The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-09-11

III, ritual of the ku Klux Kan)
cannot understand the pg-headed
persistence with which the south
continues blindly to vote against her
own interests" said an intelligent
young northerner to me just after
the last presidential election
81 does look funny | replied. "for
otherwise the thing seems to have been
unanimous. But did you ever study the
perod of reccnstruction?'
81 don't know what the word
means" he answered with laugh.
No man can understand current
politics or the conditions Of the race
problem unless be- knows the history
Of the awful years &C 1865 to 1870.
Nor can he understand this period
until ne has mastered the story of
the rise. growth. degeneracy. and
death of two secre, political societies,
one Of the north called THE Union
League Of America" the ether of he
south, known officially by its mem
hcrs as THE Invisible Empire" and,
popularity, as the "Ku Klux Klan."
The bitterness of the civil War
has passed from the hearts of men,
but the legacy Of the black plague
which scourged the south during
the period Of reconstruction remains
today a brooding nightmare for the
souherner. threatening with sinister
prophecies tine future of the nation
The northern conception Of the Ku
Klux klan is voiced in recent criti-
cism OF my last novel by an ancient
Boston newspaper thus:
He reaches the acme of his sectio.
nal passions when he eXalts the Ku
Klux klan into an association of
southern patriots, when he must know
or else be strangely ignorant Of Ameri-
can history, that its members were as
arrant ruftians desperadoes and scoun'
drcls as ever went unhanged.'
II this be. true. moral miracles have
been wrought 10y ruffians. despera-
does and scoundrels which require
study. The like OF ii has never been
recorded in the history of the race
and if such things We're done by
be rebuilt by our philosophers.
The question is no. merely an his
tor.cll one, IL Is woven with the most
vital ana hopeless problem of Amer
can life DSnterested foreign critics
declare with one accord that the negrj
problem of America is the one appar
entity insuuble riddle which shadow,
our future. Its roots strike deep into
our history, spread wide into our
everyday lie, and grip with power
Of fate the souls of generations un
horn. If any man think this an aca
dcmic question OF the past which must
he determined by experts in dates anC
documents. le him ask the police OF
New York. Philadelphia, Chicago OF
~. Louis into whose crowded streets
and tencments the black man /,
pushing his way.
The Ku kluX Khan was a great law
and order league Of mounted nifn
cayaAymen called into action by tn,
in'uierable conditions OF reign o
terror under negro rule In the south
! was the answer to their foes o
an mdumitable race of men, conquered
betrayed, disarmcd aud driven To des
rcrluuu. II was the old answer o
organized manhood to organized erin,
masqucrading under the forms of gov
,rument.
It's rise was due to the mind of N,
leader. 1t was an accident. 1t was ;
case of spontaneous combustion.
\ group of college boys at Pulaski
Tennessee, organized II first as loca
college fraternity. They found ,
name in the Greek work "Kuklos,
band. or circle. and to this the!
added Clan, and then split the germ
word into two weird monosyllablcs
spelling the clan with n X, TO heigh
ten the appeal to the superstitious, an,
TO- the awe-inspring "ku KluX klan,'
Tho terror OF these silent ghosts
riding In the night. reduced the negrt
race To an immediate and protoun,
peace. The idea spread to an adjoin
ing county and rapidly over the stat
OF Tennessee which was the first L
pass beneath the yoke 81 negro su
premacy.
In 1867 secret convention OF peace
loving. law.abiding, God.fcaring. pa
trio,c southerncrs met in Nashvlll
and organized this society into "Th
Invisible Empire" adopted ritual
and adjourned. They met in tn
ruins of an old homestead within tn
picket lines OF $4,000 troops sen
there to enforce the rule OF the blacl
Slave over his former master.
As the young German patriots o
IS,g organized their struggles 70
liberty under the noses OF the garrl
sons nf Napoleon. so these daring men
pirt by thousands OF bayonets. di,
cussed and adopted under the cove
OF darkness the ritual OF The In
visible Empire
Within few months this empir
had overspread territory larger thai
modern Europe and brought order ou
of chaos. The triumph which the
achieved was one of incredible gran
deur. They snatched power out O
l. defeat and death. and tore the fruit
of victory away from twenty millio
conuuerors. Such achievements hav