Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-04-24
THE K. K. K....WHAT Is IT?

question, but it is at least interesting;
UNION CEMETERY. SOUTHERN SrlTEs.l
Aprilis the 7th, 1858. !
To the Editor Of the Herald
By command Of the Grand Cycleps Of
the secret order known to the outside
world as the Ku-Klux Klan, l am directed
in the name of truth and justice to make
the following statement in reference to
this organization. The columns of the
Herald have been selected as the medium
of this statement, for the reason of its
we'll known metropolitan circulation.
1t is we'll known axiom that men
prefer misrepresentation and slanderous
criticism to truth and charity. II is
equally we'll known that there exists at
this time in the United States two (if not
more) gigantic secret political organiza-
tions sustained by Congressional legisla-
ton, to wit: "The Grand Army of the
Republic" secret, oath-bound, military
order, and the Loyal League" which
is composed in the Southern States
almost exclusively of negroes and Radi-
cal emissaries from the North. The
grand objects of these secret Radical
societies is to keep in subsection the
Democratic party of the North, and to
Africanize the South, and thereby, acting
in concert with Congressional legislation,
perpetuate the rule of the Radical party,
and change the American Government
from free republic to mongrel despot-
ism. The army and navy of the United
States, under the control Of Radical
Congress, have been and are being used
to destroy the liberties Of a once free
people, and to uphold and sustain with
their mighty power the insdious and
devilish purposes of the secret organiza-
tions of the Grand Army Of the Repub.
lie" and the Loyal League" D." Therefore
it is by no means wonderful that these
secret societies should raise the cry of
new rebellion" rebel" Southern
traitor" assassin" etc. Let the enc
mics of free government and the advo-.
Gates of negro equality and negro domi-
nation beware White men, and white
men alone, are the comprehensive ex-
ponents of constitutional liberty, and
must and will exclusively rule and
govern the American republic. Michigan
and Connecticut but re.echo this senti-
ment.
What, then, of the Ku.K Klux Klan Is
it myth or a stern reality? We an
swer that it is great and uncomfortable
organization. 1t is not confined exclu-
sively to any State or Territory of the
American Union, but has strength and
form wherever the flag of the American
Republic.i is recognized as the emblem of
constitutional liberty. In some localities
the organization is much more powerful
Al 80. IN
lucky than in any other State; Tennes-
see next, Missouri third, Virginia fourth,
Maryland fifth, and New York sixth.
There is not department of the Federal
Government, of the army and navy, that
has not potent membership. Confed-
crate and Federal soldiers, Confederate
and Federal sailors alike vie in the OBJ
jects and purposes of the organization.
There is not leading daily newspaper
throughout the entire country that has
not their Ku-KIux. Therefore, the Ku-
Klux is neither sectional nor partisan,
but eminently conservative and national
in its organization and purposes.
White citizens of the United States
can only become members of the Ku-
Klux Klan-Radicals, infdels and ne
RTOcS CuuuOb DcCOulC uuOhDOio VI bhS
Ku-Klux Klan; for the meaning of the
term is Circle of Friends, the sole OBJ
ject of which is the perpetuity of consti-
tional liberty.
The organization of the KuKlux
Klan originated from necessity-the
result of Radical legislation and the for,
nation of the secret political orders of
the Loyal Leugue" and the Grand
Army of the Republic" consequently
the Ku- Klux Klan is the effect Of Radical
despotsm and injustice. The Ku-Klux
Klan was first organized in Giles county,
Tennessee, in August, 1866, and was an
absolute necessity, resulting from the
tyranny, domination and aggression OF
the Brownow Legislature. The passage
of the Sherman-Shellabarger bill and
supplements in the spring of 1867 gave
the organization a new impetus through
ganization in the Northern and Western
States, and especially in the Pacific
States, from the lst of November, 1867,
to the lst of April, 1868, has been beyond
the expectations of its most ardent
friends. The organization at this time
numbers over seven hundred thousand
members, with as rapid additions as the
public security may require.
The Know.Nothing party was defeated
and utterly destroyed by the National
Democratic party, without recourse to a
counter secret organization, for the main
reason that the Know Nothing party had
not tie control of the Federal Govern.
ment, and hence we're unable to uphold
their organization by the purse and
sword. Until recently, however, the
Ku Klux Klan possessed the govern
ment and welded its mighty powers.
They possess it to-day, but only in name;
not in reality. Let the tyrants OF
mongrel and infamously corrupt party
bewarel Your party is but she'll The
castle Of Radicalism has been permeated
and undermined by the white ant Of the
Ku- Klux.
The Ku-Klux Klan is, therefore, Sc.
cret political organization, the result oil
necessity, the sole object Of which is to
thwart Radicalism, arrest negro DONNA
ton in the South, negro equality in the
North, perpetuate the Federal Union and
preserve the Constitution as the fathers
made il And whoever asserts to the
contrary utiers falsehood. That the Ku-
Klux Klan have secrets unknown to the
uninitiated is not denied; so have the
ancient orders Of Free Masonry, Odd
Fellowship and other secret orders and
societies; but like Free Masonry and
odd Fellowship the objects and purposes
of the Ku-Klux Klsn have thus been for
the first lime officially promulgated. The
incredulous and guilty may carp and
misrepresent; but the wicked, the un-
godly and the perjured viii soon feel the
keen edge Of the sickle and the invisible
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