The United States are about to enjoy all the thrills of the revelations to be made during the trial of a number of prisoners for espionage and it may be reckoned as certain that the newspapers will give the case all the prominence it is worth. There is nothing new in spying. Practically every country in the world keeps a careful watch upon enemies and potential enemies, and the endeavour to secure each other's secrets is as much the business of peace as the secrets themselves are preparations against war. Thus throughout the world there are vast organizations collating all manner of information which may sooner or later become necessary from a military, or naval point of view, or even a political. It was one activity in which Germany has consistently shown ability. Prior to the Great War her espionage system in Great Britain and France was most highly organized, and it was probably as much by good fortune as by careful scheming that the spy system in Great Britain was broken down so quickly after the outbreak of war. From the evidence which has already been published regarding espionage cases in Britain as well as the United States it is clear that Germany has been promoting an equally extensive system the ramifications of which were first brought to light recently when Mrs. Jessie Jordan, an Aberdeen hairdresser, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for espionage. It transpired at the trial that she had really been brought to book as the result of information received from the authorities in the United States, and, as the British officials had to wait until by observation they had succeeded in preparing a complete, unanswerable case against her, it is obvious that the American authorities must have been engaged in their investigations for quite a number of months past. It would seem that the people responsible for the investigations in both countries have made a thorough job, and that there has been a degree of co-
Operation between them which has dealt the German espionage system in the United States a deadly blow.
One of the most important features of the case as it has been developed up to the present is that all the prisoners apprehended ip the United States are of German extraction, while in the British case, of Mrs. Jordan, she had been married to a German, and had come to look upon Germany as her home. That was stated during the course of her trial. There may be a very good reason for that, chiefly to be found in the fact that the Teutonic race, even when it emigrates, preserves its characteristics and much of its original loyalties. Devotion to the Fatherland is often more deeply rooted than loyalty to the land of adoption, and it is probably for that reason that it was possible for the German intelligence service to find sufficient non-naturalized Germans or German-Americans who would do the necessary work. It was the safest method of recruiting agents possible, for these people were serving the Fatherland, even though their behaviour may be traitorous to the land of their adoption, and places them in a somewhat different category from the native of a country who accepts payment to be false to his original loyalty. There is something particularly loathsome about that type of person, which does not exist when a person, alien to the land in which he carries on his espionage, runs the risks of long imprisonment in times of peace and death in times of war. Such people risking their lives or liberty in the service of their own people have about them a quality of bravery which endows their activities with a completely different aspect, and it is well known that many of the Germans spying in Great Britain during the Great War were very brave men indeed. It is clear from the cable despatches which have been published that all that can be told has not yet been made public, though most people will find some ground of comfort in the knowledge that up to the present, at least, no prisoners without German affiliations have been arrested by the authorities. It does not amount to much, but if it is proved that there is a degree of solidarity amongst the people of a nation which prevents their subornation by the wealth of another Power, it will be something of which any government may very well be proud.
The revelations which are promised when this case comes for trial will have one important effect. It will place all Germans in the United States, making indelicate enquiries, definitely under suspicion, and while this may do innocent individuals no small amount of injustice, it will, on the other hand, make it more than a little difficult for the German authorities again to build up quite the same system. An unusual development: in this present case is the announcement of the names of German officials resident in Germany who are alleged to have directed the activities of the spy ring in the United States. Such a step has rarely, if ever, been taken before, and it is a little difficult to see why it should be done now, unless it is the desire of the American authorities to show how completely they have possessed themselves of information concerning the operation of the system. Why it should be expected that a ticklish international situation may arise from such revelation it is difficult to see. Such officials as those indicated are acting in the service of their country, and no obloquy can possibly attach to them. Any statements which may. be made in an American Court concerning them will be purely ex parte, and can be ignored by the German authorities should they prefer to do so, Certainly nothing would be gained even by making denials, though that action may be taken officially. On the other hand this case can do nothing to improve American public opinion concerning Germany, which is crystallizing in a manner unfortunate for the good relations between the two countries. There has been much to arouse the American public, and it Will be interesting to note how for the revelations which are promised will further strengthen support for the re-orientation of the foreign policy which Mr. Cordell Hull advocates. It is possible that recent events together with this new incident will increase foreign policy consciousness to the degree the Administration desires, for nothing is so likely to stir the imagination of the man in the street than the information that subterranean machinations may be imperilling the safety of his country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.