“Mr. B., if you were in America and your mother in Germany, and some one were annoying and abusing her and trying to force her out in the street, what would you do?”
“I would fight,” he said.
Then the operative reversed the question and cited the other young man who was fighting for his country, and some one trying to put his mother out into the street. Mr. B. silently looked down at his feet and then said:
“You have proven to me my great mistake. I have done wrong and am going to make everything right.” He dismissed his case in court, apologized to the widow, and from all recent observation, is trying to be a truly American citizen.
Another operative reports:
During the spring of 1918 there were rumors in the city of Dayton that Mr. B——, a hardware merchant, American born but of German parentage, was very pro-German in his talk and attitude, and as I had known the man for some years, I made it a point to get his viewpoint as to the war and his opinion regarding the United States entering the war. Mr. B—— was very guarded in everything he said, but would always intimate just enough to arouse the anger of a good American citizen, and while he would not make any statements that could be considered as absolutely unpatriotic or dangerous, yet it was evident that at heart he was pro-German and was quietly spreading propaganda in favor of Germany. I talked to him until I found that I was getting a little too warm around the collar and would have to move on. One morning I was quite interested when B—— advised me that he was going to enter a certain Officers’ Training Camp and would leave on a certain fixed date, two weeks later. I pumped him as well as I could to get all the facts, which within an hour’s time I communicated to headquarters. The information was communicated to headquarters of the Officers’ Training Camp and B—— was advised by the proper officer that he need not report. What reason they gave him I did not know!
I called on B—— about a week later and expressed to him my surprise that he was still here and asked why he had not gone to camp. He replied that he was too busy to get away and would wait until a later period. This excuse, of course, was all right with me, but he did not know that some one had been on his trail and kept him from becoming well acquainted with the inside workings of training camp activities, and removed the possibility of his slipping across his German propaganda.
Dayton sends in another story, worth pondering and remembering by every American. This book is written for Americans. The story will show what other races we sometimes harbor. The man’s name is given.
Captains No. 145 and No. 245 were given an assignment entitled “Frank Weiss, alien enemy; Refusal to Register.” The story, as told by them, is as follows:
Having been informed that Weiss was a dangerous character, we proceeded to his place of employment and asked for an interview, which was granted by the superintendent of the concern. We found Weiss busily engaged at his work, told him our business and were informed that we could “go to” so far as he was concerned, that he had not registered and did not intend to do so, although he had been given seven days in which to make up his mind or go to jail. We did not argue the question with him but immediately took him before the Special Agent in charge of the Department of Justice, Harold L. Scott. Mr. Scott asked him what his objection was to registering with his Local Board, as the law required, to which Weiss answered: