New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1921-10-05
F'rom The Nation. g rs
The Ku Klux Khan Soul of Chi
valry''.

The modern Ku Klux Khan, acco1d ding
to its descriptive folder entitled ..The
ku Klux Khan Who Why What, has
been in the making for the past twenty
years. It's Imperial Wizard, Mr.. William
Joseph Simmons (who has copyrighted
the folder, for fourteen years thought,
studied, and worked to- prepare himself
for its launching" Defeating his life
to the cause, che kept his own counsel
during these years, and IN the silent re-
cesses OF his soul he thought out the
great. plan" In the fall Of 1915 he
was ready and on Thanksgiving. night
of that year he took thirty four intrepid
spirits to the top of a mountain near
Atlanta, Georgia, and there ION the noun
tain top that night at the midnight hour
while men braved the surging blasts Of
Wintry mountain winds and endured a
temperature far below freezing, bathed in
the sacred glow Of the fiery cross, the
Invisible Empire was called from it's
slumber of half century"
One might have expected that such a
portentous event would have been attend
ed by some. extraordinary disturbance OF
the celestial spheres or at least by some
strange and mysterious currents in the
affairs of men. And indeed, on July
next, there did appear from the Aulic
Of his Majesty, the Imperial Wizard (Mr.
Joseph Simmons& an Imperial Procla-
nation directed t..to the whole world, =
IL which the aims Of the Invisible Empire,
knights of the Ku Klux Khan, Inc, were
set forth. This impressive document, done
in literary style which would perhaps be
described as neo-African, stated simply
that the Order, inter alia, was dedicated
to the sublime and pleasant duty Of pro
viding generous aid, tender sympathy,
and fraternal assistance in the effulgence
OF the light of life and amid the sable
shadows of DEATH" All men who could
qualify were invited to approach the
portal of our benefcient domain aud join
49, the sacred duty of protecting woman
hood. :. to maintain forever white supreA
macy in all things. to bless mankind,
and to keep eternally ablaze the sacred
fire Of a fervent devotion to pure Amer
lcanism." In conclusion the Order was
stated to be "the soul of chivalry and
yirtues impenetrable shield"
The Imperial Wizard made this YER
bal magnlticence somewhat more specific
in an interview. later vouchsafed "a Chi
cago representative of the Universal Ser!
vice. The reporter, after passing the
''ghoul, u the goblin, and the ."eyclops"
who guarded approach to the Grand
Wizard was told:
We exclude Jews because they do not
believe in the Christian religion. We ex-
clude Catholics because they owe allie
glance to an institution that is foreign
to the Government of the United States.
Der Of the English church or any other
foreign church is barred. To assure the
supremacy of the white race we believe
in the exclusion of the yellow race and in
the disfranchisment of the Negro. It was
Gods act to make the white race superior
to all others. By some scheme of Provi-
dencei the Negro was created as a serf
We harbor no race prejudices The Ne
gro never had and has not today better
friend than the Ku Klux Klan. The law
abiding Negro who knows his place has
nothing to fear from US We do not act
until called upon. but if needed we have
a greattggYlsibleE and mysterious force that
will striikseS5terror into the hearts Of law
breaksrsa #~g .sa4 dots 5.
Which, after all, gave more hint of
the sober reality Of the! Klan than did
the Imperial Proclamation of 1915.
For some years after the proclamation
indeed little was heard Of the Khan. The
fiery cross appears to have remained
hidden under a bushel. In the fall Of
1920, however, The name began to ap-
pear in the newspapers in disquieting
manner. On October FL the New York
Tribune reports that a<certain Peter Nc
Mahon of Yonkers, while travelling South
to assist a lady in a dispute about her
share in the estate of deceased relative,
was Htaken from train at Trenton,