The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-29

about by the invading armies of the North Before and during the Civil War. nearly all the Southern people put everything they had in Confeder- ate securities, and now that they were without value. the South was in state gone to waste: and in many instances. the houses, barns and fences were de- stroyed.
 The slaves were now freedmen. This fact demoralized all classes of labor upon which the people had relied. The "Freedmen's Bureau" was organized to take care of the negroes. 1t procured money from them in every conceivable way The slaves were emi-barbarlans. and were wholly unfit for citizenship. yet they had civil rights thrust upon them by the general government
 There were thousands of dishonest Northern men, who had not fought in the war, who came to the South to rob and take advantage of her impoverish- ed, defence1ess, and demoraiized com dition. These men were called carpet baggers. They organized all sorts of oath-bound societies, .sThe Loyal Union Leagues" ssThe Hervos of America. ssThe Red Strings; and all sorts of false and evil notions into their minds, All this was backed by Federal bayo- nets.
 The white citizens of the South were disfranchised. and all the negroes, who belonged to any of these secret. oath bound societoes were cnfranchlsed I Some of the negroes voted five or gtx Etirues. In many instances. negroes four teen and fifteen years Of age were al lowed to vote Some of them did moi even know for what, or for whom they were voting. In at least one of the states, if any one dared vote against the Republican ticket, or against the negr pes, he was immediately disfran- chised.
 The Legislatures were controlled by negroes, carpet-baggers, and scalawags In some states. negroes held as high an ofice as lieutenant-g governor. Many bad laws were passed. Exor- l bitant taxes were put on the people These taxes and money from the state | treasury were used to furnish the ! houses of the state officers. In some state capitols. refreshment rooms were opened. where the negroes and carpet bag officers would go to eat, drink chew, smoke and lounge around. | In 1867, there was a big negro uT' rising in South Carolina. The negroes robbed, footed, murdered, and burnet | barns and houses Negro preachers openly instructed their flocks to tak' anything they needed from their whit neighbors. and if anyone dared to pros ecute the thief, the answer was a burn ed barn or a home in ashes.
 These secret. oath-bound societie | armed thousands of negroes over al the South. who went through the street doing all sorts of mischief. In. man. places, armed negroes searched th houses of their former masters, taktni anything they desired.
 When the Southern people tried t sell anything. 1t was at once confiscat ed When they could no longer pa the exorbitant taxes. thoir homes wer auctioned off Thaddeus Stephens trie to have passed a confiscation act. O which the lands of the Southern white would be divided among the negroes The Southern soldier returned to tn walks of peace and, hero that he wal faced these dificulties with the sam courage and patriotism that har char acterIzed him when facing the enemy shot and shell.
 To meet these dificulties. an Invisibl Empire. commonly known as the K Klux Klan, arose. As the young Ger man patriots of 1872 had organized tn ererat struggle for their liberties, un der the noses of the garrisone of Napo leon. so those noble, true-heartet Southern men met within the picke lines of thirty thousand hostile troop and in the ruins of an old homestea' discussed and adopted the ritual of tn Invisible Empire.
 This ISlan was a band of shroude' | ghostlike horsemen. Both horse an horseman were disguised in long, whit . | flowing robes. Over two hundre thousand disguises were made for hors and man by the women of the Sout
 and never a secret escaped their lips.
 The work of the members of tn
 Klan was done at night. They wou
 find evidence conclusive against the
 victims, capture and bring them
 their meeting places, and whip or ex
 cute them in the dead of night. The
 disarmed every negro in the South.
 The effects of this mystic band
 horsemen, with their white regalia, ar swift. silent meeting out of punishmeI
 upon the guilty were magical EVei
 negro feared them. and thousands
 terror r-stricken people looked to the
 alone for safety. All these oath-bou
 organizations, composed of misguid'
 negroes. and white political pirat
 and adventurers were destroyed. IT
 Ku Klux rescued the South from the
 erasps, restored white supremacy. al
 saved the white mans civilization.
 The negroes being subdued the cit
 gems began to adjust themselves,
 the new conditions. By degrees. Il
 economic and social conditions beg'
 to readjust themselves. and once mo
 the South was ruled by It's own citizen
 Today we have a new and glorio'
 South, which has grown out of cha
 and stands unchallenged as the mo 1 resourceful portion of our great coul try. It is destined to be the riches