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Summary of the League’s Results Throughout the United States—Report of the National Directors—Facts, Figures and Totals for All the Divisions.

Sir: In compliance with your request, we beg to submit the following statement of service rendered the War Department by the American Protective League. As you know, local divisions of the League are in operation in practically all towns and cities of substantial size throughout the United States, and the League has been extended, through a plan of county organization, generally throughout the rural communities. It is not possible to submit to you an accurate classified statement of the aggregate of all of the work done throughout the country. We are able, however, to present a general statement of the activities of the League for the War Department of the United States, with a detailed report of the work of the local divisions in one hundred communities of the country. The total population of these communities is approximately one-seventh of the population of the entire country.

The work of the American Protective League for the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department began soon after the entry of the United States into the war. When the National Headquarters of the League were established in Washington in November, 1917, the National Directors conferred with Colonel R. H. Van Deman regarding a plan for wider service throughout the entire country. One of the National Directors was commissioned in the army, assigned to the Military Intelligence Division and detailed to the work of the League. In April, 1918, a department of the League was installed in the Military Intelligence Division, and since then the work has constantly grown in volume. A Captain in the Military Intelligence is now in charge, and at the present time thirty-six employes are working in the Section.

The increase in the volume of work is clearly shown by the records. Investigations directed by the Section in May, 1918, numbered 819; in June, 1777; in July, 2382; in August, 3617; in September, 6736; and in October, 6604. These investigations were of applicants for overseas service for the Y. M. C. A., Red Cross, Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare, Salvation Army, and other civilian organizations; of applicants for commissions and employment in various Departments of the Army, including the Quartermaster Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Department of Aeronautics, Ordnance Department, Signal Corps, Army Chaplain Service, Chemical Warfare Service, etc. They also included investigations on counter-espionage matters, German propaganda, deserters, slackers and various other miscellaneous cases, all of which was made at the direct request of the heads of the different sections of the Military Intelligence Division at Washington.

The character of this work differs in no way from that of the Department of Military Intelligence having to do with Negative Intelligence. In the one hundred local divisions referred to, the number of cases investigated and reported upon were 62,888, and upon the percentage basis, the number handled throughout the country would be 440,216.

The League has likewise exerted itself in enlisting the aid of the public in reporting enemy activities, disloyalties and evasions of the war statutes. In various cities, bulletins have been posted in prominent places, including street cars, office buildings and places of public gathering, requesting citizens to report to the American Protective League all such cases coming to their knowledge. Much important information resulted from this practice.

Because of the fact that the members of the League continue to follow their daily vocations and maintain their normal connections with the community, they are afforded unusual opportunities for the investigation of radical organizations of all kinds. The League has been able to introduce members into all of the more important organizations, and to report upon their policies and activities as well as upon the activities of individual members. The number of investigations of this character carried on in the one hundred divisions referred to were 3,645; or 25,515 for the entire country. As most of these were extended, and in many cases involved a complete report upon the local organization as a whole, the figures represent a very considerable amount of work. Under this heading are included investigations of the I. W. W., the W. I. I. U., pacifist organizations of many kinds, the Peoples Council, the League of Humanity, the Non-Partisan League, the Russellites and certain Socialistic movements. Sabotage investigations and conscientious objectors are also included.

In connection with the development of the overseas service of the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare, Salvation Army and other civilian organizations of like character, the necessity arose for the careful investigation of the character, history and connections of civilian applicants to such service. Fortunately, the Military Intelligence finally took over the entire work of passing upon the character and loyalty of applicants, and relieved the League of the responsibility of directly advising the organizations concerned of the outcome of the investigations. The Military Intelligence then called upon the League as its agent to make the larger part of the investigations. By this method the name of the investigator and of the individual responsible for the decision remains undisclosed, and the judgment is in that sense impersonal.

The League likewise made investigations of a large number of applicants for commissions in various Divisions of the War Department, including applicants for Chaplaincies.

Investigations as to character and loyalty reached a very large total. The number aggregates 30,166, including certain investigations made prior to the establishment of the League section in the Military Intelligence Division at Washington.

On January 12, 1918, the National Directors issued a bulletin calling upon all local divisions to make full report upon the rumors, current in their communities, which were harmful to the interest of the United States in the prosecution of the war. As a result of this inquiry, a large amount of information was gathered, complete copies of which were turned over to the Military Intelligence Division for its files.

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.

Early in April, 1918, the National Directors conferred with Mr. Fosdick and other officials of the Department of Training Camp activities, and with the officials of the Department of Justice, with regard to developing a plan for the successful enforcement of Section 13 of the Selective Service Act and the regulations thereunder,—the section referred to having to do with the protection of the military and naval forces of the United States from the evil influences of vice and prostitution in the vicinity of the camps. In the one hundred divisions referred to, the number of investigations was 5,866, or in the country at large, 41,062.

In addition to the foregoing, the reports from local divisions indicate that they have made a large number of investigations of a general character for the War Department, including a variety of subjects. Mention should also be made of a considerable amount of service rendered to the Foreign Recruiting Missions in locating slackers and deserters and in making miscellaneous investigations of individuals.

On March 18, 1918, the Military Intelligence Branch of the War Department requested the American Protective League to procure for that Department, for immediate use for intelligence purposes, photographs, drawings and descriptions of bridges, buildings, towns and localities, then occupied by the German forces in France, Belgium and Luxemburg, and likewise in that portion of Germany lying west of a line running north and south through Hamburg. In compliance with that request, National Headquarters issued a bulletin to all Local Divisions, calling upon the entire organization of the League throughout the country to engage in the work, and prescribing a detailed method for carrying it on. The result of the work, and the appreciation of the Military Intelligence Branch, was expressed to the League in a letter from Lieutenant Colonel Coxe, under date of June 11, 1918, in which he quotes a letter from Colonel Nolan, chief of the Military Intelligence Force abroad, to the effect that the material contained much information of value and that “the citizens of the United States who donated the above articles and the League which collected them have done something which definitely helps toward the success of the operations of our army.”

Summing up the actual investigations made by the American Protective League in the one hundred local divisions referred to, the grand total of cases reported by these divisions is 448,950. As has been shown, the jurisdiction of these divisions embraces approximately one-seventh of the whole population of the country covered by all of the local divisions of the League, and while some of the work reported by the one hundred divisions is not duplicated elsewhere, yet the reverse is true, and it may fairly be said that the entire number of cases handled by the League for the War Department throughout the country is seven times the above figure, or more than three million.

In conclusion, we beg to state that it has been the policy to coöperate with all local, State and Federal departments in enforcing the war laws of the United States. Our Local Chiefs have been able to establish cordial relations with all local police, sheriffs, fish and game wardens, fire wardens, and other officials whose assistance has been invaluable in many cases, and have likewise gained the friendly interest and support of County and State officials generally as well as of the Judicial Departments.

We have not attempted to set forth in this communication the volume of work done for the Department of Justice.

The most important of the war laws is the selective-service act. Cases under this act are of three general kinds—first, the violation of the act by the military eligibles themselves; that is, the failure to register in accordance with the registration system under the draft, the failure to file a questionnaire, the making of false exemption claims, the failure to report for examination, etc. As soon as a man becomes a deserter, he comes under the jurisdiction of the military authorities and is turned over to them. Up to that point, however, if he does not fully comply with the law and the Selective-Service Regulations, he is subject to prosecution by this department. As the main object of the law is the raising of an army and not the filling of a prison, the department seeks to deliver to the military authorities for military service all offenders subject to military service and physically fit therefor, except those who willfully and rebelliously refuse military service and can be subjected to substantial punishment.

The second class of cases concerns the acts of those who, not themselves subject to military service, induce violations of the act, such as making false exemption claims for others, inducing others to resist military service or evade the law. This classification also includes violations of duty on the part of members of the exemption boards.

The third class of cases relates to the violation of those sections which aim to protect training and mobilization camps from the evil influence of the liquor traffic or prostitution within the neighborhood of the camp. The first class of cases has thrown upon the representatives of this department throughout the country an immense amount of work. This work has consisted in part of prosecuting deliberate violations of the law. In far larger measure, however, it has consisted in locating, apprehending, and delivering to local boards or Army officials many thousands of men who for various reasons have failed to appear for physical examination, failed to file questionnaires, etc. Down to July 1, 1918, the department had thus investigated 220,747 cases of this character and caused induction into military service of 23,439 men.