The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-05
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORT MOST INTERESTING
 DOCUMENT RELATING TO APPREHENSIONS DURING WAR

''Systematie disloyal prOpaganda became 0 failure during the first year of the war" he said. Shortly after our entry into the war this propagan- da, supported chiefly by those infiu- ences and organizations which had opposed the declaration of war, man. ifested itself in distinct opposition to the adoption, and operation of the selective service act, but this type of propaganda was almost immediately suppressed and destroyed. It was followed by manifestations of pro- paganda of m economic and social character, clearly supported in the main, by sympathizers with the en- emy powers This general type of propaganda reached its height in the autumn of 1917, but gained no great headway and was declining by Janu- ary l, 1918. Various other types of propaganda have appeared sporadic ally but none of them have gained any substantial footing, and 1t may be fairly said that prior to July l. 1918, the effort of German sympa- thIzers in the field of disloyal propa-
 
 ed"
 The Department has been hamper ed in suppressing propaganda, said the Attorney General by "self-ap- pointed committees or associations oi citizens who, ignorant of or dissais- fled with the scope of the federal laws, or jurisdiction, have sought to supplement them by extra-legal measures of intimidation and punish ment" Another hampering 1nf1u- ence was the dissemination of hun dreds of unfounded reports relating to use of poison gas by enemy agents, ground glass in food, and damage to Red Cross supplies.
 Referring to difficulties with mem bers of the L W. w., "pseudo-social- 1 ists," and similar bodies, the Attor- ney General said:
 i Tt has been the policy of this De- ! partment that no person should be prosecuted or interned solely by req son of his membership in any such organization, that guilt Is always per sonal, and that under no circum- stances should any organization or l 1 Less than one per cent. of the en- emy aliens arrested on suspicion and later paroled have again fallen under suspicion. Of the 75,000 enemy aliens applying for permission to complete their naturalization, which was stop ped on the declaration of war, reports on more than 10000 have been fur nished the naturalization authorities of the Department of Labor.
 Discussing the enforcement of anti trust laws, Attorney General Greg ory said:
 When natural laws of trade break down, as they have done during the war in many branches of trade direct government action with respect to prices and methods of distribu ton may become essential in order ! to prevent private control of mar kets, for when natural laws of trade can no longer be depended upon 'i regulate markets, the only choice Il between artificial control imposed bN private interests and artificial contro imposed by public agencies. In these circumstances, therefore, such direc governmental action, so far from running counter to the purpose oi the Sherman act, is directly in lint with it.'
 The Attorney General said thu hearing of pending antitrust case in the Supreme Court had been post poned on motion of the governmen because "the dissolution of these com binations would require financial op
 erations on a large scale, which 1 would not be in the public interes
 to undertake in the present condi
 ton of the money market, brough about by the war"
 MT. Gregory's recommendation propose legislation to make fedora
 warrant run to any part of the Unit ed States, so that indicted individu als cannot escape trial so easily; re tirement of federal judges at the az of 70 if they have served ten years o
 more; legislation to make 1t an of . fense to send through the mail let
 ters threatening life or property tightening up of bankruptcy laws !, and legislation making it impossibl , to sue a corporation in any dfstric :, in which 1t transacts business.