The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective LeagueHough, Emerson
History
The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective League
Hough, Emerson
American Protective League; Propaganda, German; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- United States
Newark, the capital of Northern New Jersey Division, had a very
baffling pro-German case where it was difficult to find anything
on which a legal prosecution could be brought. The facts were such
as resulted in the social ostracism of the family, so that their
disloyalty, after all, had a certain punishment, although it did not
fit the crime. H—— and his wife were members of a Presbyterian Church,
and were so openly pro-German that everybody ceased to have anything
to do with them. At a luncheon given at the H—— household the favors
distributed to a dozen ladies consisted of nice pictures of Kaiser
Wilhelm. One of the guests then suggested that it would be a nice
thing to sing the Star Spangled Banner, which did not please Mrs.
H—— at all. The head of this household was educated in Germany, and
married a German woman whose relatives were high in the German army.
They had a daughter who was engaged to an American, but the latter
broke off the engagement on account of the pro-Germanism of the H——
family. The social ostracism really amounted to isolation, so that it
was impossible to hear of any disloyal utterances which would warrant
governmental action, nor indeed any utterances at all. The town was
through with them.
Northern New Jersey probably has the laziest slacker in the world.
His name is M——, and at one time he resided in New York. He had an
Emergency Fleet classification card, but only worked two or three days
out of the week and spent most of his time at home in bed. He thought
he would rather go South where the climate was better. He was rated
as so lazy that he was shifted from one government job to another—and
that certainly is going some, in view of what is sometimes done in
government service. He was so lazy that he used to go to bed with his
shoes on, and would leave his light burning all night because he was
too tired to put it out. This champion rester carried a registration
card, but he had been given limited service on account of calloused
feet. From the description of him, it is difficult to see how his feet
got calloused; but at least that is what the report says.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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