- tigations of suspects were made by the League, largely of
men whose names seemed to proclaim them of German extraction. The record of this plant is unique, it probably being the only plant that has had so low a record of fires, explosions and accidents in all the history of our war work.
Guards often found people endeavoring to do damage. One such man had piled up scrap lumber and rags and was touching it off when fired upon by the guard. Two other attempts were made to destroy another one of the buildings. Not content with protecting the property from without, the A. P. L. even protected it from within. Charges were made of extravagant prices paid by the Government, a fact which strongly indicated graft somewhere. A corporation had made a bid to furnish boxes at $450 each, delivered. This bid was refused. Volunteer workers were called on to make these boxes. The work was done on Sunday, double time being paid—each man receiving $14 a day—and even with such labor charges, it was found the boxes could be turned out at $17.25! This particular expenditure of money was stopped by the artless Ordnance Department. One or two chiefs were dismissed on the strength of reports from the A. P. L. of inefficiency, graft and irregularities.
This, then, all too briefly and lamely done in review, is the story of Philadelphia, which operated one of the very best amateur detective agencies the world has ever seen and which was a credit not only to Philadelphia itself but to every operative of the A. P. L. wherever he was located in the United States.
It only remains to say that in the monthly report for December, 1918, the Philadelphia Division turns in forty-eight bootleggers additional, two hold-up men, and nine soldiers absent without leave. It furnished D. J. in that month six hundred and forty-five men and sixty-five cars, investigated in that month two hundred and fifty-two draft evaders, seven hundred and forty-three cases from D. J. and various branches of the A. P. L., and 1,812 office assignments and Washington investigations. The Division closed the month of December, after the Armistice, going strong, with a membership of 3,438.
On the last day of the year, and after Philadelphia had
