Within issues of the Abendschule appearing at the end of 1917, “recent” news items concerning the US government or the war into which it had entered are found to carry the notice, in English: “True translation filed with the postmaster at St. Louis, Mo. on ___, as required by the Act of October 6, 1917.” Known as the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, of particular interest for us readers of the Abendschule is Section 19 of TITLE 50, Appendix-War and National Defense, CH. 106, 40 STAT. 411, addressing “Print, newspaper or publication in foreign languages,” which can be found here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50a/usc_sec_50a_00000019—-000-.html
The primary purpose of the translation was likely to make the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917 more easily enforceable.
We were curious: When did the Abendschule begin attaching this notice to items? The first issue to appear after October 6, on October 11, was must have been too soon. The second issue, on October 25, was the Luther issue, which had very little news that needed to be registered with the postmaster in St. Louis. The next issue, November 8, may also have been too soon to implement it. This was 1917 after all, where publications, even laws, had to be distributed through the post office, the only national communications network available then. This has to be why the first issue with the “Vermerk” is November 22, 1917. Items of interest to the federal government usually appear in the very first column (“Aus der Zeit und in der Zeit”). Take a look at what was marked for registration and what was not marked. It should be easy to spot.