The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-29

,isience With which the South continues
t,pdly to vote against her own .ii '.l
ttts." said All intelligent young Noi VI
erner to me lust after the last Presioei'-
tiai election ,.A .
or does look funny" replied, Tor
o,herwfse the thing seems 10 nave peel'
unanimous. But did you ever STUDY ING
ucrlod of reconstruction :.
az don't know what the word means.
he answered. With laugh.
M man can understand current poh-
TICS or the conditions OF the race ptop-
lem unless he knows the hlstory OIL lhe
avfu1 years of 1865 10 lSio. MOI can he
understand this period untii ne mas mus
tered tie story OF the rise, sto"'h, "
aa,,a,,,av ,nd death Of two secret politi.
s,a,ia. one of the North called
..1,ha Union League OF America, tho
~. ~ Tho South, known officially ny
,,aH,,,on,,trs as ''rhe Invisible Empire,
.n, nnn,,,arly. as the ku-klux- Klan"
A Brooding Nightmare.
rbo bitterness OF the Civil war has
rasscd from the hearts OF men, but the
lracy OF the black plague which scourged
The South during the period OF recon
strtc,ion remains to-day broodlns
i niehtmnre FOR tho southerncr. threaten
of the nation
,rl,e Northern conception of the Ku-
1,iux-Jilan is voiced in a recent criticism
OF my last novel by an ancient boston
newspaper thus:
"Hn reaches the acme OF his sectional
nnssions wien he exalts the Eu-Klux-
KIM into an association Of Southern pa
riots when he must know, or csc be
strangely ignorant o. American history,
ttut It's members were as nrrant ruffians,s
desperadoes and scoundrcls as ever went
unhanged.
II this be true. moral miracles have
been wrought by ruiiians, desperadocs
and gcoundrels which require study.
rhc like of 1t has never been recorded IN
the history of the race, and II such Things
were done by scoundrels the basis OF
ethics must be rebuilt By our philoso-
piers.
An 1nsoluble Riddle.
The question is not merely an ms,
torical one. It IS woven with the mos
vital and hopeless problem of American
life Disin,erested foreign critics declare
with one accord that the negro problem
of America Is the one apparently M
soluble riddle which shadows our future
It's roots strike deep into Our history.
spread wide into our everyday HE. anu
grip with power OF fate the Souls OF
generations unborn. II any man think
flIs an academic question Of the past
which must be determined by experts
in dates and documents. let him ask the
police OF New York. Philadelphia. Chi
.scago and ST. Louis into whose crowded
streets and tenements The black man -
pushing his way @
Tho Ku-Klux- Khan was great la"
and order league OF mounted night
carlry1nen called into action By the
intolcrablc conditions OF a reign OF terror
under negro rule In the South. 1t was
the answer TO their foes OF an indomit-
able race Of men, conquered. betrayed,
dIsarned and driven to desperation. It
was the old answer OF sorga nized manhood
to organized crime n,nsHuehnd!ng under
the forms of government.
It's rise was due to the mind OF no
leader. II WIS an accident. 1t was
case of spontaneous combination.
a Rrnrp OF college hovs at Pulaski.
Tennessee Enrenn'zca ~ nrrt MS n local
college fraternity. They found name
IN the Greek work "Kuklos.'' u band, or
circle and TO ths they added Clan. and
then splt the germ word into two weird
monosylIabics. smelling the Clan with 4
a X 10 hciHhten tho anneal m the suner-
stitlous. and 10. the awc-inspiring "Ku-
1ilus- Klan!"
The terror Of these silent ghosts. rid
Ing in the night reduced the negro race
10 an immediate and profound peace.
The idea spread to an adjoining county
and rapidly, over to the State OF Tennes-
see. which was the first to pass beneath
the yoke Of negro supremacy.
In 1867 a secret convention OF peace
loving. law-abiding. God-fearlng. patri-
otto southerners met in Nashville and or
ganizcd this society into '.thc Invisible
Empire" adopted ritual. and adjourned.
They met in the ruins Of an old home
stead within the picket lines o. $4,000
troops. sent there to enforce the rule OF
the black slave over his former master.
As the young German patriots OF 1872
organized their struggle for liberty under
the noses of the garrisons OF Napoleon.
so these daring men grit by thousands
OF bnyonets. discussed and adopted under
the cover of darkness the ritual Of "the
Invisible Empire
Victory Out of Defeat.
Within n few months this Empire had