The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 7, 1918, Page 8

BTN DA A S A LT ~ Hating the Farmers and Their Unions An Account of -Futile Attempts. to Stop the Nonpartisan League in Wisconsin ' and Nebraska—Patriotic Bodies Used by League Enemies ed a statement made by the county attor- ney of Dodge county, Neb., which asked that W. E. Quigley, a Nonpartisan league organizer arrested under the sedition law, be dis- missed, as there was no evidence against him, and because, upon investigation, the county attorney had found the Nonpartisan league to be a patri- otic organization! The freeing of Quigley and the remarkable state- ment of the county attorney calls to mind the fact that this is the second arrest of this League or- ganizer in Nebraska. He was first arrested and later freed in Saunders county, where the council of defense demanded that all League members re- sign at once and assign their membership certifi- cates over to the council of defense. The judge who freed Quigley in the first case was A. Z. Donato, vice chairman of the Saunders County Council of Defense and chairman of the Saunders county Red Cross chapter. He was also the man whom the council of defense demanded that League members surrender their certificates of member- ship to. : 1 MANY FRAME-UP ARRESTS MADE But there is other good news for League mem- bers from Nebraska. Two other Nonpartisan league organizers were freed on the same day that Qdigley was set free in the second case against him. "*The Nebraska sedition law makes it “sedi- tion” net to be engaged. in a “useful” occupation. In other words, Nebraska politicians-have attempt- I AST week the Nonpartisan Leader publish- ed to “improve” upon the federal sedition statute by making it “seditious” to be engaged in an oc- cupation which the Nebraska politicians, in and out of office, do not approve of! The other two Nebraska League organizers who were freed were Kinney Yenawine and Ezra Clark. Yenawine was freed on motion of State’s At- torney Rice at McCook, without even the formality of a trial. There was, of course, no evi- dence against him. ' Yenawine served five years in the United States marines. He was with Dewey at the battle of Manila bay and wears a ‘medal given him for ‘service-at that battle. He acquired crippled legs in the - service of his country, caused from standing in salt water. He has, of course, an excellent hon- orable discharge certificate from the army. ) Clark, . who was also freed without ‘- the formality of a trial, because there was no evi- dence against him, is a new or- ganizér for the League from the western part of Nebraska. He was arrested just across the Nebragka line in Kansas and brought back to Red Willow county, where he was bound over for trial. : Charles Dean is another Ne- - braska ‘organizer who has been arrested. Mr. Dean is a North Rakota.League farmer. He was charged with sedition because the ‘politicians of Nebraska did not believe that he was in a “useful” occupation. He was bound over for trial in Pierce county; He was pursued by eight automobile loads of home guards with rifles before he was captured. His ‘case will, of course, be dismissed, like the others, when it comes up for trial. : Jacob Thull, another League organizer in Nebraska, was placed on trial in Valley coun- L e The Nebréska Fiasco | ty. Hundreds of League and other farmers flocked to the hearing in the courthouse. The county judge dismissed the case. As in the other cases, there was no evidence against Thull. The county attor- ney, filled with hatred and fired with a desire for vengeance, had Thull rearrested and brought before Thull was pitching hay when ar- another judge. rested the second time. He will, of course, be freed when the case again comes up. THE STRONG STATEMENT - ‘BY ATTORNEY COOK If thé prosecuting authorities and honest mem- bers of defense councils of Nebraska would follow the example of J. C. Cook, county attorney of - Dodge county, Neb., and look into the actual facts concerning the Nonpartisan Jleague, they would abandon this futile attempt to prevent the farm- ers from organizing. After investigating the League, Prosecutor Cook said, as reported in. last week’s issue: i “The reports and rumors that I had read in the daily press for the last year and a half and the statements I have heard about the Nonpartisan league had aroused in me an intense antagonism against the organization. Consequently, when re- ports were brought to me that League organiza- tion work had been started in Dodge county, I promptly issued an order for the organizer’s ar- rest.” However, while Mr. Cook arrested the organizer on newspaper reports and the lies and misrepre- - sentations circulated by the enemies of the League, he was fair enough to give the League a thorough investigation. organizer and issued a most remarkable statement, in which he pronounced the work of the Nonpar- tisan league patriotic to a high degree. At the end of his statement to the court to this effeet, Prosecutor Cook said: “I realize that this statement concerning the League which I am making will shock many of my “IHE KnNowss E\X/E are° JKEEPING THE Home Y] FIRES OF DEMOCRACY BURNING ' s 5 —Drawn especially for the Leader by Congréésman John M. Baer Our boys who are fighting in France know that we are backing them-up in every pos- sible way we can. They, on their part, expect us to preserve democracy in America, and extend it, while they are .gone.. They do not expect us to lie down and quit under the kind of persecution certain profiteers and' patrioteers, who are seeking to divide America and who are their enemies as well as ours at home, attempt to inflict upon us. . -Read of farmer persecution in the two stories on - ka and_one PAGE The result was that he freed the 2 this page, one from Nebras- ‘from Wisconsin. Write -your son in France about-cases like . . . tion of the ~ these and see what kind of a letter you get! = - = - . friends, who can not doubt my patriotism, and hundreds of _loyal citizens who entertain the same views that I did. But I am satisfied that the same impartial investigation will ' convince the most prejudiced, and, while I realize that my position is not popular, especially in this community, where the facts are not known, as a public official, charg- ed with the sacred obligation of giving every man or organization a square deal, I am compelled to ask for a dismissal of this case and the discharg of the defendant.” 2 - : Mr. Cook had.1o political motive in finding the work of the Nonpartisan league loyal and patri- otic. Although Mr. Cook is* ‘a4’ candidate' for re- election this year as county attorney, the League has as yet only a small membership in his“eounty and League votes can not materially help him.in his campaign for re-election. However, League members everywhere will trust that Mr. Cook will be re-elected by a big vote, and that the fact that he has given the League an honest investi- gation and found it loyal will not militate against him in his campaign. gl | The Wisconsin Bluff ~ N ATTEMPT is being made in another A state to use war activities and war or- ganizations to balk the organization work of the Nonpartisan league. This time it is in Wisconsin that these efforts are being made. The Leader has received a copy of a set of reso- lutions adopted by the Dunn County Council. of - Defense of Menomonie, Wis., of which Dr. L. D. Harvey is chairman and R. E. Bunde secretary. The resolutions demand the closing of all school- houses in the county against meetings of League farmers, or other farmers who desire to attend League meetings and learn the facts about the ogganization. The Dunn County Council of De- 3 fense is sending a copy of the resolutions to all voters in the county, calling on them to use every ‘effort to prevent organi- zation work of the League, and has sent a copy of the resolu- tions to every county council of defense in Wisconsin, asking all the county councils to take simi- lar action. 1 The letter of the council: of defense accompanying thgse resolutions says: “Please mnote and emphasize in your communications con- cerning these resolutions that the defense council does not .- assume to pass.on the -merits or demerits of the Nonpartisan league.” S This is a very strange state- ment, indeed, taken in connec- tion with the bitter and blind condemnation of the League and its work which appears in the resolutions’ themselves. resolutions in full' are as fol- lows: - . o] Whereas, the: representatives of the . Nonpartisan league have held, and are contemplating holding, meetings in Dunn _county for the” purpose: of teach- ing the doctrine of said Nonpartisan league and of soliciting membership thereto, and S i 2 ereas, the whole energy. of the nation and of should be devoted exclusively to- the prosecution of the war "until” it ‘is_ br%ught to a victorious termination,’. Whereas, any division among ' the ' ‘people of ?‘i’ nation whereby ' one itizens - distrusts = any other class will of necessity weaken: the power .of the natior in waging .its war, and S ; t ‘Whereas, the organization of the Nonpartisan league, during the exist- ence of the war, detracts from ‘the energy and enthusjasm d of ' secon importance to “the ! pur- poses log;fi to ' be accomplished by the Nonpartisan leagu ; 5 artisan B and to weaken the Now,. turafone be 1t resolved, by | the Dunn Gounty Council. of Defense, The . its entire population § ted to the prosecution of the war, and to some extent makes the winning of the war ! hatred nndmt. Ao 1 : . ability of the nation in’ the prosecu-