Page:The web (1919).djvu/260

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CHAPTER VII

THE STORY OF CLEVELAND


Astonishing Figures of A. P. L. Activities in a Great Manufacturing City—Sabotage, Bolshevism and Treason—I. W. W. and Kindred Radical Propaganda—The Saving of a City.


Once more we find occasion to revise the popular estimate of a supposedly well-known American community. No one would think of staid, steady, even-going Cleveland as anything but a place of prosperity and peace. At a rough estimate, before the Cleveland report came in, one would have said that possibly that city might report a total of ten or fifteen thousand cases of A. P. L. investigations. As a matter of fact, the Cleveland total is over sixty thousand! And yet, the Cleveland Chief in his report calls attention to the large amount of war supplies manufactured in his district, and says: "We were a hot-bed of Socialism and pro-Germanism, but not one dollar's worth of material was lost."

Cleveland Division was organized in May, 1917, with a personnel of 1,008—Mr. Arch C. Klunph, Chief, six Assistant Chiefs, seven Departmental Inspectors, an office staff and eighteen companies. There were also one women's company and about five hundred unattached operatives; a total personnel of 1,551.

As the type of A. P. L. service varied in different cities, it may be interesting to other cities to note the character of work the Cleveland division was called upon to do. The list of investigations covers many heads: Failure to register, failure to entrain, and deserters from service, 5,356; failure to submit questionnaire, 2,100; failure to report for physical examination, 3,100; claims for exemption, 2,500; seditious literature, 50; seditious and treasonable utterances or pro-German cases, 7,113; loyalty investigations for Army, Navy,