British Secret Service During the Great War

g Departments-Examples of Reckless Extravagance-Business Men Wanted-Economies in the Secret Service-Bungling Incompet

of German Foreign Propaganda And Expenditure-British Secret Service, its Cost And Fruga

rvice. Cromwell encouraged the department, whilst Charles II. seems to have arranged grants for its continuance equivalent to

e to-day with nearly every nation, except our own. Remuneration was given commensurate with the risks and service. But

ce its initiation this department seems to have been harassed, attacked, and shot at by petty jealousies, which, during the agony of the crisis of war were ignoble and contemptible in the extr

on made to feel this. Whether the idea is to instil discipline, or to impress upon the newcomer the superiority and importance of the right to wear a uniform, it is difficult to imagine. The main work of the department, however, is on a par with the collection of evidence, the unravelling of secret mysteries, and the study and handling of character-which any man of the world would have probably at once concluded was more fitted to the controlling influence of experienced Criminal and Commercial Investigators rather than to long-service officers who have been strapped to their stool by strict disciplinary re

ve experience of active criminal and commercial affairs, but he should also, if possible, be one

y Government department which has suffered acutely for

ained, specially trained, in his profession, which has naught to do with the struggle of the money-makers. He is not accustomed to rub shoulders with the man in the street, whilst there are thousands of minor details which he would probably ignore when brought to his notice, but which a business man would recognise as floating thistledown showing the direction of the wind. The business man knows that a

cause they hold indirect influences which might be moved to his disadvantage. He is not hampered by the importunities of brother-officers who are pushed at him continually by place-seekers, or by feared or favoured ones. He is not handicapped by the jealous spite of machination of other

ices, sapping away much of their efficiency and undermining future unity, which always tends to turn victories into defeats or colossal disasters. It is devoutly to be hoped that

he hopes of success to have blurted out that one came from, or was a member of, the Admiralty, and vice versa. These two mighty departments never seemed to work in harmonious unity. Hence, whenever Jim had business at the War Office he

colossal and continual accumulation of work; men who hitherto had had a slack time and who perhaps had hardly ever been contradicted or denied in their lives; men who constantly demonstrated to those around them that their dignity and self-importance must be admitted and put before almost every other consideration; men who ough

e that has been allowed to run wild and caused by our not providing for a department having a Minister of Conservation and Economy. Volumes could be written to prove that if jealousies could be stamped out, f

that for a book of this description an example from two or thr

he Adm

for use as an aviation ground. In order to give a sufficiently large unbroken and even surface for aeropla

of these men would have welcomed the acceptance of such a task as this. But follow the events which happened, and it is proved convincingly that some silly, ridiculous reason prevented an

ng 4,000,000 organised workers at Westminster on December 1st, 1915. So a contract was offered and entered into with a civilian to do the work. Owing to Lord Derby's scare-scheme system of recruiting instead of National Service (which ought to have been enforced immediately after the Boer War, as pressed by Lord Roberts and

or even one of the officers in command of the thousands and thousands of troops stationed in Norfolk, a few of

ir men to put down their names for this work. That loyal, energetic, and patriotic body of Englishmen, which was drawn from all ranks of society, although

nty miles, but the nearest station is abou

th free travelling passes. They had expressed their willingness to walk the remaining three miles of the journey, do the work gratuitously (although quite unaccustomed

velling thirty miles per hour. A few of these vehicles could have carried the whole party from North Walsham station to the fields in under half an ho

ies from Portsmouth to Norwich in order to convey this small p

t; whilst their petrol consumption might be estimated at about a gallon per hour. They arrived at Norwich on Sunday morning November 28th, 1915, apparently after several days on the road. They took part of the

, thus the full journey of each

imate this absurdly unnecessary and recklessly extravagant waste of the taxpayers' money; and all because of some ridiculous personal prejudices, or of the sacred cause of red-tapeism; or the

he War

ent management, and riotous extravagance which particularly marked the first two years of the wa

om every county. The Yorkshire ￡10 to ￡15 tent-pegs case, as

report must be drawn up and submitted to the War Office requesting a new supply of pegs. In due course the answer arrived saying: "Loose pegs could not be sent, as th

*

ody and soul in red-tape bonds. Following his duty he reported the matter to headquarters. Further particulars were required and given and in the course of a few days the army chimney-sweep arrived, did the work and departed. He came from and returned to Birmingham, and stated that his contract price was 10d. The third-class re

e Home

f the Shoe and Leather Record

ur emery pads, the total value of which would be one shilling and four pence. The tender forms are marked 'very urgent' and firms tenderi

strike most business men as strange that there is not an official connected with this branch of the service possessing suffic

heard which local firm has been fortun

*

en lost like a voice crying in the wilderness-We want business men: business men in all Government departments which have to handle business matters. England's c

who knows the purchasing power of a pound; more important still, who knows how hard it is to earn one. The men entrusted with such responsible positions should have full responsibility placed upon their shoulders; they should be highly paid and they should be free to act witho

leting, pay, and transport, etc., should have impressed the minds of observers in a manner that this generation is never likely to forget. A business man in each department, with a f

t all adverse to using the persuasive argument of patriotism, in order to get a mass of useful work done for nothing at all. To quote an instance. It was the case of a man who, at his country's call, had sacrificed an income of considerably over

own pocket twenty-five per cent. of his personal travelling expenses in addition! Loyally he agreed, and for months he t

y to be scattered in thousands where hundreds, and probably tens, or a little judicious entertaining, would have been more than sufficient. If these monies were debited to the Secret Service Department, such a wrong ought to be righted. In due course the colossal indiscretions of this interfering bungler involved matters in such a dangerous tangle that he apparently lost his head, and for a period of time was quite inaccessible for business. On recovery he coolly announced that he should wash his hands entirely of all Secret Service affairs. Imagine the feelings of the patient chiefs of the Foreign Secret Service Department. They had silently sat for months watching the efforts of their captured staff hampered at every turn whilst they were persistently building up a sound, practical, useful organisation, which a

the old enemy appeared once more upon the scene. Moved either by jealousy, or by vindictive spite at the success which followed where he had failed, he again attacked the department by hitting at individual members of its actively working executive! Remember, England was a

of those who sit in high offices that a rigid censorship and secrecy was maintained

int in his book on "German

ing upon him Birthday Honours: no more kid-gloved legislation for our monied enemies whose sons, in some cases, are fighting agains

s the persons who would deceive the people and exploit the

lity. His most important officer in the Secret Service Department seems to have been a German, by name Karl Schulmi

ing. It was ruthless, but it was business-it was war. The magic of a great military name did not save Lieutenant-General Helmuth von Moltke from dismissal from the Head of the German staff when the Kaiser was convinced of his inefficiency. Vice-Admiral von Engenohl, Commander-in-Chief of the High Canal Fl

s men. Every solitary industry which has aught to do with war-making was linked up with the Government. By way of exa

ccesses she achieved. They were essentially material. German soldiers are not supermen, or as individual warriors the equal to those of many other nations. Their victories have been due to a chain of very obvious and syst

in the Dreyfus affair. In the present war this system has seemingly been of little practical value, and France has had to depend almost entirely upon her Allies for foreign intelligence w

quiry or vouching. Messrs. D. Blackburn and Captain W. Waithman Caddell, in their book on "Secret Service in South Africa," record how Tjaard Kruger, a son of the President of the Transvaal Republic, who was for a short time Chief of the Secret Service Bu

ader of character and formed a pretty accurate estimate of a person in a surprisingly short time. He conducted his affairs so delicately and diplomatically that he won universal esteem and the staunchest and most loyal adherents. He woul

contingency; yet had they fallen into the hands of the unauthorised they would have conveyed little. These letters

rejudices, and amusements. These he would study to the minutest trifle, and by skilful play upon a weakness, or by the ev

f the master of twenty-five languages and spent seven years wandering through countries he subsequently fought and vanquished. He traces developments from Alexander the Great, who lived 300 years before Christ and was the first known to start secret post censorship; from Hannibal, who could never have crossed from Andalusia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into the plains of Piedmont to fight the battle of Trebia (2

which he claims to have been built almost entirely upon such an unenviable foundatio

by writers like Nietzsche, Treitschke and Bernhardi. But a nation which is ruled as if it were a country of convicts actual or potential cannot fail inevitably to deve

nal who operates along the higher lines. He was a barrister, born in Prussia in 1818, and he first curried favour with the officials by persuading his friends and relations to enter into illegal acts in order that he might betray them for his own advantage. The German word stieber seems appropriate; in our language it means sleuth-hound. In appearance

te appropriations from Parliament. His system was thorough. He commenced by spying into the privacies of the Royal family and Court and Government officials, Army and Naval officers, and everybody of the slightest importance, down to the labourers' and the workmen's organis

. Even Moltke, the great Prussian organiser of victory, was astonished and astounded at the vast amou

, and Geneva; and on his return he handed over to Bismarck some 1,650 reports which contained full military and original maps of the French fro

ed by Stieber in order to be frustrated by him. When the assassin was tried for his life the jury were bought by Prussian gold to acquit the accused in order that the two nations cou

e writers in the French daily and weekly newspapers, furthermore that he ha

n in the present day network of railway lines and stations controlled solely for militarist uses rather than for the develo

mans or semi-foreigners serving on the French railways, all of them more or less in the employ of the German Espionage Bur

er's plans embraced upheava

Bill which brought about the disestablishment of the Church of France and the so-called Agadir incide

ery good citizen is required to pay ta

f the extraordinary manifesto in August, 1914, was also directly traceable. ￡4,000 was used for the purposes of the French Railway Strike of 1893; in

have received thousands of pounds from un

1892, possessed

he German Secret Service Office; as also were German clerks and others who could obtain positions giving access to information of any value. Stieberism practically demoralised the enti

esuits, 'All is justifiable in the inte

y into Brussels of 700,000 men without inconvenience or mishap was practically entirely due to his organisation. Over 8,000 spies had been placed on the various routes between Aix-la-Chap

s for each job to an unlimited amount. Whilst abroad or on any matter of delicacy, out-of-pocket allowances were in

Doctors, Actresses, Actors, Mondaines, Demi-Mondaines, Journalists, Authors, Money-lenders

official countenance was ever given (nor indeed expected) on the part of the agents once one of them

far more difficult than our cadets would have to pass at Woolwich

nd general assistants were all civilians. No Ambassadors, Ministers, secretaries of legation, envoys, plenipotentiaries, consuls, or recognised officials were permitted to interfere in any way with the work of this department, although they undoubtedly gave it every material assistance whenever they could. History has clearly proved this. No jealousies or acts of favouritism to relatives and the nominees of indirect influences were countenanced. For such an offence the very highest in office would at once be deposed and

hich might be of service, possibly when least expected. Their studies embraced visits to the big Government construction works and yards; they were made familiar with all necessary knowledge concerning war-ships, submarines, torpedoes, aircraft, guns and fortificati

utionary socialists, from which original effort the present department originated. Also that the work was fostered under the royal patronage of Frederick William, the King of Prussia, which guarded it against anti-counter plotting from both militarism and police, and which permitted it to grow and flourish until

the Prussian Guard is well known throughout the capitals of Europe. He has collected information concerning every foreign land which is almost incredible. He had maps of the British Isles which in minute detail and accuracy surpass our own Ordnance Surv

says he placed in the hands of our Government officials, but that our Government departments were so hopelessly bound up and entangled by red-tapeism that for

but the Liberal and Radical politicians scoffed and laughed at him; as they did when he urged other reforms so sound, so urgent, and so

au being situate in the Montagne de la C?ur; whilst Ostend and Boulogne w

endered. Such sections acted under the supervision of a Secret Service agent, the whole system being visited from time to time by agents higher up in the service, who pa

ch would have deleted only such parts as referred to matters affecting the safety of the realm. The scales would then perhaps have fallen from the eyes of our fatuous and blinded public. And many anot

within a few weeks thereof, was due to our Secret Service Department, it is labouring under a great delusion. The credit for this exceedingly valuable work is due to the ene

s run on their own lines and quite apart fro

een carried on with feverish energy in eighteen neutral countries, two of which had been won over at a cost of ￡19,000,000, and one lost after a vain expenditure of ￡10,000,000. Durin

timated expenditure in each countr

￡15,000,000 Sp

00,000 Holl

0,000 Norwa

00,000 Denma

,000 Switzer

,000 Argent

0,000 Brazi

,000,000 C

000,000 P

--

￡72,

--

o characteristic of the other estimates, all of which are probably too low, since they deal only with expenditures which have been traced or have produced observable resul

n hostile countries, or with the organised, but of course secret, attempt to sow sedition among th

encies of her enemies is an aim of perhaps equal importance with t

many officers who are different from the ordinary standard, men whose veins tingle with the wanderlust of the explorer or adventurer, or who are of abnormal or eccentric temperament; men who generally hold themselves aloof from the fashionable society vanities, which in the past have been dangled too much and too closely round our stripe-bedecked uniforms to be good for efficiency. But even with these men, after

yet be strangers; each should be in constant touch with the others' movements and yet be separated by every outward sign. The duties of Service men should be limited to those of consulting experts, whilst specially selected and trained individuals should be employed

tion of any importance below the rank of captain. In the head office it was a saying: "We are all captains h

ay as well at once undeceive themselves; the pay is mean compared with the risks run, yet officers are kee

ing the foreign Press; ￡1,000,000 each year in all. Yet certain members of the House of Commons grudgingly and somewhat rel

expended on English Secret Se

r e

h. Grant.

50,000

0,000

0,000

10,000

00,000

20,000

50,000

50,000 1

,000 (no

ted into other or indirect channels (exempli gratia-the Liberal solatium of ￡1,200 per annum to Mr. Masterman

ions of money and many thousands of lives, proves, from so far back as the year 1867 and for the twenty-five years following, during which period he was employed in the Secret Service of the British Government and stultifying the

adds: "How on earth can the English police and their assistants in the Secret Service hope to grapple with such heavily-financed plots as these on the miserable sums granted by Parliament for the purpose?... Some day, however, a big thing will happen-and then the affrighted and indignant British citizen will turn. The fault will be the want of a perfect system of Secret Service, properly financed.... Imagine offering men in position a retainer of ￡20 a month with a very odd cheque for expenses thrown in! The

who said: "Every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honourable by being necessary. If one desires to be us

sentenced to be

ave but one life to sac

d, which enabled me to raise large amounts almost everywhere I happened to travel, I, or my colleagues, might have been stranded again and a

anting payment. It may not have been any fault of, but merely an eccentricity of, our good old managing chief; be that as it may, impecuniosity neve

tlay was exceedingly moderate. But the members of the executive with whom I came in contact were inclined to be of the parsimonious type, much too much afraid to spend a sovereign, either because they could not really afford it, or for fear they would never see it back again. Their entertaining was conspicuous by its absence, which necessitated a rather heavier drain upon my pocket and upon my good nature. It had at times to be done, and someone had to do it; that someone was nearly always myself. The Chief preached economy at all times and he religiously practised it. It was paradoxical in that if a big amount

country's sake, no matter what bravery he may have exhibited in almost every instance alone and unsupported, probably in an enemy's domain as one man facing a host of his country's enemies, his deeds are unrecorded, unhonoured and unsung. Whilst he is in the Service he is merely a cypher, a unit, an atom. When he has left it he is hardly remembered as once a member. What of it? He only did his duty. Now he is out of the Service he is no longer interesting, he ceases to exist. The big wheel of life continues to revolve. The B.S.S. Department is but a very minute little wheel which cogs into the larger machinery of State in its own respective corner. As the rim of this very minor wheel comes up from the dark recesses of the working world and the separate cogs become revealed, those in authority who sit watching each and every cog, upon the stamina and reliability of which so much depends, from time to time find one that cannot stand the strain,

f the short and exciting li

TNO

916. At Hull, which was under military control, it was rumoured that a certain naval officer, in command of a small warship lying in the Humber at the time of one of the first of the Zeppelin raids, was court-m

argument that Germany was forced at

s of House