Los Banos Rotary Club History
Federal Agent Tells of F.B.I.

P. V. Robe, special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles, Tuesday noon gave members of the Los Banos Rotary Club a brief verbal picture of the F.B.I., its history, growth, and present important position in preservance of law and order and prevention of subversive activities by groups and individuals who are working for the downfall of the country.

Declaring that the American people are inclined to ignore the importance of our free heritage, Robe emphasized the critical world conditions under which we are now living, and appealed to his listeners to be watchful of those whose activities merit suspicion, and to report to the city police, county sheriff's office, or the federal agent in Merced any information of value concerning actions or known plans of such groups or known plans of such groups or individuals. The F.B.I., he said, has been designated by official proclamation as the clearing house for all cases of subversive nature.

Pointing out that throughout the entire United States, there are less than two law enforcement officers for every 1,000 population, Robe said there is disheartening evidence of a growing lack of responsibility by Americans for their country. This, he declared, is directly reflected in our crime rate, which is climbing higher and higher every year. Last year there was an average of one major crime committed every 18.6 seconds.

As an example of such lack of responsibility, he reviewed a recent $100,000 jewel robbery, which was planned and executed by presumably legitimate business men; and told of the theft of a large number of U.S. Navy watches during World War II, which required more than a year of work by the F.B.I. to bring arrests and convictions. The general unwillingness of legitimate jewelers and business men in the Los Angeles area to confide in and work with the F.B.I. in this case, Robe said, slowed down by many months its solution.
In a brief history of the F.B.I. Robe related that it was created in 1908, but was little more than a political football until J. Edgar Hoover was appointed as its director in 1924, with the assurance that it would be taken out of politics and that he would be given a free hand in its operation. The activities and responsibilities of the F.B.I. have since expanded until today there are 120 different federal investigations over which it has jurisdiction.

Referring to the last war period, Robe said it was hard to understand how, when we cam so close to losing that war through lack of proper defense, the American people generally could be so complacent today, when the danger is even greater.

Again referring to the last war, he told briefly of his experiences as one of the agents instrumental in the apprehension and conviction of the eight German saboteurs who were landed by submarine on the east coast in 1942, of how the two leaders, Herbert Haupt and Herman Newbauer, were traced and finally picked up, and of the tremendous supply of incendiary devices they had brought with them with which to damage and slow down our war effort.
Sabotage and subversive activities of the last war, he concluded, are insignificant with the situation that will be faced by the United States in event of another world war.

Robe was accompanied to the luncheon by Chief of Police R. H. McSwain and Officer Glenn Judice, of the local police force.
In a brief observance of the anniversary of the United Nations, Rev. Robert Reis, pastor of the Methodist Church, briefly reviewed the activities of the United Nations during the past five years, and urged that everyone, by precept and example, do what they could to strengthen the United Nations as a paramount influence for peace in the world. Reis also told of the Liberty Bell, which was sent from the United States to Berlin and which, on the same day, was pealing out its message of democracy and world peace, an enduring monument to free people everywhere.

October 24, 1950

---