Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 11, 1920

The ficnrnil wurk of tli(> AiiKTican I'mtcctivc League, its iucIIkkIs and prorc.luiv need not In- explainc<l hciv liinhci- than to say that it was auxiliary to the Dcpaitnicnt of Justice of the United States of Anieiica, tliat it was organized for the pui-|)osr of assisting the Government in countciai'tiiifi; the insiiHous (k-rman propagan<ia tiiat loi- years had been working throtighout the country.

The League was organizi'd in Lee County l)y the appointment on April KUh, f917 of Mr. Albert B. ^\^litcombe as an operator. Shortly afterwards Mr. combe received his commission as Chief of the League in Lee County. He at once set to work to organize the County with the result that each community was provided with an operator and every report of enemy propaganda was traced to its source and the author properly dealt with by the officers of the Law.

:sh: H. S. Dixon, Chairman of the State ( ouncil of Defense appointed Mr. Whitcombe Chairman of the Loyalty Comnnttee of the Comity. This enhanced the cttectiveness of the Leagues' work as it tended to systematize and coordinate all the war activities.

It should be said for the general conduct of the citizens of Lee Count>- that their loyalty in the support of the Government in its war activities was undisputed fidui the boys who volunteered for service in the great war, the boys who just as \dluntaril>- offered themselves to their country through the selective di-aft to the lirave men and women at home who planted and harvested, who worked and gave to the various war activities, who sacrificed their own comforts that our soldier boys might have the very best that their supreme sacrifice deserved. It was but natural that some few would misunderstand the position of our country and that some would prove traitors to their heretage. The long continued efforts on the pait of the hnix^rial German government through the press and through paid emissaries to impress on our people her self styled efficiency and organization, as well as lier sympathy for the .\iiieiican people must have an effect on some. This naturally made a few lukewarm towards the war who needed to have their viewpoint changed. There were some citizens of Germany here whose sympathy for her was entirely too evident. And there were some who while they had become citizens of tliis country had forgotten the evils of imperialism and only remembered the beauties of the country and the kindly faces of the peasants. It was the work of the League to investigate these cases carefully and judiciously and wheiu'ver and wherever necessary to report them to the department of Justice.

This made the League especially helpfid to the finance conmiittee of the comity andof material assistance in the Liberty Loan and other drives that were uialeiiaken during the strenuous chivs of the war.

In this connection it should be mentioned that the work of the 4 Minute ^len in Lee County was carried on by practically the same organization. This was on account of the fact that the two activities were so closely allied.

The work of the 4 Minute Man was to counteract propaganda with propaganda. To teach the people by active campaigns of education through the Moving picture theatres, Churches and Lodges the real facts. To show that the so called enemy efficiency was directed towards the destruction of Democracy, the reckless killing of men, women and children and the estabhshing of Imperialism and militarism. To convince the public that the only safeguard was the establishing in all civilized countries of free peoples capable of and willing to govern themselves.

Thus the two nation wide organizations carried out loyally and faithfully the purposes for which they came into being. And when the need for their services was no longer apparent they took up the work of general reconstruction upon the basis of a free people in a free countrv with the true Amei'ican siiirit.