Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-09-30
GOVERNMENT
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 Klan and pre-
liminary Investigations by the De
partment of Justice and the Postof-
flee Department.
Federal action against the Knig'hss
of the Ku Klux Klan probably will
be based on these specific charges
made by the Klan's opponents:
That the Invisible Empire" OF
the K. X. X. is setting up a 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-
stitution of the United States.
OF the charges against the Ku Klux
Klan, which prompt government IN
vestigation, this is the chief one:
While the Klan claims that its
purpose is maintenance of white
supremacy" the Klan's ritual asks
questions, of applicants, which indi-
cate that the organization is against
the Jews, Catholics, Masons, the
negroes and the foreign-born.
The Oath.
Members of the Klan, it is charged
are bound by oath to obey without
question all orders of the head
known as the 'Imperial 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 lV
V and VI of the national constitu
ton of the United States.
Any movement for exile or sup
preston of individuals because o.
their racial origin or religious belle
is a violation of Articles I, XIII anC
XIV of the constitution.
Hence, Federal authorities say the!
can take legal action against the Kl
kIux Klan and it's officers and mem
bers, if charges that have been made
are confirmed by Investigations.
The X. X. X. has four degrees OF
membership, initiation fee being Sic
a degree. About 100000 are believed
to have joined the Klan since it's re-
organization, October 26, 1915.
Initiation fees are estimated all
the way from seven to thirty million
dollars.
The X. X. X. also makes a profit
on the uniforms and regalia which it
sells to members.
Klan's History.
William Joseph Simmons, of At
lanta, Ca, is the present head of the
Klan. His title is "Imperial Wiz
ard" and he operates from the I'm
perial Palace of the Invisible EN-
pire," Atlanta.
Simmons and 33 others resurrect-
ed the X. X. X. in 1915 and incor-
porated it under the laws of Georgia.
Klan officials disclaim most of the
charges made against them. They
claim that their real purpose is pure
Amerieanism" and that they really
seek enforcement of existing laws.
The organization has gotten so big
that it is passing beyond control OF
its heads, it 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 activities
were directed against negroes II
Southern politics and the carpet.
baggers" from the 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 ~ ~
Klux Klan Act or Force Bill. TN
act gave the Federal courts jursldlc
ton over all K. K. K. cases. 1t EN-
powered the President to employ tn
military forces and to suspend tn.
writ of habeas corpus during X. 4
X. disorders. 1t also barred from tn
juries, in Ku Klux cases, all klans
men. This act speedily checked tn
growth of Klan and gradually cause
it to die out.