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Show llie Teutonic Empire probably has the most efficient secret service system in the world. Some of the police methods are described in-this article. f HAT is a spy? Although It Is well known that the spy systems sys-tems of the warring nations ( , are very potential and of the '-Vs most far-reaching nature, ll J very few persons outside of the secret or so-called "spy" ncrvice know anything about the actual work of the secret organizations. In Germany and In Japan the secret service serv-ice work has reached the highest state of perfection, says a writer In the New York Tribune. Mow a person becomes a spy and how he or she afterward carries out the work depend upon the group of secret se-cret workers that the novice is Introduced Intro-duced to or thrown in contact with through circumstances. The volunteer or self-nppolntod spy is inn to be considered In the following account, but merely the professionals or accredited Investigators. Germany has four classes of "splo-iii'ii," "splo-iii'ii," as they are called in the vernacular, vernacu-lar, but never officially. The system comprises (1) the emperor's private stall', about 00 men and 0 women; (2) the War Oflice staff, which now numbers G.CVX) ; (3) the government secret service, about 500 officers and S.iHd) men and ISO women, and finally the (-1) "gehelmpolizei" or secret police, who are similarly situated as the American police detectives, but far more efficient, nnd their number Is legion. Then there Is a small contingent contin-gent attached to embassies nnd legations. lega-tions. Almost without exception the first three groups comprise persons who have evolved Into the secret service. It Is very seldom that an adult person steps from any "open" occupation Into the work. An endlos chain Is con-Mai con-Mai -Jy being forged. When spies die. and 'hey often do In other ways than the natural, there tire always assistants assist-ants that are ready to step into their bo.es. These recruits are "graduates" and have gone through the preliminary I raining course that Is probably described de-scribed here now for the first time. The "students" are first given thorough thor-ough tests for hearing, sight und men-' men-' tal activity. These tests are similar to those used by the railroads. Each morning n system of the most extraordinary extraor-dinary calisthenics Is practiced. One of the most curious things Is the side twist of the head, which Is practiced so long that the graduate can place his or her chin against the point of the right shoulder and remain In that position for n long while. This enables the spy io stand with the car against a wall or a door and listen for hours without getting a stiff neck nnd fatigue. To stand motionless for hours, to walk over n creaking floor without making a noise, to walk on creaking stairs noiselessly and to Insert keys, to unlock doors In silence are some of the stunts practiced. The most treacherous treacher-ous stairways are negotiated by walking walk-ing close to the walls, and the noisy floor plank Is mastered by n gradual and firm pressing motion. The crossbeams cross-beams of a floor are easily located by the experienced, ami are usually stable and silent. It Is wonderful what the noises In n wall In even the most silent house will reeal. The spy Is taught to eliminate the obvious sounds, lie presses the ear flat against tin- wall; plaster Is better than wall paper, but solid wood Is good, and a thin door panel Is still better, provided the door tits snugly 1 and has good support. Graduates that understand various languages arc much In demand, and I yet each country prefers a native horn. ' The members of the secret service are I seldom united, but when weapons are I rciulivd they prefer the aiiitnonla pis- lot, as It Is silent, does not kill, but dls- utiles the victim by blinding bltn for a j short period, and It can be Used nt any distance up to CO feet. A full Hedged spy also carries the ".signal," the open sesame of everything every-thing German. The signal has perhaps never been seen by an outsider. It Is a silver framed shield about as large as the in 1 1 n of the bund, with a black velvet ground en which Is embossed In s'lvcr the great Prussian eagle on one side and the "W. II." on the other, for "Wllhelni II." It also has a small number, num-ber, according to the possessor. This "Signal" Is shown only In the most extreme ex-treme cases, and will carry the bearer past any sentinel or bodyguard even up to the emperor's personal aids and himself, If n ssary. The shadowing spy also carries a piece of flexible celluloid or an ordinary ordi-nary photographic film which makes an ideal telephone muffler, speaking trumpet or listening cone when rolled up. Also, the confetti "patrouen" or cartridges that prove so essential in trailing are frequently used. These small cartridges filled with white, pink or pale blue confetti or small pieces of paper und a small piece of mirror glass form Important paraphernalia to the spy that has to keep closely to his quarry for miles after miles of crowded crowd-ed streets or from trolley cars to trains and even through the mazes of busy ollice buildings, as the following will show. To the outsider these tricks of the profession may seem childish and extreme. ex-treme. Yet the Wilhelmstrasse brains of the great imperial secret service prefer those methods and they prove the most elliclent after nil. After mnking sure that he carries his regular equipment the spy goes to his ollice or rendezvous for his dally assignment, unless he has an unfinished unfinish-ed task that requires no further Instructions. In-structions. Cafes or cigar stores are the best places. From a waiter or attendant at-tendant or some lounging customer he receives verbal orders or information that reveals his day's task. Spies, because be-cause of the nature of their work nnd their personal peculiarities, nre never trusted beyond their dally task. For Instance, one morning the sleuth is to meet a colleague nt a certain bank for the purpose of observing the doings of two foreigners that are suspected sus-pected of being ammunition agents. Sleuth A follows one man. At the next street corner the man turns and Ids trailer also turns, nnd 111 so doing streaks the xvnll of the building with a peculiar purple chalk, of a color not used generally. He keeps on followiug his man and nt every corner he marks the building so deftly and so Inconspicuously Inconspi-cuously that a bystander does not notice no-tice It. As long as the object keeps walking straight ahead the trailer only marks one side of the corner, but if the object turns he marks both sides of the corner, showing that he has turned to the right or left. If then the object should board n car. the sleuth will crush one of the white confetti cartridges car-tridges with his fingers and the persistent persis-tent little pieces of paper fall to the street and stick In the crevices between the cobblestones or the paving blocks, or even cling tenaciously to the asphalt, as-phalt, defying both sweepers and brooms for hours. If the object changes cars the trailer will drop a pink cluster of confetti and the chalk marks will tell the story as they alight. When the sleuth Is relieved that evening eve-ning he docs not have to leave bis object ob-ject out of his sight. The sleuth that relieves him will merely take up the thread from (he bank and will, as a rule, in Incredibly short time locate his man In any part of the city. This is much more easily done In European cities, as the streetcar systems are not so Intricate and the streets are usually paved with cobblestones or bricks. The telephone Is not so readily available abroad. In Berlin, for instance, there are the most pretentions homes and thousands of shops and stores without telephones. When the chalk mark Is missing the second or relay sleuth Is convinced that bis predecessor on the case or the present Incumbent of the case Is In the block, lie walks back after making certain that be did not take a car at that point, which would he revealed by the confetti on the ground. If (tie object ob-ject aud the trailer are In the block they will be soon seen or a thick of confetti will show near the entrance. These means are not always avail- able, especially since the advent of the automobile. Yet the turns of the road can be easily determined if both the object and the trailer use machines. This difficulty has been overcome by the fact that few licensed chauffeurs dare to refuse the co-operation with the police and none of the ut-of-town drivers can be long unknown to authorities. au-thorities. With the small piece of mirror used as a periscope the cleverest men precede pre-cede instead of follow their objects. In street cars, . for. Instance, the trailer often sits in front of the object and observes ob-serves his motions with the. little piece of glass. The apparent adjusting of a ' ' pair of spectacles or the' twirling of a mustache xvill enable the trailer to observe ob-serve the person sitting behind, when the small mirror is concealed in tho palm of the baud. Few persons believe that a person walking ahead or sitting la front of. them are "following" them, and maay are thrown completely off their guard. Another important factor is the telephone tele-phone espionage. Few secret messages can now be sent by a suspected person through the hotel telephones. Every word Is usually recorded by shorthand operators that are let la on the line and even the scraps of torn paper from the waste baskets of the rooms of suspected guests are pasted together on transparent paper and turned over to the police. Names In hatbands, tailors' tail-ors' labels in clothes and other details are observed and reported, and woe be to the one xvho registers under a different dif-ferent name than that of the label in his coat- . Where there Is the slightest Incongruity Incon-gruity there xxtll be the most strenuous strenu-ous system of espionage until the suspect sus-pect is either in the toils r the authorities au-thorities are satisfied that he or she Is harmless. Invisible paraffined, pages are often placed three or four sheets down in pads of telegraph blauks so that copies are obtained of messages when powdered pow-dered chnrcoal Is shaken over the paraffined par-affined sheets. Wherever the paraffined Impressions are, the charcoal xvill adhere ad-here and the lettering comes out quite closely. By varnishing the Copy a permanent per-manent copy Is obtained, nnd such copies are often produced ! evidence. Also every telegraph oflice in Germany Is open for inspection by the secret service men. More than one-half of the higher class spies nre required to have some ostensible avocation or business, and frequently their wives and children or their most Intimate friends do not know that they nre In the service. They receive their salaries la the most roundabout xvays at times, and are. as a rule, not extravagantly or even well paid. The members of the emperor's staff get from o.oOO to 25.000 marks per annum and a bonus upon special performance. per-formance. The cost of maintaining the espionage espion-age system of Germany previous to and during the war has becu enormouA, but those xvho know declare that the results are well commensurate xvltti tho expenditures. ' ' . |