about the beginning of 1918, the rate has been more nearly constant.
Extremists have advocated the universal internment of alien enemies, somewhat after the English practice. Now, Great Britain interned permanently rather fewer than seventy thousand alien enemies. The United States would be compelled to intern at least eight hundred thousand Germans and more than twice as many Austrians. The colossal expense of maintaining this horde in idleness—civilian prisoners of war are far more useless than convicts, because they may not be forced to work—is too obvious to need discussion.
More temperate critics say that there have been too few arrests, too low a proportion of internments, and too high a proportion of paroles. As to the first and second charges, it is a sufficient answer that conditions have improved instead of becoming worse. A policeman's record should not be judged by the number of people he has put in jail, but by the kind of order maintained on his beat.
In his annual report, issued December 5, 1918, subsequent
to the signing of the armistice, the Attorney General stated
that six thousand alien enemies had been arrested on presidential
warrants, based on the old law of 1798. Of these, a
"considerable number" were placed in the internment camps
in charge of the Army. The majority of these were German
men and women, with a certain number of Austro-Hungarians.
He concludes: "I do not want to create the impression
that there is no danger from German spies and German
sympathizers. There are thousands of persons in this country
who would injure the United States in this war if they
could do so with safety to themselves. However, they are
no more anxious to be hanged than you are."
The foregoing will show, to any student of the strange and complex situation which has confronted America at home these last four years, the main facts as to the emergencies we met and the means by which we met them.
The surprising thing is that we Americans have not known ourselves! A thoughtful study of the American Protective League is not a mere yawning over phrases of the law any more than it is a mere dipping into exciting or mystifying experiences. It is more than that. It is an excursion into a new and unexplored region in America—into the very heart of America itself.
