“1. Is the motive prompting your ambition to be a Klansman serious and unselfish?“2. Are you a native born, white, Gentile American citizen?“3. Are you absolutely opposed to and free of any allegiance of any nature to any cause, government, people, sect or ruler that is foreign to the United States of America?“4. Do you believe in the tenets of the Christian religion?“5. Do you esteem the United States of America and its institutions above any other government, civil, political or ecclesiastical, in the whole world?“6. Will you, without mental reservation, take a solemn oath to defend, preserve and enforce same?“7. Do you believe in clanishness and will you faithfully practice same toward Klansmen?“8. Do you believe in and will you faithfully strive for the eternal maintenance of white supremacy?“9. Will you faithfully obey our constitution and laws, and conform willingly to all our usages, requirements and regulations?“10. Can you always be depended on?”
“1. Is the motive prompting your ambition to be a Klansman serious and unselfish?
“2. Are you a native born, white, Gentile American citizen?
“3. Are you absolutely opposed to and free of any allegiance of any nature to any cause, government, people, sect or ruler that is foreign to the United States of America?
“4. Do you believe in the tenets of the Christian religion?
“5. Do you esteem the United States of America and its institutions above any other government, civil, political or ecclesiastical, in the whole world?
“6. Will you, without mental reservation, take a solemn oath to defend, preserve and enforce same?
“7. Do you believe in clanishness and will you faithfully practice same toward Klansmen?
“8. Do you believe in and will you faithfully strive for the eternal maintenance of white supremacy?
“9. Will you faithfully obey our constitution and laws, and conform willingly to all our usages, requirements and regulations?
“10. Can you always be depended on?”
In the above questions, the references to the Jew and the negro are obvious. The third question, “Are you absolutely opposed to and free of any allegiance of any nature to any cause, government, sect, people or ruler that is foreign to the United States of America?” refers to the Catholic, in which the Pope is considered a foreign ruler, and the allegiance mentioned means spiritual allegiance as well as political. It will be seen later, upon studying the Prescript of the original Klan, that no such questions were asked of applicants for membership and no such restrictions imposed.
After the “alien” has satisfactorily answered the above ten questions, and has made his “donation,” the first two sections of the obligation are administered, after which follow many papers of tiresome conversation.
After walking the candidate several times around the “Klavern,” giving the various stationed officers the opportunity to spout forth “Simmonsese,” the “alien” is led to the Exalted Cyclops who addresses a long “charge” to him, admonishing him of the great seriousness of the organization, and offering him an opportunity to retire and proceed no further. This offer is very largely a “bluff,” because by this time the curiosity of the “alien” is at such a state that he would not think of retiring, and invariably he signifies that he desires to remain for the entire performance. There is more walking around, more verbose tommyrot, andthen the remainder of the oath is administered, and the candidate is ready for “naturalization.”
The “ceremony of naturalization” of the “Invisible Empire” is a sacrilegious parody on the holy rite of baptism, following a threat of death if the “alien” violated his obligation to “use any and all justifiable means and methods” to carry out the work of the political machine! There is no fraternal order in America which has ever dared to do this, and I look back upon the fact that I “baptized” a number of men, who ought to have known better, with a feeling of regret and humiliation.
After the “alien” has taken the entire obligation he is asked by the Exalted Cyclops: “Sir, have you assumed without mental reservation your Oath of Allegiance to the ‘Invisible Empire’”? The “alien” answers in the affirmative.
The Exalted Cyclops then warns him: “Mortal man cannot assume a more binding oath; character and courage alone will enable you to keep it. Always remember that to keep this oath means to you honor, happiness, and life; but to violate it means disgrace, dishonor anddeath. May happiness, honor and life be yours.”
Having been duly warned of death and dishonor, the “alien” is then led to the “sacred altar” where rests the American flag, upon which is the Holy Bible, opened at twelfth of—Romans—which Simmons says is his“spiritual charter”—and across the pages of the Word of God is a naked dagger, grim reminder of the preceding warning of the snake. The Exalted Cyclops raises a glass of water, and “dedicates” the “alien,” setting him apart from the men of his daily association to the lofty service of the “Invisible Empire.” He is then caused to kneel upon his right knee, and a parody on the beautiful hymn, “Just as I am Without One Plea,” is sung by those of the elect who can carry a tune. Behind the “sacred altar” burns the “fiery cross,” which is an upright piece of wood with a cross arm, in which are set burning candles. When the singing is concluded, the Exalted Cyclops advances to the candidate and after dedicating him further, pours water on his shoulder, his head, throws a few drops in the air, making his dedication “in body,” “in mind,” “in spirit,” and “in life.” Having thus sacrilegiously “baptized” the alien into the “Invisible Empire of Ku Kluxism,” the “Kludd,” the chaplain of the Klan—very often a minister of the gospel—steps forward and delivers a prayer to God to aid the candidate to keep his obligation, the idea being, no doubt, that if God cannot or will not prevent the “alien” from “keeping his mouth shut,” the dagger or the secret bullet of the Ku Klux will!
The “alien” is then formally received as a “citizen” of the “Invisible Empire,” in the name of the “Emperor,” and is entitled to allof the secret work of the organization, which is as tiresome and boring as the whole ritualistic twaddle. Most of this secret work is called the “Way of the Klavern,” and is unimportant. One of the most interesting things of the “work” is the salute that each Klansman is required to give the American flag placed on a stand in the center of the room. The same salute is given whenever addressing the chair. It is the old salute of the Confederate Army, made with the right hand over the right eye, then reversing the hand so that the palm is in front.
The excessive number of signs and symbols used by the “Invisible Empire” are of no importance, but it will be of interest to mention the “Klonversation” which is a system of code words, by which one Ku Klux can know another. These code words are composed of the first letters of words in a sentence, and are used as a dialogue, as follows:
Upon meeting a stranger whom he wishes to test, the Klansman says:
Ayak, meaning, Are You A Klansman? the answer being,Akia, A Klansman I Am.Capowe, Countersign And Password Or Written Evidence?Cygnar, Can You Give Number And Realm?No. 1,Atga, Number One Klan of Atlanta, Ga.Kygy, Klansman I Greet You.Itsub, In The Sacred Unfailing Bond.(They shake hands with the left hand)Klasp, Klannish Loyalty A Sacred Principle,Kabark, Konstantly Applied By All Regular Klansmen.
Ayak, meaning, Are You A Klansman? the answer being,
Akia, A Klansman I Am.
Capowe, Countersign And Password Or Written Evidence?
Cygnar, Can You Give Number And Realm?
No. 1,Atga, Number One Klan of Atlanta, Ga.
Kygy, Klansman I Greet You.
Itsub, In The Sacred Unfailing Bond.
(They shake hands with the left hand)
Klasp, Klannish Loyalty A Sacred Principle,
Kabark, Konstantly Applied By All Regular Klansmen.
The Exalted Cyclops then instructs the newly-made Klansman in the Countersign and Password, 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 button 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 constitutes 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 “titles 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.”
“Imperial Wizard—The Emperor of the Invisible Empire; a wise man; a wonder-worker, having power to charm and control.”
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 whenpoliticians 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 publicopinion.
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 assisted 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 constituents 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 equalrights’ 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 Associated 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 Association 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, Ilearned 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 classes 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 attitude, 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 negrowill 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 classes of the two races. Between the better-class white men and the better-class 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 class 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-class negro and the low-class white man, and if it were possible to analyze 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 probablystrongest, 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 aclash 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 accumulation of money regards only his own kind as his equal; the social butterfly 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 entitled 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-class men of both races, and then have these men work on the lower classes. 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-class white man that because his skin is white is no excuse for the exercise of brutality toward the negro. Letthe 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 class of negroes attend to their own business and conduct themselves well, the lower-class 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 association 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 anorganization known as the Interracial Association 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 Institute, 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 classification 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 extensivescale 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 Japanese 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 “noble cause” as rapidly as they can sign the petition for citizenship. Without regard to the merits or demerits of the Japanese question, as it affects the people of California, there again creeps into the subject the discrimination against white men by classing them as foreigners along with the Japanese. I know nothing of the industrial conditions of California, but I am quite sure that a portion ofthe 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 Japanese 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.
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 “noble 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 theInvisible 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 hell 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 ambassadors.“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.“That his canon law condemns public schools and forbids children to attend them.“That popery enthroned in great cities controls politics.“That our war industries were placed exclusively in Roman Catholic hands.“That no sectarian body or fraternal order but Knights of Columbus was permitted to do war-relief work in the army and navy.“That Roman Catholics compose one-sixth of our population and hold three-fourths of the public offices, being entrenched in national, state, and city governments throughout the country.“That they are pouring into our land as immigrants at the rate of two millions a year.“That Knights of Columbus declare they will make popery dominant in the United States.“Let us arouse the people and save our country as the beacon light of constitutional liberty and the hope of the world.”
“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 ambassadors.
“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.
“That his canon law condemns public schools and forbids children to attend them.
“That popery enthroned in great cities controls politics.
“That our war industries were placed exclusively in Roman Catholic hands.
“That no sectarian body or fraternal order but Knights of Columbus was permitted to do war-relief work in the army and navy.
“That Roman Catholics compose one-sixth of our population and hold three-fourths of the public offices, being entrenched in national, state, and city governments throughout the country.
“That they are pouring into our land as immigrants at the rate of two millions a year.
“That Knights of Columbus declare they will make popery dominant in the United States.
“Let us arouse the people and save our country as the beacon light of constitutional liberty and the hope of the world.”
Among the methods used by propagandists of the Ku Klux Klan in enlisting recruits by means of attacks on the Catholic Church is a certain bogus oath purporting to be the obligationassumed by members of the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus. This oath first made its appearance in this country in 1912, and was widely circulated by anti-Catholics. In 1913, in a contested election case involving a seat in Congress from Pennsylvania, Eugene C. Bonniwell, himself a Catholic, filed charges with a Congressional Committee that this alleged oath had been circulated by his opponent Thomas S. Butler, who denied that he had been responsible for such circulation and had urged his followers that they refrain from circulating the oath. Purely as a matter of a legal exhibit, a copy of this “oath” was ordered printed in the Congressional Record, February 15, 1913. The document as given in the Congressional Record reads as follows:
“KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS OATH. FOURTH DEGREE“I, — —— ———, now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the III, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness, the Pope, is Christ’s vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given his Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments and they may be safelydestroyed. Therefore to the utmost of my power, I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’s right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and the now pretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established in Ireland, and on the Continent of America and elsewhere, and all adherents in regard that they may be usurped and heretical opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome.“I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or State, named Protestant or Liberals, or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates, or officers.“I do further declare that the doctrine of the Churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same.“I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of His Holiness’s agents, in any place where I should be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise.“I do further promise and declare that, notwithstanding that I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propaganda of the Mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all her agents’ counsels from time to time, as they instruct me, and not divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or circumstances whatever, but to execute all that should be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred order.“I do further promise and declare that I will have no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver),but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.“That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions North, jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever is communicated to me.“I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crash their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same can not be done openly, I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.“In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever.“That I will in voting always vote for a K. of C. inpreference to a Protestant especially a Mason, and that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote accordingly.“That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics.“That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church, either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.“All of which, I, ——— ———, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which I am now to receive to perform and on part to keep this, my oath.“In testimony hereof, take this most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Eucharest and witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament.” (Excerpts from “Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell against Thos. S. Butler,” as appears in the Congressional Record —— house, Feb. 15, 1913, at pages 3215, etc., and ordered printed therein “by unanimous consent.” Attached thereto and printed (on page 3216) as a part of said report as above.)”
“KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS OATH. FOURTH DEGREE
“I, — —— ———, now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the III, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness, the Pope, is Christ’s vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given his Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments and they may be safelydestroyed. Therefore to the utmost of my power, I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’s right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and the now pretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established in Ireland, and on the Continent of America and elsewhere, and all adherents in regard that they may be usurped and heretical opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome.
“I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or State, named Protestant or Liberals, or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates, or officers.
“I do further declare that the doctrine of the Churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same.
“I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of His Holiness’s agents, in any place where I should be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise.
“I do further promise and declare that, notwithstanding that I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propaganda of the Mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all her agents’ counsels from time to time, as they instruct me, and not divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or circumstances whatever, but to execute all that should be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred order.
“I do further promise and declare that I will have no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver),but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.
“That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions North, jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever is communicated to me.
“I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crash their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same can not be done openly, I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.
“In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever.
“That I will in voting always vote for a K. of C. inpreference to a Protestant especially a Mason, and that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote accordingly.
“That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics.
“That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church, either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.
“All of which, I, ——— ———, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which I am now to receive to perform and on part to keep this, my oath.
“In testimony hereof, take this most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Eucharest and witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament.” (Excerpts from “Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell against Thos. S. Butler,” as appears in the Congressional Record —— house, Feb. 15, 1913, at pages 3215, etc., and ordered printed therein “by unanimous consent.” Attached thereto and printed (on page 3216) as a part of said report as above.)”
While I was engaged in the work as Kleagle of the “Invisible Empire,” I was given copies of this “oath” by four travelling men who had previously identified themselves to me as Klansmen, and was informed that it had been and was being widely circulated, not only in their home towns, but all through the South by workers in the Ku Klux cause. I had not previously seen this oath, and without investigating its authenticity permitted it to bereprinted and circulated in my territory, although the men who became members of the Klan under me did not attach any genuineness to the document. There was, therefore, but comparatively little use made of it in my territory, but I learned that in Knoxville and Chattanooga it was freely and industriously circulated. Among the ignorant classes of people, I learned, the oath was accepted as genuine, and was the means of securing a large number of members for Ku Kluxism. In Chattanooga, in May, 1921, the convention of the Southern Baptists was held, and as a great many speeches were made against Romanism, the public mind was in a very responsive mood to accept the alleged oath as the real obligation of the Knights of Columbus. I made inquiry of my King Kleagle as to whether or not the Atlanta people were printing and distributing the “oath.”
In a letter written to me from Chattanooga, dated May 25, 1921, the King Kleagle, said:
“The Imperial Palace does not get out copies of the K. C. oath but I find it of value among a certain few.“I find papers like theProtestantthat I suggested your subscribing for to be the most valuable dope that I can use for it brings home in a concrete form to them the things we have to guard against.”
“The Imperial Palace does not get out copies of the K. C. oath but I find it of value among a certain few.
“I find papers like theProtestantthat I suggested your subscribing for to be the most valuable dope that I can use for it brings home in a concrete form to them the things we have to guard against.”
Having been, in a limited way, a party to the distribution of this oath, I feel that it is my duty to print the result of my investigations as to its nature and also to give in full thereal obligation of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus which was made public in the summer of 1921. It appears from my investigations that several times the authenticity of the “oath” has been brought into the courts by the Knights of Columbus, and each time it has been proven to be a fraud. An instance occurred, however, that is so strongly convincing that every American who believes in fair play, especially every Mason in the country, should know about it. In Los Angeles, California, in 1914, the State Deputy of the Knights of Columbus submitted the entire work, ceremonies and pledges of his order to a committee of Masons made up of Messrs. Motley Hewes Flint, thirty-third degree, Past Grand Master of California, Dana Reid Weller, Past Grand Master, William Rhodes Hewey, Past Master, and Samuel E. Burke, Inspector of the Los Angeles Masonic District. These gentlemen made a careful examination of the entire subject, and rendered the following report:
“We hereby certify that by authority of the highest officer of the Knights of Columbus in the State of California, who acted under instructions from the Supreme Officer of the Order in the United States, we were furnished a complete copy of all the work, ceremonies and pledges used by the Order, and that we carefully read, discussed and examined the same. We found that while in a sense the Order is a secret association, it is not an oath-bound organization and that its ceremonies are comprised in four degrees, which are intended to teach and inculcate principles that lie at the foundation of every great religionand every free state. Our examination of these ceremonials and obligations was made primarily for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not a certain alleged oath of the Knights of Columbus, which has been printed and widely circulated, was in fact used by the Order and whether if it was not used, any oath, obligation or pledge was used which was or would be offensive to Protestants or Masons, or those who are engaged in circulating a document of peculiar viciousness and wickedness. We find that neither the alleged oath nor any oath or pledge bearing the remotest resemblance thereto in matter, manner, spirit or purpose is used or forms a part of the ceremonies of any degree of the Knights Of Columbus. The alleged oath is scurrilous, wicked and libelous and must be the invention of an impious and venomous mind. We find that the Order of Knights of Columbus, as shown by its rituals, is dedicated to the Catholic religion, charity and patriotism. There is no propaganda proposed or taught against Protestants or Masons or persons not of Catholic faith. Indeed, Protestants and Masons are not referred to directly or indirectly in the ceremonials and pledges. The ceremonial of the Order teaches a high and noble patriotism, instills a love of country, inculcates a reverence for law and order, urges the conscientious and unselfish performance of civic duty, and holds up the Constitution of our country as the richest and most precious possession of a Knight of the Order. We can find nothing in the entire ceremonial of the Order that to our minds could be objected to by any person.”
“We hereby certify that by authority of the highest officer of the Knights of Columbus in the State of California, who acted under instructions from the Supreme Officer of the Order in the United States, we were furnished a complete copy of all the work, ceremonies and pledges used by the Order, and that we carefully read, discussed and examined the same. We found that while in a sense the Order is a secret association, it is not an oath-bound organization and that its ceremonies are comprised in four degrees, which are intended to teach and inculcate principles that lie at the foundation of every great religionand every free state. Our examination of these ceremonials and obligations was made primarily for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not a certain alleged oath of the Knights of Columbus, which has been printed and widely circulated, was in fact used by the Order and whether if it was not used, any oath, obligation or pledge was used which was or would be offensive to Protestants or Masons, or those who are engaged in circulating a document of peculiar viciousness and wickedness. We find that neither the alleged oath nor any oath or pledge bearing the remotest resemblance thereto in matter, manner, spirit or purpose is used or forms a part of the ceremonies of any degree of the Knights Of Columbus. The alleged oath is scurrilous, wicked and libelous and must be the invention of an impious and venomous mind. We find that the Order of Knights of Columbus, as shown by its rituals, is dedicated to the Catholic religion, charity and patriotism. There is no propaganda proposed or taught against Protestants or Masons or persons not of Catholic faith. Indeed, Protestants and Masons are not referred to directly or indirectly in the ceremonials and pledges. The ceremonial of the Order teaches a high and noble patriotism, instills a love of country, inculcates a reverence for law and order, urges the conscientious and unselfish performance of civic duty, and holds up the Constitution of our country as the richest and most precious possession of a Knight of the Order. We can find nothing in the entire ceremonial of the Order that to our minds could be objected to by any person.”
The real oath or pledge of the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus reads:
“I swear to support the Constitution of the United States. I pledge myself as a Catholic citizen and Knight of Columbus, to enlighten myself fully upon my duties as a citizen and to conscientiously perform such duties entirely in the interest of my country and regardless of all personal consequences. I pledge myself to do all in mypower to preserve the integrity and purity of the ballot, and to promote reverence and respect for law and order. I promise to practice my religion openly and consistently but without ostentation, and to so conduct myself in public affairs, and in the exercise of public virtue as to reflect nothing but credit upon our Holy Church, to the end that she may flourish and our country prosper to the greater honor and Glory of God.”
“I swear to support the Constitution of the United States. I pledge myself as a Catholic citizen and Knight of Columbus, to enlighten myself fully upon my duties as a citizen and to conscientiously perform such duties entirely in the interest of my country and regardless of all personal consequences. I pledge myself to do all in mypower to preserve the integrity and purity of the ballot, and to promote reverence and respect for law and order. I promise to practice my religion openly and consistently but without ostentation, and to so conduct myself in public affairs, and in the exercise of public virtue as to reflect nothing but credit upon our Holy Church, to the end that she may flourish and our country prosper to the greater honor and Glory of God.”
When one pauses to examine into the history of the old Ku Klux Klan, and the objects for which it was organized, it seems almost incredible that any organization claiming to be the “genuine original Klan” would stoop to belittle the memory of the old Klan by making capital of religious prejudice. As will be shown further along in my narrative, there were absolutely no restrictions in the old Klan as to religious belief, the Precept clearly setting forth the qualifications for membership. Nothing whatever was said about a Jew, a Catholic or a person who happened to be born in a foreign country. While I was working in Johnson City, I took into the organization an old gentleman who had been a member of the original Klan at Morristown. There is a rule that “original Klansmen” are not required to make any “donations” or pay any dues. When this old ex-Confederate soldier was taken in, it was at the end of my career as Kleagle, and as I swore him to the un-American obligation, I could not help feeling ashamed and disgusted. I had several conversations with him afterwards, and asked him specifically as to the regulations ofthe old Klan in reference to members. He stated positively that there were no rules whatever prohibiting Catholics and Jews from becoming Klansmen, and that one of the best men in his Den was a German who had been borninGermany. On account of the fact that he had associated intimately with Jewish and Catholic Confederate soldiers, the old gentleman expressed himself as being amazed that, in an attempt to revive the Klan, any such discrimination should be practiced.
I received a number of copies of theProtestant, for which the King Kleagle McArthur, advised me to subscribe because, he wrote, “It brings home in concrete form to them the things we have to guard against.” This paper is published in Washington, D. C., and is of the usual type of rabidly anti-Catholic publication. An examination of some of its headlines shows the character of its attacks. This paper was eagerly read by Ku Kluxes wherever it circulated and was indeed a valuable agency in securing recruits.
I also heard other Kleagles attack Catholicism, most of the attacks appealing to me as being ridiculous, one especially which stated that the Catholic Church was financially backing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples. It was gravely stated that the Catholics were arming the negroes of the South and that at the “right time” would join in an armed uprising to seize the country.
Considerable anti-Catholic propaganda has been and is being published in the columns of theSearchlightthe official organ of the Ku Klux Klan. Among the statements I have seen was an intimation that the Catholic Church was responsible for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. Copies of theSearchlightare sent to each Kleagle for distribution among his Klans, and I received a number of copies in my connection with the organization. In every town there is a Klansman, either paid for his services or who renders same gratuitously, who makes a speciality of getting subscribers for theSearchlightand of placing the publication on the news stands.
In the issue of August 6, 1921, theSearchlightprinted on its first page an article by Rev. Caleb A. Ridley, a Baptist preacher of Atlanta, part of which stated: