The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 9, 1918, Page 4

Try to Tag Grange Head With Sedition William Bouck, a Strong Supporter of the President’s War Aims and Pay-as-We-Go Policy of Taxation, Is Indicted at Seattle OLLOWING the driving of the con- vention of the state Grange of Washing- ton from Walla Wal- la, because the Grange re- elected William Bouck state master, enemies of Mr. Bouck and forces hostile to the Grange have secured the in- dictment of Mr. Bouck under the United States sedition act, at Seattle, Wash. After the outrage against the farmers at Walla Walla, Mr. Bouck made a tour of the state of Washington, in which 20 meetings were held and the Walla Walla affair reported to the farmers. With Mr. Bouck on this speaking tour was George P. Hampton of Wash- ington, D. C., representative. at the national capital of several big American farmers’ organi- zations, including the Grange. Mr. Bouck and Mr. Hampton spoke to big crowds. The se- ries of meetings was gotten up particularly in order that Mr. Hampton could talk to the farmers, and Mr. Bouck mere- ly made a brief talk at each meeting, in which he urged that the government finance the war TO A GREATER EX- TENT BY TAXATION AND TO A LESSER EXTENT BY BONDS. GRANGERS STAND BY HIM One of these meetings was held at Bow, Skagit county, Wash. For his remarks re- garding the financing of the war made at this meetnig, a secret indictment was returned against Mr. Bouck by the fed- eral grand jury sitting at Seattle August 13, 1918. It .was a secret indictment and X held for six days before Mr. Bouck was arrested. bing. [ 7 A rumor reached Mr. Bouck that he had been in-_ dicted and he went to Mount Vernonm, the county seat of Skagit county, near where he resides, and inquired of the sheriff whether he was wanted. He was then taken into custody and taken to Seattle and arraigned the same day. ; Bond for $5,000 was immediately put up by three prominent King county farmers—Robert Mein, Fred Nelsen and James Nelsen. Fred Nelsen is master of the King county Pomona . Grange, Renton Junction; James Nel- sen is also of Renton Junction, and Mr. Mein lives at Duval. Mr. Bouck has employed Earl G. Rice of Seattle as . his attorney and, of course, will plead not guilty and fight the case to the last ditch. ) Mr. Bouck is indicted on three counts. It is alleged, first, that his remarks in faver of HIGHER TAXES AND FEWER BONDS to finance the war were false and untrue and were uttered by Mr. Bouck with the felo- nious intent to interfere with the op- eration and success of the military and naval forces of the United States, and to promote the success of its enemies. The second count is that these self-same remarks were heard by a number of persons then and there being who were between the ages of 21 and 81 years and fit for - military . service, it being the intent of Mr. Bouck, it is charged, to in- fluence . these men of draft age not to. serve their country as soldiers! The third count is that the same P~ Hear that chorus of howls? 1It’s the kaiser, ing the same song of a broken heart. He is for democracy—at home and abroad. the harvest is in, the farmer Yvill devote more of his attention to cleaning up on the Big Biz ‘autocrats and the “me-t00” press. not keep in mind * *- * their finish, . progressive farm organizations and to create a be people that the Wilson administration is inefficient and unfit to have charge of the government in the war emergency and . during the vast reconstruction period that will follow.” ] NOTHING SMALL ABOUT AMERICAN FARMERS [ NO WORK OR FIGHT PLAN FOR ME WORK AND FIGHT, et RS — N —_— —_— —— identical language also was feloniously uttered by Mr. Bouck with the deliberate intention of dis- couraging the sale of Liberty bonds! . During the meeting of the state Grange at Walla Walla, enemies of the Grange and of Mr. Bouck published a slanderous attack on him, based on'a letter he had written to a fellow farmer, in which Mr. Bouck urged MORE TAXES AND FEWER BONDS AS THE BEST PLAN OF FINANCING THE WAR. The néwspapers charged that writ- f|HE driving of the Washington Grange from Walla Walla was a humiliation to every farmer. No one resented it more than did George P. Hampton, edi- ] tor of the Farmers’ Open Forum and 'a personal - ?| friend of President Wilson. He attended the Walla Walla state convention and was steadfast in his defense of the Grangers and the state master, William Bouck. He saw in the attacks on Mr. Bouck an effort the Grange. On his return to t his magazine as follows: : standing of the underlying purpose of the constant, systematic. attacks on the farm organizations of the Northwest who does | that the exploiting corporations see if the Wilson control of the federal government is maintained, or if the Nonpartisan league captures the state . governments; and by the aid of large sums of money, their control over the press, state and local governments and alleged ‘patriotic societies, etc., are back of a campaign to “No one can have g i ,,-"." 7, "o \\ “2 "/// 77 the profiteers and the kept press, all sing- The League farmer is giving them all a drub- Food for the allies came first. _of the dark forces to disrupt he national capital he wrote in clear under- eak up the jef in the ing this letter was a disloyal act. The letter was printed in the Nonpartisan Leader at the time of the Walla Walla out- rage. Federal authorities re- fused to take any - action against Mr. Bouck on account of the letter ON THE GROUND THAT ALL CITI- ZENS HAVE A RIGHT TO DISCUSS WAYS OF FI- NANCING THE WAR AND TO ADVOCATE PLANS DIF- FERENT FROM THOSE PRO- POSED BY THE GOVERN- MENT, providing, of course, that no argument is made against purchasing the gov- ernment’s bonds, and that no inference is left that citizens should refuse to obey the laws of the country. FOR WILSON’S PLAN OF PAYING AS WE GO At his meetings, following the Walla Walla ejectment of the farmers, Mr. Bouck con- tinued -to advance arguments FOR HIGHER TAXATION OF EXCESS PROFITS, and he has been indicted ‘on the ground that these arguments are seditious. The indictments ‘give a version of Mr. Bouck’s words which his friends claim are far from the truth. They say that Mr. Bouck made no such statements as attributed to him, during his disecussion of plans for financing the war. The prosecutor wha: brought the case against Mr. Bouck is C. L. Reams. Mr. Reams has already been successful in convicting of disloyalty W. H. Kaufman of Bellingham, a well-known member of the Grange and single tax advo- cate. - He has also_been suc- cessful in convicting several Socialists. While Mr. Bouck’s attorney of course refuses to discuss the case while it is pending in court, it is under- v Now stood that he will give Prose- . cutor Reams a run for his money in this case. - Mr. Bouck has been a strong supporter of Presi- dent Wilson’s war aims and the president’s an- nounced views in regard to profiteering and the -heavy taxation of excess war profits and swollen incomes. At the time of the Walla Walla out- rage the Leader published in full the memorial of the Washington Grange signed by Mr. Bouck and other Grangers, in which the Grange and its of- ficers, including Mr. Bouck, made plain their po- sition of loyalty-to the United States and requested that the government investigate the Grange officers and the Grange organization as to their loyalty and patriotism. s The case against the head ef the Washington state Grange is very im- portant, and the Nonpartisan Leader will endeavor to report- in:full all de- velopments. We are indebted to our Seattlé correspondent for the above outline of the facts. e EVERY LEAGUER KNOWS Editor Nonpartisan Leader: : . I glory in the League, as its works are fine. A man by the name of A. A. I know, lives on a small ranch. He lost a cow of calf birth and he took _ the 'hide off and marketed the: same. - . His wife wanted a pair of shoes, so ¢ he 'bought the shoes first, for $4.50. -~ He then sold the hide, and he paid 50 cents more for the shoes tham he got J thehide? J. H. NICODEMUS. . Newmans Grove, Neb. ; Loosebrock of Petersburg, Neb., whom : for\the hide. Who stole the rest of-