In view of the fact that a large number of members of the American Protective League enlisted in the military service or were inducted into the draft, the League was requested by the Military Intelligence Division to procure the names of all such men, with their record, in order that the Military Intelligence might avail itself of their services within the military forces if it so desired.
In addition to the foregoing, miscellaneous investigations for the Military Intelligence were carried on in considerable volume. These included cases of impersonation of army officers, visé of passports, bribery, theft and embezzlement, and a variety of other cases. These miscellaneous investigations in the local divisions referred to aggregate 19,556, or 136,892 for the country at large.
On June 5, 1917, the date of the first registration, approximately eighty thousands of members of the League throughout the country assisted at the registration polls, giving advice and assistance to registrants under the law and aiding the officials in all possible ways. In the larger cities, particularly those with large foreign born populations, great congestion resulted because of the ignorance of the law and its provisions on the part of registrants, and because of the difficulty in ascertaining and transcribing correctly their names and other information regarding them. The number of places for registration proved insufficient because of the shortness of the hours, and in many places great confusion resulted. Acting under proper instructions, members of the League in large numbers served as volunteer registrants under the direction of the officials.
On February 6, 1918, the Provost Marshal General and the Attorney General of the United States united in a request to the American Protective League to coöperate with all local and district exemption boards throughout the United States in locating and causing to present themselves to the proper authorities delinquents under the Selective Service Regulations, including those classed as deserters. Thereupon each local division assigned certain members to the Local and District Boards within its jurisdiction. These activities are of many varieties and include the investigation of Board Members, conspiracies and bribery, conspiracies to obstruct the draft, draft evasion in all forms, fraudulent attempts at deferred classification, false claims for exemption, failures to report for examination, failures to report for mobilization, failures to file questionnaires, failures to register, failures to secure final classification, failures to notify local boards of changes in address, failures to ascertain present status from the Local Board, failures to entrain, and all other alleged infractions of the regulations. These investigations made by the one hundred local divisions total 323,349. Upon a percentage basis, the cases handled throughout the country would total 2,263,443, and including the slacker raids, an enormous figure which cannot well be estimated.
Many investigations under the Local Boards were made with extreme difficulty because of the confusion in the spelling of names, inaccurate records and constantly shifting addresses due to the roaming character of the individual. We believe that the Provost Marshal General’s office will confirm the statement that the number of delinquents and deserters of this character is very great, possibly exceeding two hundred thousands, a group recruited mostly from laborers, harvesters and the other ranks of homeless unskilled labor. Members of the League have given a great amount of time and energy to these cases.
During the two or three months following the day of first registration, a general effort was made by local divisions of the League in the principal cities to run down those individuals within the draft age who had failed to register on June 5, 1917. In Chicago, a city-wide drive was made during which all stations of the railroads entering Chicago were covered by League operators, and the downtown or loop district was likewise patroled. This was the first organized effort on a large scale to enforce the regulations. Subsequently similar action was taken in other cities.
In the early summer and fall of 1918 many slacker drives were conducted throughout the country. They were made under the direction of the officials of the Department of Justice with the active assistance of the Local Divisions of the American Protective League. Effective drives occurred in Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Davenport, Dayton and many cities of lesser size throughout the country.
As a result of a single drive in one city, according to the report of the Division Superintendent of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, approximately five hundred men were sent to camp as deserters and four thousand delinquents were apprehended. These drives as a whole were carried on with the acquiescence and with the general satisfaction of the public at large, and with the minimum of embarrassment to the individuals concerned. The New York city drive presented an exception where certain difficulties arose.
As a result of these drives, several hundred thousand men were examined throughout the country; tens of thousands who had failed to comply with the requirements of the Selective Service Regulations were compelled to go to their District Boards to make good their delinquencies, and many thousand delinquents and deserters were inducted into the army who otherwise might have escaped service.
Members of the League have apprehended many camp deserters and soldiers absent without leave. They have investigated thousands of requests for furloughs where the soldier claimed illness at home or made other claims. Many fraudulent requests were uncovered by these investigations. These investigations, in the one hundred divisions referred to, number 3,478.