The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-04-09
grand JuRYWLL
INVESTIGATE FOOD
.....tRU|L.E: VIOLATIONS
Those Who Fall To hive UptTo
~ Hoover Rsglatio1s Face "
y ! lhdictnent
N0uIslToRS ORDERED
: N PROBE ALfSLTuATION
People Who Don't Observe Meat
less and Wheatless Days Gull
tYof Breaking LaWyHe Says

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All persons In Hawaii who fail to
comply strictly with, the federal food
rules, and those guilty Of boarding food
OF any kind whatsoever will find
themselves the subject OF investigation
and possibly Indictment by the fed
eral grand jury which convened yes
tetdAy' morning, as the result Of the
charge given TO the jury by Judge
Horace Vaughan of the. federal court,
regarding the enforcemetft' Of the food
conservation, act. = 5r.,
Emphasis was laid by Judge
Vaughan In his charge to the jury on
the necessity Of prosecuting all those
guilty Of violating the so-called "war
lava, and more particularly the law
passed by congress to conserve the
Nation s food supply during the war.
BY free Interpretation of this sta
tnte, as construed by Judge Vaughan,
any individual, enemy alien, citizen or
other resident, may be prosecuted for
falling to observe the wheatless or
meatless days, although it is true that
the statnte does not specifically. state
that failure to do so is a violation Of
the law. , "a.
Such construction of the law could
be gained by comparison of the rea-
sonable needs of the average loyal cit
iEkn with the amount bought by the
disloyal ones who disobey the food laws
aud 80 1t could be proven that the
needless use of flour or meat on the
wheatless or meatless days constituted
an. ofense against the law, he said,
in effect
Outlines the Law
In outlining this view of the law,
after his charge was read to the grand
jury, Judge Vaughan said:
"Any person who is failing to OBJ.
serve wheatless days, for instance, may
be in all probability, found to be VIC
1ating the food conservation statute.
All persons of this kind should DO
Investigated to determine If they are
guilty Of boarding or wasting of food.
To. arrive at what constitutes their
reasonable needs as permitted by the
statutes could be determined by com
pairing what they use with the needs
Of those loyal persons who are obeying
the food rules.
GA careful reading of the conserva.
ton statutes would be beneficial to
to everyone that all persons are re.
CURED to do many things heretofore
thought not necessary.
The buying Of more flour than a
person needs, by person or persons
not observing the wheatless days, could
be construed as boarding by compari-
son with the needs of those who are
observing the food rules
Dtoh II0ardnvaa nnuIA ko
The Intentional keeping from the
Of the food conservation act was an
other point emphasized by the jurist.
That he believes the law can be in.
terpreted so it would be an offeuse to
keep eatable fish in the fish ponds of
the Islands or away from the market,
or other locally produced food, such
as rice, fruit or sugar, he also made
clear.
This was done when he was asked If
the keeping of fish in the fish ponds
was charged recently against certain
owners of the fish ponds, constituted
an offense. The question was phrased
SO pond mullet was specially mentioned,
and he answered:
L
The response of these queries were
made utter he had called attention to
a provision of the act where it speci-
fies that the act was passed "to pre-
vent, locally or generally, scarcity,
monOpohzatiOn, boarding, injurious
speeulatiOns, manipulatiOns, and pri-
Vate controls affecting such sup
ply distribution and movement
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vision of the law provides that the
President is authorized to make such
regulations and 10 issue, such orders as
are essential effectively to carry out the
provisions of the act.
Punishment Provided For Proateers
Another portion of the food cOnser-
walton act to which the federal jurist
called the attention of the grand jurors
makes IL a violation to "destroy any
necessaries for the purpose of enhanc.
ing the price or restricting the price
thereof; knowingly to commit waste or
Wilfully to permit preventable deteri-
grafton of any neeessaries in or in con
nection with their production, manu-
facture, distribution, or to hoard"
The paragraph of the statute defn-
ing boarding says in parts
Hoarding Defined
"Neoessaries shall be deemed to be
boarded within the meaning of this act
when either held, contracted for, or
arranged by any person IN a quantity
in excess of his reasonable require
ments for use or consumption by him.
self and dependents for a reasonable
time" A subsequent clause says that
it will be deemed as boarding to with.
hold nee essaries, "whether by posses
sion or by contract or arrangement
from the market, by any person for tho
purpose of unreasonably increasing or
diminishing the price"
The. penalty for boarding as pre-,
seribed by the food conservation act
is fine not exceeding $4,000, or i'm
prisonment for not more than two
years, or both.
Judge Vaughan in giving his views
for the necessity of obeying the food
conservation laws said:
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