Henry P. Fry

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 noble 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 damn 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 class fanatic; the negro; the Jap 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 nobler 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:

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

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:

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 classification of the white Catholic and the white Jew with the negro, a classification 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 principally 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 Japanese. 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 illustrated in the following description of a lecture:

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:

The “News-letter” of June 10, 1921, shows a still more sinister situation. The Exalted Cyclops of Norfolk, Virginia, writes:

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 classed 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:

These “News-letters” are valuable as showing the mental attitude 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 assisting 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 identities. 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 Constitution 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 class and they cannot be enforced by a class.

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 institution 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.