he acquisition of Wright's aeroplane patent.
But things like that must occur. I send you Albert's reply for you to
see how we protect ourselves. We composed the document to-day."

The "document" evidently was Dr. Albert's explanation discounting the
significance and importance of the letters. This explanation was
published on August 20, 1915.

The foregoing disclosures of documents covered a wide range of
organized German plans for embarrassing the Allies' dealings with
American interests; but they related rather more to accomplished
operations and such activities as were revealed to be under way--e. g.,
the acquisition of munitions combined with propaganda for an
embargo--were not deemed to be violative of American law. But this
stage of intent to clog the Allies' facilities for obtaining sinews of
war, in the face of law, speedily grew to one of achievement more or
less effective according to the success with which the law interposed
to spoil the plans.

The autumn and winter of 1915 were marked by the exposure of a number
of German plots which revealed that groups of conspirators were in
league in various parts of the country, bent on wrecking munition
plants, sinking ships loaded with Allies' supplies, and fomenting
strikes. Isolated successes had attended their efforts, but
collectively their depredations presented a serious situation. The
exposed plots produced clues to secret German sources from which a
number of mysterious explosions at munition plants and on ships had
apparently been directed. Projected labor disturbances at munition
plants were traced to a similar origin. The result was that the docket
of the Federal Department of Justice became laden with a motley
collection of indictments which implicated fifty or more individuals
concerned in some dozen conspiracies, in which four corporations were
also involved.

These cases only represented a portion of the criminal infractions of
neutrality laws, which had arisen since the outbreak of the war. In
January, 1916, an inquiry in Congress directed the Attorney General to
name all persons "arrested in connection with criminal plots affecting
the neutrality of our Government." Attorney General Gregory furnished
a list of seventy-one indicted persons, and the four corporations
mentioned. A list of merely arrested persons would not have been
informative, as it would have conveyed an incomplete and misleading
impression. Such a list, Mr. Gregory told Congress