Page:The web (1919).djvu/303

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

dropped the information that he had heard a pro-German say: "Every American child should have its neck wrung as soon as it is born. The German army could rule the United States better than Wilson—and it will, too." The lawyer obtained from him the name and address of the offender, and the names of witnesses who heard his remarks. After the client had gone, the attorney, being a member of the League, made out a report on a blank form supplied by the Department of Justice, and sent it to the Captain of his company, signing it with his number. The lawyer's duty ended here, for he belonged to one of the occupational units and was pledged to give information but not to investigate. The Captain took the report to League headquarters, where the officials approved it and sent it to the local office of the Department of Justice, Bureau of Information. It was O. K.'d there as a matter worth looking into, whereupon the League called upon its other arm, the investigators. They went out to obtain affidavits to corroborate the hearsay information first turned in by the lawyer. In this roundabout way was secured evidence to be placed before the Attorney General. You can never tell, even if you are a pro-German and have to spill over, when you are also going to spill, upset or overturn the legumes known in common parlance as the beans.

A naturalization department was organized on the initiative of the St. Louis office, which was followed in other divisions. On May 18, Congress repealed the law prohibiting the naturalization of aliens if they had filed declarations of intention not less than two or more than seven years before the United States entered the war. That is, citizenship was possible under these conditions, providing the applicant established his good moral character, his attachment to the Constitution, his belief in organized government, his ability to speak English and the genuineness of his wish to become a citizen and renounce forever all allegiance to any foreign Power. About eight hundred persons in the St. Louis district, according to local press data, sought to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the new law. Their applications called for a thorough investigation in each case. This work the League volunteered to take off the shoulders of the Bureau of Naturalization. The inquiries