A curious personal quality attaches to the study of the work of the American Protective League, which is perhaps attributable to the fact that all the members were amateurs only and altogether unpaid. No doubt, did space and formal limitations permit, a very widespread comment on the personal relations of the members of the League to the League itself would be acceptable to many readers. Within the limits available, however, a certain martial severity and impersonality must be employed. None the less, there ought to be some brief mention made of the work of the National Directors after the establishment of the Washington office. In this connection it is fitting that the names of those men should be mentioned who labored so earnestly and so well to make the work of A. P. L. of vital importance in the winning of the war.
| NATIONAL DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS OF ADMINISTRATIONOF THE AMERICAN PROTECTIVE LEAGUE | |
| A. M. Briggs, Chairman | |
| Charles Daniel Frey | |
| Victor Elting | |
| National Directors | November, 1917 |
| S. S. Doty | |
| In charge Bureau of Organization | February, 1918 |
| Captain George P. Braun, Jr. | |
| In charge Bureau of Investigation | June, 1918 |
| Charles F. Lorenzen | |
| In charge Bureau of Investigation | September, 1918 |
| James D. Stover | |
| In charge Bureau of Administration | September, 1918 |
| Daniel V. Casey | |
| Editor of The Spy Glass | May, 1918 |
| Lieutenant Urban A. Lavery | |
| In charge A. P. L. branch at Military Intelligence | April, 1918 |
| Captain John T. Evans | |
| In charge A. P. L. branch at Military Intelligence | September, 1918 |
The enormous growth of the American Protective League in so short a time is sufficient evidence in itself that a vast, pressing need existed for the service it rendered. Indeed, the great local activity of the League became a national activity in record time. Reports piled in from all over the country; the detail of correspondence became enormous; the filing of records an endless task. All at once the National Directors of the American Protective League found they had taken over a business—one of the largest businesses with which any one of them had ever been identified. It would not be too much to say that they worked day and night for a long period. Their task was a very heavy one, but they brought to it a knowledge of large business affairs and a quality of perseverance which saw them through.
The original headquarters of the League were at 1537 Eye Street, Northwest, an old Washington residence—a quaint and none too convenient business home. All the directors lived in the upper part of this building, and such was the crowded and impractical form of Washington life at the time that they were glad to sleep and sometimes cook their meals in the same building where they did their work. Such a thing as rest or leisure were unknown for two years’ time. No one who has not been in part acquainted with Washington in war times knows the handicap under which all such work needed to be done. Transportation, living accommodations, clerical help—everything, in that period of the war, became a problem or an obstacle of a very considerable sort. It was faith and enthusiasm which carried these men through, as was the case with their associates all over America.
So, gradually, from this central office, the web of the American Protective League was extended until it reached into every state and territory of the Union, and until each line of communication was one of interchange of intelligence from and to the central headquarters. It is only by reference to the portion of this history marked as “[The Four Winds]”—showing briefs of reports from all over the Union—that any just knowledge can be gained of the tremendous volume of work done by the central headquarters. Nor does the assemblage offered give more than a mere indication of that volume, because thousands of reports have, for reasons of space, received no notice whatever, unfair as that must always seem to everyone identified with the compilation of this history.
In the fall of 1918, headquarters were moved from 1537 Eye Street to 1719 H Street, Northwest, another old time Washington residence of stately sort, which remained the home of the National Headquarters until the signing of the Armistice and the dissolution of the League itself. Here Mr. Briggs, Captain Frey and Mr. Elting remained until the end of the game in charge of a loyal band of workers. For all of these men, and those associated with them, there remain the recollection of a hectic two years of high speed work, in connection with financial loss to everyone engaged in it.
CHAPTER V
THE LAW AND ITS NEW TEETH
Insufficiency of the Espionage Laws at the Outbreak of the War—Getting Results—The Amended Espionage Act—The Law of 1798 Revived—Statement of the Attorney General of the United States.
If predisposed to alien enemy sympathy, a critic might declare that the League was made up of individual buccaneers, who did high-handed things and escaped punishment therefor only because of the general confusion due to a state of war. Nothing could be more unjust or farther from the truth than such a belief. On the contrary, the League and the Department of Justice as well felt continually held back and hampered by respect for laws admittedly inadequate.
We had matured a great system of jurisprudence, sufficient for ordinary needs. Moreover, when war began, we had passed more laws adjusted to the new needs; but it is a curious fact that, threatened as we were by Germany’s perfected system of espionage and propaganda, we had no actual statute by which we adequately could cope with it until May, 1918—more than a year after we went to war, and less than six months before the end of the war.