The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 24, 1918, Page 9

State Grange Drlven From Walla Walla Praise of the Nonpartisan League by the Master of the Washington Patrons of Husbandry Enraged the Dark Forces—A Story of Intolerance and Hatred »HE Washington state Grange, one of the strongest branches of - this great farmers’ organization in the United States, was sub- jected to- gross insult and in- timidation and finally' ejected - from the hall and later from the city, on June 6, at Walla Walla, Wash. Amid scenes that will never be forgotten by the farmers of Washington, the Grangers were forced to abandon their state convention and were driven out of the city by newspapers and commercial interests, who took this means of showing their hatred and prejudice against the loyal and patriotic producers of the state, who dared to take a position on political and eco- ‘nomic questions which the big interests of Washington disapprove. The breaking up of the state convention of the Washington Grangers and driving them from the city is unprecedented, and it has aroused the farm- ers of the state as nothing in the history of the Grange has ever done before: The foul attack on the Washington farmers began soon after the state Grange convention opened at Walla Walla. Wil- liam Bouck of Sedro Woolley, master of the state Grange, in his annual address, which was published in last week’s issue of the Nonpartisan Leader, took occasion to indorse the Nonpartisan league and its program and to speak approvingly of the progress which the 200,000 farm- ers of America who be- long to the League are making in various states where it is active. DROVE FARMERS INTO THE STREET Mr. Bouck’s address was the signal for letting loose the artillery of hate and prejudice which the newspapers-and the big commercial interests of Washington have _long had trained on the farm- ers of the state. : Mnu! Bouck’s loyalty and pa- triotism is, of course, un- questioned, but the Walla Walla papers immediate- ly . branded him as an 1. W.-W. and a pro-Ger- . man, on acpount of his annual speech, in which he praised the Nonparti- - san league.. The papers, egged on by the commer- cial club and hostile busi- ness interests of Walla Walla, demanded Bouck’s repudiation-by the Grange, and demanded that the Grange go on. record agaxnst the League. The answer of the sturdy Grangers to this brow-beating and intimidation was the immediate re- election of Bouck as staté . master by a * big. majority. The Grange was meet- ing in the high school auditorium. The sensa- tional newspapers and the anti-farmer interests of Walla Walla stirred up the people of the city into fever heat and mob - violence was freely threatened. Pressure was: then brought on the - school board, which met and ' ordered the state convention of the Grang- ers out of the high school ‘auditorium. Other halls and places of meet- ing were-also closed to \ the farmers, and they were driven out of doors into the street, because they would not bend the knee to the ring of anti-farmer politicians and newspapers serving the big interests of Washing- ton. T MARCHED OUT SINGING “AMERICA” The Grangers marched out of the high school auditorium singing “America.” The situation was tense, but there was no disorder. Following this exhibition of Prussianism by Walla Walla, an effort was made by schemers to in- fluence some of the 500 or 600 delegates of the state Grange to repudiate State Master Bouck and to denounce the Nonpartlsan league. The Walla Walla highbinders succeeded in getting a dozen or so of the 500 or 600 delegates to meet and “deplore” Bouck’s position, and to denounce their fellow Grangers who sustained Bouck and re-elected him state master by an overwhelming majority. The campaign of hate and misrepresentation has been carried to a point, as a result of the unprecedented events at Walla Walla, where a demand has beer made by the commercial inter- ests that Mr. Bouck be arrested for disloyalty, on account of his annual address, in which he praised the League and which the Grange sus- tained by afterwards re-electing him by a big majority. The enemies of the Grange have ap- pointed a committee to try and influence fed- ‘ EVERY KICK IS ‘A BOOST UP THE GOLDEN STAIRS I —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris Did you ever thmk, you farmers who have been barred from meeting places in towns here and there, what a grent service the opposition had rendered you? It was not until the anti-farmer gang saw you or- ' ganize for. justice that you really. found gut how politicians and big business were cheatmg you. onlence s . and persecution have told the farmers volumes about. who are their enemies. PAGE NINE eral officials to prosecute Mr. Bouck. annual address, Mr. Bouck said: “I believe the time is at hand when the Grange must make common cause with other farm organ- izations in this state. We can not be indifferent to the mob attacks on the Nonpartisan league and its leaders; we can not stay divided in the face of the enemy profiteers, who will attack us as soon as this sister organization is ruined. This band of plunderers are whispering to some Grangers: ‘It is just disloyalty we are after.’ It is the organized farmer they are after. Let no one be deceived. And, to be right with ourselves and the other farm- er organizations, we can not ignore this lawless at- tack on the Nonpartisan league.” a WHAT HE SAID THAT HURT Another thing that aroused the newspapers and which finally contributed to bringing about the out- rageous ejection of the Grangers was the following from Mr. Bouck’s address: “What shall we say of the press of our state? Would that -we could say something praiseworthy! What should we say of an institution corceived in the minds of the founders of our country as the day star of promise to protect the liberties of the peo- ple, which has become the maudlin mouthpiece of soulless greed, besmirching the name of him who in honest patriotism stands for righteousness and justice in the land. The printing press that our fathers thought so much of has become the organ of medieval reactionism in our day, and is a by- word and a reproach -all over the land. There is no longer such a thing as believing what you see in the papers, particular- ly if it is along any line favored by the special interests. The time was when you could, but that time has gone by. I be- lieve that a great many of the country news- papers would like to be honest, but as to the daily press, with few ex- ceptions they are edited solely from the pocket- book, and the fellow with the biggest pocketbook is the man who says what shall and what shall not be printed. “It is a pleasure to turn from the record of the- public press and con- sider the Grange press and allied publications. The Agricultural Grange News is filling a want felt in this state by the farmer who wishes to discuss his problems, and for keeping him in touch with all the movements of the time. The Na- tional Grange Monthly takes up the questions of organization and prog- ress. The Farmers Open Forum is doing in a national way what our paper is doing in the state. It ought to have every farmer in the state on its subscription’ list. Another valuable paper for all farmers is the’ Nonpartisan Leader, which furnishes a great many ideas that can not be got elsewhere. The amount of real, live, in- telligent reading a com- munity does is .a meas- ure of its progress, and no community can' be> progressive that depends In his