The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 4

" " Klans Organized ......

Total Amount Collected from Pet.i.tioners $......

" " Remitted herewith $......

Town or Towns I have worked in this week: .................................................................

Will be at work next week in ....................................

Prospects for next week .........................................

REMARKS.

Dated at .............................................., 192.....

Signed:

K.O.I.E.

Received..........................., 192......

Approved

................................. Grade ................

Imperial Kleagle.

Has the "Invisible Empire" a program?

According to its "Emperor" it not only has a program, but at the proper time it will put it forth. He made a statement which was printed in the _Searchlight_ on July 2, 1921:

"I am not at all surprised, at the progress of the work, but of course gratified. I have never for one moment doubted that if G.o.d gave me strength and 'men' with which to lay before America the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, that it would sweep the nation as nothing of the kind has ever done.

"The Ku Klux Klan has not started to work. The enemies of the organization have been howling and back-biting and snapping at everything they could see or hear, and lying slanders have been spread broadcast about the organization and leaders and proposed work and present activity.

"For the edification of those who do not know allow me to say that the Ku Klux Klan have not yet started to work and may not do so for a year. We are merely organizing at the present time and we do not intend to start any definite activity until we have sufficiently organized to make sure success.

"To those who love fireworks--rhetorical and otherwise--allow me to suggest that they wait quietly until the Ku Klux Klan pa.s.ses through its organizing period and actually starts work. The attacks that have so far been launched will appear significant when the atmosphere becomes surcharged with the shrieks of the enemies of law and order, const.i.tutional principles, and real Americanism, as these forces feel the tightening grip of the Klan around them and they come to the realization that they are whipped.

"It will be then, and not till then, that the real anathemas will be hurled at the organization and its leaders, but it will have as little weight and do as little harm as all the lies that have been spread broadcast up to the present time.

"And those who have deliberately maligned and slandered us are going to wake some day to a very unpleasant situation. We are keeping records and making plans. The day of our activity has not arrived."

This intemperate language of Simmons was even exceeded at a meeting held on the night of August 25, 1921, in Philadelphia, which was reported in a press telegram as follows:

"A narrow pathway leading to a woodland glade, and every fifty feet a masked and white-robed sentinel. Within the little clearing an altar, and beside it the banner of the nation with the night wind rustling through the folds. Formed in hollow square around the glade rank on rank of masked spectres. A deep voice echoing through the darkness.

"'Imperial One, the men who seek admission to our legions stand prepared!'

"Line after line the candidates marched in, led by a gigantic masker who bore high overhead the Fiery Cross. The candidates marched before the scrutinizing ranks of silent Klansmen. Then every man--veteran Klansmen and new-made members--bowed before the American flag and through the night boomed out the watchword of the order:

"'All men in America must honor that flag--if we must make them honor it on their knees!'

"Then, in a blaze of sudden light, the Grand Goblin of the Realm, a towering form in white and scarlet uniform, appeared at the north end of the glade. Cheers received him. His speech was brief.

"'America for real Americans!' he cried. 'Guardians.h.i.+p against the alien, the anarchist and all who would subvert that banner, be they white, or black or yellow!' the voice thundered through the ranks.

'The Ku Klux are misrepresented and vilified. Americans do not realize that they sleep on a red volcano's edge. They sleep; they let petty politicians hold the helm; they make no preparations for the perils yet to come. The enemies of true American principles are myriad. They are organized; they plot; they scheme--they go unchallenged and unhindered.

"'It is the place of the Ku Klux Klan to rouse the spirit of the real American and to stand guard against the evil forces that seek to stifle this mightiest of nations. Be the foes white, black or yellow; be they native traitors or alien invaders, the Klan shall form a ring of steel to throttle their every devil's scheme. We, the Ku Klux Klan; we, the Invisible Empire, rally to aid the faltering hands of our law--and to protect our homes, our lives, our people and our nation's future against a wave of living h.e.l.l!'"

CHAPTER V

PROPAGATION NEWS-LETTERS

In order to keep the various units in touch with each other, the Propagation Department sends out each week a "News-letter" filled with extracts from reports of different workers. These letters are supposed to be read at the meetings of the Klans, and I found that they were listened to with great attention. It is quite likely that many hundreds of reports are received each week from all over the United States, and the fact that the Propagation Department selects for distribution these special extracts must indicate what the leaders wish Klansmen as a whole to believe about the movement, and what should be the objects they are to work for. It is also to be noted how well the letters reflect the extent to which the Klans have absorbed the moral and political poison of Ku Kluxism under the sugar coating of "social purity," "one hundred per cent Americanism,"

"motherhood," and all the other _et ceteras_. This sugar coating is especially evident in the following extract of June 18, 1921:

"At eight o'clock one hundred Klansmen in robes marched down the main street to the park. They carried banners, the first about the head of the procession, bearing the inscription, 'The Invisible Empire, here yesterday, here today, here forever.' The second banner about the middle of the procession stated, 'Rockmart Must Be Clean for Our Mothers, for Our Wives, for Our Daughters--The Guilty Must Pay.' Then came the third and last banner reading, 'White Supremacy,' and on the reverse side, 'Grafters, Gamblers and Thieves Must Go.' There were about twelve hundred gathered around the speakers' stand and the old citizens say it was about the biggest gathering ever held in Rockmart.

"The meeting was opened with singing 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee,' by the entire gathering. This was followed by prayer led by Rev. F. J.

Mashburn. Then the Reverend Mashburn made the introductory speech, in which he paid his respect to those who tried to dissuade him from having anything to do with the meeting. Doctor Mashburn paid eloquent tribute to the men in robes. He said that his father was one of the members of the original Ku Klux Klan and that he felt he had been singularly honored when requested to introduce the chief speaker of the evening, Col. J. Q. Nolan of Atlanta. Colonel Nolan followed Doctor Mashburn with an eloquent address, in which he clearly and forcefully explained the aims and purposes of the order. His hold on the audience was absolute and he was frequently interrupted with applause. His tribute to motherhood was one of the sublimest word paintings ever uttered. On the platform with the speakers were Hon.

J. A. Fambro, mayor of Rockmart, members of the City Council and two members of the Klan."

In another letter from an Exalted Cyclops the sugar coating has largely disappeared. The author has lost sight of the small town "purity"

reflected in the above letter, but feels that he will soon be called upon to march as a crusader against the foe. He writes:

"Long live the Klan and those n.o.ble spirits who are inculcating its creed into the hearts of slumbering America! This organization happened just at the right psychological time; a little later perhaps would have been too late; it stepped into the breach at the proper moment and no other kind of organization on earth could have possibly met the issue. You know and I know and every other thinking man realizes and will admit the perils that menace this republic of ours.

The trouble is, too few people are given to thinking--people nowadays are educated to every d.a.m.n thing under the sun except think. It is up to us to fill the void and I believe we can put the world to thinking. It is not only the thinking man's duty to think, but to have the moral courage to teach. In due course of time I feel no doubt but that the influence of this Invisible Empire of thinkers will be reflected in the destiny of this nation. I am a Mason, a Rotarian and several other things, all of which I am proud, but first of all I am proudest of the fact that I am a native-born, white Gentile Klansman. What kind of country would this be with no lines drawn between the Caucasian blood and the African race? It is too awful to contemplate. I solemnly believe that we are facing another crisis in our history; it is slowly, gradually, inevitably and surely approaching. The foreign political and labor cla.s.s fanatic; the negro; the j.a.p and Romanism are threatening, if I can read the signs of the times. The new, the reincarnated Ku Klux Klan is, as I understand it, dedicated to the proposition of saving our flag and forever maintaining this government as a _white man's_ government. No n.o.bler or grander cause was ever espoused by the brain and heart of man."

"Emperor" Simmons claims that the "Invisible Empire" is increasing at the rate of five thousand a week, and several extracts from the "News-letters"

might seem to prove his point; if not that they might serve the purpose of the leaders of inspiring members to believe that they have the honor of belonging to the great national movement of the century.

In the weekly "News-letter," dated May 13, 1921, the Exalted Cyclops, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, writes:

"You gentlemen at headquarters will probably be pleased to know what rapid strides the K. K. K. is making in this State. It is sweeping Mississippi like wildfire. We are in hopes of having five hundred members in our Klan by September 1, 1921. When we get our Klan up to one thousand members we have perfected a scheme whereby, while we will retain only one Klan here in Warren County, we will have all the members from each separate district meet once a week and then have a general meeting for the whole Klan each month, as it will be too unwieldy to have such a large body meet frequently. You can readily appreciate this when at our first meeting, when we had one hundred and twenty-five charter members, we had thirty-five automobiles in the grounds of our meeting place in the country.

"The reason why everybody here has taken so keenly to the Klan is due to the fact that years ago the Jews and Roman Catholics formed a liaison with the liquor interests and have had politics in this city throttled, and it is our intention to whip and rout them at the polls when the next election comes around in 1922. We intend to put these un-American elements out of office precisely as other communities have done."