Toledo did some business in the slacker raids, having examined some 2,000 men in one drive.
Youngstown, Ohio, reflects a very sensitive social condition which existed during the war in every community which owned a considerable foreign born population. The Chief comments on this quite frankly:
A feature of our work was the demand, made by people
in all stations, that the Federal Government, of which we
were supposed to be a direct agency, should look after the
enforcement of laws concerning health, morals and even family
relations. A remarkable fact in connection with these investigations
was the utter inability of a certain class of German
origin to forget their German ties and to live up to their
oath of allegiance to America, which they took, many of them,
fifteen or twenty years ago. In one case it was frankly admitted
by the subject that he had never thought about Germany
going into a war with America when he applied for
naturalization papers. We have developed the fact that many
households in America have been, are and always will be
nothing but a part of Germany in our midst.
Youngstown turns in 157 cases of alien enemy activities,
and 459 of disloyalty and sedition. There were 213 cases of
anti-military activity and 674 cases of propaganda, not mentioning
183 cases of I. W. W. and other radicalism. In the
report of this division, the Department of Justice work quite
overshadows the War Department activities, because there
are only 213 investigations under the Selective Service Act
and 67 for character and loyalty, although there were 141
investigations of desertions and absences without leave.
There was a certain man in the vicinity of Napoleon, Ohio, who put up a really stubborn fight against Americanism. The Chief of the division says:
I got a telephone message that one hundred Germans, armed
with guns, were gathered in an alien enemy's house and
wanted to fight. As county president of the League of American
Patriots, I called out five hundred members, and with
fifteen A. P. L. members, we started for the place after night-*fall.
We traveled the eighteen miles in cars, but as we were
approaching, the Germans saw our headlights and dispersed,
except for a few who didn't get away. We got three men,
and found some ammunition and one gun in a wheat field.
We were shot at, but none of us were hurt, although the report
