May 11, 1918 - Slackers

One more issue from Mary's note of March 11 where she went to the movies and passed Alec Marr on the street.  He was in uniform and Mary comments that none of her boyfriends were slackers.

During 1918 there were multiple articles in Philadelphia newspapers about slackers being rounded up.  The term slacker mostly referred to those men who had not registered for the draft.  Beginning in 1917 the Justice Department issued badges to private citizen volunteers to participate in the American Protective League (APL).  In addition to monitoring of other anti-war or anti-American activities, the APL and police departments participated in "slacker raids", rounding up or detaining many men thought to be slackers.  More on slacker raids from PBS American Experience.  And more on the American Protective League from Sewanee, The University of the South.