It was simply the subject of Phineas Babbitt and the latter's anti-war utterances and surmised disloyalty.
"You see," explained Grover, "some one evidently has reported the old chap to the authorities as a suspicious person.

The government, I imagine, isn't keen on sending a special investigator down here, so they have asked me to look into the matter.

I don't know much about Babbitt, but I thought you might.

Is he disloyal, do you think ?" Jed hesitated.

Things the hardware dealer had said had been reported to him, of course; but gossip--particularly the Bearse brand of gossip--was not the most reliable of evidence.