A St. Louis German, with the boastfulness which fortunately offsets much of the cunning and industry of his species, bragged to his sweetheart that he was a member of the Imperial German Secret Service. Perhaps he showed her the card which German spies are not supposed to show. She, very proud, confided to a friend her lover’s distinction. The friend went to one of the local officials of the American Protective League. She had four brothers in the service, three in the Army and one in the Navy, and said that if there was a German spy in the city the authorities should know it. Unfortunately, she had forgotten the man’s name. The man’s room was raided, and evidence was unearthed that he was not only an unregistered enemy alien, but indeed a German spy. In his trunk were found firearms of the German army. He was promptly interned. Perhaps no sweetheart should have a spy, and certainly no spy should have a sweetheart.
A German who predicted the defeat of the Allies before the United States entered the war, persisted in his harangues afterwards, until a League operative went to the bank where he worked. The man’s dismissal resulted. He continued at times to return to the bank, assailing some of the young women clerks with abuse and threats because of their loyalty to America. He was arrested for violating his zone permit, which the United States Marshal had revoked when the bank’s notice of his dismissal was filed. Later he was interned.
One night a party from the Naval recruiting office in St. Louis was seeking enlistments at a West End theater. Moving pictures were thrown on a screen and an officer made a speech, in which he declared: “The Germans went through Belgium and France like barbarians.” A stout, well-dressed man in the audience exploded: “That’s a damned lie!” Two sailors with revolvers sprang for him over the footlights, but the first to reach him were two members of the League, who, although they had gone to the theater only for amusement, had not forgotten their duties. After a sharp tussle the disturber was overpowered. He protested indignantly that he was an American citizen, but refused stubbornly to give any other information about himself. Borrowing an automobile, the League operatives and sailors took him to a police station and notified the Federal authorities. Search of the prisoner’s effects showed that he was an unnaturalized German subject, though he had lived in the United States for fourteen years. He was interned for the duration of the war. Of such is the glorious Kingdom of Deutschland.
A client went to the office of his attorney, and after their business was concluded, tarried for a chat, in which he dropped the information that he had heard a pro-German say: “Every American child should have its neck wrung as soon as it is born. The German army could rule the United States better than Wilson—and it will, too.” The lawyer obtained from him the name and address of the offender, and the names of witnesses who heard his remarks. After the client had gone, the attorney, being a member of the League, made out a report on a blank form supplied by the Department of Justice, and sent it to the Captain of his company, signing it with his number. The lawyer’s duty ended here, for he belonged to one of the occupational units and was pledged to give information but not to investigate. The Captain took the report to League headquarters, where the officials approved it and sent it to the local office of the Department of Justice, Bureau of Information. It was O. K.’d there as a matter worth looking into, whereupon the League called upon its other arm, the investigators. They went out to obtain affidavits to corroborate the hearsay information first turned in by the lawyer. In this roundabout way was secured evidence to be placed before the Attorney General. You can never tell, even if you are a pro-German and have to spill over, when you are also going to spill, upset or overturn the legumes known in common parlance as the beans.
A naturalization department was organized on the initiative of the St. Louis office, which was followed in other divisions. On May 18, Congress repealed the law prohibiting the naturalization of aliens if they had filed declarations of intention not less than two or more than seven years before the United States entered the war. That is, citizenship was possible under these conditions, providing the applicant established his good moral character, his attachment to the Constitution, his belief in organized government, his ability to speak English and the genuineness of his wish to become a citizen and renounce forever all allegiance to any foreign Power. About eight hundred persons in the St. Louis district, according to local press data, sought to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the new law. Their applications called for a thorough investigation in each case. This work the League volunteered to take off the shoulders of the Bureau of Naturalization. The inquiries put in the questionnaire are interesting as official tests of loyalty. The most important of them are as follows:
Has applicant affiliated himself directly or indirectly with any organization or propaganda in any way opposed to the position taken by the United States in regard to the war, or with known or suspected agents of the enemy?
Has applicant at any time expressed his approval of (a) the invasion of France and Belgium? (b) the sinking of the Lusitania? and (c) the general conduct of the war by Germany? If so, when, where and in whose hearing?
Has applicant been opposed to (a) the United States’ entry into the war? (b) acts of the United States in conducting the war (c) shipping munitions to France and England? (d) the draft? (e) Liberty loans?
Can all the foreign-born or foreign-descended citizens of the United States swear before God that they are fit to gain or to retain their citizenship under a test like that?
A St. Louis journal, in commenting on the work of the American Protective League in that city, gave a rather interesting summary of the growth of the espionage idea in the United States, for which place not inappropriately may be found here.