Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-07-19
STATE SETTLING;
METCA[F CALLS
LObECkT TRAITOR
Hall County Residents Reported
in Fear OF an Uprising of
Germans-AppeaI
to Council.
CHURCH SHAKEUP is DUE
Drastic Action Expected to Fol-
low Charges--University
Board to Take No
Action Now.
CHURCH sHAKEuP is DUE

Lincoln. Neb., July 16.-The scathing
arraignment of Lutheran church lead
ers by the state council of defense and
the sharp retort of a humble OF Luther
an pastors will. it is predicted, lead to
action on the part of tho state council.
K. =. Metcalfe, who is head of the Sc
cret service department and who wrote
the statement for the council, is at
headquarters here and declares that the
critics of the council do not know what
they are talking about, but that he does.
He has access to all of the information
gathered, and he promises to follow 1t
up If necessary.
Flayed by Metcalfe.
Mr.. Metcalfe denounced Congress-
man Lobeck, one of h critics of the
council, in a statement issued Friday.
He said that Lobeck had persistently
m1srepresented the people OF the state
and the democratic party in his oppo-
sitlon to every move of the president in
matters, and that Lobeck ought to re-
sign. He declares that Lobeck is fa-
nous for gum shoe methods, and that
his heart Is. scared with treason" and
that his whole idea in dur
ing the last two years has been to
cater to the German vote.
Hail County in Fear.
Another reason for activity on the
part of the state council is the COM
plant of county councils that the state
organization takes no action IN the nu-l
merous cases reported to it. J. ID.
Whitmore of the Hall county council,
a county that is 80 per cent German.
told the state officers Friday that a
dangerous situation exists there. He
says that Germans ave been holding
secret meetings n he fears assault
or murder will occur unless the espion-
age act is better enforced.
Neville UohoIds Council.
Governor Neville has issued a state
ment in which he says that the mani
festo of the council has already done
much good. He says that he is salts
fled the university professors who were
criticised in the statement were mere
~ exercising their academic license
n did SO out OF jealousy of the right
1t involves. He says that when the
country is at war. there is, of course,
no such thing as that covered by the
phrase, academic freedom"
Professors to Stay.
Indications last night were that the
board OF regents of the Nebraska uni
versity would not at his time AXE
action to remove professors charged by
the Nebraska state council of defense
with d~isloyalty to America in the war
and with having shown partially for
the German cause. 1t was made known,
however, that the regents would hence
forth be quick to take c~ognizance OF
"treasonable u~tterances'' and profess
sors would be held to an accounting for
"passivity that tends to give aid to
Germany as al enemy"
A. storm of discussion, statements,
denials and denunciations swept uni
versity and state official circles today.
There was a noticeable tendency to be
personal and some of the assertions
were of "A political nature, but the gem
orally expressed opinion was that cons
ditions justified the councils action.