The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, July 29, 1915, Page 7, Image 7
* ? ?
UNCLE SAM'S "NOTES."
How State Messages Aie Prepared
* a>ul Transmitted.
??
\
Writing a note to Germany is one
thing and sending it is another.
. "Diplomatic "notes' pass between
one government and another through
channels that are peculiar to statecraft
only. They are safeguarded
from prying eyes, handled only by
I the most trusted employees, and are
' sent between various points in such
a complicated code disguise that even
should they fall into improper hands
it would be practically impossible to
j decipher a single word.
"The correspondence that has been
passing between the'"'United States
t - and Germany is handled in a manner
typical of all such communications,
with perhaps even more than the
usual rigid care to prevent any leakage.
"A "note' in diplomacy is by nc
means a brief affair. It is always sent
^ by telegraph and in code. When a
note goes out from the State department
at Washington it has already
passed through the hands of several
| men. In the first place, it has beer
prepared in rough form by the president
himself, at least under his adf
/ "*
'.%% ministration. In this form it has
been read to the cabinet and discussThen
tho nrociHnnt moboo or
exact draft.
"This is examined by the counseloi
of the State department, who maj
* suggest some verbal changes in ordei
to bring it into strict conformity ^ ith
r diplomatic usage. If there are an>
changes, they are made with the approval
of the president, and the last
V 1 revision is examined by him.
"It is turned over to the chiel
l> clerk of the State department with in
structions to transmit it. The code
system most commonly employed bj
the government involves the use ol
numerals, so that when a note is finally
in cipher form the message consists
of a series of figure groups.
^ "The note now being arranged is
, in a series of numerical groups, il
* goes through another change. The
figures in each group are transposed
in accordance with a certain key
This is an additional check against
i. unauthorized translation. Should s
State department note ifall into th?
hands of a person who had in some
\p manner possessed himself of a copj
i of the code, he would still be unabl*
i to decode it for want of the key tc
the riddle.
3 "The use of various keys is understood'by
prearrangement between the
department and the ambassadors anc
k ministers to whom such communicant
tions are sent. The code copies themi
saK'PS are L-ont nn/for Inelr on/1 l-n<
, at the department in the chief clerk's
L safe.
iv "The code message goes first tc
t New York, where it is received in the
i office of a cable company. From this
1.4 time until it reaches^ its destinatioi
it is in private hands. Under ordiS
nary circumstances there are well
, defined routes by which messages art
< ^ cabled from the United States to va
? rious parts of Europe. Since the
F war, however, some of these routes
have been interrupted and others
- changed. The government leaves ii
v. to the company to get the message
rto its destination in the most direci
and speedy manner.
"In the case of the note of Ma>
13, the message went first to Rome
There the apparently meaningless
Y't groups of figures were relayed tc
$ Vienna. From Vienna the message
travelled to Berlin. Italy was at that
time still a neutral.
V "Arriving in Berlin, German tele
Pfi graphers receive the arithmetical puz
[ zle and turn it over to Ambassadoi
Uu- Gerard. Now the task of decodinf
^ me Qucuuiem oegms. 1 ne^ amnassa
<!or has expert assistants for this pur
J pose, just as in the case of the Stat<
[|: department. He also has an identi
If jy cal set of code books and. further
|%- more, knows the key. The expert:
1ft;- ^et t0 work on the task of makin?
* sense out of a tumble of numerals
I Almost invariably his is a longer tasl
than putting a message into code, anc
it is often subject to delays causec
by an error in the transmission of i
single figure.
"At last, however, the ambassadoi
A has the note before him in plain Eng
lish. He may discover, as in th<
case of the original note on the Lusi
tania case, that he Is instructed t<
carry it to the German foreign offic<
or^ * ??<> rl i f tr\ tlna minictnr f/"?* fArnio-r
Inuu vuu iv vv W4tv iiiiiiiovvi iui i vt
affairs. Thereupon he puts it in hi:
. pocket and goes straightway to th<
p . foreign office, where he secures an in
1
terview with Von Jagow.
"To minister Von Jagow he read:
: the note. It is still in English
Whether Von Jagow has a per'ec
imderstanding of that language is 110
I a matter of record here. At any rate
having read the note aloud. Ambas
v ador Gerard takes his departure
leaving the copy in English at tN
r foreign office. Von Jagow turns thi
over to his translators, who nut th<
document into German. Then, a
. ? last, it is ready for official eor.sidera
tion by the ministry, the kaiser. 0
whatever part of the German govern
t ment is handling such affairs at th<
i.
: >
?*
i
GULLS SAIL WHALK CARCASS.
I Their Fluttering Wings Cause it to!
Speed Fast Steamer.
Skippers from many ports and
many seas brought their vessels safely
into New York harbor, and
brought, too. yarns of adventures,
grave and gay.
There was. tor instance, the carcass
of a whale, which probably is
scudding toward the South Pole by
now. propelled by the wings of thousands
of birds, which are feasting
thereon. The whale carcass, fully
2f>0 feet long, according to the mar1
iners, was seen by passengers and
crew of the Olinda, of the Munson
Line, which arrived from Cuban
' ports with forty-five passengers and
a general cargo.
It was fifty miles off Cape Henry
; j that the lookout first heard a roar
' like that of a gale beating against
I the reefed sails of a suffering schoon1
j er. To port he saw an amazing
' sight. With a yell he caHed the attention
of officers, crew and passen'jgers,
and they ran/to-the rail just
as a weird vision passed oy.
1 It was the carcass of a whale pro1
pelled by the fluttering and whirring
of wings of thousands of gulls, beating
frantically. Within a few min;
utes?so the passengers who talked
6aid, and so the crew echoed?the
1 carcass of the whale was a faint silvery
speck on a deep blue tropic
sea.?New York Herald.
r
Place Had Changed.
i
"Where's the old blacksmith shop
. where I picked the hot penny off the |
: anvil?"
"The blacksmith organized the
' Gluetown Garage and Gasoline cor
A oaO A fV>o of no L- onH u'PTlt i
puratiuii auu oviu kuv tfbWit -- ~
to Europe."
r "Where's the old oaken bucket
f from which I sipped many a cool
. draught?"
"The health department has it in
a glass case as a horrible exhibit."
j "What's become of the little red
: schoolhouse?"
. "Mrs. Van Coin bought it to use
[ as a hospital for her Pomeranians."
"How about the Common where
t we used to play one old cat?"
i "The Confederate league has
i bought it and we're going to have
? a game there as soon as we get Hal
r Chase to jump to us."
? "The old tavern is the same. I sup>
pose?"
"No; Billy went out of business
. rather than cater to the motorists'
i taste for drinks with seven kinds of
[ liquor and vegetables in them."
"The postoffice?"
"Not much changed: but Joe Gimp
isn't postmaster any more. This
i postcard craze drove him blind trying
to keep up with his reading."
, "Isn't anything the same as it
; used to be?" /
"Vp? lust one. When you go to
, get shaved you'll find that the bar.
ber's conversation and his razor are
. exactly the same as they were when
i you went away."
Rebuked.
5 He was deeply in love with his
5 wife, but aw.fully careless about
t money matters. He started away on
a long business trip leaving her
t short of money, and promised to
send her a check?which he forgot
' telegraphed:
to do. The rent came due and she
> "Dead broke. Lanlord insistant.
> Wire me money."
* Her husband answered:
t "Am short myself. Will send
check in few days. A thousand kisses."
Exasperated, his wife replied:
"Xever mind money. I gave landlord
one of the kisses. He was more
than satisfied."
present time.
"The recent answer of Germany in
the I-.isitania case came to the Unit
5 ed States by way or Copennagen ana
t London. It was delivered to Ambas.
sador Gerard by the foreign office,
t written in German. The ambassador
i first had to turn it over to a transi
lator. who put it in English. Then it
i went to the cc'e experts at the embassy.
who translated it into a series
r of arithmetical groups. It was then
- put in the hands of a cable company.
; "The cable company elected to
- transmit the message to Copenhagen.
> Denmark. From Copenhagen it was
? relayed to London. Now. all ordinary
t cable communications between Ger>
many ajia the outside world is cut
? oft'. England is a belligerent and
- there is a strict censorship over telegrams.
1'ut England recognizes, of
? course, that the ambassador of a neu.
tral power has a perfect right to comt
niunicale with his government,
t "An examination o? the code mes.
sage by censors shows plainly the
- character of it from the addres^ and
. the signature. It is a message from
1 Gerard in Berlin to Bryan in Wash<
ington. So England promptly per0
mits tlie message to go through. It
t reaches X w York by cable. Ft0:11
-! New Yo:i. it is telegraphed to the
r | State department in Washington.
-{where experts reduce it from the
? code to plain English."?
i
JK>LL BRINGS TRAGEDY. [f
Child Reaches in Flames for Toy and JJ
Sets Mother Afire.
A playmate, teasing Louis Poiairtz, j!
three years old. while the children l|
were playing in front of tlje Poiairtz II
home, at 758 Hegenian avenue. II
Brooklyn, the other day, tossed the II
child's rag doll into a scrap paper II
bonfire. The child, in reaching in- II
to the fire to save the toy. lost his II
balance and fell into the flames. In- II
stantly his flimsy clothes were ablaze. II
The child screamed with pain while II
his playmate fled in terror.
The mother, hearing her child's II
cries, ran out of the house and at- II
tempted to beat out the flames with II
her hands. Her garments, too. I
caught fire, and the mother, aflame. I
ran about the street hugging her suf-j
fering child to her breast. Mr. Pol-j
airtz, working in the yard, was at- j
tracted by the cries of passers-by and,
with the help of Patrolman Mandt,
wrapped the mother and the baby in
heavy coats and extinguished the
flames.
Mrs. Poiairtz ana ner nuie suu
were rushed to the Kings county hospital
where it is believed the boy
will die.?New York Sun.
The Purchase of Alaska.
Russia owned Alaska by right of
discovery in 1741 and by continued
possession. It was of little value to
her and not coveted by any other nation.
It is not definitely known when
the cession of Alaska to the United
States was first proposed, but in
1859 the United States offered $5,000.000
for it and the offer was declined.
In 1866 it began to be feared
that England might get possession
of it and the negotiation for its purchase
was renewed, resulting in Russia's
acceptance of an offer of $7,000,000.
This was the real purchase
price, but our government
nav $*>00,000 additional
Cifo i f&vt vv t/?,- T- -
for certain land grants and concessions
held by Russian trading companies.
The treaty of sale was signed
March 30, 1867; ratified by the
senate April 9 and proclaimed by the
president June 20. But it was yet
to be paid for and the house of representatives
balked a little at the
price. The country was popularly
supposed to be a land of polar bears
and icebergs and its value in gold
and coal was unknown. The house
finally passed the necessary appropriation
bill July 27, 1868, and the
deal was closed. Kindly feeling towards
Russia for friendship for us
during the civil war had much to do
in securing the passage of the appropriation
bill.?Indianapolis News.
Blather and Bother.
A certain lady in Paris gives periodical
dinners at which assemble
most of the best known wits and litterateurs
of the day. The rule of
the mansion is that while one person
discourses no interruption whatever
can be permitted. It is said
that Mr. Renan once attended one of
'these dinners, and being in excellent
vein, talked without a break during
the whole repast. Toward the
end of the dinner a guest was heard
to begin a sentence, but he was instantly
silenced by the hostess. After
they had left the table, however,
she at once informed the extinguished
individual, that, as Mr. Renan
had now finished his conversation,
she would gladly hear what he had
to say. The guest modestly declined:
the hostess insisted.
"I am certain it was something of
consequence," she said.
"Alas, madam." he answered, "it
was. indeed: but now it is too late.
I should have liked a little more of
that iced pudding."
Companions in Misfortune.
Two men sat at the same table in
a restaurant of the cheaper sort in
Berlin. They were strangers to each
other, but not too proud to talk.
"Hard times." said one, putting
down regretfully his empty beer
glass.
"Very hard times." said the other
as he speared with his fork a last
morsel of sausage.
"I have seen better days."
"And I."
"Only a year ago. too."
"Just about that."
"I mean in my business."
"Precisely. My business is gone
clean to the devil."
"The same with mine."
"And what is your business, may I
ask?"
"I am a dancing master?a professor
of the fox trot and allied arts?
and you?"
| "I am a professor of international
! law."
\ot Informed of Demise.
j
Teacher?Where is the Dead Sea?!
Toinmie?Don't know, ma'am.
; "Don't know where the Dead Sea
is?"
j "No. ma'am. I didn't even know,
any of them was sick, ma'am."?
I Yonkers Statesman. j
i
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