The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 15, 1918, Page 16

' A National Scandal Out of Walla Walla . Men in Official Life at the Capital See - Attack on the State Grange as Part of a Country-Wide Drive Against Taxation of War Profits Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader ALLA WALLA’S shame has become a national scandal. Her hysterical officials’ at- tack upon the convention of the Washington state Grange, made at the behest of the junker newspaper of the town, and the confession by the chief pro- moter of this violence that the Grange was driven ‘out because its chief official agreed with President Wilson and the Nonpartisan league .as to the means by which the cost of the war must be borne—these things have caused a stir which may lead to serious consequences for the Walla Walla autocracy. President Wilson has received the eloquent state- ment of the Walla' Walla outrage, sent him under date of June 10 by the executive committee of the Washington state Grange. Attorney General Gregory and other advisers of the president have had their attention called to it. The whole framed-up charge against the American- ism of the Grange and its officers has been shown up by the evident facts—that the Grange influence had been thrown on the side of raising a fair share . of the cost of the war by taxation; that this taxa- A R L SR tion would hit the profiteers who own and operate the various enterprises of big business in Walla Walla, Spokane and elsewhere in the state; that throughout the state, just as elsewhere in the West, ruthless warfare is being waged by the spe- cial privilege interests against the men who can be counted upon to ba¢k up President Wilson’s tax- ation program. Cloaking itself in the flag, the beast of special privilege is hunting down and seek- ing to destroy the men in congress and the move- ments among the voters that are committed to end- ing profiteering. Investigation has shown that William Bouck, master of the state Grange, stands with President Wilson and against the profiteers. To the beast that fact stamps him as “disloyal.” MISINFORMATION FOR POINDEXTER Senator Poindexter, when he read the appeal made to the president by the state Grange, tele- graphed to his old-time political friend, the editor of the Walla Walla Bulletin, asking for his side of the story. Back came a message declaring: “School board refused high school to Grange be- cause Master Bouck’s address denounced opponents of Townley’s organization as profiteers; also be- cause Bouck favored La Follette and permitted Townley organizers to work in school house, ‘also because he advised Grangers to buy Liberty bonds only when necessary and when every other means had failed.” Also—*“Protective asso- ciation permits no Townley work in coun- ty-” Denouncing profiteers was 4 high crime, inthe .. - B, eyes of the Walla Walla junkers., To permit the farmers’ organization which is being created to safeguard the wealth producers against profiteers, to bring its message into a school building, built by the people, was another crime. To agree with President Wilson on war taxation—that was a crime which must be built up by distortion of state- this is done. ment. And- the Protective association of junkers - in Walla Walla would permit no freedom of speech to any citizen who favored the anti-profiteer poli- cies of the Nonpartisan league or even the reten- tion of the local congressman, William La Follette, in office. This managing editor of the Walla Walla Bulle- tin, by his charge that Bouck had advised the Grangers to buy Liberty bonds “only when neces- sary,” gave the first opportunity for the depart- ment.of justice to inquire into the loyalty issue, as demanded by the Grange officials. The outcome was just what might have been expected. Not a disloyal word or act on the part of any one in the Grange has been found. ; PROSECUTIONS OF JUNKERS UNDER WAY Congressman La Follette of the fourth®Wash- ¢ ington district, in which Walla Walla is situated, tells in a special interview in this issue of the Leader his impressions of this shameful affair. Congressman Dill of Spokane, a- Democrat rep- resenting the district just to the northward, and who is being persecuted by the special privilege press for his sympathy toward the president’s tax- - ation policy, declares that the Americanism -and patriotism of the Grange throughout the state is fully established, and that it has the respect of: all but those forces which are seeking to destroy democracy at home while pretending to favor democracy_abroad. E ! Director George P. Hampton of the Farmers’ Na- tional headquarters here, has not returned from his trip to Walla Walla, where he witnessed the driving of the convention from its hall. make the affair one’long to be remembered by west-, ern congressmen. Meantime, Benjamin C. Marsh, secretary of the same organization, issues this sig- nificant statement: . : “If, as we know, Mr. Bouck’s loyalty is fully es- He is expected to . / Heading the grain is one of the favorite methods of harvesting in southeastern Washington, and this picture, taken near Walla Walla, shows clearly just how The header, with its cicle bar set low enough to catch all the heads, crosses the field with a header-box traveling parallel with it. When one box is full another team that has been following, drives up to the elevator and continues the trip. The header goes ahead of the horses, so that they always walk in the just-clipped stubble, and it is steered by a rudder wheel. ’ tablished, the question of suing his detractors must at once come under advisement. People can not ~accuse loyal Americans of disloyalty, of pro-Ger- manism, of a felony, with impunity.” Legal counsel has been retained, according to in- formation here, to proceed against the persons re- sponsible for the resolutions adopted at the junker massmeeting in Walla Walla defamatory of State Master Bouck. y HOW WILLIAM KENT MEETS THREATS More than that, the incident has fired the deter- mination of the Grange and other old-established farmers’ organizations in"the East to get together on a common program before the dark forces in American life shall have overthrown the moral au- thority of President Wilson in this country. The Farmers’ National War council is to be maintained and reinforced here throughout the war-tax period of this congress, to see that no betrayal of the in- terests of the producers and consumers of the na- tion shall be made possible by the far-flung terror- ism that the profiteering press has brought into play. EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS WHO . WANTS WEALTH TO BEAR ITS SHARE OF THE COST OF THIS WAR IS TODAY UNDER THREAT OF DEFEAT. Such men as Keating of , - - IGolorado, Crosser of Ohio, Nolan of Californig, ' Van Dyke of Minnesota—these along with Miss. € Rankin of Montana have dared to call for some measure of conscription of wealth. The beast press is marking them down for political destruction. When William Kent of “California, former ' con- gressman and now member of the tariff comimis- sion, told the house committee on ways and means, at a taxation hearing, that incomes should be taken by the government, during the war, down to a level of $50,000 maximum, he no sooner stepped out of the committee room than a watcher for special privilege, a total stranger, demanded to know why _ he had been spreading “Trotzky”-doctrines in that way. Kent told him sharply that he had better quit that line of talk, or he’d “get hurt.” Kent speaks for the heart of American producers, in that remark. Personal Investigation by the Representative of the Fourth District, Congressman William L. La Follette, Puts the-Disgrace Where It Belongs Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader ES,” said Congress- man William L. La Follette, rep- resentative from the fourth con- gressional district of - Washington, “I have heard of 25 the treatment ac- . corded the state Grange of Washing- ) ton by certain citizens of Walla Walla, { which is- in the district I represent. I was asked to express an opinion immediately after the affair had been heralded throughout the ‘land and a Smessage had been received here in the capital by the administration, sent . by some of those present, demanding a full investigation of the matter. “Being a member of the Grange, 1 . was of course somewhat exercised {'about the event. I declined, though, g . & E i to make any statement or express any opinion about the -matter until I had an opportunity to _PAGE SIXTEEN' - Thftrughout the wheat growing sections of the Pacific Northwest, especially in’ those sections where the farms are large and homes far and few between, large, airy cook houses on wheels, with stove’and tables in place, are hauled from place to place, so that the harvesters have but a short distance to i'go_for their meals, learn exactly what happened there, and get both sides of the story. “In a day or two the Bulletin, a - daily paper published in Walla Walla, began to treat on Grange matters, first advising the Grange as to what it should do, then attacking Mr. Bouck, newly elected master of the’ " state Grange, by assailing his Amer- icanism, and as a proof of their claims publishing a letter written by Mr.- Bouck to Eli B. Robinson of Shelton, " Wash,, secretary of a Grange there, which reads as follows: . Eli B. Robinson, Secretary Shelton helton, Wash. Deanr\ Brother and Sister Patrons: The time now is when every man or - woman interested in the welfare of their country should demand that this war of democracy should be paid for, as much as possible, by the money that is being e out:of war profits. Last year sev- . eral -billions of special profits were laid aside. is year more billions, and the entire cost of the' war, almost; upon - the’ backs of the producers of. Grange No. 43, Y ‘What a Washington -Congressman Says of the Grange Affair which I receive here in Washington,