Summary
In the tumultuous currents of World War I, an earnest, flag-waving journalist, Jack Bartlett, secures a pivotal interview with President Woodrow Wilson, passionately advocating for the Fourth Liberty Loan. His triumphant return to the newsroom, however, is met with a chilling coup: the insidious Otto Crumley, a clandestine German sympathizer, has seized editorial control. When Crumley brazenly shreds Bartlett’s vital dispatch, Jack, a man of unyielding principle, severs ties with the compromised publication, redirecting his formidable energy toward the national Liberty Loan campaign. His zealous efforts not only amass substantial funds for the government but also deftly avert a crippling strike at a critical munitions factory. The escalating stakes reveal Crumley’s true colors as a German operative, one who pilfers a groundbreaking gasoline substitute formula, the brainchild of William Desmond, father to Jack’s beloved Margaret. A tense rescue ensues as Jack liberates Margaret from Crumley’s clutches, culminating in a daring aquatic pursuit to the spy’s fleeing schooner. With Crumley apprehended, Bartlett, embodying wartime heroism, commandeers the vessel's weaponry to decisively dispatch a lurking German U-boat, securing both national secrets and personal vengeance.
Synopsis
During World War I, an enterprising and patriotic reporter named Jack Bartlett interviews President Woodrow Wilson on the importance of the Fourth Liberty Loan. Jack returns from Washington to find that Otto Crumley, a German sympathizer, has taken control of his newspaper, and when Crumley tears up the story, Jack resigns and joins the Liberty Loan campaign. After raising a large sum of money for the government, Jack succeeds in preventing a strike in a local munitions plant. Later, he learns that Crumley, actually a German agent, has stolen a secret gasoline substitute formula invented by William Desmond, the father of his girlfriend Margaret. Crumley imprisons Margaret, but Jack rescues her and then swims out to the schooner on which Crumley is making his escape. The spy apprehended, Jack turns the ship's guns on a German submarine and sinks it.
