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136 LAW AND LOCAL POLITICS
whole attention was turned to them. They must have made some impression, however, for one of my first acts after assuming the presidency of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association was to invite the co-operation of the National Educational Association.
In 191 7 and 191 8 public opinion lacked today's most flexible medium —the radio. Public speakers were employed to a tremendous degree. They were by all means our most effective way of getting a personal message to the people. We conducted a speakers bureau along the same lines I had followed with the State Republican Committee. Rallies were held all over Indiana for various special purposes. Our theme was a plea for complete support and participation, especially in the September activity drive. We sent men into every corner of the state to give the fullest possible information. Americans want to know what is going on. And our efforts to inform them paid off in public confidence.
There were two or three happenings in Indiana that gave us a feeling of closeness to the war. Many will remember that it was a Hoosier who fired the first shot into the German trenches. Again, it was a boy from Evansville— James B. Gresham— who was the first to die in France. That nation asked that his body remain in France as a special symbol of our willing help. Indiana had other "firsts" also. We were first with the number of volunteer fighting men, the first state over the top in Red Cross membership, in Red Cross drives, in Liberty Loan subscriptions, and in the Y.M.C.A. fund. These facts made morale, and morale made these facts.
One of our less pleasant experiences was the discovery that we needed to be on guard against disloyalty, both in speech and in act. An instinctive consciousness among our people quickly expressed itself in committees of protection. These volunteer groups assumed the task of routing out disloyal speech and, when such seemed treasonable, of taking measures to bring legal pressure to bear. Supporting these efforts, the council did not apologize for its statement in September that since a state of war did exist the time for argument over the basic issues was closed. We felt that any who deliberately hindered the war effort in any way, who sought an inconclusive peace, or who discouraged full effort on the part of every citizen, should be denounced.
The Indiana Patriotic League was an asset in this fight against expressions of disloyalty. The league carried on its education and its appeals widely and made great use of individual initiative in its campaign. That such efforts were necessary I had already seen in connection with wild rumors about food conservation.
Day in and day out the local newspapers were our constant support. In bulk, they were certainly our most important medium of information. Early in our efforts I addressed a message to the editors, assuring them as to our dependence upon them and how fullv we appreciated