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
Located in the hills was an organization known as the “German
Tourists’ Club,” which had been incorporated in Vienna, Austria.
Prior to our entering the war it was visited by many alien enemies
and many German-Americans, so that it was under constant surveillance
of the Intelligence services of the United States and also by the A.
P. L. of Marin County. Considerable information was furnished to the
authorities, and one alien enemy was interned. Another alien enemy was
apprehended who had $2,500 cash on his person and was trying to get to
South America, whence he intended to return to Germany. The same club
turned out yet another man who, on a railroad train, was heard abusing
this country. An A. P. L. man heard him and asked a constable to arrest
him at once. He was taken to the county jail, where his remarks were
so abusive that the Department of Justice immediately took him into
custody for internment.
The hilly, wooded and mountainous character of Marin County, bordering
on the ocean, made it a favorite resort for hikers, hunters, fishermen
and the like, and it has many locations which would afford excellent
rendezvous. It kept the A. P. L. operatives busy in all their spare
time walking and driving through the country. On one such trip along
the sea shore, in a very remote place, a Navy torpedo was found. It
proved to be only a practice one, having no war head, but it might have
been worse.
_The A. P. L. in Los Angeles_
The sun-kissed Southwest handled its A. P. L. work in a wholly modern
way, as perhaps some of the sidelights will show. How quaint and
curious some of these chuckle-making anecdotes—and how grave some of
the serious ones—will seem fifty years from now, when California will
be looking back on another generation of her large and swift history!
The report from the city of Los Angeles is one entirely consistent with
the reputation of that busy community, and as usual the totals ran
large. Los Angeles handled 2,136 cases of alien enemy activity; 5,275
selective service investigations; 1,494 examinations for disloyalty
and sedition; 289 cases of propaganda by word of mouth and 61 by means
of the printed page. There were 289 investigations of radicals and
pacifists, and 648 of all other natures, not mentioning those which had
to do with food hoarding, waste, etc., which made a formidable total of
themselves. There are not many sections which report a wider or more
interesting range of experiences.
As in the case of practically all our cities, at the time the war
broke out, the Department of Justice for Los Angeles was inadequately
equipped with men, motor cars and data-chasers to deal with the
numerous alien enemies, German sympathizers and non-patriotic citizens.
Los Angeles frankly says that this species of the human fauna seem to
be peculiar to Southern California, and certainly the totals of Los
Angeles would indicate as much. The Chief says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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