The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 14

The two organizations have something in common in the proven cases of violence that have been reported in the public prints. According to the statements of writers, who were members of the old Klan, there were men in the organization who acted unwisely and selfishly, and who committed acts of violence that were impossible to control. Precisely the same situation has already developed in the United States today and the "Emperor" of the "Invisible Empire" has had to discipline three of his chartered Klans for proven acts of lawlessness. There is another point of similarity in the two systems. The old Klan had hardly started its work of wearing disguises to regulate public affairs when there sprang up imitators who used similar disguises to aid them in performing acts of viciousness and crime. These men were not members of the Klan and did things that had neither the sanction nor approval of the Klan, yet their acts showed that the wearing of disguises by the old Klan tended to promote lawlessness and crime in others. As will be shown later there has been, since the modern Klan was organized, an epidemic of crime in the South, usually committed by men wearing disguises. Whether these acts have actually been done by Klansmen or by imitators, it shows nevertheless that the admitted right of one cla.s.s to go about disguised puts the community at the mercy of any cla.s.s that chooses to employ similar tactics.

In spite of these resemblances, however, the difference between the old Ku Klux Klan and the new is appalling. One of the first questions that presents itself is, "What is the necessity at the present time for such an organization?" The student of American history--in view of the abnormal political situation in the Southern States during the Reconstruction Period--can readily understand how and why such an organization should have come into existence, and its justification lies solely in the necessity of some agency to cope with the social upheaval of that time.

Public opinion in America today, as reflected by the editorial comments of a vast majority of the leading newspapers, is practically unanimous in the view that there is absolutely nothing in our present system of government that would justify the existence of any kind of extra-legal Ku Klux organization. Every state in the Union has a const.i.tution which provides for the creation and maintenance of legislative, judicial, and executive branches, and in every State these branches are performing their regularly const.i.tuted functions. None of them is perfect; none of them ever will be.

At the same time, the machinery is there, is being handled well, and there are but few complaints against non-enforcement of the law, except in some Southern States where men are going about in disguise terrorizing the community. The Southern States are every one governed by white men. White men make their laws; white men enforce their laws; and white men sit upon the bench and interpret their laws. There is no danger in the South of a repet.i.tion of the scenes of the Reconstruction, and no danger whatever of the "White Supremacy" of the South being destroyed or set aside unless the same is done by white men, who, under the false pretense of "pure Americanism," seek to array white men against white men by the stirring up of religious and racial hatred and prejudice. Where then, is the necessity either in the South or anywhere else in America for this modern Ku Klux monstrosity? From a standpoint of necessity, neither the facts of history nor modern conditions offer the remotest excuse for its existence.

It is, however, the comparison of the _organization_ of the old Klan and the new which refutes absolutely the claim of the latter to any "genuineness" whatever. The "Prescript" of the old Klan reads: "The Grand Wizard shall be elected biennially by the Grand Dragons of Realms." In the secret const.i.tution of the new Klan it is provided that the Imperial Wizard shall hold his office for life, and can only be removed by the _unanimous_ vote of his hand-picked Imperial Kloncilium.

Another important and interesting comparison is that of the personalities of the two heads of the organizations. When the convention was held at Nashville, Tenn., in 1867, for the purpose of choosing a Grand Wizard, it selected Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most distinguished and capable officers in the late Confederate army, and recognized today among military students as one of the foremost cavalry leaders of all times.

General Forrest was selected for his ability, his integrity, his unselfish devotion to the Southern people, and his desire to aid them in a great crisis. A careful search of every available record fails to reveal that he ever received one penny as compensation for his labors, or that his office as Grand Wizard ever brought him any gifts, perquisites, or emoluments. His military t.i.tle was unimpeached, his last commission being that of lieutenant-general. He never called himself "Emperor," never signed any of his official orders as "His Majesty," and never a.s.sumed any of the t.i.tles or styles of royalty. He was a plain, una.s.suming soldier and gentleman, who, having a great task to perform, did his work gratuitously and from motives of patriotism only, and then, the work having been completed, disbanded his organization and retired.

What a marked contrast to the gallant Forrest is "Colonel" (?) William Joseph Simmons, Imperial Wizard, "Emperor" of the "Invisible Empire,"

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. I can find no record of any military service that gives him privilege to use the honorable t.i.tle of "Colonel,"

a t.i.tle that has been won by American soldiers by virtue of hard service in the army and by desperate deeds of valor on the field of battle. Where then did "His Majesty" get the right to use this military t.i.tle? According to the _Literary Digest_, "his friends bestowed it upon him."

Forrest, as far as can be ascertained, served his country for patriotism; "Emperor" Simmons, on the other hand, is promoting the cause of "pure Americanism" for cash. Prior to his elevation to the responsible position of "Emperor" of the whole United States he was, among other activities, a professor of history at Lanier College in the good state of Georgia. He is also said to have been a Methodist exhorter earlier in his career. So far as the general public is informed, the remuneration of professors in our colleges and universities, even the greatest, is not particularly high. As Lanier College is a small inst.i.tution that has had to struggle along in the face of more or less poor circ.u.mstances, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it is no exception to the general rule. In August, 1921, the newspapers reported that it had been taken over by the Ku Klux Klan, and that "Emperor" Simmons, "in addition to his other duties" would be its President. It is reasonably safe to say that the average income of "His Majesty" during his career as an educator could not have exceeded $2500 a year. Behold, however, the great change that comes with elevation to the Imperial Throne: "Friends of 'Colonel(?)' Simmons," at the Klonklave of the Klan which was held in Atlanta, in May, 1921, presented him with a $25,000 home on Peachtree Street--Atlanta's fashionable thoroughfare--together with handsome furniture.

In addition to this wonderful munificence of his "friends"--whoever they were--he is also paid a salary, which according to the "Emperor" himself is $1000 a month, and recently his hand-picked Kloncilium voted him $25,000 back pay. This stipend is augmented by the fact that the secret const.i.tution provides that the "Imperial Wizard" shall also be the "Supreme Kleagle," and that he shall be ent.i.tled to "appropriate to himself" the entire ten-dollar "donations" paid by any members he may choose to solicit. Since the ordinary garden variety of Kleagle, with only four dollars "rake-off," can make a very tidy sum by selling memberships, the reader can draw his own conclusions as to the possible selling ability of the chief monarch. There is also the Gate City Manufacturing Company with its enormous revenue from the sale of robes, the Searchlight Publishing Company, the Clarke Realty Company, and Lanier College, which are interlocking corporations or business concerns conducted by persons connected with the Ku Klux Klan. Where the revenue derived from these enterprises goes has not been reported in the newspapers. The only thing made public in connection with them was the statement that the "Emperor"

had been elected President of Lanier College. College presidents are usually paid salaries. When one thinks of the unpaid Forrest and the trying problems he solved, one can scarcely suppress a feeling of disgust in the effrontery of this man of modern times, who declares that this "is the genuine original Klan," and that he is engaged in the work of "pure Americanism." Why, the man doesn't know what pure Americanism is!

The most important differentiation, however, between the old Ku Klux Klan and its spurious successor is the character of their membership. It will be recalled upon a study of both systems that in each candidates were required to answer satisfactorily ten qualifying interrogatories before being finally accepted for membership. Let us compare these together.

ORIGINAL KLAN MODERN KLAN

"1. Have you ever been "1. Is the motive prompting rejected, upon application your ambition to be a Klansman for membership in * * * serious and unselfish?

or have you ever been expelled from the same?

"2. Are you now, or have "2. Are you a native born, you ever been, a member white, Gentile American of the Radical Republican citizen?

Party, or either of the organizations known as the Loyal League and the Grand Army of the Republic?

"3. Are you opposed to the "3. Are you absolutely opposed principles of the Radical to and free of any allegiance Party, and to the Loyal of any government, people, sect League, and the Grand Army or ruler that is foreign to the of the Republic, so far as United States of America?

you are informed of the character and purposes of these organizations?

"4. Did you belong to the "4. Do you believe in the tenets Federal Army during the late of the Christian religion?

war, and fight against the South during the existence of the same?

"5. Are you opposed to negro "5. Do you esteem the United equality, both social and States of America and its political? inst.i.tutions above any other government, civil, political or ecclesiastical in the whole world?

"6. Are you in favor of a "6. Will you, without mental white man's government in reservation, take a solemn this country? oath to defend, preserve and enforce same?

"7. Are you in favor of "7. Do you believe in const.i.tutional liberty and clannishness, and will you a Government of equitable faithfully practice same laws instead of a Government towards Klansmen?

of violence and oppression?

"8. Are you in favor of "8. Do you believe in and maintaining the will you faithfully strive const.i.tutional rights of the for the eternal maintenance South? of white supremacy?

"9. Are you in favor of the "9. Will you faithfully obey re-enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the our const.i.tution and laws, white men of the South and and conform willingly to all the rest.i.tution of the our usages, requirements and Southern people to all their regulations?

rights, alike proprietary, civil and political?

"10. Do you believe in the "10. Can you be always depended inalienable right of on?"

self-preservation of the people against the exercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power?"

_From the Prescript of the _From the "Kloran."_ Original Klan._

A careful reading of these requisites for membership in the two organizations fails to show, except as to the matter of "white supremacy,"

that there is the remotest resemblance between them. Nowhere in the "Prescript" of the original Klan, or in any printed publication relating to it, can there be discovered any restriction whatever against the Jew, the Catholic, or the foreign-born American citizen. On the contrary, old men, who claim to have been members of the original movement, state that Jews, Catholics and foreigners were members. The fact that the modern movement is anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic and is opposed to the admission of foreign-born citizens of the country brands it _ipso facto_ as a historical fraud.

Another link in the chain of evidence against the modern organization lies in the provisions governing eligibility for membership. Article VII of the old "Prescript" reads:

"No one shall be presented for membership into the Order until he shall have first been recommended by some friend or intimate who is a member, to the Investigating Committee (which shall be composed of the Grand Cyclops, the Grand Magi, and the Grand Monk), and who shall have investigated his antecedents and his past and present standing and connections, and after such investigation, shall have p.r.o.nounced him competent and worthy to become a member."

It is here observed that in the selection of members the old Klan exercised the utmost care and scrutiny, and endeavored to throw around the organization every possible safeguard against the admission of undesirable characters. Even with precautions like those, men who were members of the Klan and left behind them written testimony declare that many men of bad character became connected with the order. How utterly different is the modern system with its indiscriminate solicitation of membership, with its advertising methods, its open and notorious canva.s.sing, and its selling campaigns by means of literature, letters, motion pictures, agents and speakers.

Also, as far as the records show, there was no propagation department in the old Klan, no system of Kleagles, King Kleagles, Goblins, or Imperial Kleagle. All that is a Simmons innovation, designed to gather in large sums of money from a large number of people, money that goes mostly into the pockets of paid workers whose chief interest in the "n.o.ble cause" is that of plunder and not of patriotism. The initiation fee of the old Klan was the paltry sum of one dollar. The new Klan, in its great piety and altruism denies that it has an initiation fee at all. It claims that "citizenship" in the "Invisible Empire" cannot be bought. Accordingly it requires that before attaining this delectable privilege, the "alien" must make a "donation" of ten dollars. A "donation" covers a mult.i.tude of sins.

Where a victim makes a free-will offering to a "n.o.ble cause" he can hardly claim afterwards that his money has been taken from him under false pretenses.

In August, 1921, it was announced that "the Invisible Empire" had amended its const.i.tution so that women would be eligible for membership. This is a further point of dissimilarity between the two organizations, for while women were of great a.s.sistance to the original Klansmen in making robes and in giving information, the more serious work was done by the actual members who were men. In announcing that women were to be admitted to membership the "Emperor" said:

"_First._ The influence of women over the youth of the land shapes the destiny of the nation, and it is in the cradles of the American homes where the principles and ideals of Americanism should first be instilled into the minds and hearts of the young. To the preservation of these principles the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is dedicated.

"_Second._ The loyalty of the women to the original Klan of the Reconstruction period convinces us that as members of the Klan today there will be equal loyalty and devotion to the fundamental principles underlying the Order.

"_Third._ We know women can keep a secret, because they made with their fingers 160,000 robes for members of the old Klan and not one of them ever disclosed the ident.i.ty of any man who wore one of those robes.

"It is through the influence of women today that we have some of the strongest men in the Order. And the time has come to give the women recognition and to allow them to partake of the honor and glory of membership in the organization."

In his statement, however, the "Emperor" failed to elucidate point Number Four, which was no doubt the princ.i.p.al incentive that caused the admission of women. Each lady Ku Klux will be required to donate ten dollars to the "n.o.ble cause," and the admission of women doubles the number of "prospects" to whom the Ku Klux "gold brick" can be peddled. It is doubtful if the effort to "work" this new field will prove successful, as the women of the South are more or less antagonistic to the movement. The Daughters of the Confederacy of Virginia, at a convention held in the spring of 1921, pa.s.sed a resolution condemning the organization, and asking the Virginia authorities to suppress it. It is hardly likely that the daughters of the women who "made with their fingers 160,000 robes for the old Klan" would care to become a.s.sociated with the Gate City Manufacturing Company, which is selling robes to all members at $6.50 a robe, with a handsome profit on the side. Women, as a rule, are good buyers, and it is hardly probable that they will look upon membership in the "Invisible Empire" as a bargain even at ten dollars. Women are also the chief supporters of the churches of the country, and it is doubtful if they would care to go through a "Naturalization" ceremony that is a blasphemous and sacriligious parody on the sacred and Holy rite of baptism.

Another point of comparison between the two organizations lies in the att.i.tude of the old Klan and the new in reference to allowing members to study their const.i.tutions. We find, in the case of the original Klan, the following edict:

"Every Grand Cyclops shall read, or cause to be read, this Prescript and these Edicts to his Den, at least once in every month; and shall read them to each new member when he is initiated, or present the same to him for his personal perusal."

Here we have openness, frankness, and a disposition to take every member into the confidence of the Order, so that each Klansman, at all times, would have an opportunity to study and to understand the laws of the organization under which he was working. During the time I was an active member and worker in the modern Ku Klux Klan, the const.i.tution was a secret doc.u.ment. Members under me repeatedly asked for a copy of it, and I transmitted their requests to my immediate superior who could not comply with it for the reason that he had never seen a copy of it himself. It was only after he had served as King Kleagle of Tennessee for six months that he was permitted to have one copy for which he had to give an iron-clad receipt. I was allowed to glance through the booklet comprising the doc.u.ment, which afforded me the opportunity of noting a few salient points, but this happened just as I was leaving the work. The officials of the organization dare not permit the booklet I saw to be generally circulated among their members.

As a final comparison of the two organizations it is interesting to note that the leader of the old Klan recognized that it was brought into being for the accomplishment of a specific, a definite and a concrete purpose.

It fulfilled its mission, and as soon as it became evident that this was the case General Forrest ordered its disbandment. He stated that with the courts properly functioning and the government properly established, there was no longer any need for the Klan's existence. The new Klan, on the other hand, aside from taking money away from the public, has not made any public statement as to its real intentions. In some of the p.r.o.nouncements printed in the official organ, there is an indication that the "citizens"

of the "Invisible Empire" generally understand that the movement has a definite national mission. It is a matter of serious conjecture as to what kind of mission a secret, military, "Invisible Empire" can have in the United States. That there is no intention of disbanding the organization is evident by the fact that every attack made upon the system has so far resulted in a redoubling of efforts by the propagation agents. Statements reiterating the idea of "pure Americanism" and giving expression to high-sounding and sanctimonious plat.i.tudes come in unending streams from the pen of the "Emperor," who brazenly insists that his organization intends to enforce law and order.

The old Ku Klux Klan has a very deep place in the hearts of the Southern people, and it holds the added glamour of being an organization about which little was known by the public up to a few years ago. Knowing this feeling, the promoters of the modern organization have worked overtime upon the sympathies of the South in fostering an entirely different proposition. No matter what may be the ultimate objects of this organization, its claims to "genuineness" are fraudulent. Some of the leading men of the South and most of the newspapers have detected the fraud, but a great many unthinking men have joined the new movement under the impression that they were becoming members of the old organization.

These men, when they have learned the truth, and have taken the trouble to study for themselves what I have discovered, will, I believe, withdraw from the organization and denounce it for what it is--an historical fraud.

CHAPTER XIII

LAWLESSNESS AND CRIME

Before presenting, for the thoughtful consideration of the reader, the facts to be set forth in this chapter, I submit for comparison certain portions of the Const.i.tution of the United States, and the concluding portion of the "oath of allegiance" of the "Invisible Empire," Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.