Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-03-31
THE GREAT KU-KLUx BANK.

THE GREAT kU-hLuA DAM
The Ku.Klux bank at Washington IL
in flourishing condition. The stock
holders are in glory. They meet in
mass. in particles, and count their gains.
The earnings are enormous. They are
all getting rich. The taxpayers of the
country are supposed TO own stock in
the concern. That is a fiction, how
ever. They pay in, but they never take
anything out The vault of the com
pany is a bourne from which no travel
ing dollar ever returns TO them. The
receipts are from FIVE hundred to a
thousand millions year. Ii is the
richest corporation on earth. Its issues
are predicated upon the faith Of all the
! property of all the people, and it is
backed by armies and navies. of this
bank, Hiram Ulysses Simpson is Presi-
dent. He is eminently fit for the place.
In fact he seems to have been born ex-
pressly for it. Nature has been eco
nomical of its materials. II constructed
a Solomon, a Bacon, Shakespeare and
a Washington without exhausting much
material. 1t created warriors, poets,
statesmen, sages and philosophers,
and still stood erect, unbent and I'M
bowed. 1t reserved its energies, its
choicest porcelain, its genius, for one
grand exploit. 1t threw its whole soul,
mind and strength into the fashioning Of
Hiram. And there he stands. That ae-
counts for all the earthquakes, and tenn
pests, and wars, and agitations that take
by storm this poor terrestrial citadel of
man. (See Young's Night Thoughts,
and when found, make note on't.) 1t
made President Of the Ku-Klux bank
ing institution. Does anybody, can any
body, wonder at anything that has hap
pened, or may happen2 These convul-
sions are said to purify the atmosphere
and harmonic the discords of nature.
This bank is all the rage now. Branches
are established in every State, city and
town, and literally coin money for the
stockholders. To become interested in
this institution, you have only to do the
simplest thing imaginable. You have
only to learn to distort the truth, invent
falsehoods and to wear around your neck
a collar bearing the inscription: am
Grants dog" How easyl Anybody
can become stakeholder and get his
dividends, provided he is willing to do
these cheap things And then, it is only
necessary to show proofs of your fidelity.
That is easy enough. You must keep
the directory supplied with Southern
outrages. When there are no Ku-Klux
you must manufacture them. When
there are no outrages, you must impro-
wise them. You must exhibit some in
ventive quality, and learn that it is no
offense against God or man to coin a
falsehood for money; no wrong to
breathe the breath Of SANDER on whole
States; no crime to hold a bay
onet to the throat of your neigh
Dor while your associate picks his
pockets. When you have produced this
sort of proof Of tact and fidelity, you may
draw your check and get your money.
Is it not an admirable thing2 And thus
the Ku-Klux bank is sustained, and thus
the people, the toilers, the delivers, the
bone and sinew, the muscle and nerve
Of the country, are robbed and outraged.
The old patriots tell us that the only le-
gitimate source Of government is the
consent Of the governed Our modern
patriots of the Radical school have
turned the theory inside out, and shaken
it like meal bag. The hoary-headed
old constitutional saw is demolished.
The basis of government now is just the
reverse. The consent Of the governed
is neither wanted nor asked. A great
corporation, founded on the idea that
one part of the people shall grow rich at
the expense of the other part, is the gov
eminent the country at present.