There were “hot times in the old town” of Hinton, West Virginia, in

good part by reason of the activities of one man, the local Chief,

who, for some time was cook, captain and mate of the Nancy brig. Local

disloyalty induced him to go to Washington and ask government help,

and the League organization followed. One pro-German in Hinton had

the Kaiser’s picture on the wall. It is not there now. The head of

this family was a locomotive engineer. The Chief notified railroad

officials not to allow him to handle any troop trains. Another engineer

expressed the belief that a troop train was carrying “some more fish

bait.” He was also relieved of any future work on troop trains. Two

school teachers, after talking with the Chief, hung up four United

States flags and began to sing all the latest war songs as well as take

an active part in Loan drives, Red Cross work, etc. The largest hotel

in the town did not speak well of the war, and the Chief notified the

officers in charge of troop trains to get their meals somewhere else. A

local newspaper printed an article reflecting on the Red Cross canteen.

“I had all the papers publish an article over my signature,” says the

Chief, “that any criticism of the Red Cross should be addressed to the

Bureau of Investigation at Washington. For this I have been commended

by the Red Cross membership.” It appears that he ought to be commended

for his own record, which, on the face of it, is in the blue-ribbon

class.

NORTH CAROLINA

Lexington, N. C., is in the southern mountains. The Chief says: “Owing

to the peculiar reaction of the mountaineer’s philosophy to the draft

laws, many of them ‘stepped back’ into the ‘brush’ to wait until

the war was over. We spent much time in traveling around among the

lumber jacks and sent out word to many delinquents. It was a simple

thing to reach most of these men through the medium of some trusted

friend—much simpler than sending armed men into the laurel thickets

after the fugitives. I don’t believe there is one case out of ten in

western North Carolina where any of our men avoided the draft through

a malicious motive. Whenever a friendly adviser could reach them to

explain the situation, the majority of them gladly came out. We often

made trips of from thirty to fifty miles into the isolated sections.

At one point thirty miles from a railroad we got information which was

sent across the sea to France and stopped an undesirable appointee to

Y. M. C. A. work there. Some humorous things came up in our mountain

travels. One day our road dwindled to an almost obliterated trail with

grass growing all over it. We sighted an old woman, the first human

being seen for several hours, and asked her if that was the right

way to Doeville. The old woman looked at us with great contempt, and

remarked: ‘Lord bless us, you-all is right _in_ Doeville dis minute!’”

The Chief of Lexington says that not everyone understands the mountain

boys and that they certainly make excellent fighters when in the

army. “One of them in my district,” reports the Chief, “had to be run

down and captured by his own father, who delivered him over to the

authorities for military service. This boy was the first of his company

to distinguish himself in France.”

The Chief of Salisbury, North Carolina, Division sends in his final

report in homely and convincing phrases, a mark of the good common

sense employed in his work. One pro-German was called into the office

and the Chief said to him: “Mr. ——, I hear that the next time you and

your family come to town over the public road, you are going to be

blown up without any warning.” The man struck the table with his fist

and said: “I’d like to know how! The public road is mine and I’m going

to travel on it.” The Chief said: “So our ships had a public highway to

Europe. The Germans have destroyed vessels, women and children without

warning. What do you think of it?” The pro-German thought this over

a minute and exclaimed: “Why hasn’t some one talked to me like that

before? I never saw it that way before.”

Hickory, N. C., says: “Our work was largely educational. We had no

aliens—all native born American citizens. Thirty of our leading

citizens constituted the membership of the League. When we went to

work, all the ’aginners’ who were against the war got on the right

side. Especially was this true after the amended espionage act went

into effect. In my judgment,” says the Chief, “the psychological effect

of an organization that could be felt but not seen helped wonderfully

in bringing to their right senses the small minority that were not in

right at the start.”

Durham, N. C., pulled off one raid on a circus crowd and got ten

slackers. “Our community has a foreign element,” says the Chief, “and

is above the average in respect to law and order. Our members were

prominent in the war activities.”

SOUTH CAROLINA

Anderson, S. C., says: “Our organization has been anxious to answer

every call. There are practically no foreigners in this section, so

violations of the war measures have been almost negligible. Most of our

work has been making reports for overseas service. The men all consider

it a great honor to have been members of the League.”

A man whom we may call Benny Vogel deserted from the 105th Infantry

at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. In some way, he found his way to

Schenectady, New York, where he proceeded casually to marry a young

lady of that city, under date of April 19, 1918. The wife was watched.

The deserter was caught and returned for punishment.

St. Matthews, S. C., reports: “On the whole there was little enemy

activity. We unearthed six cases of discharged soldiers drawing

government money who were not entitled to it, and eight cases of

parties receiving allotments from soldiers for incorrect amounts. We

changed such undesirable sentiment as existed in our community, and

with tact and judgment rather than by drastic measures. We think our

community is among the most loyal of any in America and doubt seriously

if there is one per cent disloyalty here. Some who at first were

lukewarm changed, and we knew it was due to the policy adopted by our

organization. We worked on the Sunday law and the fuel laws, the food

regulations, etc., all in a quiet way, but, we think, with good results

throughout our county.”

GEORGIA

All sorts of stories show in the League files. One regarding submarine

bases along the Georgia and Carolina coast was traced down to the

purchase of a piece of land by a former grocery clerk, a naturalized

German, who resided in Savannah for many years. He was outspoken in

his sympathy with Germany before the United States entered the war. A

report made by the Navy Department to the National Directors of the

League states:

“On January 6, 1918, this man was tried in the city court of Savannah

and found guilty of violating the prohibition laws. He was fined $400

and sentenced to six months on the chain gang. Before he had fully

served his sentence he was re-arrested by the United States Marshal on

a presidential warrant and subsequently interned.” The brief phrase

“presidential warrant” covered many and many a case of naturalized

Germans who became too loquacious in this country before and after we

entered the war.

Atlanta, Georgia, had a nice scare about the report that a German

U-boat captain had landed and was on his way to Atlanta, dressed in

an American officer’s uniform. Operatives were out and trailed every

military or quasi-military looking man on the streets or anywhere else.

Their first haul included a major from the Judge Advocate General’s

office and a Judge from the Federal Court. The next alarm came from two

operatives who trailed an officer just off the train, who turned out to

be a colonel of the Quartermaster’s Corps, U. S. A. The latter was able

to make his escape. The Chief adds: “Just how many suspects were held

up that night it would be difficult to state. Operative No. 3 turned

in a report of his activities the next morning. It seemed he had held

up the following personnel: One Lieutenant-Colonel, sixteen Majors,

twenty-three Captains, forty-two Lieutenants, one Lieutenant-Commander,

three Ensigns, and seven Sergeants—a total of ninety-two suspects.” He

closed his report with the following heartfelt remarks: “Well, I didn’t

know what kind of uniform the German had. Besides, every man I stopped

was a blond. I didn’t stop any other sort.” D. J. reported it was

satisfied that no German submarine officer had visited Atlanta.

ALABAMA

Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the most active and interesting

divisions of the League. It took on 1,849 cases under the Selective

Service Act, 76 investigations of pro-Germans, 123 cases of deserters,

and 153 Red Cross loyalty reports, besides a large list of general war

activities. Some of the star cases of deserter hunting at Birmingham

are reported in another chapter.

Like many another community, Birmingham also had its wireless case,

and like most cases of the sort throughout the country, it created

much excitement in the division while it lasted. Certain mysterious

light flashes, supposed to be signals, were reported along the top of

a high hill on the outskirts of the city. Operatives detailed on the

case could learn nothing, but still reports kept coming in. Finally,

one astute visiting chief followed a high-powered transmission line

along the mountain and found that the limb of a tree at a certain spot

would touch the wire when swayed by the wind. The repeated rubbing had

worn away the insulation, exposing the bare wire. When the limb came

in contact with the wire, especially during a rainy night, a spark

would be made when the limb and wire separated: The Chief adds: “When

the limb was cut off, we received no further reports of mysterious

signals.” There have been bluish-white lights which some thought

indicated a wireless outfit in operation.

Montgomery, Alabama, reports one of those curious cases which were

sometimes met with in the course of the League’s investigations.

This was a straight-goods, dyed-in-the-wool, bona-fide conscientious

objector. His name was W. A. P——, a farmer who had a son in the

draft, but who needed him on the farm. He accompanied the boy to

the examination board, after the young man had been arrested by the

sheriff. He brought his Bible to the board and tried to prove that he

was justified in his objections; that he was responsible for the care

of this boy; that the Lord had given him that duty and no one else. The

old man was violently opposed to bloodshed and quoted the scriptural

words, “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Children, obey your parents.” The

Chief had a long talk with him at his farm. He admitted that he told

his son not to answer questions, and that he had another son who had

attained his eighteenth birthday and had not registered. The Chief

told him to be careful or he would get into trouble. He said, “I am

not getting into any trouble; it is you people who are provoking the

wrath of God.” All the agent could do was to tell him that he must

come before the United States Commissioners. P—— was brought in to the

Committee, and bound over to the grand jury. Before the trial, he stood

up and remarked, “Let us have a word of prayer,” and prayed fervently

for several minutes. He carried his Bible with him at all times. P——

seemed to be generous. “He came to Montgomery and brought a couple

of gallons of nice syrup for the Deputy and Commissioners,” says the

Chief. One would think that the A. P. L. would be glad to have peace at

any price in such surroundings, even without syrup.

Selma, Alabama, is another one of the loyal Southern communities. “We

kept down seditious utterances,” says the Chief. “Without doubt we have

had a most wholesome effect on our citizenry by letting every one know

that this was not a time for anything that was not one hundred per cent

American. I do not believe there was a greater force for good in the

State of Alabama than the American Protective League.”

FLORIDA

Cocoa, Florida, is not far from one of the Government shipyards, and

so had had some contact with persons inclined to be pro-German. By

way of explaining the additional activities sometimes taken on by the

League, the Chief says: “This office worked with the Special Agents at

Jacksonville, and with officers of the Seventh Naval District. We have

also given information to the Collector of Internal Revenue concerning

those who should pay income tax. Our division consisted of twenty-four

members—all high-class men who could be relied upon in any emergency

that might arise. We were taking steps to enlarge the organization when

the German balloon burst.”

Eustis, Florida, was more especially concerned with war cases.

Forty-one cases of draft delinquency were handled; two slacker raids

were conducted, and there was a little “work or fight” activity.

Eustis is in a county which had the reputation of harboring a good

many slackers and deserters, who sought peace and quiet in some of the

out-of-the-way places. Through the activities of the local A. P. L.

division, this situation was cleared up distinctly. The Chief says:

“We believe we have been instrumental in protecting many people from

their own follies, and have brought to justice men who were engaged in

obstructing the Government’s war activities in one part of the country

or another. It has been a pleasurable though arduous service that some

of us have rendered in this work.”

Kissimmee, Florida, reports: “All quiet along the Kissimmee. Our

community was singularly free of annoyance of any character. Two or

three persons were indiscreet in their language, but we found that a

small reminder was sufficient to stop the talk.”

KENTUCKY

Louisville, Kentucky, is a busy and famous old town with a reputation

for being engaged in the manufacture of trouble-making products, but

there seems to have been very little trouble. Only eighty-nine cases

of disloyalty and sedition are reported, and 308 under the selective

service regulations.

Mr. George T. Ragsdale, the first Chief of Louisville Division,

instructed his men to keep under cover, so that the personnel of the

division was very little known. More than 700 reports were made in

all, and nine men were sent to the penitentiary. Local business men

furnished most of the working capital. Upon Mr. Ragsdale’s resignation,

Mr. J. V. Norman was appointed Chief, taking over about 400 members.

The city was divided into nine districts and the County in three, with

the usual subdivisions of captains and lieutenants as operatives.

The membership was up to about 700 at the time of the signing of the

Armistice.

Most of the investigations handled by the Louisville Division were on

requests coming from local draft boards, although the several branches

of the government’s legal organization frequently asked for aid.

Several thousand men were questioned in the slacker raid of August 3.

Thirty-five men were taken to jail and fourteen inducted; among these,

several deserters. Sometimes at a race track a quiet investigation

would be put on without any open raid.

Among the list of delinquents turned in was a man named Lyle D. B——.

An intercepted letter resulted in an examination of the man’s mother,

who refused to tell where he was. Portland, Oregon, was suspected as

his present residence. The case came to an end when it was found that

the delinquent had been committed to the Federal penitentiary at McNeil

Island, Washington. His questionnaire was forwarded by the local board

to the penitentiary and returned properly filled in. The man had a

fairly good alibi. The usual cases of religious fanatics, loud talkers

and bearers of false witness were uncovered in the League’s work. Many

of the best citizens of Louisville were engaged in these somewhat

undignified and often thankless tasks of ferreting out such matters.

Lexington, Kentucky, as might easily be expected, reports in American

fashion: “The sentiment of our entire population is hard against the

Germans and their allies. Our people are almost unanimous in their

opposition to showing Germany any consideration, even with furnishing

them food after their defeat. The one sentiment is that Germany could

feed herself while in war; now let her feed herself since she is out of

war.”

The work of the Lexington Division was mostly concerned with the local

and district boards. It handled 405 cases of this sort. There were only

thirty cases of disloyalty and sedition investigated, and forty cases

of word-of-mouth propaganda.

Marion, Kentucky, says: “We are glad to report that our county has

been so patriotic that little of any importance is required to be

done. We had to caution a few of our citizens as to the bad results of

opposition to the United States in the war. We have no foreign element.

Our citizens come from Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, and

are of old families. We rarely see anyone of foreign descent in this

section except traveling men who make trips through the county.”

Somerset, Kentucky, had a bad man—a deserter who escaped from Fort

Oglethorpe once or twice, the last time taking along his rifle and

pistol. He barricaded himself in an old house at Helenwood, Tennessee.

The A. P. L. took him all right, in spite of his threats. He is in Fort

Leavenworth for twenty years. From far off Livingston, Montana, came a

request to Somerset Division to arrest one Willie McK——, a professional

evader. He was found attending church. The Chief says: “We walked in

and gave him a tap on the shoulder, and told him to come out. Just as

we started for the door, the choir began to sing, ‘God be with you

till we meet again.’ It is going to be some time.” Somerset concludes:

“We did not stop when the Armistice was signed, but kept watching

everything and giving the Government the best that was in us!” Isn’t

that fine?

TENNESSEE

The A. P. L. work in the beautiful and historic old city of Nashville

was somewhat circumscribed because of the activities of other agencies

already in existence. The division did its share in the routine

work of war activities, apprehending evaders, conducting numerous

investigations, and vigilantly keeping tab on the comings and goings in

the Old Hickory Powder Plant.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, did its bit and did it well. Ten prisoners

who escaped from the local War Prison were apprehended by division

operatives, and brought back for reinternment. One member of the

division discovered an extensive system of graft in connection with the

Government construction work on the Nitrate Plant at Sheffield, Ala.

Report of this was furnished to a Special Agent, who was detailed by

the Government to conduct an investigation. The Chief comments: “Just

what can be proven in this case remains to be seen.”

Some of the most amusing Chattanooga investigations were those of the

religious sect known as the “Holy Rollers.” Several of these preachers

had preached sermons in which they condemned the Red Cross and the

Government generally. These men were apprehended, and members of their

congregations testified at local headquarters. Some of these preachers

were moved by the “spirit” in their testimony, but after they remained

in jail a short time, they saw the Scriptures in a different light, and

very few of them offended a second time.

Another Chattanooga case had in it the possibilities of great mischief.

A large amount of mail to an illiterate mountaineer caused an A. P. L.

operative and a Special Agent of the Department of Justice to go to the

top of Sand Mountain, and in a dirty log cabin they found a wagon load

of I. W. W. literature and correspondence in which were letters from

Emma Goldman and other leading lights of socialistic faith. The man

himself was working in a foundry turning out Government orders; he was

organizing a strike at the time he was taken into custody.

Clarksville, Tennessee, is in the loyal Southern country, and is very

free from alien population. There were only twenty-five investigations

for disloyalty and sedition, and propaganda was almost negligible. As

this is the tobacco producing section, there was considerable property

investigated under the Trading with the Enemy Act, and some helpful

reports were made to the Alien Property Custodian. The League members

were active in all the war work.

Hopkinsville, Tennessee, had a great deal of trouble over illegal

transportation of whiskey, a great deal of which went to workers in

government powder plants in an adjoining city. “We arrested so many

that no record was kept,” says the Chief. Things became quieter later

on.

Huntingdon, Tennessee, is another disgustingly quiet and satisfied

community. “People nearly all natives,” says the report, “and mighty

few expressions of disloyalty. We have watched for violations, but

nothing has developed worthy of report.”

TEXAS

San Antonio, Texas, is in a strongly pro-German neighborhood and has

a large citizenry of German descent. It is refreshing nevertheless to

see that in this good old Texas town, once distinctly Spanish, the

language of the United States prevails to-day and only one flag floats

over the Alamo. There were thirty-four investigations for sedition,

and twenty-four cases of propaganda. The usual number of overseas

examinations were held. On the whole, San Antonio seems to have been

quiet and peaceful and distinctly loyal in every way, in spite of her

location so close to New Braunfels.

The San Antonio Chief concludes his too brief report with a little

story:

The telephone at my elbow rang insistently. The man at the other

end of the wire was incoherent, and I could not understand what he

wanted.

“Hold on a minute!” I finally interrupted. “Who is this speaking?”

He would not tell me; he merely said that he was a friend of mine.

I did not like to give information over the ’phone when I was not

sure as to whom I was talking. I again insisted that he give me

his name; once more he refused to do so, reiterating that he was a

good friend of mine. I could not recognize the voice. But what he

said was startling.

Recently I had been appointed Chief of the American Protective

League for this District, and how my informant had learned, or

guessed, that I was engaged in it, I could not tell. I did not

like to undertake a wild goose chase; at the same time, if I

should refuse to follow up the clue he gave me, the lives of many

might be endangered.

Anything could happen in San Antonio. It is one of the oldest

cities in the United States, and ever since the day the Spaniard

founded it, has been a hotbed of intrigue. Just at this time there

were fully twenty thousand troops stationed in the various Camps

about the City, and in order to impress the Mexicans with the

idea that we were not altogether helpless, it had been suggested

that a patriotic military parade be given. This was to take place

the following day, and I had spent many hours helping to arrange

the details. And now, my mysterious “friend” had told me over the

’phone that he knew certain parties were plotting to throw a bomb

into the parade; that if I would go to the certain house named by

him, I would find a meeting of the plotters in progress!

There was no time to be wasted. I got in touch with one of my

lieutenants, M——, and asked him to meet me in half an hour, and to

come armed. Before leaving the office I sent for a couple of suits

of overalls, one of which I donned, and when I met M——, I gave him

the other.

I told him all that I knew, and he realized that it was serious.

We parked our car about two blocks from the house designated

by my informant, and approached it afoot. The neighborhood was

questionable. The house to which I had been directed stood a few

feet back from the street in a neglected tangle of shrubbery.

There was a fence about the property, but no gate. It was a small

frame shack with two rooms in front and a third forming an ell. We

walked around it cautiously several times, and finally discovered

a light in the ell. The blinds were all tightly closed, and it

was but a faint glimmer through a crack that we saw. We crawled

carefully to the gallery and each looked through the crack.

We could barely distinguish the forms of five men huddled over

an oil stove in the middle of the room. Three were in overalls

and had the appearance of laborers; one wore a shabby old suit of

civilian clothes, and the fifth appeared to be in uniform. Their

heads were close together and they seemed to be talking in low

tones, but neither M—— nor I could distinguish a word that was

said.

There was a door a few feet from where we were, and I noticed

another one on the opposite side of the room. I told M—— to go

around to the other door and I would remain where I was. If either

of us was able to distinguish any suspicious words, or if we found

any reason to suspect that the five men were actually plotting, a

low whistle was to be the signal to the other, and simultaneously

we were to break in the door and rush them.

While the whole thing had the appearance of a conspiracy, and I

was inclined to take the bull by the horns and give M—— the agreed

signal, I was also suspicious that someone might be playing a

practical joke on me. While I hesitated, M—— suddenly sneezed!

I have lived in the Southwest the greater part of my life and have

been in some pretty tight places, and always have prided myself on

my ability to take care of myself in an emergency; but the next

thing I knew after M——’s sneeze, he was bending over me trying to

staunch the blood that was flowing from a wound over my right eye,

at the same time reading the riot act to me in choice language.

“What happened?” I asked, feebly.

“Why, the whole darned shooting-match jumped your way, walked over

you and beat it!” he explained in exasperation. “What I’ve been

trying to find out is why in hell you didn’t shoot?”

I could not answer in words, but mutely I showed him that in my

haste I carefully had put on the overalls over my clothes with my

gun in the usual place in my hip pocket. It would have taken me

five minutes to get it out.

“It’s a good thing you had it so well hid,” he remarked. “They

might have taken it away from you!”

We searched the deserted house. Except for the stove it was devoid

of furniture, and we found nothing in the way of a clue.

We arranged for a strict patrol of the route of the parade. Each

man was given a “beat.” If any man saw anything suspicious, and

particularly a suspicious package, he was to investigate and

report at once.

The parade was crossing the Houston Street bridge, where I

happened to be, when I saw a negro man elbowing his way to the

front of the crowd along the curb. In his right hand, held high

over the heads of those about him, was a package wrapped in

newspaper! He seemed in the act of hurling it into the street when

I sprang forward and grabbed the upraised arm, dragging the negro

back to the railing of the bridge.

“What have you got in that package?” I demanded.

“My Gawd, boss, you’se the fou’th man to ast me about ma lunch in

the last five minutes. If it’s worrying you white folks so much,

guess I’d better git shet of it!”

Before I could prevent him, he threw it into the river,

and turned to view the parade with a muttered opinion on my

interference with his personal liberties. All we succeeded in

accomplishing was scaring a poor negro out of his lunch, but

whether or not we thwarted others in a worse plot, we never knew.

But that was much our story in San Antonio. We did the best we

knew. Had we not been there, and were it not known that we were

there, matters might have been worse. The makings of trouble were

around us all the time.

Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border, was organized for business. The

Chief says: “We have very few alien enemies resident here. Before we

organized, there was some talk of a disloyal nature, but this situation

changed at once when it got out that we had seventy-five or eighty

members whose identity was unknown to the public but who would be

pretty sure to be out for business. For the six or eight months before

the Armistice we heard scarcely a word unfavorable to the United States

or her Allies. We think we did something in the way of prevention if

not of cure.”

Yoakum, Texas, has ten cases of disloyalty and a like number of

word-of-mouth propaganda. A good local chief of a fighting family

says: “We were ready at all times to meet any emergency regardless of

distance or difficulty.”

Beaumont, Texas, is in the oil country, and such centers quite often

attract alien population. The Beaumont report covers sixty-three cases

of alien enemy activities, eighteen cases of disloyalty, and ninety

cases under the selective service regulations.

ARKANSAS

Cotter, Arkansas, reports that it is a community with very few

foreigners, the population being American for generations back. The

Chief says: “We had two deserters who lived for two weeks in an

inaccessible camp in the mountains. They finally got hungry, came in

and surrendered. We also had one draft-dodging case of a peculiar

sort. This young man, according to his marriage license, should have

registered in June, 1917. He did not. We traced him to Oklahoma, and

from there to Springfield, Missouri. He was taken into custody by the

Chief of Police at that point on our order. We sent a certified copy

of his marriage license, but he had enough of his relatives on hand to

swear to his true age, to secure his release.”

Helena, Arkansas, also comes into court with very clean hands. Its

report shows a membership of 127, which proved to be none too large,

as all hands found work to do. Investigations were handled all over

Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Fort Smith, Arkansas, found its slacker raids more interesting than

anything else. It conducted two of them, a slacker or two being

apprehended each time. One stranger, who was sufficiently indiscreet as

to fail to register, was unceremoniously hauled out of bed and turned

over to the local war board. No alien enemy activities came to the

attention of this division.

OKLAHOMA

The State of Oklahoma does not submit a wealth of material for this

history of the A. P. L., and indeed the evidence seems to indicate that

there was comparatively little material to submit. Chickasha, Oklahoma,

sends in a little report, covering three alien enemy investigations;

four cases of disloyalty and sedition; one case of sabotage; five cases

of word-of-mouth propaganda; two deserter cases, and seven character

and loyalty investigations.

There are numerous reports at hand, which are made in the form of

figures only, but it is impossible to print these in detail.

CHAPTER IV

THE STORY OF THE WEST

Under the caption of The West, we arbitrarily are grouping all of

the states lying west of a line running north and south from the

western borders of the Dakotas to the eastern edge of New Mexico. This

excludes part of that great region long known in America as the Great

West,—a country that is no more, and never again can be on the face

of this earth, unless war and pestilence one day shall quite remove

our present human population. What we retain as the West for A. P. L.

classification purposes still has some distinct characteristics. It

still is largely unknown land to Eastern citizens, still holds the

flavor of a romantic past, as well as that of a great and unknown

future.

The region thus set off comprises more than a third of the acreage of

the United States. It is the most thinly settled portion of the United

States and, made up as it is in large part of arid lands or mountainous

regions, no doubt on the average it always will remain so. Yet here

lie the richest remaining forests of America, and no one may know how

much of additional mineral wealth. Here also, our country halts at the

shore of the Pacific and looks westward at the future. In the march

of King Charles, his knights paused at Rockfish Gap, and those merry

gentlemen carelessly claimed possession of all those unknown lands that

lay to the westward, “as far as the South Sea.” Well, we have made the

crossing of the continent. We are at the South Sea now.

Who and what are we, however, who stand at the edge of the Pacific and

look westward? Are we Americans? Who could call us such? We are not the

same Homeric breed now that we were when the first rails went west.

Taking our arbitrary section herein, west of the Dakotas, and studying

the statistical census map of the United States made in 1914—the first

year of the war—we find that the population of Montana is more than

fifty percent foreign-born, or of foreign-born parentage. The same is

true of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, California,

Oregon and Washington; all have population thirty-five to fifty percent

foreign of birth or parentage! This, in what we have thought was the

American West!

There is no American West. There is no America. But for the Grace

of God, we are gone. This is no mere rant. Study the census maps

yourself—you can have no more thrilling, no more fascinating and no

more saddening reading, search how you may. The trouble with most of us

Americans was that we did not know our America. For America, this war

is not over. It is just beginning. The more we set aside preconceived

notions or biased and unctuous conclusions based on suppositions

and not facts for premises, and the more we learn the actual facts

regarding this country’s problems to-day, the more we shall be obliged

to that sobering and wholly distasteful thought that America is at the

threshold of her real war. That man does not live who can with any

color of authority predict the end of that irrepressible conflict. No

Statue of Liberty can avert it; no jaunty melting pot doctrine can

conjure it away.

But the great West, which with the great South remains in larger

percent American than do the North or the East, was zealously on guard

throughout this war. Few of our far-flung marches but had an A. P. L.

outpost of Americans, and these were eyes of the same sort that long

ago looked down the brown barrels of long rifles in the frontier days.

If we had a frontier now, here it would lie, between the Prairies and

the Pacific; and the frontier always has been loyal. It was loyal

in this war. The next great American will come from the land of the

old Frontier. What, think you, will be his message? Will it be of

melting-pots?

COLORADO

Denver, Colorado, must have a rather thrifty population, for there

were 140 cases of food hoarding reported from that division. Operatives

of the League investigated 789 cases of disloyalty and sedition

under the Espionage Act, and the division as a whole worked in close

coöperation with the local draft boards. The Chief says: “We looked

into the German language situation; also vice, liquor, bootlegging, and

general lawlessness in coal mining camps. We investigated the loyalty

of many individuals who were under consideration for membership in

patriotic associations or for City or State positions.”

Delta County, Colorado, had one simple and kindly pro-German section

foreman who left spikes sticking up in the wagon road crossing, so that

they might possibly destroy some American tires. Very thoughtful, but

not very damaging. Apropos of one of the more lurid happenings in this

division, the Chief says: “We got a riot call to a small settlement six

miles out, and I responded with three details of A. P. L. members. We

arrived on the scene at 11:00 p. m. and found thirty armed Americans

who were just starting in to clean up a settlement of eleven German

families. We quieted things until we could make an investigation, and

then found that a poison scare was at the root of the trouble. A German

administered a pint bottle of bluing to one of his sick horses. The

horse very promptly died. Heated imagination did the rest.” The A. P.

L. certainly prevented bloodshed in this instance.

Mancos, Colorado, gives a pleasant little touch of local color: “Just

a few days before war was declared with Germany, one G. B. B——, a

resident of Mancos, Colorado, made some very derogatory remarks to the

effect that the war, if it was declared, would be a rich man’s war,

for the benefit of the wealthy class, and that the United States had

no business in war with Germany; that the American flag would soon be

dragged in the dust, and by the Germans, if war were declared. His wife

also stated that the Germans had done nothing worse than the soldiers

did in our late civil war. Many remarks were made showing sympathy

with the German cause. When the news of the first big victory of the

Allied armies was received here, an impromptu celebration was held on

the streets of the town, and all of doubtful sympathies were asked to

mount a box and wave an American flag. Some half a dozen did so, and

did it gracefully and with seeming willingness, but Mr. B—— refused

to come out. Later, at another celebration, he was made to come out

and wave the flag, though he did it with bad grace and only upon being

strenuously urged to do so. He made a long talk trying to tell how

loyal he was, but he would not submit to waving the flag until really

made to do so, and then in a very insulting way. He made no more

violent utterances after the time mentioned.”

Red Cliff, Colorado, had at least one hectic moment: “On October 14,

1918, the County Treasurer’s deputy, Mrs. F——, deliberately tore down

the Fourth Liberty Loan poster, remarking that ‘That has been up there

long enough; it has almost ruined our flowers in the window.’ It was

developed that our County Treasurer, Mr. C——, was a hoarder of food,

and the local Food Administrator arrested him and fined him $25 for

the benefit of the Red Cross. The County Treasurer called me into

his office, caught me by the throat and tried to scare me, saying:

‘I understand you are showing a paper around here trying to ruin my

character; that you are saying that I am a dirty slacker. Aren’t you

ashamed of yourself to circulate such dirty lies about me?’ Then the

fun began. I struck him and told him that if he was guilty of hoarding

2,000 pounds of flour in his brother’s attic, he certainly was a dirty,

low-down slacker and traitor. He weighs about 225 pounds; I weigh 143.

He threw me down and sat on me for fifteen minutes, trying to make me

apologize. I didn’t, and never will for any man of pro-German type.”

For a man weighing only 143 pounds, the Red Cliff chief seems to

have been active. He sent back three Canadian subjects and caused a

decided change of heart in a pro-German who was the son-in-law of

a local banker. The suspect got wind of the fact that he was being

investigated, and his conversion was very prompt, he making no attempt

to sit down on the local Chief.

Prowers County, Colorado, investigated fifty cases of mouth-to-mouth

propaganda, a notable case in its annals being that of a German

Lutheran minister who refused to answer the question as to which

side he wished to win the war. It did not take him long, however, to

realize that he had made a blunder. He asked for time. The next day he

declared very promptly that he wanted the United States to win. He was

instructed to prove this by preaching and praying it in private as well

as in public, which he agreed to do.

MONTANA

Billings, Montana, organized its A. P. L. division only three months

before the signing of the Armistice. The Chief says: “It was a

privilege to serve. We are grateful for the opportunity that came to

us. Our field was small, and our time of service was short, but if we

contributed in some small way to the success of the League’s work, we

feel amply repaid.”

Red Lodge, Montana, is a coal mining town with a considerable foreign

element, so it early organized a “Liberty Committee” of two hundred

citizens. This committee worked in with the A. P. L. The fact that a

division of the latter body was organized was not definitely known, but

the belief got out that the Government had a secret agency working at

Red Lodge and that it was in working order; “which it was,” says the

Chief.

NEW MEXICO

An instance of shrewd detective work comes from Albuquerque, New

Mexico, whose Chief reports:

We received a copy of a letter mailed from this point several months

previous, illegibly signed, but clearly addressed to a man named H——

in Holland. The letter, intercepted by censors, contained disloyal

statements about Liberty Bonds, and referred to “our bank.” We assumed

from this that the writer of this letter was a banker. The use of

blank paper instead of a business letterhead suggested that he was a

transient. Albuquerque being quite a health resort, we surmised that

the banker was probably a well-to-do health seeker. Accordingly, we

combed the higher class resorts frequented by visitors of this type.

Going through the list of patrons at one of these places, we found

the name of A. H——, resident of an Arkansas town. By referring to the

bank directory, we discovered that this man was a director and officer

in the bank at that town. We sent this information to the National

Directors in Washington. It was sufficient. The investigation of the

whole case consumed thirty minutes. We admit it was a little different

from the usual routine that we usually had to follow.

UTAH

Green River, Utah, had a couple of cases which made some trouble.

One was that of William F. A——, and Callie A——, his wife. Evidence

was secured showing that this man was not a citizen, although he had

voted as such. It was alleged that he was handling high explosives

in violation of the law and that he expressed disloyal sentiments.

Military Intelligence in Salt Lake confiscated the arms and ammunition,

and had A—— registered as a German alien enemy. His wife was very

bitter in her denunciation of the United States and the Red Cross. The

son of the two was charged with being a draft evader. Another man,

James H——, was alleged never to have registered for the draft, although

within the age limit. He was arrested, admitted his guilt, and was

turned over to the County Board.

Hiawatha, Utah, seems to have been for the most part quiet during the

war. This division says: “Due to the loyal spirit of our people, our

report is short. We are in a thinly settled locality. We got only one

fine imposed, a violator of the food regulations, who pleaded guilty.”

Richfield, Utah, is a farming community off the railroad, having no

large labor organizations to make trouble. The Chief says: “A few

pro-Germans were quietly warned, and that was all that was necessary.

All our members were organized and watchful, and there was not much to

do. Any service we could render we gladly gave.”

Santaquin, Utah, sends the best and most satisfactory kind of a report:

“I am proud to state that this little town has been loyal to the core.

We have not found a single slacker or disloyal case. Investigated one

or two cases of men asking for military service and found them O. K.

In all the drives for bonds and thrift stamps, we have ‘gone over the

top,’ and we hope to continue with the same good spirit and loyalty.”

Moab, Utah, has a local chief of a calm turn of mind. He says that

most of the talk he heard was just that of some ignorant people who

didn’t know the difference between war and peace times. The Chief adds

that he saw only three or four parties who refused to buy bonds. “I had

a talk with them, and they bought willingly,” he adds!

From Fillmore, Utah, the Chief reports: “Not much to do in this

out-of-the-way place. We watched every person who came into town. No

telling when we might not have been of service in apprehending some

person badly needed.”

Smithfield, Utah, reports: “We had only twelve in our organization.

Our community is only two thousand—a farming community of good quiet

citizens. We support the constitution; over-subscribed for Liberty

Bonds, Red Cross, and War Savings Stamps. If you realize what a rural

community like this is, you know there is not much to do. We have done

what we could with the local boards in draft matters.”

ARIZONA

Tucson, Arizona, is the land of sunshine and appears to have been very

peaceful. The Chief reports that there were plenty of war activities

going on all the time, but none of these were of a nefarious sort.

There apparently was nothing wild or woolly about an A. P. L. job in

Tucson during war times.

Cochise County, Arizona, was once somewhat famous for loading up a

railroad train with undesirable citizens and then telling the engineer

to steam ahead. None the less, this last year or so Cochise has had

absolute peace and quiet. Ever so often, of course, a dissatisfied

citizen would go over to Mexico, subsist on red beans for a while, and

then try to get back. He would usually find the getting back a trifle

more difficult than the going over. About 1,000 investigations were

made, most of them referred to the Department of Justice at Bisbee and

Douglas. About forty-five or fifty men of the live-wire type did the

work. There was always an element of danger present, though nothing

ever broke.

Naco is directly on the border between Mexico and the United States.

Douglas, not far distinct, is a busy town of which smelting is the big

industry. The historic town of Tombstone is the county seat. Bisbee is

one of the largest copper camps in the world. There were good men and

true with the A. P. L. in all of these towns, and they did fine, loyal

service for the flag.

WYOMING

An artless report comes from Weston County, Wyoming: “We had a number

of people here who were pro-German, but all such cases were quieted

with a little assistance. One man said that he was in hopes that he

could eat another good meal in his own country, Germany. When he got

through talking to all the people who waited upon him, he went home and

committed suicide.”

Moran, Wyoming, is hardly a place where you would look for a Russian

countess. None the less, Moran contained one for a while, and A. P. L.

found her there and made certain investigations. One I. W. W. leader

was also discovered by alert operatives.

Sundance, Wyoming, is in the short grass country, and reports but

little German activity. Most of the work of this division had to do

with draft board matters. The ranch country of the west was in a very

large measure strictly loyal, as the reports show.

IDAHO

Idaho Falls, Idaho, had one case which again shows the pronounced

anti-Americanism of the German Lutheran church in America during the

war. C. C. M——, a minister of this denomination located at Blackfoot,

Idaho, applied for the position of chaplain in the United States Army.

The local chief of the A. P. L. investigated him and found him to be

violently pro-German. It was known that he had threatened to blow up

the town of Blackfoot with dynamite, and had also made threats to

poison the source of the water supply of the town. Did Rev. Mr. M——

get his chaplaincy? He did not. A local applicant for the position

of Captain in the United States Army, as Inspector of Arms, was also

investigated, and was turned down on account of his strong pro-German

tendencies.

Almo, Idaho, reports: “Our locality is wholly a stock raising section

and is sparsely settled, so there has been no disloyalty or trouble

whatsoever. There is nothing to report except that the people of this

section are absolutely O. K. in their loyalty to Uncle Sam.”

CALIFORNIA

Long Beach, California, sends in a two-page report which is entirely

too modest, because it covers 8,590 investigations. Out of this

number, ninety were held in the Federal courts. Twenty were convicted,

and three were found not guilty. Forty slackers and deserters were

arrested, and three alien enemies, who were taken in the shipyards,

were interned. Some 3,000 persons who had made indiscreet remarks

against the country were warned to good effect.

In the Long Beach district were four shipbuilding plants. It was

learned that several I. W. W.’s were numbered among the employees.

They were taken from the shipyards for cause. The Long Beach chief

was reluctant to disband, and when the time came to do so, he made

arrangements by which the division will be held as a sort of reserve.

“If at any future time you need our assistance,” says the Chief, “you

will find us waiting.”

Oakland, California, looked into the color of the hair and eyes of

387 persons under the heading of disloyalty and sedition. There were

356 investigations under the draft act. Oakland Division dealt out

its punishments to the enemy drastically. Seventeen well-known local

Germans, business and professional men, drank a toast to the Kaiser in

the Faust Café, a German restaurant. The A. P. L. got the necessary

evidence, and ten of these men were convicted of disloyalty. The court

put the punishment at three months in the chain gang, and a fine of

$250 each. They do not now know any such phrase as “Hoch der Kaiser.”

Crescent City, California, had at least one high light. The Chief

reports that an enemy alien, a baker, learned in some way that his

loyalty had been questioned, and immediately started to gather all the

rifles and pistols that he could, declaring that with a dozen guns

he could hold the whole town at bay. Officers searched his place of

business during his absence, and found several of the guns loaded. The

man claimed to be a naturalized citizen, but could not show his papers.

His case was cared for.

OREGON

The far Northwest bordering on the sea caught flotsam and jetsam,

caught problems, as seaboard regions always have and always will. The

city of Portland, Oregon, shares in these matters, though it is old,

settled, and much disposed to quiet. Portland’s main concern in life is

the growing of roses; but early in the war Portland had already thrown

away her rose-growers’ club and set her hand to the ax rather than to

the garden trowel. As a city, it is a good place for roses, but a poor

place for alien enemies.

A certain man of many aliases, whom we may indicate as D——, was

arrested for being found within half a mile of the Armory without an

enemy permit. He was found to be the owner of a great deal of I. W. W.

literature. Investigation proved him to be a man of vitriolic temper,

and one possessed of considerable means. He was very well investigated

and jolly well interned.

A man by the name of F—— was arrested as a German alien, traveling

without a pass. Very naturally, he claimed to be a Swiss, as do all

German waiters. Investigation of his case proved he was in the habit of

signing as a seaman, on ships about to sail, and then refusing to go

on board at sailing time. His peculiar conduct got him in wrong with

the Sailors’ Union. A close examination developed that he was a former

German naval officer, and pictures of him were found in the German

uniform. He was interned as a dangerous alien.

If Portland’s A. P. L. could not get a man one way, there were always

other ways available. One J. B——, placed under suspicion by the angry

accusation of a woman whom he claimed to be his wife, was discovered

to be a draft evader from Chicago. It was found also that he had a

real wife living in Oklahoma. The pretending wife forged the wife’s

name to the man’s questionnaire, thus securing for him a deferred

classification. He was indicted for violation of the Mann Act and

Conscription Act, and got eleven months in jail.

The first slacker convicted and sentenced for violation of the

Conscription Act in the State of Oregon was C. B—— of Portland, who

was discovered to have failed to register. He was arrested the 10th of

July, 1917, tried and convicted and served thereafter as an example.

The hundreds of cases in Portland were of much the same sort as those

arising in other cities. The law of averages held good. Once in a

while a man was reformed, and once in a while a flivver was found.

E. B——, of California, registered at Fairfield, California, June 5,

1918, was posted as a deserter and arrested by an operative of the A.

P. L. at Portland, Oregon. He was of Swedish descent, and the hearing

of his case developed that many of his friends had told him that he

could get out of the Army by claiming exemption as an alien subject to

deportation. It was explained to him that if he went back to Sweden

under deportation, he could never again return to the U. S. as a

citizen. This cleared up his mind distinctly, and he resolved to go

into the Army and will probably make a good citizen.

Canyon City, Oregon, says: “We had one man who was constantly spilling

over in favor of Germany. Our members took him over the jumps and made

him subside. He could have been convicted, but neighbors promised to be

responsible for him, and they kept their word. Our people as a whole

were very loyal, and we had only a small number of cases to handle.”

WASHINGTON

Yakima, Washington, tabulates its activities as 93 cases of disloyalty

and sedition, ten cases of word-of-mouth propaganda and sixteen I. W.

W. cases, besides the usual routine work.

Snohomish, Washington, sends in a report indicative of an unexpected

amount of activity. There were 302 cases of disloyalty and sedition,

nineteen of sabotage, twenty-four of anti-military activity, fifteen

of propaganda, as well as 116 cases under the selective service

regulations, and 124 under the “work or fight” order. The Chief closes

his modest summary with the statement that the work was largely

connected with I. W. W. and Socialists activities such as were noted in

the Northwest during the war. He says: “We had the state secretary of

the Socialists in the penitentiary. Many I. W. W.’s were jailed, and

many more were inducted into the Army. Some of the latter tribe have

been court-martialed since entering the Army.” As it were, and so to

speak, Atta Boy!

ALASKA

And now let us give, as the very last tribute of The Four Winds, the

report of a town which may seem a long way from home to many readers,

but which, out of all the many hereinbefore mentioned, will show best

of all the far-flung activities of the American Protective League. This

report comes from Anchorage, Alaska. Leopold David is Chief at this far

off station, and every word that he has written shall go to the readers

of the League:

Members of the League have been active in Red Cross work here,

in food conservation, and in the sale of Liberty Bonds and

War Savings Stamps. From the moment the Anchorage branch was

first organized, I impressed upon the members the necessity of

counter-propaganda to refute any insinuations or charges that

they might hear against the causes leading the U. S. into war,

and the conduct thereof. Everything in connection therewith which

was derogatory to the interests of the U. S. was immediately

traced to its source, if possible, and the false impression

corrected. We have a large foreign element here employed in

railroad construction, and members of the League made it a point

in their trips up and down the line to explain the reasons for all

restrictions.

When a strike was threatened on the Government railroad last

year, members of the League explained to the men the necessity of

staying at work until their case could be decided, so as not to

interfere with the development of the coal fields to which the

road was being built, as coal was a war necessity. I believe that

such action by the League was in large measure responsible for

avoiding a strike.

Members of the League were on all committees in connection with

war work activities, as well as on the Territorial Council of

Defense, of which the Chief of the Anchorage branch acted as

Chairman. During the time the League was organized, every member

did his best for the interests of the country, and no need arose

for disciplining any member. The work of the League was carried on

in such an unostentatious manner that very few people knew of its

existence except the members.

It has a safe and significant sound—the A. P. L. at Anchorage.

Not a large place, indeed, but there were seven cases of alien

enemy activity, twenty-eight of disloyalty and sedition, five of

anti-military activities and thirty-two of propaganda, beside two I.

W. W. investigations. Anchorage seems to have been uncertain whether

to work or fight in some instances; 206 cases came up of this sort. In

addition to these, 143 draft cases came before the local boards, as

well as 62 slacker cases. Twenty-two cases under the head of liquor,

vice and prostitution were disposed of. The Food Administration had

only four cases. It is gratifying to note that every head and sub-head

of the report is filled out conscientiously and carefully.

We may now cease the reading of further reports from the four points

of the compass in America, and rest with this one from Anchorage,

submitting once more the conviction that these many varying reports,

covering multifold lines of investigation, make the best and truest

reflex of America ever gotten together in printed form. The reading

and summarizing of the reports made an extraordinary experience, such

as can hardly have come to many individuals, probably to none outside

of the Department of Justice; and it is not known whether a similar

enterprise ever has been undertaken even in that great office. By no

means is it to be supposed that all the reports sent in have been

mentioned in these pages—only a small fraction have had even the

briefest mention. Many hundreds remain unnamed in public as do hundreds

of thousands of men who made them up, not asking recognition for their

work. It would be cheap to thank such men, or to apologize to them.

In A. P. L., each of us has done the best he knew. For that, there is

higher and better approval than that of any printed page.

BOOK IV

AMERICA

“IN FLANDERS FIELDS”

CHALLENGE OF THE DEAD IN BATTLE

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

That larks still bravely singing fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!

To you from falling hands we throw

The Torch—be yours to hold it high!

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

—_Col. John McCrae._

From the volume “In Flanders Fields,” copyright, 1919, by G. P.

Putnam’s Sons. Printed by permission.

CHAPTER I

THE RECKONING

Our Duty to the Soldier—Our Lasting Quarrel With the Foe—The Story

of the Census—No More Traitors—Shutting the Gates Against the

Huns—The New Patriotism for All Americans.

_Vox populi, vox dei_ is a fine phrase. But fine phrases often

half-state or mis-state facts for sake of the half-idea’s sound. Many

popular conceptions are wide of the truth.

The world had come to call the French people light, fickle, inconstant,

volatile, incapable of grave and deep emotions. That was the popular

American idea of France up to 1914. The man who would voice that idea

now would be treated with anger or silent contempt by all the world.

Now we know the silent, modest, simple, enduring faith, the unfaltering

courage, the undying flame of heart which made the real France.

We thought Great Britain cold, phlegmatic, emotionless. Who would say

that to-day of a brave and strong people trying their best to ask us

not to mention their battles against odds, their steadfast courage in

holding the line, but to feel and understand the real admiration and

love Britain really feels for us in these days.

We Americans thought ourselves above fickleness and lightness always,

boasted always of our common sense and steady practical point of view.

We called France hysterical. Was it so? No. Once again popular counsel

is wrong. It is we Americans who are the most hysterical people in the

world. We make a purpose and forget it. We erect a hero and forget him.

We believe, boast, acclaim, hurrah—and forget. We are easily excited—it

is we who most easily grow “high headed,” as the French say. It is we,

of all nations, who most quickly forget.

In that fact regarding the American character lies the great hope of

Germany to-day. It is the great fear of our gallant friends in arms,

who held the line from which we so long were absent. It is the great

danger of America. Lest we forget! Lest we forget! The danger is that

we shall forget. And if we do, the great victory of this war is lost.

Our Army is turned back toward home again. We greet our soldiers

with much blare of trumpets. We mention large plans of industry for

to-morrow. We slap each man in uniform on the back and say: “Fine!

Noble! You are a hero! You have saved the world!”

But to-morrow—To-morrow! And once more, what of to-morrow!

The soldier comes back to his old world shyly glad that he still lives,

hoping for the renewed touch of hands he knew, seeking the place in

life that once was his. But, in spite of our protestations, that place

is no longer his. It is as though he really were dead. The waters have

closed over his place and he is no more. To-morrow he is forgotten—and

he may listen to stay-at-home stories of how the war was fought and

won—the “history” of this war, which, like all other history, will not

be the truth but what we all accept as the truth because that is the

easiest thing to do.

But if the soldiers of this country are to come back only to the old

America, the hurrying, scrambling, hectic, hysterical America—and those

are our deserved adjectives more than any other people’s—then we have

not won this war but have lost it.

Our quarrel with yonder foe is not done. We shall have been faithless

to our own blood and kin if now we forget. The war begins now; not

ends. It must yet be fought out here at home in America. It will

require all our courage to win it; if indeed it can still be won.

There have been some great editorials struck off in the white heat of

American conviction in these tremendous days following the Armistice

and before the conclusion of the Peace Conference. Here is one from

a Chicago journal which ought to be read and remembered by every

statesman and every citizen in America.

Those sentimental souls who think Lloyd George and Clemenceau are

“too severe” in insisting that Germany must pay to the limit of

her capacity for the damage she has wrought, should consider the

speech in which Herr Ebert, temporary dictator in Berlin, welcomed

the returning Prussian troops, especially the following paragraph

of that speech:

_You protected the homeland from invasion, sheltered your wives,

children and parents from flames and slaughter and preserved the

nation’s workshops and fields from devastation._

This to the soldiers whose bestiality has made the very name of

Prussia a stench in the nostrils of a decent world.

There is not in Ebert’s speech a hint of repentance for the

atrocious crimes which Germany has committed. There is no

recognition that Germany has committed crimes. Instead, there is

a boasting glorification of the returning armies, and a reminder

to the nation that German lands have been kept inviolate. It is

one in sentiment with the kaiser’s speech six months or so ago, in

which he commanded his subjects who complained of their sacrifices

to look at the devastated fields and cities of France, and see

what war on their own ground would mean.

The victorious allies are civilized. Therefore, they can not

repay German crimes in kind. They can not reduce Frankfort to

the present condition of Lens, or desolate the Rheingau as von

Hindenburg desolated Picardy. But in some way, they must bring

home to the German people both the villainy and the failure of the

German spring at the throat of Europe, and there seem to be but

two methods of doing this. One is to inflict personal punishment

on the men responsible for the grosser outrages, and the other is

to make the German people pay, and pay, and pay for the ruin which

they wrought.

Germany is not dead or defeated in America. She will raise her head

again. Again we shall hear the stirring in the leaves, and see arise

once more the fanged front which has so long menaced the world. The

time to scotch that snake is now, to-day; and this is no time, when

our maimed men are coming home, when our young boys are growing up, to

be faithless to those men who—their eyes still on us as they fling to

us the torch of civilization—lie not yet content nor quiet in Flanders

Fields.

The great debt of the world is by no means yet paid. Whether or not

Germany pays to the material limit, is not so much. Whether or not

we get back a tenth of our war money, is not so much—that is not the

way the great debt of the world is going to be paid. We cannot pay

it by oratory or by fine phrases, or by resolutions and conferences

and leagues of nations. We cannot pay it with eulogies of the dead

nor monuments to the living heroes. We cannot pay it by advancing our

breasts again against shot and shell.

The debt of the world must be paid by America. We can pay it only by

making a new and better democracy in America. We can pay it only by

renewed individual sacrifices and a renewed individual courage.

We must remake America. We must purify the source of America’s

population and keep it pure. We must rebuild our whole theory of

citizenship in America. We must care more for the safety of America’s

homes and the safety of the American ideal. We must insist that there

shall be an American loyalty, brooking no amendment or qualification.

That is to say, we must unify the American populace—or we must fail;

and the great debt of the world must remain unpaid; and the war must

have been fought in vain.

The old polyglot, hubbub, hurdy-gurdy days of America are gone.

We are no longer a mining camp, but a country, or should be that.

Happy-go-lucky times are done for us. We must become a nation, mature,

of one purpose, resolved at heart. Now we shall see how brave we really

are, how much men we are.

What is America to-day? What undiscovered soul was there lying under

the paint and the high heels and the tambourine and the bubbling glass

in the fool’s paradise of our excited lives? What was there of sober

and resolved citizenship under the American Protective League—a force

so soon developed, so silently disbanded? Very much was there. All that

a nation needs was there—if that nation shall not forget.

It is one thing if a quarter million men go back to business and

forget their two years of sacrifice; if three million soldiers also

forget their sacrifices and simply drop back into the old business

world which they left. But it is quite another thing if three and

a quarter million American citizens, sobered and not forgetful, do

take up the flung torch and say that the dead of Flanders shall rest

content—not merely for a day or so remembered—not merely for a year or

two revenged, but for all the centuries verified and made of worth and

justified in their sacrifices.

A part, only a small part, of the work of the American Protective

League is done. We who silently pass back yet further beyond

recognition, are not disbanded at all. The flung torch is especially

in our own hands. We have been only pretenders in this League, we

have been only mummers and imposters in this League, if we do not

individually carry on the work for the future. That work, as we take

it, is to make America safe for Americans, and to leave each man safe

in his own home, in a country of his own making, at a table of his own

choosing.

When work on this book was first begun, it seemed to all concerned that

the great matter was to accumulate instances of shrewdness in catching

criminals; stories of plots foiled and villains thwarted. We all of

us wanted to see stalk by with folded arms a tall, dark, mysterious

stranger in a long cloak, with high boots, and a wide hat pulled low

over his brow. We wanted him, in the final act, to pull off his hat

with the sweeping gesture of one hand, his false moustache with the

other, and stand revealed before us, smooth-faced and fair of hair,

exclaiming “It is I—Clarence Hawkshaw, the young detective!” We shared

the American thirst for something exciting.

It became obvious, as the great masses of sober, conscientious

revelations from the very heart of America came rolling in and piling

up in cumulative testimony, that what had at first seemed the most

desirable material was the least desirable. If this record is to have

any ultimate value—and it should have great historical value—that must

be, not because of a few flashy deeds, but because of a great, sober,

underlying purpose. Our final figure of the A. P. L. man is not to be a

Hawkshaw, but—an American.

When the time came to call a halt and to disband, there was not a

member of the League who did not lay down his work sober and grave of

heart. The sum of the reaction of all these reports, large and small,

from the hundreds of centers where the League was active, leaves any

man acquainted with the facts convinced that America has done her part

splendidly, here at home, in the war. It is splendid—what America has

done. Far more splendid, what America is. Still more splendid, what

America is to be.

The best reading for any American in these days is the census map of

the United States. Next year we shall have a new one, for by then, ten

years more of our history will have been completed. The census map

comes out once every decade, printed in different colors, showing the

location of the foreign-born in the United States. The American-born

regions have appeared in steadily lessening areas as the decades have

passed.

It is only with a grave heart that any real American can face the

census map to-day. The conviction is inevitable that we have been too

long careless of our racial problems. If we are to have an America now,

we must change. Our golden age of money-making is not a double decade

in extent. We cannot go that road another twenty years. If your son is

meant to be an American, have him study the census map and the story of

the A. P. L. Then he will learn something about his own country. He has

not known. His father has not known.

The English came early in our history and the Scotch-Irish, the finest

of frontier stock. The Pennsylvania Dutch came and built homes. Then

came the Irish, facile and quick to blend. Our immigration before the

Civil War was north-European—sturdy stock, fit for the forests and

prairies and the vast new farm lands of the West. Now we began to

mine and manufacture more, and our immigrants changed the colors of

the census map. We began to import work cattle, not citizens, for our

so-called industrial captains. Steamship companies combed southern and

southeastern Europe. Our miners could not speak English. The Irishman

worked no more on the railroads, the sewers, the streets—he shrank from

the squat foreigner as the lean Yankee shrank from him—as the Italian,

in turn, will shrink from the Russian bolshevist, if we allow him to

swarm in.

The map shows you all these things inexorably. It shows the shrinking

of the American-born regions to-day to only a small spot on the tops of

the Cumberlands in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and a corner of

Alabama and Georgia. Now check up this rough census outline with the

reports printed in these pages from all over America. We soberly must

conclude that America is not America. We find that the great states

of each coast are practically foreign—New York most of all; that the

Bolsheviki abound in the mines of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Montana,

where coal and copper and iron are found; that Southern Europe has not

yet moved its center of population west of the Mississippi; that the

Scandinavian and German element occupies Wisconsin, Minnesota and parts

of upper Iowa. And the American—where is he?

Would to God that the chameleon record, that fatally accurate census

map, could show us the American hue spreading decade after decade, and

not these other colors of the map of America, showing the extension of

the foreign-born! It is time now, old as we are, that we should seek a

far more normal balance of the increase of our foreign-born.

Something is wrong. The census map shows that it is time to put up

the bars at Ellis Island. They ought to go up for ten years at least.

Twenty—thirty—lo! Then this would be America, and all inside our gates

would be Americans. The gates ought never to go down as they have in

the past. We ought to pick and select our foreign-born population. If

we have not the courage to do that, we are lost.

Give us a generation of selected immigration; deport the un-Americans

who divide their loyalty; revoke the naturalization of every man

interned in this war and of every other disloyal man,—every adherent

to the law of violence and destruction,—and then, and then only, the

result may be an American population and a real America.

The best possible news for America would be that of the deportation of

more than 300,000 false and foresworn citizens who have acted as German

spies in America during this war. Send that many away from America, and

those remaining soon would learn that the hyphen must go for all time.

If not, let them also go. We do not need Germans now. The world is done

with Germans. We want Americans now.

It is by no means impossible that some such action will be taken very

soon. In his last annual report, the Attorney General of the United

States recommends that all aliens who were interned during the war

should be deported and that Congress shall pass a law to that effect.

This would deprive us at once of a select society, estimated to number

from 3,000 to 6,000, who have been taking their ease in their inn at

our expense. Banded or disbanded, when the American Protective League

says that law must be passed, it will be passed. And then we shall

begin to have an America and not a mining camp with open doors. Hunt

out Americans for your leaders. Vote for them. Where have we ever found

better leaders?

The Department of Justice officials are on record to the effect that

these interned aliens should not be left in this country to make future

trouble and to serve actively as German agents. They were often trained

propagandists; men involved in bomb plots; men who plotted against our

shipping, against the transportation of our troops. We have no law

by which we can punish those men further. Are they good citizens to

retain? Our Department of Justice thinks not.

Among these interned prisoners are bank presidents, exporters and

importers, college professors, merchants, musicians, actors, former

officers of the German army and navy and merchant marine. Many of

the names which have appeared in the testimony of the Senate Overman

Committee appear also on the internment rolls. There are consuls,

officials and noblemen, so-called, who also have been in our internment

camps. Do we want them in our homes? The Department of Justice thinks

otherwise.

Not less disloyal than these greater figures are thousands and hundreds

of thousands of minor figures, paid or unpaid propagandists of Germany

in this country during the war, pro-Germans, hyphenates, silent or

outspoken, who are not Americans at all. Do we want them in our

citizenship? If we cannot get rid of them, ought we to import any more

of them?

Already Americans stir uneasily under the revelations of treachery

within our gates. They ask of themselves,—Since these things were true

but now, what guarantee have we for the future? How can America protect

herself against the future treachery of so large an element of her

population?

The answer to that question is very easy for bold men. Let us clean

house. If the existing broom is not sufficient for that, let us make

another broom. The revocation of citizenship for acts of disloyalty to

this country is a remedial agency which will be applied more frequently

in the future. A law should be, and probably will be, placed upon our

statute books which will hold over the head of every foreign-born

citizen attaining citizenship in this country a warning that he must

come into this court with clean hands and must keep his hands clean

forever thereafter. That is to say, there shall be no more an absolute

patent of citizenship, nothing irrevocable any more in the citizenship

of the foreign-born. We will hold a first mortgage—we will give him no

deed. Four years ago, doctrine like this would have been scouted. Four

years hence it will be accepted, perhaps, as the truth; indeed, the

tendency has already begun. In eight years it will be a law. In twenty

years, America will be a nation, and the strongest on the globe.

In New Jersey, Frederick Würsterbarth, who had a certificate of

American citizenship, perjured himself and remained true to his foreign

birth. He declared he would do nothing to help defeat Germany, and

had no desire to see America win. He would not contribute to the Red

Cross or to the Y. M. C. A. He added the old hyphenated plea that to

support the war against Germany would be like kicking his mother in the

face. The Federal courts canceled the certificate of citizenship of

Würsterbarth. In the New Jersey case, the judge said of Würsterbarth:

“Before he could be admitted to citizenship, he must declare under

oath that he would support the Constitution of the United States and

entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign

sovereignty. Public policy requires that no one shall be naturalized

except he exercise the utmost good faith in all the essentials required

of him; and where the government is shown that good faith in any of the

essentials is questionable, the burden must be on the respondent to

dispel that doubt.”

In addition to the statute which shall make false citizenship papers

revocable, little doubt exists that we also shall have a law requiring

the immediate deportation of any foreigner who has failed to take out

his second naturalization papers within the prescribed time. The A. P.

L. investigations during this war uncovered countless cases of these

pseudo-citizens. Of what use can any Monroe doctrine be to America

if it is our constant practice to nullify that doctrine and stultify

ourselves by allowing practical colonization? And if you do not believe

that we have foreign colonies, study your census map and the history of

the American Protective League.

Is it bitter, such a belief? You think we still need the German

language in the United States? One hundred and forty-two Illinois

schools eliminated the study of German from their curriculums during

the last year, while twenty schools reduced the courses offered in that

subject. Ninety-six schools introduced the study of French for the

first time and twenty-one schools added it to their curriculum in that

one state.

You still think this is rabid? Read from the report of the Secretary of

the Interior of the United States.

There is even a larger problem than this that challenges our

attention, and that is the teaching of the English tongue to

millions of our population. Dr. John H. Finley, president of the

University of the State of New York, in a recent speech presented

this picture which he found in one of the cantonments:

“How practical is the need of a language in this country common

to all tongues is illustrated by what I saw in one of the great

cantonments a few nights ago. In the mess hall, where I had sat

an hour before with a company of the men of the National Army, a

few small groups were gathered along the tables learning English

under the tuition of some of their comrades, one of whom had

been a district supervisor in a neighboring State and another a

theological student. In one of those groups, one of the exercises

for the evening consisted in practicing the challenge when on

sentry duty. Each pupil of the group (there were four of Italian

and two of Slavic birth) shouldered in turn the long-handled

stove shovel and aimed it at the teacher, who ran along the side

of the room, as if to evade the guard. The pupil called out in

broken speech, ‘Halt! who goes there?’ The answer came from the

teacher, ‘Friend,’ And then, _in as yet unintelligible English_

(the voices of innumerable ancestors struggling in their throats

to pronounce it), the words ‘Advance and give the countersign.’ So

are those of confused tongues learning to speak the language of

the land they have been summoned to defend. What a commentary upon

our educational shortcomings that in the days of peace we had not

taught these men, who have been here long enough to be citizens

(and tens of thousands of their brothers with them), to know the

language in which our history and laws are written and in which

the commands of defense must now be given! May the end of this

decade, though so near, find every citizen of our State prepared

to challenge, in one tongue and heart, the purposes of all who

come, with the cry, ‘Who goes there?’”

Who are you, new man at Ellis Island? Are you a demobilized German

soldier looking for easy money in America? Let us see your hands. _Qui

vive!_ Advance, and give the countersign! And don’t let it be in German.

What all the world is fearing to-day is the growth of Bolshevism. It

has ruined Russia—and we must pay for that; it is blocking the peace

parliaments in Germany—and we must pay for that. It is beginning in

America and may grow swiftly in the turbulent days after the war—and

we shall have to pay for that. Nobody knows what the Bolshevist is

nor what are the tenets of Bolshevism—least of all the Bolshevists

themselves. They have recruited their ranks from the most ignorant

and most reckless—from the dregs and scum of the world. Their theory

is that of force; of government they have nothing. They use the force

of law without any surrender of privileges to the law. Their theory

of life is self-contradictory. None the less, since they cannot be

reasoned with, they constitute a menace to any country. The mischief

makers of all classes make recruits for Bolsheviki—socialists, radical

I. W. W.’s, anarchists, the red flag rabble of every country united in

the general ignorant greed of the wolf pack.

Bolshevism may come to America through the Socialists, through the I.

W. W. or through the Non-Partisan League—which in the State of North

Dakota to-day hold a two-thirds majority of both House and Senate. It

will grow out of the ignorant and discontented foreigners unassimilated

in this country. We must expect it naturally to come from these and

from the pro-Germans in this country, because those people never have

been satisfied with what we did in the war. In general, Bolshevism

lives only on its own excitement, its own lack of plans, its own

eccentricities. It finds its opportunity in any time of unrest and of

slackened government.

We have troublesome days of reconstruction ahead in America. Food

prices and wages cannot go up forever, but it will be difficult to

reduce wages and food prices. We shall have unemployment in this

country. We shall have soldiers in this country dissatisfied because

they find themselves and their deeds so soon forgotten. These things

all are among the menaces of America, and they must be faced. It will

require a united America to face them successfully.

Shall we import more such problems, or shall we dispense with certain

of those which we now have? Besides all this irresponsible and sporadic

Bolshevik propaganda, we may count upon the old, steady, undying,

well-conceived and well-spread propaganda of Germany after the war as

much as before and during the war. We shall meet—indeed, this very day

are meeting—propaganda against the Allies intended to split us from

France and Great Britain. Germany is going out after her lost markets

all over the world as best she can. She will need all of her propaganda

to help her crawl back even into a place in the shadows of the world

and not in the sun of the world’s respect. While the war was going on,

some firm in America bought a shipload of German toys. Who wants such

blood-reddened toys in his home? Soon we shall see German goods in our

markets. Who wants such goods? Soon we shall hear the subtle commercial

scoff, “It’s all bosh to refuse German goods, for they are better and

cheaper.” Is it so? Is it our duty to be unsentimental in business?

Germany was quite unsentimental when she tore up the Belgian scrap of

paper. It now would seem to be time that we had some sentiment of the

old sort. Sentiment rarely is fundamentally wrong. So-called common

sense quite often is no more than common selfishness.

As these pages go forward, the Allies’ declaration is that the Hun

shall not be allowed in the peace conference nor in any League of

Nations whatever that may be drawn up. One thing is sure. No League

of Nations ever will be stronger than the individual thought of the

countries combining. Our League of Nations will be no stronger than our

feelings against pro-Germanism. If we forget that, and take up the game

at the old place, our League of Nations is dead at its birth.

The Department of Justice, having removed restrictions on enemy aliens,

and having wiped out the barred zones and the necessity of passes or

permits, has released a great many pro-Germans who will slip back into

their old places in America. In Great Britain the German waiter—so

frequently the German spy—is not going to be allowed to take his old

place. It may cause some inconvenience, but Great Britain is going to

get on without him. That is what we must learn in America—to get on

without some of the stolid or the obsequious labor that we have had.

With the barring of alien labor, we should suffer many inconveniences

in our personal lives. If we cannot endure those inconveniences, then

we can have no League of Nations. With the refusal to buy any article

made in Germany, we should be letting ourselves in for a considerable

individual loss. Unless we are willing to accept that loss, we can have

neither a League of Nations nor an America worthy of the name.

Germany is crippled, but not beaten and not repentant. The Germans

regret the sinking of the Lusitania only because it was the thing which

brought America into the war. For the war itself they are not sorry. If

defeat did not make them repentant, heavy indemnities may help teach

them something of their real place in the world. That lesson will be

all the stronger if we in America shall make more stringent importation

and deportation laws—if we shall deport more Germans and import less

German goods. There is many and many an American home where German

goods never again will enter the doors.

Prince Carl, of the House of Hohenzollern, when speaking of the war,

said he thought that Germany ought not to have started her submarine

warfare “without being absolutely sure it would succeed.” He said

he regretted the German propaganda in the United States—because it

had been carried out so clumsily; he said that Germany ought to have

started her propaganda here on a larger scale, and ought to have spent

millions of marks instead of thousands! There you see the German idea

and part of the German policy in America. They have learned some

lessons, but not the great lesson of the humble and the contrite heart.

Maximilian Harden has been a voice crying in the Hun wilderness

for most of the time of the war. He says that now there is no real

revulsion of feeling against the men who have caused Germany’s name to

be a stench in the nostrils of the world. The soldiers returning from

the front are cheered as heroes, though their hands are caked with the

blood of innocent women and children. Not one of the groups scheming

for advantage at Berlin has expressly repudiated the war. Not one has

expressed horror at the violation of treaties.

Are these pages indeed bitter? They cannot be made bitter enough! We

cannot sufficiently amplify and intensify the innate American horror at

the revealed duplicity of this nation which we have fought and helped

to beat. We find their spirit to have been one of fiendish ingenuity,

their intellect of that curiously perverted quality to which attention

has been called. Germany never has exulted more in the success of her

armies in open warfare than in her success at stealth and treachery.

Are these the men we wish to see marking our coming census maps?

We have nothing to fear from Germany. We have beaten the Germans at

every game they have produced, and we can continue to do so. We are

the victors and they are the vanquished. They made the vast mistake of

being beaten in this war. There is no reason why we should fear them

in the future, on either side of the Atlantic. Major H. C. Emory, a

former professor at Yale, in a late address, rather colloquially voiced

something of this feeling of confidence in his own country:

Let us get sane! Get over this German bug of thinking that somehow

or other the Germans are superior. Morally they are greatly

inferior, but people have thought that somehow, intellectually

or in organization, they are better than the rest of the world.

We have shown them that we can smash the German military

organization, which we have smashed. There is an idea that the

Germans can do us in business; that somehow this is a race that

we cannot compete with on normally fair terms. Put that out of

your head! They are a patient, hard-working race; they will work

fourteen hours a day where a Russian won’t work four. They will

plod faithfully. But, gentlemen, they are dumb; they are stupid.

They do not understand things. They do not get the psychology of

anybody else; and a large part of their science and their supposed

superior way of doing things is bluff and fake. They have done

some good work, but no better work, and they are not doing better

work, in the field of economics than the English, the French, and

the Americans. In the field of business they have nothing on you.

For the love of Mike, don’t be afraid of them! You can put it over

them every time.

We need not fear either the arms, the arts or the artifices of Germany.

What we need to fear, really, is our easy-going, unsuspicious American

character, our tendency to forget everything else in the great game of

affairs. It is time now that from the great mass of the American people

there shall appear silently, standing shoulder to shoulder and side to

side as they have in their old organization, a new American Protective

League. Our old League determined that our homes and our property

should be saved. Let the new League determine that our country and our

principles shall be saved. All the eyes of the world turn to America

to-day. The remainder of the world is distracted. In Berlin, radicals

coming up from the dregs are doing their best to get control of a

ruined country. “Bismarck’s structure was wonderful while it lasted,”

says an editorial in an able American paper, “but it was a nation

without a soul. It was made of blood and iron, and it could not live

because the spirit was left out.” Neither can our civilization or our

citizenship live if they are made of silver and gold, and if the spirit

be left out.

It is time to look at the census map of America. We must revise those

colors in the next ten years, or we have lost the war. This distrust of

Germany in America, in South America and in Europe, is something which

should excite no sympathy and no pity whatever. Wars are not cleared

up, for example, on any basis of sympathy. There is no use figuring

what we can do to show Germany how sorry we are. The thing to do is

to leave Germany sorry. She has coal, iron, timber, copper, potash,

phosphate, abundant other natural resources. If she cannot handle them,

others can handle them for her. Marshal Foch has threatened repeatedly

that if Germany continues cynically to disregard the terms of the

armistice, he will march again on Germany. That is hard doctrine? Yes.

But it was Germany that lost the war.

It is altogether likely that not the best writing in the world, not

the most partisan history in the world, will ever be able to give a

clean bill of health to America’s conduct of this war, or to restore

the old American confidence that we were the one great people of the

world. The scales have fallen from the eyes at least of our soldiers.

They know, and presently all the world will know, our shortcomings.

Three million men will have something to say about the politics of

this country. Perhaps they will say that our next war shall not find

us so unprepared. Perhaps they will say that our next war shall not

find us with an army of 2,000,000 spies, propagandists and pro-enemies

who claim American citizenship. The Army man is the worst foe of

the censorship which has held back the truth from America for so

long. Perhaps the Army man will be able to settle accounts with that

politician whose stock in trade is the holding back from the American

people of the knowledge of themselves. It is time to raise the real

banner of America. It will take courage to march under those colors.

But if we cannot march side by side and shoulder to shoulder, then we

have lost this war, we have lost the Monroe Doctrine, we have lost the

League of Nations.

Why should we try to avoid the truth? Nothing is gained by that. The

truth is that the reckoning of this war is not yet paid. Eventually

it must be paid through the resolution and individual courage of

those citizens who are not ashamed to be called American. Ostracism

of the hyphen, where it is known still to exist; fearlessness in the

boycott of blood-soaked German goods; rejection of the blood-soaked

German hand; the wiping out of the foreign languages in the pulpit and

press of America; the revocation of citizenship based on a lie; the

deportation of known traitors—those are some of the things which must

go into the oath of the next A. P. L. Until we can swear that oath and

maintain it, we have lost the war.

It is a far cry enough. We have not shot one German spy out of those

thousands whom we have found working here in America. We have not

deported one man. We have revoked the citizenship of only two men—the

above mentioned Fred Würsterbarth, who had been a citizen of America

for thirty years, and Carl August Darmer, of Tacoma, Washington, who

had been a citizen in America for thirty-six years. Do you think these

two men were any worse than a one hundred thousand others who worked as

spies of Germany? Hardly. The war remains still to be fought against

these men who still are under arms. Apply this test to your friends

and associates—to your lawyer, your doctor, to your grocer, above all,

to your alderman, your councilman, your mayor and your representatives

in Congress. Why not? It is only the same test which the United States

District Court in New Jersey applied to Würsterbarth.

Eight years ago an American minister of the gospel who had lived much

abroad, especially in Germany, came back to this country and wrote a

book which perhaps never was very popular. He held up the mirror of

America to herself. His views to-day would not be so much that of one

crying in the wilderness. Let us follow along, in a running synopsis of

the pages of his book, a hint now and then from page to page, and see

what one man thought in that long ago before war was dreamed of; before

the German army of spies, military and industrial, had been unearthed;

before the plans of Germany for world conquest had been divulged. That

writer says: