“No. I vote in Heaven. You can take me and place me in jail, but Christ will take care of me.”
“If the Germans came down the street and were about to strike down your children and take away your wife, what would you do,—sit down and allow it?”
“I could not raise a hand against them because God tells me not to strike my enemies, so the Germans could do as they saw fit.”
“Religious crank—what’s the use?” asks the operative.
An old man and his wife, both German, were reported to the A. P. L. one day last summer as being pro-German and Lieutenant No. 177 was assigned to the case. He called on the old couple and found them very German indeed—so much so, in fact, that their niece was produced to act as interpreter. The old man, when he realized the object of the visit, became greatly agitated, and trembling like an aspen leaf, he hurriedly produced his naturalization papers and protested that three times had he foresworn the Kaiser. At last, as final proof of loyalty to his adopted land, the old man displayed some sheets of manuscript—gospel songs, which he himself had written in his mother tongue! At this point his wife, who had been as distressed as her husband over the interview, could restrain herself no longer.
“Ach no!” she spluttered. “No! Ve are not Chermans. Ve are not Chermans! Ve are Christians! Ve are Christians!”
Operative No. 113 reports the details of a case which has in it endless possibilities of mischief:
There was held in Dayton, Ohio, during the summer of 1918, the national meeting of Automotive Engineers, and at the A. P. L. luncheon that day it was reported that a German from a nearby city, who was an associate member of the Automotive Engineers, was registered in Dayton and would attend the meetings of the convention. From the history we had of this gentleman from the files of the A. P. L., he was undoubtedly a dangerous citizen and one who should not have the opportunity of inspecting and carefully examining the Liberty Motors and many other new ideas which were being shown at the convention. I offered to investigate the situation, took the information which was in our hands, got in touch with the head of the Aircraft Production Board here and was immediately sent to the convention, where I conferred with the Secretary, explaining to him in detail the facts. We found that our man was not registered at the convention, and we made arrangements with the registrar that as soon as he made his appearance, some one should shadow him and see that he did not have access to any information or special displays, and that he should be kept under surveillance during his entire time in our city. I knew where he was stopping and kept him under surveillance. We frustrated any plan he might have had to gain confidential information. All this was done without his having any idea that anyone knew his history or his reason for coming to the convention.
One of the most interesting cases investigated was that of two families, Mr. A. and Mr. B., who lived on the same street. Mr. A. died, leaving one son of draft age, the main support of his mother. He filed no exemption claim, was inducted into the United States Army, and is now serving in France. In the family of Mr. B., father and mother were both living, both born in Germany. They had a son of draft age, who was inducted into the United States Army and sent to Camp Sherman, where he stayed for three months and was then discharged because of flat feet. He came home and went to work at his trade as a plumber. Mr. B., Sr., owned the house wherein the widow of A. lived, and immediately upon the return of B., Jr., proceeded to raise the widow’s rent and put her out of the house. The Red Cross had been paying the widow’s rent, but finally legal notice was served allowing her ten days in which to vacate the house.
An A. P. L. operative took the matter up with a local attorney and arranged for the protection of the widow in case force should be used to eject her; he then called on Mr. B., Sr., again and began praising him regarding his success in life, his unusual ability, and so on. He finally asked him this question: