Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-14
NONPART|SAN CHIEFS
GU|LTY0F D|SL0YALTY
TownIey and Gilbert, Of Farm
ers' League, Convicted in.
Minnesota Court
ECHO OF WAR CRITICISM

of A. c. Townley, head of the Nom
partisan League, and Joseph Gilbert.
manager" of that organization, ended
here early yesterday morning in a YER
dict declaring them guilty of conspiracy
to teach disloyalty in violation of the
Minnesota law. The trial lasted three
weeks
The jury was out two hours. The
Jurors announced they took two ballots.
The first was nine to three for convic-
ton; the second was unanimous.
After hearing the verdict, Townley
made this statement:
Judges and lawyers may Quibble.
but in the court of public opinion the
common sense of the people will never
approve ruling that says a man may
merely deny he is disloyal and is forbid
den to prove by. constructive testimony
tbst he is loyal
During the three weeks of the trial
the defense made repeated charges that
the case was an outgrowth of efforts
to injure the Nonpartisan League.
Testimony along this line and also by
Congressman James NJ. Baer and North
Dakota officials concerning the loyalty
of Townley and the league, was eX-
cluded by Judge Dean.
Nonpartisan Leagues Swift Growth
The Nonpartisan League is socialis-
tic organization which in its beginnings
made a special appeal to the farmer vote
of the Northwest and in its formation
and extension A c. Townley was a
prime mover. In a remarkably short
period of time the body had made such
rapid strides that it gained control of
the government of North Dakota, elect
ing the governor and other state officers
in 1915, and later sending John NJ
Baer, Of Fargo, to Congress. South
Dakota and to lesser degree Mime
sofa and other parts of the West and
Northwest felt the influence of the
Townley propaganda.
This had as its avowed objects gov
ernment ownership of interstate utili- =
ties; state ownership Of public utilities !;
state owned and operated banks, insur-
ance companies, grain storage plants,
etc. ; absolute control of legislative,
executive and judicial machinery of the
state; class taxation; and conscription
of wealth for financing the war and
liquidating the national debt.
Charges of Disloyalty
Activities of the league grew with the
extension of it's membership, which in
1915 was estimated at several hundred
thousands. and when the United States.
moved by the continued aggressions of
the German government. showed signs
of entering the war, Townley and his
fellow -leaguers posed as the protago-
nists of peace and became conspicuous in
their opposition to military prepara-
tions.
Charges of disl6yalty were openly
made against the Nonpartisan League
shortly after America entrance into the
war. and Townley hastened to Wash :
ington in May of last year to reply to
: them. He declared the league and its
members were Loyalty supporting the
President, and had contributed more
than its average in the purchase of
Liberty bonds. He refused. however,
to diyergc from the position he took a
year previous, that capitalists were
reaping harvest out of the conflict.
March 13 of the present year Town
ley and Joseph Gilbert. manager. were
indicted by a Minnesota grand jury on
a charge of publishing and circulating
seditious literature tending to discourage
forces of the United States.
Two indictments were returned. each
naming both men. One was based on a
pamphlet containing the leagues war
policies, and the other on a resolution
passed at the Nonpartisan League CON
ference in st. Paul, at which Senator
La Toilette deliveredSan address.
The Offending Resolution
The resolution on which one of the
indictments was based follows:
1.-The principal cause of this world
war was and is political autocracy used
to perpetuate and extend individual au-
tocracy. 1t is the struggle of the po-
litical overlords to extend and perpetu-
ate their power to rob and exploit their
fellow men.
"Autocratic rulers who have robbed
and exploited the fathers and mothers
now slaughter the children for the sin J.
gle purpose of further entrenching
themselves in their position of secur-
ing and legalizing their possession of
the fruits of others and thrusting the
world under the yoke of political au-
tocracy which is ever the shield and the
mask of industrial autocracy."
Speeches made by Townley and Gill
bert in the spring of last year were
used by the prosecution as evidence to
prove the disloyal spirit of the de-
PENDANTS and the mischievous character
of their public utterances. Council
for the accused vigorously denied the
charge that the speeches were disloyal,
holding that their clients exercised
Z simply the right of just criticism.
1t is expected that an appeal will be
made to the higher courts