Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 255, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1917 — SNOOZES ON DYNAMITE BED [ARTICLE]

SNOOZES ON DYNAMITE BED

OFFICIALS DECLARE AMERICA MUST AWAKEN TO GERMAN SPY SYSTEM. The German spy system in the United States is spreading. Its agents are at work in every city and town in the United States. The rural districts have not been neglected and the shadow of the imperial German throne is over every section. As never before, officials of the department of justice and military establishment are alive to the gravity of the situation. America, they declare, complacently reposes upon dynamite. New and rigid measures now are in progress of development, designed to check the further spread of the German spy system and stamp it out. Officials admit that the country is not fully aroused to the danger lurking everywhere. From official government sources it has been learned that the restrictions governing the activities of alien enemies in the country are to be tightened with a jerk. Enemy aliens are not heeding the admonition of Attorney General Gregory, announced when the United States entered war, to “obey the law and keep your mouth shut.” A new definition-of pro-German is to be written, and that new definition will guide the activities of the federal authorities. Agents of the government realize what the average observant knows—that everywhere in the United States are persons who do not’ keep their mouths shut. Every day persons who profess unadulterated Americanism declare that the government must not be too hard on pro-Germans and pacifists. Every day the praises of Germany are sung in public places, in the streets, on the street cars, in railroad trains. Officials striving to achieve victory for the American people are constantly hampered by criticism. The government today is keenly aware of the variety of invidious pro-German propaganda operating in the United States. It is being conducted by persons chosen by Germany because of their semblance of unquestionable American patriotism Huge sums are being expended by the Germans here to work those evils, money which Germany cannot get out of the country and which ultimately will be seized by the alien property custodian under the trading with the enemy act. Much of this money months ago was removed from the banks and placed in the hands of pro-Germans, who are dispensing it in accordance with orders from Wilhelmstrasse.