The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-05-30
HUNS HAD THEIR EYES
ON A FLORIDA HARBOR
ASSOCIATED Press)

CHICdSO, III, May OO.-IldH Ol JIle
former German royal family to estab-
lish a spy center and a nest of sedi-
tion on the Florida coast, were
related here yesterday by Attorney
General Palmer in an address to the
Illinois Bar Association.
"Down in Florida" declared the at
torney general, "the great German
American Lumber Co., owned by d
prince of Germany, had accumulated
nearly 100000 acres of timberland
around st. Andrews Bay" said Mr..
Palmer. "This German prince had
put millions of dollars into it. He had
never gone near to it, he had never
received any interest or dividends out
of it.; he had selected the German con-
sui at Pensacola as the manager of
the company and when We came to
investigate we found that his COM
pany had bitterly resisted an Ameri-
can railroad building a line across
his property or across the property
OF his neighbors to reach st. Andrews
Bay, on which his property is located.
Calls 1t BEST HarbOr''
"It so happens that ST. Andrews
Bay is the best harbor on the Gulf of
Mexico and the nearest harbor ON
American soil to the Panama canal.
1t so happens that the manager of
the company for years had been a
member of the foreign office of Ger
many and it so happens also that
when we took over the plant and be-
gan to operate it and examined THEN
books, papers and files, expecting to
find a great mass of information
about the lumber business, we found
great mass of the pan-German lit.
erature which had been flooding the
country for years.
/ at was a veritable spy center anC
would have been a nest of sedition il
a few years if we had not found il
and taken it away from her."
The instance was related in connec
tion with the attorney generals ex
PLANTATION of the present status o.
alien property.
Americans temporarily resident il
enemy territory during the war viii
have little difficulty in having thei
property returned to them under tn,
NEW conditions following the signing
: of the armistice,' the attorney gener
: al told the bar association, discussin,
the work of the alien property Gus
todian's Office.
Lose Enemy Character
"When the enemy character of per
sons rests solely upon their residenc
it will be seen that by a change o
residence into non-enemy territor
they lose their enemy character. Tn
? attorney general has adopted lib
eral Interpretation of the act whic
! permits such persons when they los
, their enemy character to be treate
as if they had always been non
enemy persons and to have thei
property returned upon a prope
. showing of loyalty.
u American citizens who lost thei
property In Germany will be allowed
i in the opinion of the attorney genera
to present claims to the United State
q government which will see that the
a are reimbursed from German holding
here. He said that would be niue
better than turning property back I
Germans for he forsaw that the Ger
mans would not be welcome as bus
ness men upon American soil with
II the next decade at least.
: Much new light on the work of run
ming to earth enemy interests in tl
United States was given by the a
4 torney general, who was alien pro-
a erty custodian before he entered Il
cabinet