Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-09-30
GOVERNMENT is
ABLE TO ERASE
XII KLUX KLAN
Congress and Federal Courts Are
Empowered to Break Up
'Invisible Empire"
ALLEGIANCE TO u. S.
IMPERILLED BY OATH
Organization Broken Up in 1871
By Enforcement of Act
of Congress

WASHINGTON. Sept 30.--Con-
gress and the Federal courts can
break up the Ku Klux Klan, num-
bering, it is said, 100000 members,
This is the conviction of government
officials, following newspaper expo
sures of the Ku Klux KIan and pre-
Iiminary Investigations by the De
partment of Justice and the Postof-
flee Department.
Federal action against the KnigfL'
Of the ku Klux Klan probably will
he based on these specific charge,
made by the Klan's opponents:
That the Invisible Empire" of
the X. X. X. is setting up govern
ment within the government.
That it is melting religious, racial
and class hatred.
That it's program is an attack on
individual freedom and the personal
rights as guaranteed by the Con
stituton of the United States.
OF the charges against the Ku KluS
Klan, which prompt government IN
vestigation, this is the chief one:
While the Klan claims that its
purpose is maintenance of white
supremacy" thel Klan's ritual asks
questions, of applicants, which indi
cate that the organization is agalns
the Jews, Catholics, Masons, th'
negroes and the foreign-born.
The Oath.
Members of the Khan, it is charged
are bound by oath to obey without
question all orders of the head
known as the "1mperial Wizard
Such an oath imperils undivided
allegiance to the United States gov
ernment.
Seizure, trial and punishment o
any resident of the United States, b!
any except legally constituted author
tiles, such as the police and cour
officers, is violation of Articles ~
V and VI of the national constitu
tion of the United States.
Any movement for exile or sup
preston of individuals because o
their racial origin or religious belle
is violation of Articles ], XIII ant
XIV of the constitution.
Hence, Federal authorities say they
can take legal action against the Kl
Klux Klan and its officers and mem
bers, if charges that have been made
are confirmed by Investigations.
The K. X. X. has four degrees OF
membership, initiation fec being SIC
a degree. About 100000 are believed
to bave joined the Klan since its re-
organization, October 26, 1915.
Initiation fees are estimated all
the way from seven to thirty million
dollars.
The K. K X. also makes a profit
on the uniforms and relagia which it
sells to members.
Klan's History.
William Joseph Simmons, Of At
lanta, Ga, is the present head of the
Klan. His title is Imperial Wiz
ard, and he operates from the SIN.
pcrial Palace of the Invisible EN-
pire," Atlanta.
Simmons and 33 others resurrect
ed the K X. K. in 1915 and incor
Poratcd il under the laws of Georgia
KIan officials disclaim most of the
charges made against them. They
claim that their real purpose is "purC
Americahism" and that they really
seek enforcement of existing laws
The organization has gotten so biz
that it is passing beyond control OF
its heads, ii is claimed.
The Klan has woman's auxiliary
The original Ku KluX Klan is be
lieved to have started in Pulaski
Tenn, in 1865. It's early activitic!
were directed against negroes il
Southern politics and the "carpet
( baggers" fro mthe North who flooded
the South after the Civil War.
1t was broken up April 20, 1871
by the Enforcement Act, passed b,
Congress, popularly known as the II
Klux Klan Act or Force Bill. Thi
act gave the Federal courts jursidic
tion over all K. X. K. cases. 1t EN-
powered The President to employ tn
military forces and to suspend th.
writ of habeas corpus during K. k
K. disorders. 1t also barred from th
juries, in Ku KluX cases, all klans
men. This act speedily checked tn
growth of Klan and gradually cause