finally investigated the matter. The Philadelphia Division of the A. P. L. had some part in this investigation, which had to do with charges of extravagance, graft and waste of public moneys. There was one item, the employment of thousands of jitney drivers, which was severely criticised. These cars were employed by the Emergency Fleet Corporation to transport their workmen from their homes to the Island, since it was thought the regular transportation lines could not handle them. The charge was made that large amounts were collected by the jitney men from the Shipping Yard without rendering any service; the shipping yards, in turn, charged these amounts back to the Government. There were thousands of reports turned in by the operatives to D. J. on these "jitney cases." It was found that a good many men in authority were in the habit of ordering the drivers, after they had brought them down to the Shipping Yard, to go back home and place themselves at the disposal of the members of the families of the foremen or officers—the Government thus supporting a large number of private automobiles for salaried persons. The entire matter quieted down when the increased cost of tires and gas deprived the jitney drivers of their profits, and when competition came on through the installation of better service and equipment by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company.
There was no branch of the A. P. L. activities in Philadelphia so carefully handled as that having to do with the I. W. W. and other radical organizations. There were five Locals found and fifty-one revolutionary clubs with a total membership of 5,000, ninety per cent of whom were of foreign birth, absolutely opposed to all government and ever ready to overthrow law by revolutionary tactics.
The A. P. L. made a raid upon one club solely for the purpose of seizing literature and files. As a result of this, fifty I. W. W. agitators were dismissed from shipping yards and government plants. Some of these were in the Government Bag Loading Plant at Woodbury, in the shipping yard at Bristol, and in the Emergency Fleet Corporation at Hog Island. All these Philadelphia radicals contributed heavily to the defense fund of the I. W. W. members who were on trial in Chicago.
