The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 24, 1918, Page 10

D for its reading and information on the kept press.” Ray McKaig, field secretary of the Nonpartisan league, who had been invited to address the state convention of the Grange, in a speech before the Grangers were ejected, said that the.state of Wash- ington would soon follow the example of North Dakota in putting the farmers in control of the state. Mr. McKaig is past master of the North Dakota state Grange. McKAIG IN PRAISE OF. WILSON He declared that at the next election the results will be even more overwhelming than before in North Dakota. The League’s representative in congress, John M. Baer, he-called “a hybrid pro- duced from the Republican and Democratic parties, in order to improve the breed.” Mr. Baer, he said, is supporting the war, but is bitterly opposed to the war profiteers. He said that President Wilson has already ac- cepted the principles of the Nonpartisan league, and declared that critics of the League are sup- porters of the wap profiteers. Mr. McKaig likened Wilson to Lincoln. He de- clared that in nearly every measure which the president had adopted since the war broke out he had followed some principle of the Nonpartisan league, and that when he began to attack the war profiteers he took the last plank of the League platform. A FARMER’S PARTING SHOT The day after the farmers of Washington had been driven from the halls and later from the city of Walla Walla, the anti-Grange; anti-League contingent of the ecity called a meeting, at which 200 to 300 citizens THE FARMER’S BURDEN unrelenting attacks on- C. B. Kegley, former state master of the Grange, now deceased. . This papér is the Spokesman-Review of ‘Spokane, Wash. The Spokesman-Review waged a ten-year fight on Mr. Kegley and tfle measures that' he' and the Grange backed in Washington ~politics. The Spokesman-Review’s fight on Kegley was one of the most vicious and unfair attempts at character as- sassination ever seen in the state, but in spite of it, Mr. Kegley for 12 consecutive times was re- elected state master by the Grange. The Spokes- man-Review’s attacks on Kegley ended only at the hour of his death. Mr. Kegley built the Grange of Washington from nothing to one of the most powerful and useful farmers’ organizations in the United States, and in his last days he obtained recognition from the United States government by being appointed one of the officers of the Federal Farm Loan bank at Spokane. Kegley was the “grand old man” of the Washington Grange and his memory is honored by every farmer of the state. The Spokesman-Review on June 8, two days after the Walla Walla outrage, published a hypocritical editorial entitled “The Trouble With the Grange.” This is a sample of the way the big press of the state jumped on the Grange after it was ejected from Walla Walla, instead of defending it and denouncing the outrage which took place and which ought to make every honest citizen of the Nonpartisan league. The edi- state blush with shame. HYPOCRITES AND - MOB INCITERS Y The Spokesman-Review, ‘in this editorial, attempted to smooth over the matter by stat- ing that it was not action against . the Grange or against the farm- ’ ers, but was merely a loyal and torial attempted to prove that \ Walla Walla “knows the farm- patriotic ‘expression against the ’. P £ SR, L4 1 ] =} . is €er of Walla Walla were é ¥ ers and sympathizes with tl.lem.” present. Resolutions were = Z The Spokesman-Review passed praising the school = f{nls to explain how the ejec- board and the authori- = tion of the farmel:s from the ties for driving Grangers N \ city and the heaping of con- out, and an attempt was = N L d .l tempt and rldlcul‘e‘ upon : made to excuse and ex- -*\\.‘g = & Z — w, fllel,!’l shovl:s (;ny symlf):- : alla, which has aroused S /% |5% L : ners. ) the farmers of the state E&&;\\x 2 ////2// ZF 7. A The _editorial reeks with i into bitter resentment. ST / 7 7 : hypocrisy and attempts to make At this meeting H. F. 2‘::_‘?,‘_‘@\ “much out of the dozen or so 1 Samuels of Samuels, Idaho, S Grangers, out of the 500 or more : one of the most prominent SoS— : = - delegates, WHO TOOK SIDES farmers of that state, at- SaS—=—_ \\ e ‘WITH THE OPPRESSORS OF N5 tempted to defend the Non- A "Tovi. THE GRANGE, INSTEAD OF { partisan league and the ac- ioh his should thing in-zeing te. fall from:thi o DEFENDING THEIR' OWN tion of the Grange. Mr. .When tl}e farm'er straig tens.up shoulders, some g is going to rom them. Orgen- - QRGANIZATION. The Spokes- [ Samuels made an earnest ization is nothing but squaring the back to take a deep breath and a look around. As long on Review made the following plea for fairness. His speech was of a most patriotic na- ture. He told how he had made his fortune in Idaho mines and how he became a : farmer. Finally, in the midst of his talk, he was challenged by somebody to state whethetr or not he was a member of the League., Mr. Samuels proudly acknowledged that he was® A storm of hisses .broke forth from the Walla Walla gang present and Mr. Samuels was prevented from finishing his talk. Later he was ejected from the hall. In leaving he turned to the audience and said: “If any of you ever come to my place at Samuels, Idaho, I assure you you will be treated as ladies and gentlemen.” 3 HISSED DOWN : 2 T A WOMAN : S At this same meeting of Walla Walla citizens, ° which indorsed the ejection of the Grange and ex- - pressed its hatred and contempt for the Nonparti- san league and its supporters in the Grange in vicious resolutions, Ina Williams of Yakima, Wash., rose to remark that the people of Walla Walla had acted before thinking, in thus driving the patriotic farmers of Washington from the city. into a patriotic address and she was interrupted, just as Mr. Samuels had been, with the query as to whether or not she was a member of the Nonparti- san league. She replied that she was. There were cries of “Put her out,” and hisses. She tried to con- tinue speaking, but the crowd refused to hear her. ~ She was not ejected from the hall, however. Later Mrs. Pyle, also from Yakima, vigorous- 1y opposed the resolutions of Walla Walla citi- zens condemning the Grange for standing with the Nonpartisan league. great load of unnecessary mid She entered A R T e o Tt e S ST S as the farmer keeps mowing away, never stopping to think or to organize, he will bear a dlemen, high interest rates, excessive taxes, and speculation. It is only when the farmer prepares to defend himself that the g of him. As long as he plays the game of the big business gang, they pat him on the back. member of the League, but she pleaded for fair play. The anti-Grange, anti-League Walla Walla crowd lamentably fell down in its effort to get members of the Grange to sustain them in their position. After the Grange had been driven out, the farmers’ enemies saw the mistake they had made, and they sought to excuse themselves by getting some support for their action from. the Grangers themselves. Practically every Granger, however, stood pat, and the 500 delegates left Walla Wfalla in groups, singing “America” as their trains left. e - ~ % » Officers of the Grange said that an attempt would be made to find a hall in a town somewhere else where the state convention could meet -and complete its business. The Grange had hardly got- ten started in its regular annual work when the ejection order was enforced. Where the new meet- -ing will take place had not been announced, but when it comes, some hot times are in store for the newspapers and commercial interests of Washing- ton, who stirred up and brought about this outrage. THE PART THE PRESS PLAYED As was to be expected, the big daily press of the state of Washington was quick to rush to the de- fense of the interests which brought about the sup- pression of the Grange convention and its ejection from the city. - i i One of the leading newspapers of Washington which defended Walla Walla for the outrage has Mrs. Pyle is not a __ always fought the Grange and is notorious for its " PAGE.TEN angsters show their hatred R S AR statement: “As things stand, the Grange is in bad company. It can hard- ly afford to appear before the people as an ally, or even as a sympathetic friend, of a body whose leaders have opposed the Liberty loans and assailed the coun- try’s motives for going to war, a body which in some localities openly receives the support of the pro-German factions.” This statement by the Spokesman-Review is absolutely false and known to be false by that paper and its publisher. The Nonpartisan league, its officers and its leaders and its mem- “bership of over 200,000 loyal and patriotic farmers, have boosted and not opposed the __Liberty loan, and instead of ‘assailing the coun- -~ try’s “motives for going ‘to war, the League -stands back of this nation and this goyern- “ment with every aid possible to:-bring the war to a successful conclusion. When the Spokes- man-Review states that in some localities the League openly receives the support of the: “pro-German factions,” it is guilty of a mis- statement which does not reflect so much upon the League as upon the communities where the League is the strongest and where the patriotic war activities have received their greatest sup- port. ; ) A newspaper, which for 10 years in a vile assault on the most faithful and efficient leader the farmers of Washington ever had, is, of course, understood thoroughly by the farmers, and the Re- view’s tirade against the Nonpartisan league AND SUPPORT FOR THOSE WHO DROVE THE GRANGE OUT OF WALLA WALLA will make " no friends for the anti-farmer cause in the state of