Evening star., 1948-12-09
Stolen U.S.Documents
Nav Have Touched on
Our 1888 Peace Effort
Writer Recalls Thot Role
OF This Notion in Munich
Pact Is Still Secret
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
What were the big mysteries of
1887 and 1898 which cause officials
and former officials Of the Depart
ment of State to say that the pub
lication of stolen documents would
be prejudicial to the interests of
the United States?
The assumption is that many of
the documents did not reach any
other government while other docu-
ments did. Until it is clearly es-
tablished what information was
contained in the stolen letters and
notes, the public cannot know the
exact reasons behind the suppress
sion.
1t may be inferred, however, that
the documents have bearing on
the effort which the United States
was making in 1887 and 1888 to
use it's diplomatic influence to avert
q possible conflict in Europe. 1t
will be recalled that the Munich
conference in 1888 was considered
to have been an "appeasement" by
Britain and France and that the
Hitler regime won its biggest diplo-
matte triumph at that meeting.
Just what part the United States
may have played in assisting in that
settlement has never been made
public. though it was common
knowledge that the late President
Roosevelt endeavored by telephone
or otherwise to exert as much in
fiuence as he could on Mussolini to
keep the Central European situa-
ton peaceful.
May Fear Distortion by Reds.
The manner In which Czecho-
slovakia was abandoned by the
Western Powers in the face of Hit
ler's demands Is still vividly re-
called, but it is doubtful whether
revelation of any part the United
States may have played in support
ing the Chamberlin- -Daladier "ap-
peasement" policy could at the mo-
ment seem of more importance to
the people of Czechoslovakia than
the actual loss of their freedom
under Russian Communist rule.
Possibly the fear that the Rus
SLAMS may distort the meaning Of
the documents and foment anti
American feeling in the Balkans
may be the basic reason why the
material contained in the stolen
missives is being suppressed at this
time.
What is most important, however,
is the possibility that other govern
ments were able during 1899 and
1910 to read the secret codes used
by the Department of State in COM
munications with American ambas-
sadors abroad. This may have q
relationship to important negotia-
tions between Russia and Britain
or between Germany and Russia
prior to the Hitler-Stalin pact.
Different Types of Codes.
The public generally isn't ia
miliar with the fact that copies OF
all messages sent to and from for
eign countries are as rule sent to
the governments In those countries
as a matter of routine by the tele-
graph companies. But these mes
sages, when put into code through
cipher devices, cannot be read by
governments abroad unless they
have the key to the codes.
The favorite way of breaking"
q code is to watch for the publica-
ton Of the actual text of some
statement or pronouncement and
then compare it with the coded
message to ascertain, If possible,
what each cipher or sequence of
ciphers really means. This Is why
governments usually paraphrase
and change the order of sentences
in the event that private messages
previously sent in code are subse-
quently made public. If it's an
international agreement or some
thing likely to be made available
to the press later on, type of
code is used which isn't particularly
secret. There are all sorts of codes,
and some are intended merely to
keep items from the press for a
brief period of time and there is no
objection to governments learning
the contents.
The really tight codes, Of course,
are reserved for highly secret mes
sages and exchanges. If spies can
get copies of the originals of these
messages, it is a simple matter to
"break" the code by comparing the
original with the coded message
in some foreign capital.
Codes Changed After Time.
The big job in the code world
slways is to get the kind of system
that nobody else can decipher, even
II he has access to the original.
It takes months and sometimes
years to decipher the more difficult
codes, and after a reasonable lapse
Of time governments change their
codes. This, however, does not pre-
vent foreign governments from
going back into the files, II they
"break" code, and thus learn the
trend of policy or matters not yet
concluded
The extent to which the American
codes were subsequently broken as
o result of the theft of the docu-
mentS presented to the House Un-
American Activities Committee by
self-confessed spies will probably
never be known, because it is tc
the interest of the United States
not to yield any information on
codes If it can possibly be avoided
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