Prussian men and women hardly know the meaning of the word
"private," and, as they have Prussianised to a great or less degree
all the other States of the Empire, they have inured the German to
publicity from childhood upwards.

In the enforcement of food regulations the hands of the Government
in Germany are strengthened by certain elements in the German
character, one of which is the tendency of people to spy upon each
other. Here is a case. Last Easter the customary baking of
cakes--a time-honoured ceremony in Germany---was forbidden all over
Prussia from April 1 to 26. A certain good woman of Stettin, whose
husband was coming home from the trenches, thought that she would
welcome her soldier with one of the cakes of which German men and
women are so fond. She foolishly displayed her treasure to a
neighbour, who had dropped in for gossip. The neighbour cut short
the interview, went home to her telephone, called up the police
and, as she put it, did her duty. I suppose from the German point
of view it is the duty of people to spy in each other's houses.
From an Anglo-Saxon point of view it is something rather like
sneaking at school.

With these elements in their character, it is natural that the
Germans should be past masters in the art of espionage. It does
not follow that they are equally successful in the deductions
formed from their investigations in foreign matters, but they are
so egoistical and so literal, so fond of making reports, so fond of
seeing things only from their own point of view, that, while they
may be successful in obtaining possession by spying, purchase, or
theft, of the plans, say, of a new battleship, they are not able to
form an accurate estimate of the character and intentions of the
people among whom they may be spying.

Their military spying is believed to be as perfect as such work can
be, marred occasionally by the contempt they feel for other nations
in military matters. I presume that there is not much difference
in the systems of various nations except that the German military
spying is probably more thorough.

It is also true that Germans of social distinction will often take
positions far beneath their rank in order to gather valuable
information for their Government. The case of the hall porter in
the _Hotel des Indes_, the most fashionable hotel in The Hague, is
a notorious example. He is of gentle birth, a brother of Baron von
Wangenheim, late German Ambassador t