other European
nations under the guise of American
citizens
Two Were Sentenced.
Two years ago two informers were
seized within a month, one on the West
Coast and the other in Washington Harry
Thomas Thompson, a former naval petty
officer who had been posing in naval
uniform to get information of ships in
California ports was sentenced to IS
years in jail.
John S. Farnsworth an Annapolis gradu-
ate, saw his promising naval career ruined
by dismissal from the Navy in 1928. When
Federal agents seized him in the spring Of
1886, he was gaunt. nervous and haggard.
He refused to contest the charges that
he sold naval secrets. and was sentenced
to from 4 to IL years in Jail.
! In both cases. supposed agents of Japan
we're implicated.
In 1892 two Army privates were i'm
prisoned on charges Of stealing and SELL
ing Army Air Corps photographs and
other military data.
How many spies have been quietly
stripped OF their secrets and deported
to avoid the difficult task Of proving their
guilt is q secret Of the Intelligence Corps
But not in recent years has America
been as spy-conscious as the agents O
Germany made her in World War days
The plots Of men supposedly working fol
such master minds as Capt. Boy-ed and
Franz Won Papen sent shivers down many
q patriotic spine
Still Subject Of Debate.
The famous Back Tom" and Kingsland
explosions in New Jersey were ascribed
to secret agents. but Germany and Amer.
ican interests still are arguing over whether
the imperial government had hand II
the plot.
Won Rintelen, described by an attorne!
general as "a well-known German agen
engaged in bombing plots" was convictes
with others for placing bombs in the holt
Of the steamship Kirk Oswald while
was being loaded in New York Harbor
The bombs exploded ut sea, but watchfu
| ofhcers quenched the blaze.