Germany a Victim of Its Spy
System. 1
The weight of military judgment at
Washington is still against the theory
that Germany is risking a decisive offensive on the western front. War is
a, game of surprise, however, and the
possibility is not to be disregarded
that the kaiser's general staff has decided to fight it out this spring in
France. It has its spies everywhere,
some doubtless behind the allied lines, I
and may risk a powerful offensive on
their reports that France is sufficiently weakened for the final thrust, i
But Germany's spy system has
served it poorly on the whole. The
weakness of the spy system in an
autocratic country lies in the tendency
of the spies to report back what they |
think their masters want. Their opinions are molded by the alms, desires
end preconceived opinions of the general staff.
German generalship has been generally able in the field, but German
diplomacy has blundered on every
front. We are familiar with its many
stupidities in the United States—the
assurances sent by Von Bernstorff,
Boy-Ed and Von Papen that the United States would not fight; the oft-
repeated assertions that America could
not raise armies; the stupid notion
that German-Americans and Irish
voters would rise against our government; the foolish hope that the
selective draft would Incite rebellion
here; the crazy notion that Japan and
Mexico could be seduced into an offensive war against the United States.
All that is ancient history now. And
back of that lie the earlier blunders ,
of    German    diplomacy—the    thought