Page:The web (1919).djvu/246

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which permitted the Department of Justice and Army and Navy Intelligence Bureaus also to locate quarters there, giving a compact working organization reaching every branch of the service and promoting that intimate contact and close coöperation which assured success. This reciprocal arrangement was especially effective in the case of the Department of Justice, which, under the operation of Mr. Judge, rendered and was rendered assistance on all occasions.

Director Charles B. Prichard, of the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety, recognized the possibilities of effective coöperation at the beginning, and there was not a moment when the patrolmen and municipal detectives did not do everything possible to promote the success of the League's activities. This spirit of patriotic coöperation on the part of the municipal authorities was constantly maintained through the friendliness and enthusiasm of Robert J. Alderdice, superintendent of police; Magistrate Walter J. Lloyd and Commissioners of Police Dye, Kane, Johnson and Calhoun. Pittsburgh certainly was well policed. In all, the League maintained constantly throughout the trying period over 2,000 active operatives.

The effectiveness of this far-reaching organization was revealed in the complete absence of those disturbances which had been feared. At the outbreak of war, troops had been located at bridges and important public works, but the thorough manner in which the League ferreted out those who were willing to foment trouble soon rendered unnecessary the guarding of industrial plants by soldiers or police. There were no interruptions to the enormous output of munitions and manufactured material, nor were there any accidents, explosions or labor troubles traced to agents of the enemy. In the Pittsburgh division alone, over 25,000 cases were investigated, and every person upon whom the least suspicion had been cast was soon rendered powerless to do harm. Every effort was made to eliminate troubles by preventing alien sympathizers from perfecting their plans. No meetings where incendiary talk could be fostered were permitted to continue, and it was not long before those who had trouble in mind realized that to continue their purpose would only lead to their own downfall and also that of their followers. The record of the League is a tribute to the wisdom of this preventive policy.

It was feared that because of the large proportion of foreigners in the Pittsburgh district, the wide diversity of languages spoken, and the great illiteracy among certain of the nationalities, there would be great difficulty in securing proper observance of the Selective Service registration regulations. During the Civil War, there had been serious draft riots in