Selma, Alabama, is another one of the loyal Southern communities. “We kept down seditious utterances,” says the Chief. “Without doubt we have had a most wholesome effect on our citizenry by letting every one know that this was not a time for anything that was not one hundred per cent American. I do not believe there was a greater force for good in the State of Alabama than the American Protective League.”
FLORIDA
Cocoa, Florida, is not far from one of the Government shipyards, and so had had some contact with persons inclined to be pro-German. By way of explaining the additional activities sometimes taken on by the League, the Chief says: “This office worked with the Special Agents at Jacksonville, and with officers of the Seventh Naval District. We have also given information to the Collector of Internal Revenue concerning those who should pay income tax. Our division consisted of twenty-four members—all high-class men who could be relied upon in any emergency that might arise. We were taking steps to enlarge the organization when the German balloon burst.”
Eustis, Florida, was more especially concerned with war cases. Forty-one cases of draft delinquency were handled; two slacker raids were conducted, and there was a little “work or fight” activity. Eustis is in a county which had the reputation of harboring a good many slackers and deserters, who sought peace and quiet in some of the out-of-the-way places. Through the activities of the local A. P. L. division, this situation was cleared up distinctly. The Chief says: “We believe we have been instrumental in protecting many people from their own follies, and have brought to justice men who were engaged in obstructing the Government’s war activities in one part of the country or another. It has been a pleasurable though arduous service that some of us have rendered in this work.”
Kissimmee, Florida, reports: “All quiet along the Kissimmee. Our community was singularly free of annoyance of any character. Two or three persons were indiscreet in their language, but we found that a small reminder was sufficient to stop the talk.”
KENTUCKY
Louisville, Kentucky, is a busy and famous old town with a reputation for being engaged in the manufacture of trouble-making products, but there seems to have been very little trouble. Only eighty-nine cases of disloyalty and sedition are reported, and 308 under the selective service regulations.
Mr. George T. Ragsdale, the first Chief of Louisville Division, instructed his men to keep under cover, so that the personnel of the division was very little known. More than 700 reports were made in all, and nine men were sent to the penitentiary. Local business men furnished most of the working capital. Upon Mr. Ragsdale’s resignation, Mr. J. V. Norman was appointed Chief, taking over about 400 members. The city was divided into nine districts and the County in three, with the usual subdivisions of captains and lieutenants as operatives. The membership was up to about 700 at the time of the signing of the Armistice.
Most of the investigations handled by the Louisville Division were on requests coming from local draft boards, although the several branches of the government’s legal organization frequently asked for aid. Several thousand men were questioned in the slacker raid of August 3. Thirty-five men were taken to jail and fourteen inducted; among these, several deserters. Sometimes at a race track a quiet investigation would be put on without any open raid.
Among the list of delinquents turned in was a man named Lyle D. B——. An intercepted letter resulted in an examination of the man’s mother, who refused to tell where he was. Portland, Oregon, was suspected as his present residence. The case came to an end when it was found that the delinquent had been committed to the Federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington. His questionnaire was forwarded by the local board to the penitentiary and returned properly filled in. The man had a fairly good alibi. The usual cases of religious fanatics, loud talkers and bearers of false witness were uncovered in the League’s work. Many of the best citizens of Louisville were engaged in these somewhat undignified and often thankless tasks of ferreting out such matters.