THE PRICE OF VIGILANCE

Rand McNally & Company, Chicago, 1968. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. As New/As New. As New copy in like dust jacket. Stated First printing, October, 1968. Collectible, flawless copy in practically brand new condition. Protected by archival Gaylord cover. Bright green cloth in pictorial light blue jacket; 367 pages with Apendix, Notes on Sources, Sources, List of Illustrations and Index. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs, facsimiles and a charts. The APL (American Protective League), a 'quasi-military' group of patriotic volunteers operating under the color of governmental authority, had a broad & vague mandate and formed at the time of WW1 to ferret out hypothesized german spies/saboteurs, which did not materialize. It then moved onto enforcing the draft laws and finally onto investigating-persecuting organized labor, 'radicals',' socialists', 'dissenters', 'disloyalists', and finally ordinary people. It's mission constantly expanded, and it had the entire country under surveillance. Los Angeles APL compiled a master list 'of all persons of undesirable character'. It disbanded in 1919, and APL veterans formed themselves into various splinter/offshoot groups. In the 1920-1924 period, some APL veterans joined the KKK.