Germany’s spies and agents were of several nationalities and in order to keep an effective watch upon their movements a stringent passport system was instituted which made impossible the departure from this country of any one whose purpose was not clear and proper. Private persons were forbidden to carry mail out of or into the country, as a means of preventing enemy agents from sending reports by others. Officers and crews of neutral ships were not allowed to land at United States ports without permits from the Department of State. A large force of picked and trained men, numbering several hundreds, scrutinized every ship coming into or going out of the important ports, her cargo and her passengers, to make sure that no enemy agent was among them or material of any sort intended for the enemy secreted in hold, or quarters, or cabins. Supplementing the six secret service agencies of the Government, all of which were immediately and very greatly increased to enforce these provisions and deal with enemy activities, there sprang into life, almost over-night, the American Protective League. An organization of citizen volunteers, it was a unique development of the situation and in spirit and methods thoroughly characteristic of the American people. The League was born out of a realization of the danger the country faced, overrun as it was with enemy agents directed by some of the most skillful intriguers and spy captains that a nation specializing in spying and intrigue had been able to train, and out of the loyal wish to serve.