Page:The web (1919).djvu/450

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raising section and is sparsely settled, so there has been no disloyalty or trouble whatsoever. There is nothing to report except that the people of this section are absolutely O. K. in their loyalty to Uncle Sam."


CALIFORNIA

Long Beach, California, sends in a two-page report which is entirely too modest, because it covers 8,590 investigations. Out of this number, ninety were held in the Federal courts. Twenty were convicted, and three were found not guilty. Forty slackers and deserters were arrested, and three alien enemies, who were taken in the shipyards, were interned. Some 3,000 persons who had made indiscreet remarks against the country were warned to good effect.

In the Long Beach district were four shipbuilding plants. It was learned that several I. W. W.'s were numbered among the employees. They were taken from the shpyards for cause. The Long Beach chief was reluctant to disband, and when the time came to do so, he made arrangements by which the division will be held as a sort of reserve. "If at any future time you need our assistance," says the Chief, "you will find us waiting."

Oakland, California, looked into the color of the hair and eyes of 387 persons under the heading of disloyalty and sedition. There were 356 investigations under the draft act. Oakland Division dealt out its punishments to the enemy drastically. Seventeen well-known local Germans, business and professional men, drank a toast to the Kaiser in the Faust Café, a German restaurant. The A. P. L. got the necessary evidence, and ten of these men were convicted of disloyalty. The court put the punishment at three months in the chain gang, and a fine of $250 each. They do not now know any such phrase as "Hoch der Kaiser."

Crescent City, California, had at least one high light. The Chief reports that an enemy alien, a baker, learned in some way that his loyalty had been questioned, and immediately started to gather all the rifles and pistols that he could, declaring that with a dozen guns he could hold the whole town at bay. Officers searched his place of business during his absence, and found several of the guns loaded.