THE STORY OF NEW ORLEANS
The A. P. L. in the Sunny South—Strong Division of the Crescent
City—How the League was Organized—Rapid Growth and Wide
Activities—Curbing of Vice—Cleaning Up a City.
There is not in all the United States a more lovable city than that
founded by Iberville, in an earlier century, above the Delta of the
Mississippi. At first French, then part Spanish, part American, all
Southern and yet all cosmopolitan, New Orleans has what we may call a
personality not approached by any other community on this continent.
Up to the time when, a decade or so ago, the once self-contented South
began to reach out for a commercial future, so-called, New Orleans was
the true Mecca on this continent of the Northern tourists. No need to
go to Europe if one wanted different scenes. Here existed always the
glamour of old-world customs, an atmosphere as foreign as it was wholly
delightful. As the home of easy living and good cooking, as the place
of kindly climate and gentle manners, all flavored with a wholesome
carelessness as to life and its problems, New Orleans was, to use a
very trite expression, in a class quite by herself. She never has had a
rival, and more is the pity that the old New Orleans has succumbed to
the modern tendency towards utilization and change which has marked all
America.
Of such a community it might be expected that none too rigid a view
of life and law would obtain. This would not be true of the better
elements of New Orleans, yet it was in part true of all the life along
the old Gulf Coast, where Lafitte and all his roisterers once lived,
and where all the gentleness and ease of nature tended toward what we
might call loose living—or at least _joie de vivre_. The soul of New
Orleans came out annually in her Mardi Gras—the exuberant flowering of
a spirit perennially young and riante.
And yet to New Orleans came the sobering days of the war, as to all the
rest of America. The conscription fell upon her as upon every other
city in America; and she also was asked to open her purse for the
furtherance of the war and its purposes. How she responded need not
be asked, and need not really be recorded, for New Orleans has always
maintained beneath her laughing exterior as stern a sense of duty as
may be found anywhere in all the world. To be French is to smile—but
to be firm. Indeed, New Orleans showed one of the strange phenomena of
American life which is not always known in the North—the truth that the
South is more Puritan than ever New England was. Texas, supposed to be
a bad border state, to-day has stronger laws regarding vice and liquor
than New England ever has had since the time of the Blue Laws, and more
strictly enforced. Louisiana also, gentle and kindly, has a stiffer
code of morals than any commonwealth of the stern and rockbound coast.
She smiles—but stands firm.
These reflections become the more obvious as one reads the main
story of the activities of A. P. L. in New Orleans. The division
does not pride itself ever so much upon its promptness with Liberty
Loans, its activity in slacker drives, its firmness as to sabotage
and propaganda, as it does upon other phases of work which at first
were incidental to the prosecution of the Government war activities.
The great boast of the New Orleans division is that it has kept young
soldiers away from bad women, and kept women, once evil, away from
themselves and gave them a chance to reform and to live a different
life. So, therefore, one who shall study all the manifold activities
of the American Protective League in this country will see that it had
many ways in which it rendered service to the people. Perhaps, long
after the League shall have been dissolved, in part forgotten, the New
Orleans rehabilitation home, ten miles out from the city, will remain
as a monument to the activities of that singular organization which,
like King Rex himself, ruler of the Carnival, came from some mysterious
region and vanished thence again, leaving behind only good memories.
On January 29, in 1918, the New Orleans division of A. P. L. had only
thirty-eight members. At that time Mr. Charles Weinberger became
manager, there being associated with him as assistant chief Mr. Arthur
G. Newmyer. There were at first but limited office quarters, but in
a very short time new headquarters were established and the plant
installed covering approximately ten thousand square feet of space.
This was on April 1, 1918. On February 1, 1919, the total membership
was 2,097.
League operations were distributed under a Bureau of Investigation
and a Bureau of Information, each in charge of an assistant chief.
The investigation work was divided by Special D. J. Agent Beckham
as follows: Headquarters bureau, handling enemy alien activities,
disloyalty, sedition, propaganda, etc., had two units, a staff of
eighty-three headquarters lieutenants, and also a ward organization. In
each of the seventeen wards of New Orleans there was a lieutenant who
had enough operatives under him to cover his neighborhood thoroughly.
The second bureau, that of Information, took up on its part the trades
classification rather than that which we may call the geographical
classification into city districts. There was a captain in each of
the seventy-eight commercial lines of the city, and each captain had
lieutenants and operatives in his particular line of business. In this
way there was what might be called a double covering of the city,
both as to information and investigation. For instance, in each hotel
there would be a captain, lieutenant and operatives. The Bureau of
Information had entire charge of the financial end of the League, and
it supplied men to the Investigation Division for the purpose of raids,
or for whatever matter required special assistance.
In the War Department work, the selective service bureau was in
charge of a captain with proper assistants, who handled all violations
under Section 6 of the Act. A member of this bureau was detailed
with each exemption board, and this division handled all the draft
investigations. It made a great many searches of this sort, prevented
a great many evasions, and corrected many incorrect classifications.
In the slacker raids which New Orleans had in common with practically
every other big city of the country there were sometimes as many as
three hundred operatives employed, and it is estimated that more than
20,000 slacker investigations were made in all.
New Orleans was a “wet town,” in close proximity to two Naval stations,
three aviation fields, and two cantonments. It is easily seen what this
meant in the way of activities for the A. P. L. There was a special
liquor bureau put in charge of a captain and assistants. The division
Chief and his aids made an agreement with all the local breweries
and all the wholesale and retail liquor dealers that no intoxicating
liquor should be sold in bottles after 7:00 p. m. This cut off a great
deal of bootlegging and much of the heavier drinking which could not
be controlled by the local police. This bureau was most efficient,
as is demonstrated by the fact that Colonel Charles B. Hatch, U. S.
Marines, who was in charge of the police forces of Philadelphia, was
sent down to New Orleans by Secretary Daniels of the Navy to make an
investigation of the New Orleans situation, and reported that so long
as the A. P. L. was on the job there was no need for the establishment
of a military police in New Orleans, or of extending any other
law-enforcing organization. A. P. L. has rarely had a better compliment
than this.
This bureau had chemists making analyses of several alleged soft
drinks, and caused a cessation in their sale when they were of a
suspicious character. In general, it locked up the town in a manner
entirely satisfactory to the military and naval authorities. Anyone
going to New Orleans in war times would have found it anything but a
wide-open place.
Yet, but lately, New Orleans was called rather an “open town” in other
ways: hence the vice bureau, established under the constant personal
supervision of the division Chief. There were squads kept out all the
time in control of the “district” and uptown sections of the city, this
patrol being kept up day and night. It was not in the least infrequent
that A. P. L. men would be out many nights on service of this sort.
In order that the operations of this vice bureau might be facilitated,
Chief Weinberger was named U. S. Commissioner by Federal Judge Foster.
Women apprehended under Section 13 of the Conscription Act were brought
before Commissioner Weinberger, their cases investigated and affidavits
made. When necessary, they were sent to the isolation hospital for
investigation as to their physical status.
In order to prevent sending these unfortunate women to jail with
criminals, the American Protective League at New Orleans engaged in the
enterprise earlier referred to—its “Amproleague Farm.” Here there were
ample dormitories, fully equipped, and a garden was maintained. There
was a matron in charge. The place was kindly and helpful in every way,
and every attempt was made to change the women spiritually as well as
physically during their stay. Thus the League went a step further than
acting simply as a merciless police force. It took care of young men
who ought to have taken better care of themselves, but it did more. It
took care not of one sex alone, but of both sexes, and in the truer and
more lofty sense of the word.
In this operation of the liquor and vice bureaus, local Army and
Navy camps detailed men to help the A. P. L. The local organization
of the Home Guard, to the number of about a hundred, were admitted
to membership in the League also. This organization, which was under
military discipline, could be quickly assembled for night service.
Transport of the League was cared for by the automobile division of
the Bureau of Information. The latter men rendered special service to
prevent the shipment of liquor into dry territory, whether in violation
of the Reed Amendment or in violation of Section 12 of the Conscription
Act. The New Orleans district had one neighboring cantonment which was
in dry territory.
In brief, New Orleans showed what all the divisions of A. P. L. did
throughout the country—good judgment and common sense. It did the thing
necessary to be done, the most obvious and most useful thing. That duty
was the caring for the personnel of the soldiers and sailors grouped in
such numbers in or close to New Orleans. Human nature was accepted as
human nature, and dealt with as such. These are the conditions which
perforce colored the work of A. P. L. in New Orleans. They do not
reflect the average community life of that city in any ordinary sense
of the word, although many of the cases most valued by the Division
itself have had to do with that manner of work.
For instance, the vice bureau apprehended two young women under Section
13 of the Conscription Act. Brought before the U. S. Commissioner, they
were released upon their personal recognizance, but failed to appear
on the next morning. Later they were located in Houston, Texas, and
brought back to New Orleans. They were not kicked down. They found
homes at the “Amproleague Farm.”
Matters did not go so gently in the vice operations so far as they had
to do with the older and more persistent offenders. There were raids on
some of the more notorious resorts, and several of them closed their
doors entirely. There was a general cleaning up in New Orleans which
was good for the city whether or not it remained a center of military
activities.
A common practice of New Orleans taxicab drivers was to meet all
trains coming in from the cantonments and to offer the sights of the
city, liquor and taxicab included, to any enlisted man for a net sum
varying from five to ten dollars. The League practically wiped out this
pernicious practice by putting on the trains A. P. L. men in uniform as
soldiers. When they got off the train and were thus accosted by taxicab
drivers, they had all the evidence which was necessary. The taxicab
practice was seriously interfered with.
A neighboring city was alleged to have examined incorrectly before
its draft board a certain young man, giving him a classification
to which he was not entitled. Investigation was set on foot by the
A. P. L., who uncovered the fact that the man’s father conducted a
sanitarium patronized by drug and liquor patients. He had treated
several members of the board in his sanitarium, and had likewise had
the Federal district judge as a patient, as well as several other
influential citizens of the community. Thus, having rather confidential
information, A. P. L. had very little difficulty in framing up its
case. It will perhaps not be necessary to go into the usual series of
narratives of interesting cases in the instance of the Crescent City.
The report, as outlined above, is so different in its general phases
from that of the average division that it may be allowed to stand,
with the addition of its tabulated totals, which cover all the forms
of assistance to the Government in which A. P. L. has participated
throughout the United States.
Alien enemy activities 292
Citizen disloyalty and sedition 1,626
Sabotage, bombs, dynamite, defective manufacture 24
Anti-military activity, interference with draft 34
Propaganda—word of mouth and printed 1,326
Radical organizations—I. W. W., etc. 43
Bribery, graft, theft and embezzlement 82
Naturalization, impersonation, etc. 827
Counter-espionage for military intelligence 2
Selective Service Regulations under boards 2,194
In slacker raids, estimated 20,000
Of local and district board members 4
Work or fight order 254
Character and loyalty—civilian applicants 103
Applicants for commissions 57
Training camp activities—Section 12 2,919
Training camp activities—Section 13 2,843
Camp desertions 140
Collection of foreign maps, etc. 3,500
Counter-espionage for Naval Intelligence 206
Collection of binoculars, etc. 8
Food Administration—hoarding, destruction, etc. 453
Fuel Administration—hoarding, destruction, etc. 964
Department of State—Miscellaneous 7
Treasury Department—War Risk Insurance, etc. 625
United States Shipping Board 15
Alien Property Custodian—Miscellaneous 7
Red Cross loyalty investigations 400
The decision to demobilize the American Protective League was arrived
at somewhat suddenly, for reasons more or less obvious to all members
of the League. As recently as November 13, 1918, Mr. Bielaski, Chief
of the Bureau of Investigation of the U. S. Department of Justice,
wrote to Chief Weinberger, expressing the assurance that the American
Protective League by no means ought to disband, since peace was not
yet declared, and since need for the League’s services still existed.
He said, “I am entirely satisfied that the need for this organization
will continue for some time to come, entirely without regard to the
progress of peace negotiations. The tremendous machines which have been
organized by the Government for the prosecution of this war cannot be
stopped abruptly, and must continue to operate for many months under
any circumstances. The American Protective League has a large share of
the work in this country which has made possible the united support
and the full success of our arms abroad, and I am sure that your
organization will continue to play its full part until the Department
is willing to say that it has no further need for its services.”
Now, a few months after these expressions, the League is dissolved
and its work declared ended. Is it ended? New Orleans thinks not, and
points at least to one instance of civic betterment which has not yet
demobilized—its “Amproleague Farm.” The officials found there an old
sugar plantation which dated back to 1857. The old residence was built
over as a modern home, equipped with forty windows, a dormitory with
fifty beds, a room with six sewing machines, also ample galleries and
well-fitted kitchens. Here the League has built a little community home
which it is not yet ready to see die. It is a home where an erring
person is given a chance to begin over again. And after all, has not
that been a part of all the work of A. P. L. in all the country? From
time to time in other reports we have seen it stated: “We tried to show
this or that pro-German where he was wrong”; “We tried to change rather
than to punish”; “We endeavored to improve our citizenship rather than
penalize those who had made mistakes.” So, therefore, we may say that
New Orleans has added a good chapter to the good history of this body
of thoughtful citizens—it has helped make the world and the country
better than it was before.