Page:The web (1919).djvu/445

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made to come out and wave the flag, though he did it with bad grace and only upon being strenuously urged to do so. He made a long talk trying to tell how loyal he was, but he would not submit to waving the flag until really made to do so, and then in a very insulting way. He made no more violent utterances after the time mentioned."

Red Cliff, Colorado, had at least one hectic moment: "On October 14, 1918, the County Treasurer's deputy, Mrs. F——, deliberately tore down the Fourth Liberty Loan poster, remarking that 'That has been up there long enough; it has almost ruined our flowers in the window.' It was developed that our County Treasurer, Mr. C——, was a hoarder of food, and the local Food Administrator arrested him and fined him $25 for the benefit of the Red Cross. The County Treasurer called me into his office, caught me by the throat and tried to scare me, saying: 'I understand you are showing a paper around here trying to ruin my character; that you are saying that I am a dirty slacker. Aren't you ashamed of yourself to circulate such dirty lies about me?' Then the fun began. I struck him and told him that if he was guilty of hoarding 2,000 pounds of flour in his brother's attic, he certainly was a dirty, low-down slacker and traitor. He weighs about 225 pounds; I weigh 143. He threw me down and sat on me for fifteen minutes, trying to make me apologize. I didn't, and never will for any man of pro-German type."

For a man weighing only 143 pounds, the Red Cliff chief seems to have been active. He sent back three Canadian subjects and caused a decided change of heart in a pro-German who was the son-in-law of a local banker. The suspect got wind of the fact that he was being investigated, and his conversion was very prompt, he making no attempt to sit down on the local Chief.

Prowers County, Colorado, investigated fifty cases of mouth-to-mouth propaganda, a notable case in its annals being that of a German Lutheran minister who refused to answer the question as to which side he wished to win the war. It did not take him long, however, to realize that he had made a blunder. He asked for time. The next day he declared very promptly that he wanted the United States to win. He was instructed to prove this by preaching and