Chapter II: The Story of the North (2)

During the Civil War the Germans of Wisconsin, descendents of the heavy German immigration of 1848 and the years immediately following, had a splendid representation in the Northern army. The sons of these men are among the most prominent business men in Wisconsin and of Milwaukee to-day, and it were worse than wrong loosely to accuse them all of disloyalty to this country. Upon the other hand, Milwaukee, being a heavy German settlement, did not lack in wrong-headed persons who retained their allegiance to a flag other than our own. These did the usual amount of talking—perhaps more than the usual amount. For them the Milwaukee Division of the American Protective League had the same remedy that has been found efficient in other communities comprising a large foreign element or an element with foreign sympathies. It went to work quietly and steadily, showing good judgment and good sense, as well as good patriotism. Mr. B. K. Miller was Chief of the Milwaukee Division. The membership was made up of substantial men of proven loyalty. The following table tells the story of their work:

Alien enemy cases 10,000
Sedition and disloyalty investigations, and violations
of the Espionage Act 2,400
Character and loyalty reports 700
Liquor and vice cases 75
Internments 40
Selective Service cases 6,500
War Risk Insurance cases 68

Sparta, Wisconsin, from the spelling of the suspect names in the report, appears to be located in the heart of darkest Germany. One Mr. H—— of that vicinity declared that a letter written to his father in anything but the German language would be an insult. He was interviewed, and it is believed that he has changed his idea by this time. Another local pro-German volubly declared that the Y. M. C. A. was a “damn fraud.” He is also thinking it over. Gus L—— would not allow a card with the admonition, “Speak English,” to be placed in his store. It may affect his application for his second papers. Carl B—— was called on for a subscription to the Red Cross, but turned down the callers flat. He said he had never sworn obedience to the United States and never would, adding: “They can take me back to Germany or any place they like, and I don’t care a damn how quick.” Such a man, it would seem, ought to be obliged in the matter of such preferences. A preacher, Rev. E——, seemed to talk German propaganda rather than the Holy Scriptures. He was indicted. August Y—— made seditious remarks in the open, and was reported to the Department of Justice. Henry B—— was reported for threats he made against his neighbor for taking part in the War Work campaign. Several alien enemies who were applying for citizenship were held while their records were looked up. Joe M—— believed the Y. M. C. A. to be a “graft,” and thought our boys were sent to France to be butchered. Duly interviewed about it. O. W. S——, cashier of a bank, wrote a letter in which he stated his bank would not take any Government certificates. He gave as his reason that he was short of help, as one of his men was being held in the army against his will and “against the wishes of the community.” He was spoken to.

Neillsville, Wisconsin, apparently, was up on its toes. It reports the investigation of an alien German Lutheran minister; utterances against the President and the Government, and the discovery of socialistic campaign literature for evidence in the Socialist trial at Chicago. It searched the community for the Socialist paper called “The Voice of the People”; investigated the Russellite sect and looked up the record of 118 petitioners for naturalization; investigated juries in the trial of a murder case growing out of an attempt to evade the draft, in which several people were wounded and two killed, and investigated a Socialist candidate for sheriff who made contributions to a fund for printing radical literature. The foregoing civil activities were done in the interest of the Department of Justice. Neillsville, for the War Department, investigated a woman who was trying to get information about the Edgewood Arsenals; assisted the U. S. Marshals in arresting draft dodgers, and investigated civilian applicants for overseas service and applicants for commissions. The Chief apologizes for not having done more!

Oshkosh, Wisconsin, had one hundred and eleven men—lawyers, doctors, bankers, manufacturers and workmen—on her A. P. L. rolls. The investigations throughout the war period totalled 343. There was much outspoken Germanism in this district before the United States went into the war, but after that, it died down. One old German, when confronted by the operatives, said: “Vel, I dell you vat I dink; it is so; I dink vat I dink. How can I helb id? But I _say_ not von dam vord—nefer!” A safe rule. “Since the war ended,” says the Chief, “known sympathizers with Germany have been as quiet as oysters here. When Germany has been a republic for twenty years or so, I hope some of these imported old bigots will soften.”

Racine, Wisconsin, has a population of 50,000. In a slacker raid it gathered in 3,000, including a number of real dodgers and deserters. Two companies of State guards and Spanish war veterans, organized into thirty-five squads, carried out the League’s orders to perfection.

Berlin, Wisconsin, reports: “Berger carried this county for Congress. We had some German propagandists who said that America could not win the war. We quieted them. Most of our work had to do with Liberty Bond campaigns, Red Cross, exemption claims, and Food Administration matters.”

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, makes a clean-cut report on the activities of that division, being in touch constantly with the Agents of the Department of Justice and ready to act at once at all times. D. J. complimented this division on its compilation of evidence. The Chief says: “Among our cases are several which proved vexatious. We succeeded in silencing such disloyalists as we had. Notwithstanding the fact that the war is over, we know there yet lies ahead of all good citizens an enormous work of education in righting and keeping right the obligation of the individual to the Government.”

MINNESOTA

The City of Duluth, at the head of the Great Lakes, lies close to the edge of the great Northern wilderness whose fastnesses might well beckon the evader as well as the explorer or the discoverer. Her geographical situation makes Duluth a sort of Mecca for dodgers, drifters and deserters, and a good part of the A. P. L. work at that point—and hard work it often was—consisted in running down these unwilling patriots who preferred the seclusiveness of a logging camp, trapper’s shack, or even a logging drive, to bearing arms under their country’s flag.

Olsen is a name somewhat indefinite in the upper Minnesota country, but it was claimed by a deserter from Camp Dodge who originally registered from Ely, Minnesota. The entire Olsen genealogical tree was combed over, and many shacks housing Olsens here and there in the woods were examined, but the right Olsen was not found. At last an operative hit upon the expedient of spreading word that this particular Olsen was wanted to sign a receipt for some property that had been left to him. The proper Olsen came into town, was arrested at once, and sent to Fort Snelling—the victim of several kinds of misplaced confidence.

There came into Duluth a rather pitiful story of a young girl of East Texas engaged to a U. S. soldier who was taken prisoner and sent to the interior of Germany. The prisoner sent out a letter to his sweetheart which stated that he was well treated. He also said that he was sending her his watch as a souvenir, lest she might never see him again. The girl took the watch to a jeweler. Inside of the works there was a note which said that everything the prisoner had written in the letter was not true, that his nose and ears had been cut off by the Germans, so that he felt himself unfit even to be seen by her again. The girl herself lived at Nacogdoches and had met her Northern sweetheart in a Southern camp.

From Ashland, Wisconsin, there was reported to the Duluth office the name of one J——, a deserter. He was traced out into the woods, found in the garret of a shack whose owner disclaimed all knowledge of him, hauled down and out and sent to Fort Snelling, all in jig time.

From Erie, Pennsylvania, there came to Duluth warning that there probably would be on a steamer due to land at that point a deserter from the service. The boat was met, the deserter was found, and within thirty-six hours he was on his way to Fort Snelling to repent at his leisure.

One O——, an Austrian or Russian, a mill hand, was found in bed when an operative went after him as a draft evader. He was so indiscreet as to say, “To hell with America.” At that time the operative landed on him with a stiff right, and O—— went down for the count. The short and simple annals of Mr. O——’s case read: “He was dragged to jail with his toes up, put in a cell with his toes still up, and left alone with his toes up. The next day he was sent to Fort Snelling as a deserter.”

All the way from Great Falls, Montana, came a deserter who thought he could hide himself in the North woods around Duluth. As a matter of fact, he succeeded in doing so for more than a month although he was traced here and there in the forest. He located on a river-drive where he worked for a time. This Mr. C—— always went armed and was reported as dangerous, but this did not act as any deterrent for A. P. L. men. The evader was classified as having strong I. W. W. affiliations. He was chased far in the woods, but will have to come out some time. When he does, he will find the Duluth A. P. L. ready to welcome him.

The totals for Duluth might be expected to run high. Accordingly we need not be surprised to find that Duluth reports 1,293 investigations of disloyalty and sedition; 3,287 men taken in slacker raids; 41 investigations for propaganda, and 186 naturalization investigations.

Freeborn County, Minnesota, submitted a very optimistic report: “The loyal folks were so plentiful that if any pessimist happened to say the wrong thing about the Red Cross or the Liberty Loans, he was promptly reported. A few fines of $500 each in the district court soon stopped all disloyalty talk. The Non-Partisan League was watched closely but we got nothing disloyal at their meetings and could find no openly disloyal acts. They have an unusual proportion of persons of German extraction in their membership. At the beginning of the war a good many farmers tried to keep their sons at home, often using strongly colored affidavits. Some honestly felt that the duty to furnish food was greater than the duty to fight, which attitude sometimes led to unfounded accusations against them.”

Wilkin County, Minnesota, watched Non-Partisan League activities closely. Members of this none too loyal organization talked less freely when they learned that they were being watched. The community had some clergymen with strong German tendencies, but these also experienced a change of heart. One German alien, registered at Omaha, Nebraska, who had left without permission, was arrested until the Department of Justice at St. Paul could take him over. The fact of his arrest created a large silence among the pro-Germans of the region.

Grant County, Minnesota, has a little report. “A few minor investigations of false statements about deferred classifications were made. We got the facts. Our County is small, no large settlements, and everyone knows practically everybody else, so there was little for us to do.”

Winona, Minnesota, sends in the best kind of a report—with few or no figures under most lettered heads. Winona has about 20,000 inhabitants, and is a small farming community with a floating population. Much of the work of the division was in stopping local gossip and loose talking. The League did, however, locate one deserter, who was duly turned over.

MISSOURI

The tracing of a deserter may take a hundred pages in a file. A certain man registered in St. Louis, but never turned in his questionnaire. He was classified by the Adjutant General of Missouri as a deserter, and A. P. L. was requested to find him. Search revealed him in James City, Pennsylvania. The chief of police of a nearby town found the man in bed. The deserter, whose name may be called Bates, resisted fiercely. It was stated of him that he was the first man the chief of police ever arrested who succeeded in breaking a pair of handcuffs. He fought all the time until he was put in jail. Mr. Bates, it is to be hoped, fought equally well in the army. He certainly got his chance to do so.

D. W. B——, from St. Louis, was once in the 108th Infantry, but vanished therefrom, leaving his uniform in New York with a friend. One paragraph, the last page in the file, will cover the case of Mr. B——: “As subject was apprehended in Buffalo, the commanding officer at Fort Niagara was communicated with, and he detailed a sergeant to come to Buffalo on December 17. The sergeant took B—— into custody and conveyed him to Fort Niagara, where he is at present.”

Kansas City, among other cases, turned in a love letter written by a local young lady to a Japanese, Heroshirmo, at present living in Japan. The letter begins: “Dear Heroshirmo: How I want to write to you pages and pages of something, I am not sure what. I want to tell you first about the beautiful summer that has just passed, how beautiful the trees and flowers were, how infinite and blue the sky”—but perhaps that will be enough.

The A. P. L. noticed the post-mark and thought that this sort of correspondence ought to be looked into. It should. The Japanese had once stopped in Kansas City as a member of a Commission on its way to Washington, and had visited local friends. No international plot was unveiled in this case. Just the trees and flowers were discovered to be beautiful and the sky very blue. To be sure, the writer being a woman, the letter had a postscript: “Just because I have been sick, would you like to send me a genuine Japanese kimona? I must tell you that all of the first page of your last letter except the first few lines were cut out by the censor. D——n the war.”

Jefferson City, Missouri, has jurisdiction over several counties but the division consisted of only twenty-one members. These men were of great value to the Department of Justice at Kansas City. The sparsely settled nature of the country around Jefferson City meant a great deal of automobile travel. The Chief says he has traveled as high as ninety-five miles in his own car on one case. This meant a vast amount of work for the small membership of the League at that point. It acquitted itself admirably.

Clinton, Missouri, faithfully performed a large volume of routine work such as comes to most of the divisions—some three hundred cases in all, under various headings. The Chief concludes: “Our activities have been abundant. We mean to continue our organization here until there is no further need for it. Our personnel is made up of the best men in this county. Our system of warning by red-white-and-blue cards has been adopted in many States and by the National Council of Defense.”

Monett, Missouri, had some trouble from the fact that drafted men were at first able to obtain alcoholic beverages there. This was stopped by the local League. There was considerable propaganda by word of mouth in this locality which was choked off. One deserter defied all local officers to capture him and take him back to camp. Nevertheless he was taken, returned to camp, court-martialed and sentenced to a term in the federal prison. As a whole, the people of this community are law abiding 100-percent Americans. Hence the League’s work was light.

Fayette, Missouri: “Thirty investigations resulted in reclassifying twenty-five men. We arrested three camp deserters and two men for disloyal acts. Found three men hoarding sugar and made them take it back. In some cases we just warned parties that their conduct had been reported to be reprehensible, and evidence was produced by them to prove their later love and loyalty to the United States.”

IOWA

Des Moines, Iowa, the very prosperous capital of the prosperous state of Iowa, had an A. P. L. man attached to the Intelligence Service of the Army. He spoke German fluently and in order to investigate conditions inside a neighboring camp, he pretended to be a conscientious objector, thus being confined to barracks with other conscientious objectors, some real and some camouflage. A picked War Department Committee, including the Governor of the State, was combing out these objectors and ran across the A. P. L. man. The latter was unable to explain, and had to go through as a conscientious objector and listen to a good lecture to boot!

Des Moines had another case of a fine looking young man who weighed about 175 pounds and who sported a clever little military mustache. He was caught in a slacker drive and on the following morning hesitatingly handed the agent a telegram sent by his father, which read: “I have told you that damned eye-brow on your upper lip would get you into trouble. Tell the Government I say you are only twenty—you look older, but act younger. If you wish to please your father, enlist in the Navy.” The son enlisted.

Iowa City, Iowa, is a university town, a good, peaceful and thrifty community and one of the most useful in the West. The foreign element in that district has been rather Bohemian than German, but the population has the usual admixture. There are two precincts populated by Mennonites, whose religion is work and not war. One of these good folk refused to buy Liberty Bonds but sold enough walnut logs from his farm to make several thousand gun stocks. This man was finally persuaded to buy as many dollars in bonds as his logs made gun stocks. Some conscientious objectors from Camp Dodge were sent out to farm among these Mennonite brothers and thus escaped the draft, whereas local loyal farmers’ sons had to go to the front. This created bitter feeling. Most of these dodgers were recalled.

Oskaloosa, Iowa, had its own share of local wrangles over League war activities. One suspect was brought up under charges of disloyalty by reason of many reports coming in against him. He was indicted and the local Chief says: “I have no doubt of his conviction had he not died since.”

Hardin County, Iowa, had an organization which kept this community decent and orderly and up to the front in all of the war activities. The chief was a member of the Bureau of Military Affairs for Hardin County, which had charge of all the war work. He was also on the County Committee of Four on Military Instruction, whose duty it was to instruct and train drafted men. Other members of the A. P. L. were on the Legal Advisory Board and also were of assistance to the drafted men. A steady-going and firm-stepping community.

Corning, Iowa, worked in the usual unostentatious way with the Food and Fuel administrations, etc. Two indictments were brought against a man who blocked war activities, the fines going to the Red Cross.

Green County reports: “All quiet in this section. Very few Germans in our county. None showed disloyalty except one old German woman who wrote to her son, a missionary in China. Her family promised to keep her loyal. We examined into the German Lutheran schools and German language assemblages. Nothing of much consequence.”

Decorah, Iowa, is another peaceful community in a peaceful State. Little or no trouble was met here. “The A. P. L. was organized rather late,” says the report, “owing to the fact that we had a most thorough and efficient Defense Council at work.”

Indianola, Iowa, is also a place of peace. The League had been organized only a short time when the Armistice broke, and there were but few activities. “Indianola has a rural population,” says the Chief, “with a very small percentage of foreign born. No trouble of any consequence.”

SOUTH DAKOTA.

Aberdeen, South Dakota, must have been a good talking point for German propagandists, because it reports 122 cases of propaganda by word of mouth, and 128 cases of propaganda by printed matter. The division was called on to take active part in the I. W. W. labor troubles, and this part of its work is described at some length in the Chief’s report:

Thousands of I. W. W.’s drift here at harvest time. Their jungles
sometimes contain as many as one thousand men. They take charge
of whole trains, and force railroads to carry them wherever they
wish. They have forced the city authorities in small communities
to send them a specified amount of food, and have defied the
authorities of larger cities to control them. By their methods
of sabotage, murder and arson they have terrorized certain
sections of this state and destroyed millions of dollars’ worth
of property. In the summer of 1917 the annual influx started.
The A. P. L. was called on for assistance, and decidedly
effective measures were adopted. Home Guards and citizens were
organized—later called by a D. J. officer “the Klu Klux Klan of
the Prairies.” Anyhow, this section of the prairies was soon
clear. In consequence, a strike was declared by the Minneapolis
branch of the I. W. W. and some of their gunmen were sent out.
The property of the Chief of Police at Aberdeen was burnt. In
less than two weeks four of these men were under arrest and two
of them are now serving sentences in the Federal Penitentiary at
Leavenworth. The methods adopted by this branch of the A. P. L.
have proved efficacious. Thousands of dollars’ worth of property
have been saved.

As Aberdeen is located in one of the Non-Partisan League districts, and as reports have come from nearby towns denoting a large percentage of pro-Germanism, it may be well to quote further from the report of this division. The Chief says that one family living in Hecla, strongly pro-German, declared they would never be taken alive. The A. P. L. took over the case. One man was shot resisting arrest. Five members of the family were arrested and two were convicted, while one remains to be tried. “This stopped pro-German utterances in that community,” says the Chief, “and materially aided in the sale of bonds.”

In December, 1917, Fred H—— of Aberdeen was interned for pro-German utterances. His wife turned state’s evidence on members of the local German club where members had been fined for speaking the English language. Four of the leading spirits of this club were taken into custody, one of them the publisher of three German language newspapers of wide circulation which were openly pro-German. This man had sent to von Bernstorff $10,000, ostensibly to be used for the German Red Cross—all of it raised from readers of his publication through the sale of the “iron ring.” This man was sentenced and fined $500. An associate editor of the same string of papers was interned also. One of the parties was president of the South Dakota German-American Alliance, and published a German language paper at Sioux Falls. He was charged with writing a letter which reads as follows:

I have never given any declaration of loyalty and never will do
it, nor subscribe to any Liberty Loan. The name is to me already
an emetic because hypocritical and misleading. That a man perhaps
buys bonds for business considerations, I can understand, but I
myself couldn’t do it without thinking that my $50 or $100 might
perhaps buy the explosive which American accomplices of the allied
plunderbund might throw on the house of my mother.

The writer of the above, as head of the German-American Alliance, raffled a picture of the crew of the _Deutschland_ after our declaration of war, and sold souvenirs from the boat, remitting the funds to New York German centers. He was sentenced to ten years in the Federal penitentiary.

The active Chief of Aberdeen also caught H. M. H——, a former lieutenant in the German Navy and an ex-instructor in the Naval School at Hamburg, who was also active in the German-American Alliance. He got five years in the Federal penitentiary for urging young men of draft age not to enlist. Another alien enemy whose papers show that he once had wealthy connections in Germany, although he was engaged in making a scanty living at baling hay, was reported as a Prussian and believed to be dangerous. Yet another, William B——, was picked up in Aberdeen and told a tale that sounded like one by Deadwood Dick. He said he lived in the mountains of California with his uncle, who was a smuggler. He was found to be communicating with the I. W. W., and was sent to a detention camp. Another arrest was made, of Ed. R——, a wealthy farmer who stated he would rather see his daughter in a house of prostitution than a member of the Red Cross. He was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, and this has discouraged the expression of such sentiments near Aberdeen.

Now, if there were nothing else whatever printed in these pages, the foregoing would show the necessity for such an organization as the American Protective League, even in communities far away from manufacturing centers and not supposed to be governed by the foreign element. The report of the Chief of the Aberdeen Division affords grave reading and matter for grave consideration. In that one little community, which does not turn in memoranda of all its cases, there were 312 Department of Justice cases, 156 War Department cases, and three Navy Department cases. Seventeen persons were arrested or interned. Perhaps the most noteworthy of the recommendations made by the local Chief is this: “It has been the experience of this branch that the communities reached by the German language publications have been decidedly disloyal. It is our opinion that action should be urged upon Congress to discontinue the foreign language press in America.” These last are words of gold. They ought to be remembered by every man holding office in the United States and by every man seeking the suffrages of real American citizens. The time for mincing matters with these gentry has gone by.

NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo, North Dakota, hands in a report which varies in one important particular from those received from neighboring districts. The division was not making trouble enough for the rampant pro-Germans in Fargo, so the League turned around and investigated some of its own officers. None the less, the report tells of a story of accomplishment, there being 101 disloyalty and sedition cases, 109 cases under the Selective Service Act, and eight cases of enemy sympathizers who threatened the life of the President.

KANSAS

It will be no surprise to those who know Kansas to learn that this ultra-progressive, prosperous, energetic State was unswervingly loyal throughout the war, and had few cases of any kind to report. A few sentences quoted from the reports of several representative little towns will serve to show the Kansas war temperature varied from normal but slightly, if at all.

Oswego, Kansas, reports succinctly: “One hundred percent patriotism—no aliens.”

White City, Kansas, says: “Ours is a community of loyal citizens. We spoke to a few about talking too much. Nothing serious.”

Council Grove, Kansas, proved to be a great deal quieter than it used to be in the days of the Santa Fé trail. The Chief says: “We had a few pro-German sympathizers whose cases we turned over to the Department of Justice to investigate.”

NEBRASKA

The A. P. L. Division at Omaha, Nebraska, was organized at a rather late date, July 1, 1918. The Armistice shattered the activities at a time when there were three hundred members of the League, each man ready to do what was asked of him. The Omaha Chief reports sixty cases of disloyalty and sedition, and several thousand investigations made in conjunction with D. J. as a result of the slacker raids, as well as 700 in connection with the Department of Labor.

The Chief at Hastings, Nebraska, says: “I did not know the work would be so extensive, or that there would be so much to do. We have investigated some cases for Omaha, and have done a great deal of work on draft cases for the state and county boards. We have been glad to do this work, and I am thankful that I could help my country this much.”

Callaway, Nebraska, has a grievance: “I had one genuine case of seditious utterance, but we did not get the evidence. This man was elected State Senator by the Non-Partisan League. He worked against the Liberty Bond drive. Fortunately, this year our Senator is not of his sort politically.”

David City, Nebraska, reports the usual routine work. One pro-German was taken into custody for making seditious remarks, and was bound over to the grand jury for trial. The local Chief reports that his organization is being held intact against any future emergency.