The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 8

The Exalted Cyclops then instructs the newly-made Klansman in the Countersign and Pa.s.sword, which at the present time are the words "White,"

and "Supremacy." The citizen is then solemnly instructed in the "MIOAK,"

or the Mystical Insignia of a Klansman, which is a cheap little celluloid b.u.t.ton that is supposed to be the real innermost secret of Ku Kluxism. The MIOAK is red in color, and contains the letters KOTOP, with a square, and an extended open hand, and const.i.tutes the emblem of the Klan. No explanation of the real meaning of the mystic words has ever been given, although the Kleagles generally tell their victims that it stands for "Knights of the Open Palm," a designation arising no doubt from the eagerness with which the open palm of the Kleagle is extended to receive the ten dollar "donations" so necessary in the manufacture of "citizens"

from the "alien" raw material. The word Kotop is also used as a hailing word, its answer being "Potok," a reversal of the previous word. This is followed by the presentation of "Imperial Instructions," which is a booklet, "The Practice of Klanishness," containing many pages of the same wordy stuff with which the ritual is filled. This book enjoins the members to stick together in all things, but more especially to render at all times the greatest respect to the "Emperor" who is working day and night for the "cause," and for whom the "cause" is also working.

There is a long-winded, verbose and ridiculous "lecture" at the end of the "Kloran" that endeavors to give a history of the original Ku Klux Klan.

In the last two pages of the "Kloran" are to be found "t.i.tles and explanations" of the various officers and subdivisions of the "Invisible Empire," which have no importance to the general reader. It might be interesting, however, to note with what modesty "Emperor" Simmons speaks of himself when he writes:

"IMPERIAL WIZARD--The Emperor of the Invisible Empire; a wise man; a wonder-worker, having power to charm and control."

CHAPTER VIII

ANTI-NEGRO PROPAGANDA

I am a white man.

I believe that the United States is a white man's country.

By all the instincts and traditions of my race, I believe that the United States having been created by white men will be ruled by white men. I do not believe that this doctrine applies merely to Tennessee and the rest of the Southern States, but to the entire country. In spite of innumerable criticisms hurled against the South in its handling of the negro, the entire country is gradually beginning to see that the South is right, because the South has demonstrated that the white race and the black race can live side by side and work side by side without friction. In cases where there is friction, the cause does not come from the best leadership of the South, as will be shown later on.

Experience has shown that the two races get along better when they are segregated. I expect to live to see the day when the people of the North provide separate schools for white and negro children, when negroes will not be elected to public office by white votes, and when politicians who cater to negro votes are sent to political oblivion. That such a condition will exist, I feel sure, but it will not be brought about by such organizations as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It will come through an enlightenment of public opinion.

The activities of the Ku Klux Klan along the lines of race prejudice are the activities of the "professional Southerner," the political demagogue, and the sentiment of the "poor white" of the South. They are typical of the political spirit that has kept the South in bondage for thirty years, a spirit that has sent mediocre politicians to Congress and to other high offices, while abler men were shoved into the background.

The professional negro-baiter of the South has been greatly a.s.sisted by white people and negroes in the North, and I believe that the most valuable propaganda work for the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan which has been done along racial lines has been that of Senator Boies Penrose, of Pennsylvania. If Senator Penrose had been on the pay-roll of the Ku Klux Klan, and had been completely wrapped up in the success of the movement, he could not have secured more members than he did by issuing a statement to his negro const.i.tuents that the time had come to accord complete equality to the negro race. Of course Senator Penrose did not mean any such thing, but a public statement that he favored an equal rights' bill then pending at Harrisburg was a pleasant sop to the negro voters of Philadelphia who immediately saw visions of the dining room of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and the Adelphia. The fact that the members of the Pennsylvania legislature quickly and very quietly choked the bill to death showed the real sentiment of the white people of the State. The result in the South, however, was highly inflammatory. Carried by the a.s.sociated Press to every paper, its effect upon the minds of the people, especially the ignorant and uneducated, was like pouring gasoline on a hot stove. I am told that the enrollments of the Klan in the States comprising the "Black Belt" jumped by leaps and bounds, indicating that the ambitious Kleagles, looking for their four dollars a head, worked overtime in the use of the Penrose article.

Another piece of political clap-trap that aided the Ku Klux organizers was the action of the Speaker of the House, in the New Jersey legislature, in permitting a negro to occupy the speaker's chair during part of the last session. This was duly featured in the newspapers, and the Ku Klux Klan's workers very promptly asked the question: "Do you want this sort of thing to happen again in the South?" The answer came back most emphatically, "We do not." "Then give me your ten dollars and sign here," the organizer would reply. If there is a negro in the legislature of New Jersey, he was elected by white voters.

The periodical attempt of fanatical members of Congress to reduce the South's representation in that body on the ground that the negro is not permitted to vote have generally been featured in the newspapers, and much capital made of them by demagogic politicians. These things have aided the campaign of the Klan.

Another powerful recruiting force for the Ku Klux organization is the National a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, not "colored people" but "peoples," meaning no doubt people of all races except the white race. This organization through its press agency has issued statement after statement that has been eagerly taken up by the few papers that openly advocate Ku Kluxism, and used as effective propaganda in securing more members.

An examination of the list of field workers of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan throughout the United States reveals the fact that strong propaganda work is being carried on in cities where there is a large negro population. In New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis are active and aggressive headquarters from which encouraging reports come to the Atlantic headquarters.

As a general proposition, I believe that the very existence of a secret organization bearing the name Ku Klux is having an effect of promoting unrest among the entire negro population of the South. While the negro cuts but little figure in the section in which I was working, I learned from published reports and from conversations with newspaper men that there was a feeling of great uneasiness among the Knoxville negroes due to the activities of the Klan. In Chattanooga, where, on account of its anti-Catholic propaganda, the Klan is making strong headway, I found that the racial situation was more accentuated. Chattanooga is a large and important manufacturing center, and many of the big plants employ negro labor. A negro workman possessing the skill and ability requisite to hold his position can work at his trade in Chattanooga, and as a general rule the laboring cla.s.ses of the negro race are industrious, contented, prosperous and happy. In talking, with men closely identified with the manufacturing interests, I learned that the feeling of discontent and unrest is taking the place of the negro's former att.i.tude, and that should the Klan succeed in gaining a substantial foothold it will mean the emigration of large numbers of negro laborers to Northern States, a thing that will seriously cripple the industrial life of the city. I found that the Chattanooga manufacturers, almost to a man, were absolutely opposed to the idea of having a Ku Klux Klan in the city.

All thinking men agree that the race question in the United States is one of the most ominous in the entire country. All right thinking people desire it settled peacefully and in a way that will not disturb the economic and industrial situation. I believe that, if left alone, the negro will work out his own salvation. The history of the South for the past fifty years shows that the negro has been a most important factor in the development and upbuilding of the section.

My experience and observations on the race question has convinced me that in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, where friction, serious or trivial, has occurred between the white and negro races, it has been due to the lower cla.s.ses of the two races. Between the better-cla.s.s white men and the better-cla.s.s negro, there is, always has been, and always will be the best of feeling. I often have had Northern people say to me: "You Southern people hate negroes!" I always hasten to correct the statement, by replying, "The best people of the South not only do not hate a negro but they hold him in high esteem. The better cla.s.s of Southern white man is the best friend the negro race has in this country today." The "hatred," if such is the word, exists between the low-cla.s.s negro and the low-cla.s.s white man, and if it were possible to a.n.a.lyze the real cause of the racial disorders in the country, it would probably be found that they are due to bad white men, bad negroes and bad whiskey.

While I make no charge that the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan have taken any part in them, it is a fact, nevertheless, that since this organization was started, there have been an abnormal number of instances of interracial friction. In the State of Georgia, where the Klan is probably strongest, there has been case after case of disorder. It seems to me that as an organization designed to aid the authorities in the enforcement of "law and order," the Ku Klux Klan has utterly failed to prevent these occurrences. If the Klan is capable of sustaining the arms of the law, why has it not done so in the State of Georgia?

Early in the summer of 1921, the whole country was shocked at the outbreak of a race riot in Tulsa, Okla., when an entire community was plunged into bloodshed and a vast amount of property destroyed. From the published accounts of the riot, it started from the most trivial cause imaginable, and in a short time white men and negroes were arrayed against each other in regular pitched battle. In examining the list of field workers of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, it is noticeable that there is a large force of Kleagles at work in the State of Oklahoma, and the presumption is that there is a Klan of Ku Kluxes in existence at Tulsa. Why did not the Klan rally to the support of the authorities and "enforce law and order?" The enforcement of law and order consists of stopping riot. Why was the riot not stopped? In this connection, I heard the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Chattanooga, where I attended a large meeting shortly before resigning, make the statement that several weeks prior to the outbreak of the Tulsa riot he had been informed by a travelling man, also a Ku Klux, that a clash between the races was likely to occur within a short time. If this condition was a true one, why were the authorities and their valuable aids and abettors, the Ku Klux Klan, not prepared to stop it?

A great bugaboo that is constantly harped upon by the professional Southerner and by the Ku Klux organizer is the cry of "social equality"

likely to be forced upon the white people by the negro. This argument appeals to the ignorant white man, but the intelligent man knows that social equality between any races or people is a myth. There is no such thing as social equality between members of the white race. Social equality is a matter of opinion only, for while I might think that I am superior to a person, that same person might think that he is superior to me. Society is split into strata made up largely through community of interest, and congeniality of ideas and thoughts. The man whose sole thought in life is the acc.u.mulation of money regards only his own kind as his equal; the social b.u.t.terfly skilled in the arts of polite society looks with horror upon the "impossible" person who is not; the scholar seeks solace and equality among people of brains; and the philosopher, looking at the whole human race with its follies and foibles, winks at his brother philosopher and laughs at all of them. When such a thing as equality exists between the members of the white race, then, and not until then, will it ever become necessary seriously to consider the matter of social equality between the white and black races.

While I believe in the principles of a white man's country and a white man's government, I believe that the negro is as much ent.i.tled to his life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as I am, and that he should be afforded all the protection that the courts and laws of the country can give him. I have seen cases tried in the South where negroes have been convicted of crime on evidence which, if presented against a white man, would be thrown out of court. Such cases are, however, uncommon, as I believe the average officer of the law in the South is usually fair and square in his treatment of the negro race.

The only way, in my judgment, that the race question will ever be successfully handled in the South, is by the promotion of better feeling among the high-cla.s.s men of both races, and then have these men work on the lower cla.s.ses. Let the leaders of the negro race take a strong stand in opposition to the vicious negro, whose crimes against women and children have done much toward placing the ban upon the negro as a whole; and let the leaders of the white race cast aside the demagogue and impress upon the lower-cla.s.s white man that because his skin is white is no excuse for the exercise of brutality toward the negro. Let the proposition be sunk home that a white rough-neck, because his skin is white, has no warrant to ride roughshod over a decent and law-abiding negro because the latter's skin happens to be black.

In the Northern States, while the better cla.s.s of negroes attend to their own business and conduct themselves well, the lower-cla.s.s negro should be taught the value of decent behavior and good manners in public. Many negroes, particularly the vicious element, come to the North, and imagine that the treatment with which they are accorded gives them the license to crowd into the street cars, and make themselves offensive generally to white people. The negro with good manners wins his way wherever he goes, but the noisy, pugnacious individual, but newly arrived from the country of the "Jim Crow" street car does much to bring his entire race into disrepute. At the risk of arousing the ire of my Ku Klux friends, I advance the thought that a man can be a gentleman and a woman can be a lady even if their skins are black; and that people who are white can be offensive and boorish.

I am in favor of wiping out of our national life any organization, agency or a.s.sociation that tends to stir up the race question in any manner, shape or form, and leaving the subject to take care of itself under the guidance of men in the South who are devoting their lives to the work. In the city of Atlanta, there is an organization known as the Interracial a.s.sociation headed by Rev. Ashby Jones, a Baptist minister, whose father, Rev. John William Jones was a chaplain in the Confederacy under General Lee. Men of the highest standing, including Dr. C. B. Wilmer, a well-known Episcopal minister of Atlanta, are in this movement, and I am informed that since they have commenced their activities, there has been a great deal of positive good accomplished in the elimination of discord between the white people and the negroes. On the other side, Doctor Moton, the head of the Tuskegee Inst.i.tute, founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington, is going up and down the South, preaching sane things to the negro and to the white men. The leadership of these men represents the best thought and the best effort of both races in the South. The leadership of William J.

Simmons and his Ku Klux Klan does not.

I think that the stirring up of the race question in the South, or elsewhere, for that matter, is at all times as dangerous as playing with dynamite, but the Ku Klux Klan has included in their propaganda against the negro its fight on the Catholics and Jews. While they do not specify in their ritual that this is the case, they imply it, and I have seen the actual propaganda as it is handled. The cla.s.sification of the white Catholic and Jew with the negro is a stupid blunder, if nothing else. It is stupid, because, in the event of trouble on an extensive scale stirred up by this organization or by its psychological effect on the country, it is splitting the white race into factions at a time when it should stand together.

As I shall show further on, in discussing the history and structure of the original Ku Klux Klan, there is absolutely no racial condition in the South or anywhere in America today that warrants the existence of such an organization. It is even worse than folly to make the religious element figure into questions touching a section where racial matters are always in the acute stage.

In order to swell its roster, and to bring under its banner of discord all the elements in the country which it thinks it can handle, Ku Kluxism is attempting to win the people of the Pacific Coast by putting forth the doctrine of "White Supremacy" in relation to the j.a.panese question. I have seen and heard read many reports from California indicating that the Kleagles on the coast are doing a land office business and that the people are "donating ten dollars" to the "n.o.ble cause" as rapidly as they can sign the pet.i.tion for citizenship. Without regard to the merits or demerits of the j.a.panese question, as it affects the people of California, there again creeps into the subject the discrimination against white men by cla.s.sing them as foreigners along with the j.a.panese. I know nothing of the industrial conditions of California, but I am quite sure that a portion of the prosperity and greatness of the State has been developed by Catholic and Jewish people.

As a general proposition Southern people are exceptionally capable of sympathizing with Californians in their peculiar racial problem, and would probably back them in every way that is legitimate, but the j.a.panese question is an international one, and should be and must be handled by the State department in Washington, and not by the "Emperor" of the "Invisible Empire" in Atlanta. The carrying on of a vigorous campaign for members of the Ku Klux Klan on the Pacific Coast is an infringement on the duties and prerogatives of the United States Government. If it is not stopped, it is likely to lead to unpleasant and dangerous international consequences.

CHAPTER IX

RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA

One of the strongest pieces of evidence that the Simmons monstrosity is not "the genuine original Klan," and that its claim to being "a monument to the Confederate soldier" is an insult to the cause headed by Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, is its propaganda of religious animosity and prejudice, which is directed specifically at Catholics and Jews. While it claims to be a great and "n.o.ble cause" for the "uplift" of humanity, the protection of womanhood, the enforcement of law and order and the maintenance of "white supremacy," I am firmly convinced that its fundamental idea is the creation of a secret political Empire for the purpose of totally eliminating Catholics and Jews from public life.

It is a rather surprising thing to me that a man who claims to have spent a part of his life as a professor of history in any college should be so strangely unfamiliar with the composition of the Southern Confederacy. I wonder if Simmons ever heard of Judah P. Benjamin! One of the foremost and ablest men in the cabinet of Mr. Davis was a Jew! I wonder if the Imperial Wizard and Emperor of the Invisible Empire ever looked into the military records of the Confederate Army and saw the large number of Jewish names, and if he knows that among some of the best and bravest soldiers the South ever had the Jew was very much in evidence. I wonder if Simmons ever heard of Pat Clebourne, the fighting Irishman who gave a good account of himself every time he went into action, or if he ever read the beautiful poems of Father Ryan, a Catholic priest who followed the Stars and Bars into the very jaws of h.e.l.l to comfort the wounded and administer to the dying.

There was scarcely a company of infantry, a troop of cavalry or battery of artillery, that did not have an Irish Catholic on its roster, and they soldiered and suffered and fought and died for the South along with their Protestant comrades. Yet, in the year 1915, is commenced the erection of a "monument to the Confederate soldier" in the shape of a secret, Jew-baiting, Catholic-baiting, Negro-hating, money-getting proposition that has the effrontery to call itself the name of the "Ku Klux Klan," and to presume with its white-robed and masked members, to interfere with the administration of justice in the United States.

Along the lines of anti-Catholicism, the organization is working hard.

Among the very first consignments of printed matter I received from "The Gate City Manufacturing Company" of Atlanta was a lot of cards, bearing no imprint, but asking several questions about the Catholic Church. The following is a copy:

"DO YOU KNOW?"

"That the pope is a political autocrat.

"That a secret treaty made by him started the war.

"That he is enthroned and crowned and makes treaties and sends and receives amba.s.sadors.

"That one hundred and sixteen princes of his government are enthroned in our cities.

"That he has courts here enforcing the canon law.

"That he controls the daily and magazine press.

"That he denounces popular government as inherently vicious.