EDITOR GIVES BIG BOND

Accused of Violating Espionage Act by Disloyal Editorial.

SIOUX CITY, Ia., Nov. 9 -- Special: John Starzl, editor of the LeMars Globe-Post, and a German language paper, was arrested yesterday by Deputy United States Marshal Smith of this city. He is charged with violation of the espionage act. He was given his liberty on a $10,000 bond and will have his hearing on Nov. 21.

Starzl in the Globe-Post last week published an editorial charging that American soldiers are grossly mistreated while on transports.

He has since published a retraction and at the same time claims the editorial was written by an employe during his absence and that he knew nothing of it.

--Des Moines Register, Nov. 10, 1917

Comment: So, the editorial charged that American soldiers were being grossly mistreated while on transports. The espionage act must have been very strict. It could also have been the fact that he was editor of a German language paper that made them more interested in his opinions. (I left "employe" with one e. I've seen it spelled that way a lot way back when.)

Here's a good article that discusses the Espionage Act and how strict it was:

The government feared a popular outcry against the war and the draft - enough fear that Congress passed, on June 15, 1917, the Espionage Act, which made it a crime to aid and comfort the enemy. “Aid and comfort” at that time meant writing a pamphlet that simply stated one’s constitutional rights. ...

You might think that the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act [1918] were laws held in reserve, to be used just in case of emergency. In fact, the government, fearing class warfare and believing that any speech against the draft or the war was a national security threat, wielded these legal swords with a vengeance.

And also, from Wikipedia: The Espionage Act of 1917

made it a crime for a person to convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. It was punishable by a maximum $USD 10,000 fine ($169,517.90 in today's dollars) and 20 years in prison. The legislation was passed at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, who feared any widespread dissent in time of war constituted a real threat to an American victory.