closely with that arm of the Government. D. J. had been handling for itself the alien enemy, anti-military and propaganda work. Yet very early in the game D. J. was overworked in Boston, as it had been in every other great city in America, and it really needed help. There were a great many thinking men who believed that it could be much relieved by the well-organized support of the banking, real estate, industrial and commercial activities of the city, as had been the case all over the United States where A. P. L. divisions had been created.
Still another embarrassment, however, slowed up the early activities of A. P. L. in Boston. That city having in its population many French Canadians, Irish, and so forth, of the Catholic faith, had developed a sort of Church problem, and there had become somewhat active the organization known as the "A. P. A."—whose initials are somewhat close to those of A. P. L. Many thought that confusion between the two organizations would result. There had been, moreover, in this state of independent thought, a great many other "Leagues" of this, that and the other sort; so that many felt that Boston had about enough leagues as matters then stood.
At about this time Mr. W. Rodman Peabody of the Committee of Public Safety pointed out to Washington the efficient manner in which Mr. Endicott had organized that committee throughout the State. There was a local committee of safety in every town, and also a state-wide machine organizing the banking, real estate and other important business activities. He suggested that instead of a division of A. P. L., there ought to be a sub-organization "organized by the Committee of Public Safety at the request of the Department of Justice." It was understood that this minor organization should have the general features of A. P. L. and should act as the Massachusetts branch of A. P. L. A list of good names was suggested of persons suitable for the organization as thus outlined.
Mr. Elting of the National Directors, however, made the point that an arrangement of this kind would have a tendency to discredit or to disintegrate the League in other cities. The Attorney-General also was opposed to any organization which did not show the exact status of a purely
