The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 5

The following letter from Grand Goblin Crippen, of St. Louis is of interest:

"I am glad to report that word comes from the Realm of Kansas that a Ku Klux flying squadron has been formed in that State, and I would also advise that several Klansmen are getting together a large group of musicians who, they claim, will const.i.tute one of the largest and best bra.s.s bands in America, to be known as the Ku Klux Band."

The "News-letter" of May 27 reveals their claim that Ku Kluxism is making strong headway outside of the Southern States. I quote at length from it as follows:

"Additional proof that the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is being welcomed with enthusiasm by the rank and file of one hundred per cent American citizens wherever our representatives go is found in the report of Hugh B. Cobb, one of the Imperial Officers, who has just returned from a trip to Missouri and other States in that territory.

"Mr. Cobb went to Joplin, Mo., especially to deliver an address by invitation of the Joplin Klan. He says he found interest in Klankraft running high and the members of the organization there are among the highest type of citizens. On his return to Atlanta, Mr. Cobb spent one day with Grand Goblin Crippen in St. Louis. He was greatly pleased with Klansman Crippen and the work he is doing for the organization.

"'It is an inspiration to see the cla.s.s of citizens who are knocking at the outer door and applying for citizenship in the Invisible Empire,' said Mr. Cobb. 'The best publicity or propaganda our organization can have is the criticism of its enemies. No real American citizen is deceived for long, if at all, by these critics, because when he finds out who they are the first question he naturally asks is: Why are they criticizing? And if he has any brains at all it doesn't take him long to find out.'

"Mr. Cobb's report is indeed very encouraging since it deals with the progress we are making in territory outside of the South. The red-blooded American men of the North and West are accepting the Ku Klux Klan as an American inst.i.tution, because it is such, and because it is the _only_ one hundred per cent American organization in the whole United States. Think it over.

"Another convincing proof that the Klan is taking hold is found in the fact that our enemies are so rapidly attacking us. We mean something to them apparently, although they scoffed at us in the beginning. There is very little scoffing going on at the present time, but there is considerable gnashing of teeth. We are glad to say, however, that the bulk of the opposition with which we are meeting now comes from those from whom we naturally would expect opposition and with whom it is impossible for the Ku Klux Klan ever to have anything in common.

"At the outset we were opposed by many newspapers who had no idea of our real aims and purposes. _They accepted the word of negro a.s.sociations and Catholics, Jews and other foreigners that we were a lawless gang and criticized us accordingly._"

There is considerable food for thought in the above extract. In the first place I have never heard, in an experience of nearly twenty years, of a fraternal order sending out a communication in which it designated the outside public or any part of it as "enemies."

It will be noted in several of the "News-letters" that one of the points I am trying to bring out in my argument is confirmed. It is the cla.s.sification of the white Catholic and the white Jew with the negro, a cla.s.sification that can have but one inevitable effect--the creating of discord and dissension among members of the white race.

The last "News-letter" I have read was the one dated June 25. It was read at a meeting I attended in Chattanooga, and was descriptive princ.i.p.ally of the work being done on the Pacific Coast by Grand Goblin Coburn, who has charge of that Domain. The report indicated that a vigorous propagation campaign was going on in California and that people were eagerly joining the Ku Klux Klan in response to its appeal for membership on the ground of "white supremacy" over the j.a.panese. I fully believe that the Pacific Coast will become one of the strongholds of Ku Kluxism, and would not be surprised at any time to read in the newspapers of some surface manifestations of the agitation of the race question. That a movement managed in Atlanta, Ga., has no business meddling in the international affairs of this country is so obvious that it is quite unnecessary to comment further upon it.

The manner in which applications for membership are solicited in connection with the work of the official lecturers is ill.u.s.trated in the following description of a lecture:

"At the regular meeting of the Newport News Klan No. 8, Realm of Virginia, held in its Klavern, Monday, May 30, a resolution was introduced and pa.s.sed by unanimous vote that Your Majesty be requested if possible to return Col. J. Q. Nolan to Newport News at a future date to deliver another address. Colonel Nolan spoke at the Imperial Theater with a seating capacity of eight hundred with the standing room only sign displayed before he even began speaking.

There were fully as many turned away as were able to hear him. If possible to have him return we will secure the Academy of Music for his address and we can promise him a packed house. Colonel Nolan won the hearts of all who heard him and the request for his return comes not only from Klansmen but from men and women from all walks of life.

At the meeting following Colonel's Nolan's address, ninety-one applications were presented and interest has been aroused to fever heat here. If it can be made possible for Colonel Nolan to return, please have him do so. At the same time we would like to extend a warm personal invitation to Your Majesty to come with Colonel Nolan, for Newport News and our Klan would feel it an honor indeed to entertain Your Majesty."

Several of the "News-letters" support my claim that the organization is endeavoring to throw its coils around all public officers. This is seen for instance in the letter of May 20, 1921, which reads:

"You may state in your weekly letter that in one city in Virginia we have the chief of police, the commonwealth attorney, the postmaster, the police court judge, members of the city council and the managing editor of the leading paper and many other prominent business and professional men. This is Newport News."

The "News-letter" of June 10, 1921, shows a still more sinister situation.

The Exalted Cyclops of Norfolk, Virginia, writes:

"We have just taken in the chief of police. He is a fine up-standing fellow, a major in the World War. We had a hard time getting information regarding him, but when we found that he was eligible we had no trouble enlisting him in our ranks and when he was initiated you never saw such a pleased fellow; he radiated it, and when he learned he was to have our support in upholding the law he was certainly pleased, especially with our military organization, which we offered him in case of trouble. He then informed us that the city is insufficiently protected and that we are sitting on a volcano regarding the negro question, that there is a great deal of unrest among them and that we might have a riot at any time and he was very much worried. He told us that not many months ago there was a riot in the negro district, caused by negro soldiers attacking a district police station to release a negro prisoner, but it never got into the papers--so it was news to all of us. He welcomed us and the military company is to be trained and two hundred and sixty repeating rifles will be turned over to us in time of trouble. I asked how many in the three hundred present at the meeting would be willing to join the organization to a.s.sist the chief, and every one of them stood up. How is that for one hundred per cent Americanism? They were told they might have to sacrifice their lives in case of trouble, but they did not flinch at duty. The chief of police states that any man we select to head these two hundred and sixty Klansmen will be made by him a.s.sistant director of public safety in charge of these Klansmen."

Imperial Kleagle Clarke, commenting on the above communication, states: "We call that almighty fine. The Norfolk Klan is working along the right line and deserves to be highly commended for the steps it has taken in enforcement of the law and preservation of order."

An examination of the Norfolk communication reveals some interesting points. In the first place the author of the letter says: "We had a hard time getting information regarding him, but when we found that he was eligible we had no trouble enlisting him in our ranks." In other words, some of the best and most efficient police officers in the United States are Irish-Catholics, and since, according to the Ku Klux Klan, they are foreigners and to be cla.s.sed with the negro, it is highly important, first of all, to ascertain the religion of the chief of police. As he probably is not an active churchgoer this task was rather difficult, but when he was found to be a Protestant, he was eagerly sought after. Now that the chief has taken the oath of allegiance to the "Invisible Empire," and has surrounded himself with his two hundred and sixty Ku Kluxes, I would not give much for the chances of a Catholic to get on the Norfolk police force. It is also interesting to read the fact that this particular Klan states that it is military, and that a military company will be trained and drilled, and that rifles will be issued to this secret organization.

If this is a straw indicating the way in which the Ku Klux wind is blowing, it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the course of time there will be a gigantic, secret, national organization drilled as soldiers, and under the autocratic command of the "Emperor of the Invisible Empire."

The "News-letter" above quoted again makes an extract from the report of the Exalted Cyclops of the Norfolk Klan, which is really more dangerous to the United States than the one previously discussed. It is more dangerous for the reason that it reflects the insane light of religious fervor and fanaticism in connection with this movement, and shows how the attempt of Simmons to build a secret Empire on the religious idea is bearing its fruit. I bespeak for this effusion a careful reading:

"I did not think it possible that my enthusiasm for our n.o.ble order could be increased, but your letter of the fourteenth instant, has filled me with added inspiration. Having been offered an opportunity for service in the field in Missouri, I am resigning my position with the government here and hope soon to be among the chosen disciples of our great Emperor proclaiming his inspired doctrine of new freedom to the world. Beyond the simple office of treasurer in my home county I have never sought public honors nor craved political preference, but in the glorious work of this G.o.d-inspired order every ounce of my energy will strive for excellence. I shall never seek the honor or preferment of office except wherein I may contribute to the honor and preferment of my Klan. My fellow Klansmen have here seen fit to confer upon me the highest honor within their power, and G.o.d being my witness, I would not barter it for any other honor that life may hold. My only consolation in leaving my faithful Klan for a time is that I may aid in the promulgation of the glorious inst.i.tutions of freedom which my sons battled for beneath the Stars and Stripes for which I have pledged my blood beneath the flaming symbol of an unconquered race of men."

These "News-letters" are valuable as showing the mental att.i.tude of the workers and members of the Ku Klux Klan. They show that wherever it is possible the national organization desires to throw its net around the officers of the law, and enroll them in the system. Under the guise of a.s.sisting the authorities to enforce the law this is done, and to my personal knowledge many conscientious and capable officers of the law believe that the idea is a good one. At the same time it is an alarming situation when police officers and sheriffs who have already taken one oath to the States in which they reside, take another--a vicious and illegal obligation--to an "Invisible Empire," ruled autocratically by one man who has in mind plans he does not reveal to his followers. What is to happen when the chief of police of a city swears to obey "unconditionally"

all laws, regulations, decrees and edicts of the Ku Klux Klan "which have been or which may be hereafter enacted."

Whatever excuse the original Ku Klux Klan may have had for its existence, it is impossible to conceive any situation arising in this country at the present time that calls for any extra-judicial organization, functioning in secret, and composed of men wearing robes and masks to conceal their ident.i.ties. And along this line, I want to call attention to a historical fact. The original Klan was organized and functioned at a time when the courts and law-enforcing machinery of the South were paralyzed, but, as soon as the courts began to administer justice, General Forrest, the Grand Wizard, of the Ku Klux Klan, issued an order disbanding the organization on the ground that it was no longer needed. Surely, if the original Klan, having functioned as an enormous "vigilance committee" in several States, found that its services were not required, what real excuse can be advanced for the continuance of an extra-judicial organization in these days of ample courts, able officers of the law and the administration of justice? It seems to me that there are more than enough law-enforcement agencies in the United States.

If the system of judicature in the United States is so helpless that a secret, masked, "Invisible Empire" is necessary to enforce the law, then the cold truth is that the Federal and State governments are abject failures. This then, being the case, it should be the duty of the people to devise ways and means to create and maintain a new system. In the face of the fact that this country has grown from a few small colonies to one of the greatest of world powers, and that the Const.i.tution of the United States has been the basic law under which this has been done, and that our system of law enforcement is entirely adequate, the attempt on the part of any organization whatever to take upon itself the enforcement of the law is a piece of presumptuous impudence. All laws are made and enforced by representatives of the whole people. They are not enacted by or for the benefit of a cla.s.s and they cannot be enforced by a cla.s.s.

The "News-letters" also indicate that the teachings of Simmons are taking firm root in the minds of the religious element of the country. While I may be disputed on this point, I believe, from my observations in various sections of the country which I have visited, that the people of the South as a whole take their churches and their religions more seriously than do people elsewhere. The whole structure of modern Ku Kluxism is an attempt to clothe its real purposes and intentions in the garb of the backwoods religious revival. Its ritualism is of the camp-meeting order, and all its ceremonies, as I shall show later, tend to awaken the emotions of provincial Protestantism. History has shown in numerous instances that where this religious fervor is aroused, it produces a blind fanaticism that is one of the most dangerous forces in the body politic when it is turned loose. The inability of the fanatic to differentiate between the political activities of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and the Roman Catholic Church as a great religious inst.i.tution is one of the greatest menaces of the Ku Klux movement.

The "News-letters" show further that already the fanatical "citizens" of the "Invisible Empire" are catching hold of the idea of autocracy, and that the "subjects" are addressing their rulers as "Your Majesty."

Were the situation not so serious and of such vital moment to the American people, this "Empire" of Ku Kluxism would be one of the greatest pieces of humor ever perpetrated upon the American public.

CHAPTER VI

THE KU KLUX OATH

In the printed literature of the "Invisible Empire," it is stated that those who cannot a.s.sume a "real oath," with serious determination to keep same inviolate, are not desired in the ranks of Ku Kluxism. There is no doubt whatever that "Emperor" Simmons, who probably wrote the oath, has produced a "real oath."

In making a critical a.n.a.lysis of the oath, I shall first reproduce it in its entirety, and then take it up in sections and show my viewpoint. If this oath is not a dangerous doc.u.ment and likely to imbue people with the spirit of taking the law into their own hands, then a considerable portion of my contention against the Ku Klux Klan must necessarily fail. My case against Ku Kluxism rests to a large extent upon the potential danger to the country from an absolutely secret organization, bound together by this oath, under the sole domination of one man, and likely at any time to draw into its ranks men with no regard for anything but the Ku Klux law.

The oath is printed separately from the ritual, and the name "Ku Klux Klan" does not appear in it. In places where the name is spoken there are asterisks. The doc.u.ment consists of three printed pages bound together, and, for the convenience of the person administering it, is broken up into phrases separated by dashes. I am giving it here properly punctuated so that the reader can more easily grasp its significance. It is supposed to be administered in sections, sandwiched in between the verbose and long-winded effusions of "Emperor" Simmons as contained in the ritual.

When the work is conferred by a full-degree team, it is given in "long form" and the procedure follows the order laid down in the ritual. Most of the Kleagles, however, put on the ceremony of "naturalization" alone, using the short form, in which case the oath is administered all at once.

In the present mad scramble for commissions on the "donations," the Kleagles administer the obligation at any time and place that suits the convenience of the "alien" with the ten dollars, and Ku Kluxes are manufactured on the "pay-as-you-enter" style in stores, factories, banks, physicians' offices and any other place where there is freedom from intrusion. One enthusiastic Kleagle wrote to the home office that he had arisen from his bed one night after midnight, and clad in his pajamas had administered the obligation to a "worthy alien," whose ten dollars burned so badly in his pocket that he could not wait until daylight to be separated from his money.

The obligation, consisting of four sections, reads as follows:

"SECTION I. OBEDIENCE.

"(You will say) 'I' (p.r.o.nounce your full name--and repeat after me)--'In the presence of G.o.d and man most solemnly pledge, promise, and swear, unconditionally, that I will faithfully obey the Const.i.tution and laws; and will willingly conform to all regulations, usages, and requirements of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which do now exist or which may be hereafter enacted; and will render at all times loyal respect and steadfast support to the Imperial Authority of same; and will heartily heed all official mandates, decrees, edicts, rulings, and instructions of the Imperial Wizard thereof. I will yield prompt response to all summonses, I having knowledge of same, Providence alone preventing.

"SECTION II. SECRECY.

"I most solemnly swear that I will forever keep sacredly secret the signs, words, and grip; and any and all other matters and knowledge of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, regarding which a most rigid secrecy must be maintained, which may at any time be communicated to me and will never divulge same nor even cause the same to be divulged to any person in the whole world, unless I know positively that such person is a member of this Order in good and regular standing, and not even then unless it be for the best interest of this Order.

"I most sacredly vow and most positively swear that I will not yield to bribe, flattery, threats, pa.s.sion, punishment, persuasion, nor any enticements whatever coming from or offered by any person or persons, male or female, for the purpose of obtaining from me a secret or secret information of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. I will die rather than divulge same. So help me, G.o.d. AMEN!

"SECTION III. FIDELITY.

"(You will say) 'I' (p.r.o.nounce your full name--and repeat after me)--'Before G.o.d, and in the presence of these mysterious Klansmen, on my sacred honor, do most solemnly and sincerely pledge, promise, and swear that I will diligently guard, and faithfully foster every interest of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and will maintain its social cast and dignity.

"I swear that I will not recommend any person for membership in this order whose mind is unsound, or whose reputation I know to be bad, or whose character is doubtful or whose loyalty to our country is in any way questionable.

"I swear that I will pay promptly all just and legal demands made upon me to defray the expenses of my Klan and this Order, when same are due or called for.

"I swear that I will protect the property of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, of any nature whatsoever; and if any should be intrusted to my keeping, I will properly keep or rightly use same; and will freely and promptly surrender same on official demand, or if ever I am banished from or voluntarily discontinue my membership in this Order.