Evening star., 1938-05-08
BY ROGER d. GREENE.
Associated PreS Staff Writer.

Associated PreSs Staff Writer.
~ PIES and counter-spies today swarm
every nation, trying to ferret out the
secrets of new armaments, deadly
gases, fighting planes and fortifica-
tions-feverishly preparing for "the day" Of
the next great war.
And with nearly half million men and
women engaged in clandestine prying, they
are paying with their lives in staggering
numbers.
Behind the grim walls of Poetzenzee
Prison. in Berlin, heads roll swiftly.
Scarcely a week goes by without the
sudden appearance of little red posters at
important street corners, announcing that
'so-and-so, aged such-and-such, was exc
cuted this morning for treason or espi-
onage
OF late, the macabre irony of NaI
executioner in full dress suit--who politely
bowed to his victims before whistling a
razor edged axe through their necks-has
been replaced by mechanical guillotine.
The heads roll easier
Mongol Swords Flash.
In war-scarred Shanghai, tradition car
ries on. At recent public execution, two
women and seven men, condemned as spies,
knelt to the grunt-heaving ministrations
Of giant Mongol swordsman.
A few onlookers tainted Then the de-
truncated heads were jammed down on
picket fences in the open street to serve
as warnings.
In Moscow. still rife with its purge of
e1;oe eoAo
gloomy old Lubianka Prison echo with the
Soviet salute to "the maximum sentence of
social security"-bullets.
. In Italy, convicted spies disappear"
Their fate is a Fascist state secret
But Mussolni's bayonet- -bristling legions
are warned, in no uncertain terms, to be-
ware of enemy agents. Lurid illustrations,
depicting the sinking of battleships and
bombing of towns, help make the warning
more vivid.
Do not speak even to your mother of
matters connected with the armed service"
says one admonition.
'Distrust everything. Even simple wash
a hung on line may be signal eluding the
vigilance you think is complete"
Warned Against Feminine Wiles.
And then comes this acknowledgment
OF the major role played by women in the
drama of international espionage-a re-
minder of the beautiful siren-eyed Mata
Hari, whose death before firing squad on
q Paris greensward two decades ago found
high French officials, whom she had duped
IN tears:
Remember that woman's caresses and
smiles can sometimes be subtle weapons to
steal your secrets"
As the spy scare mounts nation after ma
ton has broken away from the time
honored tradition that spies shall suffer
death only in wartime in order to pro-
tect their secrets from the agents of for
eign governments.
For many years, the little republic of
Czechoslovakia tried to get along without
capital punishment for espionage.
Now it has adopted the death penalty in
an effort to induce "at least some of the
spies'-as one commentator wryly ex-
pressed ito go elsewhere
France took emergency steps Just the
other day to stamp out espionage. Min
lister of the Interior Albert Sarraut ordered
the wholesale deportation of undesirable
aliens, and 22o suspected" foreigners were
expelled in the opening drive
John Bull Alarmed.
Even stolid old England has taken alarm.
Slow to awaken, John Bull showed evi-
dence of having finally got the wind up''
by TRIPPING secret service funds to combat
Foreign agents-and to finance little deft
.eavesdropping on his own behalf.
The blow-of resulted from a speech by
Stanley Baldwin, then Prime Minister. who
smugly assured the House of Commons late
in 1885:
THE German air force cannot be COM
pared with the British air force It is not
likely to catch up for years"
His information he said, was based on
reports from NILS the British military in
telligence department.
Six months later Baldwin confessed he
had been badly misinformed-and Britain
plunged into the greatest armament spend
ing spree in history.
The British secret service appropriation
was boosted from $685., 200 year until it is
now s2.225. 900 annually.
Women's Value in Dispute.
Long in dispute, the value Of women as
espionage agents gains new attention today
Women do not make good spies," said
Sir Basil Thomson, former director Of
British Army intelligence
Their technical knowledge of the weap-
ons of war is usually so lacking that any
Information they CLEAN from military or
naval officers is valueless
Even the famous Mata Hari, whom
knew personally, was not good spy She
was clever, but not the kind of a spy that
could bring useful information to nation"
Glamorous they may be-invariably de-
picted as femme fatale" scarlet-lipped
vampire with dark, mysterious eyes, veiled
. by long black lashes. dead white COM
plexion and green-enameled teeth.
Such was the description, at least of the
notorious German girl spy. Marie Louise,
whose espionage-dominated amorous dalli-
ance with the gallant but traitorous 1t.