The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1918-12-05
GREGORY TELLS
OF SPY DRIVE
Attorney General Discloses
Extent of U. S. Opera
tions During War

Washington, Dec. 5.-The story OF
how enemy agents have been caught,
disloyalty suppressed, draft slackers
apprehended, dangerous Germans in
termed, explosions and other sabot-
age prevented, and enemy secrets
forfeited out for use against their
armies abroad was given to the pub
lie today in Attorney General I. w.
Gregory's annual report. Through a
great corps Of department of justice
civil officers, secret agents, and
citizen volunteers, this big job Of
policing has been accomplished, said
the attorney general, with min
imum disturbance to the normal life
of communities, and with constant
effort TO avoid encroaching on free
dom OF speech, action and political
criticism.
Referring to enforcement OF the
espionage act, Mr., Gregory said:
"This department throughout the
war has proceeded upon the general
principle that the constitutional
right of free speech, free assembly,
and petition exist in war time as in
peace time, and that the right of
discussion of governmental policy
and the right of political agitation
are the most Fundamental rights in a
democracy"
At the samo time, the attorney
general explained, the department
had tried to deal severely with pro-
paganda having for deliberate pur-
pose the disintegration OF the coun-
try's war strength.
fS
of the American people," he said,
has been the maintenance of order,
the comparative failure of enemy
activities and, speaking broadly. the
general self-control and self-re-
straint exhibited throughout the
country in critical situations"
The attorney general disclosed
that only 5000 enemy aliens have
been arrested on presidential war
rants and examined with a view to
internment and that "a considerable
number" of these have been placed
in internment camps administered
by the army. The balance were
parolled. Most enemies interned
were German men, and there were
comparatively few German women
or Austro- -Hungarians. About 4SO.-
900 Germans have been registered in
the nation wide census-26O.000 men
and 100000 women.
Looking forward to peace condi-
tions. the attorney general makes a
number of communications for re-
form of judicial processes. Although
he referred to the difficulty of push
ing anti trust prosecutions during
the war since the government itself
has been in the business of suppress
ing competition, he made no suggeS-
tions for new antitrust legislation
which congress is expected to un-
dertake soon.
War activities claimed the pTin-
cipal portions of tho report, and after
referring to the growth of the de-
partment's secret service to six times
its size in 1915, and the efficient or
ganization Of the American Protec-
tive league of 100000 citizen volun
teers, Mr.. Gregory said:
1T Is safe to say that never in it's
history has this country been so
thoroughly policed as at the present
time.
when it becomes possible,
through the lapse of time. to disclose
fully the activities of these various
secret service, their work will stand
out as one of the substantial
achievements of the war"
Hints of an American espionage
system were given in the statement
that the secret services "have given
protection not only to the civilian
population but to the armed forces,
and some of their activities have also
resulted in direct damage to the en-
emy forces abroad"