A code is a scheme agreed on by which the two parties substitute certain whole words for the real words of the message. A code message might seem wholly innocent—let us say, just a simple comment on the weather. But suppose “bright and fair” meant in code “The Leviathan sailed this morning,” and suppose the _Leviathan_ were a transport carrying twelve thousand troops to France! Unless the de-code artist is indeed an artist, he cannot know what interchange in ideas had been agreed upon for interchanged words; and there are not twenty-six letters, but 26,000 words which may be transposed in meaning. The big German spy work—that is, the chain of messages that passed between the German Embassy in America and the Imperial Headquarters in Berlin—was done in enciphered code. They had first been written in German before coding, and after coding, the code was put in cipher. None the less, we read them, and von Bernstorff, Dr. Albert, et al., are no more on our soil. This is specialized, expert work of the most delicate and difficult sort, and is not for the average amateur. Sometimes the latter had more enthusiasm than knowledge in his ambition to be a real sleuth, and in such cases, perhaps something amusing might happen, where zeal did not jump with discretion. BOOK II THE TALES OF THE CITIES CHAPTER I THE STORY OF CHICAGO The Birthplace of the American Protective League—Center of Enemy Alien Activities—Focus of German Propaganda and Home of Pro-German Cults and Creeds—Story of the League’s Work and Workers. The unvarnished story of the growth and accomplishments of this League is the greatest proof in the world of the ability for self-government of intelligent, educated and thinking men. The American Protective League was made up of sober citizens who had something to protect. It was no one man, no one set of men, no one city, which makes it great. The real credit belongs to the unclassified and unsegregated Little Fellow. We had in this war the usual amount of self-seeking. Our first pages abounded in pictures and praises of our great men, born of God to do wonders in ships, supplies, aeroplanes and armies. Some of them worked for a dollar a year. Some of them earned that much, many a great deal less. The scandals of this war are as great as the scandals of any war, when you come to know the truth about them. But there is no scandal attached to the plain, average citizen in this war. It was he, the real democrat and the real American, who won this war for us.