The Web

by Emerson Hough

Before I had done the last page of the strange history, I knew that I had felt an actual reflex of the actual America. I knew that I had been in touch with one of the most astonishing phenomena of modern days, in touch also with the most tremendous, the most thrilling and the most absorbing story of which I ever knew.

EMERSON HOUGH

Washington
District of Columbia
United States of America
February 14, 1919.

CONTENTS

Book I: The League and Its Work
CHAPTER		PAGE
I	The Awakening	[19]
II	The Web	[29]
III	Early Days of the League	[38]
IV	The League in Washington	[44]
V	The Law and Its New Teeth	[55]
VI	German Propaganda	[62]
VII	The German Spy Cases	[82]
VIII	The Spy Himself	[107]
IX	Handling Bad Aliens	[120]
X	The Great I. W. W. Trial	[133]
XI	The Slacker Raids	[141]
XII	Skulker Chasing	[148]
XIII	Arts of the Operatives	[163]
Book II: The Tales of the Cities
I	The Story of Chicago	[179]
II	The Story of New York	[199]
III	The Story of Philadelphia	[210]
IV	The Story of Newark	[226]
V	The Story of Pittsburgh	[239]
VI	The Story of Boston	[246]
VII	The Story of Cleveland	[256]
VIII	The Story of Cincinnati	[267]
IX	The Story of Dayton	[276]
X	The Story of Detroit	[285]
XI	The Story of St. Louis	[293]
XII	The Story of Kansas City	[303]
XIII	The Story of Minneapolis	[310]
XIV	The Story of New Orleans	[324]
XV	The Story of California	[332]
Book III: The Four Winds
I	The Story of the East	[363]
II	The Story of the North	[381]
III	The Story of the South	[418]
IV	The Story of the West	[438]
Book IV: America
I	The Reckoning	[453]
II	The Peace Table	[473]
Appendices		[483]

BOOK I
THE LEAGUE AND ITS WORK

THE WEB

CHAPTER I
THE AWAKENING

The “Neutral Cases”—First Realization of the German Spy System in America—Overcrowding of the Department of Justice—The Birth of a New Idea—Formation of the American Protective League, Civilian Auxiliary—Astonishing Growth of the Greatest Semi-Vigilante Movement of the World.

We Americans have always been disposed to peace. We have not planned for war. Our Army has never been a menace to ourselves or to any other nation; our Navy, though strong and modern, never has been larger than a country of our extent in territory and industry admittedly ought to have. No one has feared us, and there has been none of whom we have had any fear. We have designedly stood aloof from entangling alliances. The two great oceans traditionally have been our friends, for they have set us apart from the world’s quarrels. An America, far off, new, rich, abounding, a land where a man might be free to grow to his natural stature, where he might be safe at his own fireside, where he might select his own rulers and rest always secure under his own form of government—that was the theory of this country and of this form of government. That was the reason why this country, naturally endowed above any other region of the world, has grown so marvelously fast.