The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-28
Intended that the nizatlon sl

l intended that the organization should be either law and order league or
 political machine, but rather that
 1t should be an organization designed
 to upbuild and develop spiritually,
 morally and physically the Protest process through scientific educational
 propaganda inside the lodge room and through printed literature and by the esta blishment of great educa- tional universities in different parts of the nation and through the build
 ing of magnificent hospitals for the healing of the physical ills of man.
 kind. Included definitely among
 these aims being the worlds largest
 white plague sanitarium and the
 largest dope cure place of refuge in America.
 Tt was still further designed
 through ceremonies in the lodge velopment Of character of the mem | bership of the organization to teach
 the men who had taken the oath of ] the organization greater respect for law and order and the courts and the government, thus giving to the government and the courts of the land body of men that would be an
 unseen but powerful and influential moral factor, serving to stabilize the
 courts and the government at all 1 times and to be particularly service able in times of stress or trouble of any kind
 "The thing which alarms me most in connection with the organization Is the apparent trend of thought in- side the ranks of the membership of the organization toward disre- gard for law and order and the ten dency on the part of the membership to seek to assume local. state and na- tional political dictatorship, and in my judgment when any powerful se- cret organization assumes either of the above attitudes it immediately becomes a real menace to free gov
 ernment and the rights. privileges
 and liberties guaranteed under the constitution to the citizens of the United States of America.
 Position Writer Takes.
 "The position I am taking in this
 matter is no new one for me but Is the platform l have stood upon since
 the day l first joined the klan and is in harmony with the oath I took wheh l became a klansman four
 years ago. When I was assistant imperial wizard pro tenn of. the or ganization l unhesitatingly revoked charters of branch organizations. banished klansmen from fellowship in the klan and threatened at one time to revoke the charters of every klan in a whole state unless klans
 and klansmen respected their oath as klansmen and committed no vio- lations of law either as individuals
 or as bodies of men and kept them selves free from political entangle-
 ments except as individuals voting for what they individually consd- cred right as citizens of the country. As matter of public policy also at one time prohibited an entire state oraHr ft1r h Q q and restricted within that state the wearing of the costumes of the klan exclusively to the lodge room be- cause l felt that a wrong interpre- tation was being placed by the pub lie upon the parades of the klan and
 that it was not good for the public morals or welfare for klan parades to be further allowed in that state. Tt is after an absence of six or eight months made necessary by or- ders of my physician to rebuild my health that l return to find that the active membership of the klan has changed certainly in some states if not In all, from men of the type who listened to and applauded the sent,- ments expressed in my speeches in Pennsylvania, to a class at present in control whose energies apparently are directed to participation in whip ping parties threats and character assassina ton and the formation of poi.tical machines.
 O O O
 Feels It His Duty.
 "In the face of this condition and as an American citizen and having taken a solemn oath as a klansman and as the builder of the klan and the leader of the former controlling element in the lllan whose aims and ideals were and still are the same as outlined above in this communica- ton, l feel that I can do no less than come to you as the supreme head of our government, and speaking for rayself and the hundreds of thou sands of magnificent men who fol- lowed my lead and who came into the