Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-27
KHAN To De ISSUE
At CONVENTIONS Of
BOTH OLD PARTIES
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Leased Wire Service to The Journal.)
Copyright, 1929

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-The Ku
Klux Khan issue will inevitably be
an issue before the Republican and
Democratic national conventions.
Politicians reluctantly have come
to that conclusion after receiving re-
ports from various parts OF the
union. 1t will be agitated not by
those who favor the principles OF
Ku Kluxism but by those who OPP
pose the idea. And naturally the
opponents will not be permitted to
have things their own way for both
conventions will number among their
delegates men who are actually at
tiliated with the K. K. K.
The difficulty of avoiding or side
stepping the issue has been FUZZY dis
cussed in the inner councils of polit-
ical leaders but it seems apparent
that the various people who are
opposed by the Ku KluX Khan will
demand denunciatory designations as
the price of their continued support.
Negro Migration
The situation in the Republican
party arises out of the fact that the
Republican vote in some of the
pivotal northern states has been in
creased since 1920 by hundreds Of
thousands of colored voters who have
migrated northward. They are de-
manding that the Republican party
denounce not only lynch law but all
forms of lawlessness and all opera
tons of secret, 9TH bound organiZa-
tions.
The Democratic party receives
much of it's support in the populous
states of New York, Massachusetts,,
New Jersey where Catholic societies
are well organized and can WELD
considerable political power. The
party that denounces the K. K. K.
will make strong bid for the Irish.
Catholic vote which was strong
enough in 1920 to swing several
states on the League of Nations
issue, for instance, which SO many
of the Irish-Americans violently OPP
posed. The fact that the Irish Cath
Ole vote will leave the Democratic
party If the issue is serious enough
has been demonstrated with sufficient
proof to make the Democratic lead
ment in the party.
lie ~ ~. n. issue IL 50 VI
a factor already that it may even
have an influence on the choice of
candidates. There are rumors, for
instance, that friends of Senator Os.
car Underwood are urging him to
take the leadership in opposing the
K. K. Il, contending that since he
comes. from the south his opposition
will be even more weighty than
might otherwise be the case.
No Issue i'm 1920
The growth of the Ku klux Khan
in the three years since the 1920
conventions has been so widespread
that political leaders have no basis
of comparison with other years.
There are always movements in ev-
| cry convention to denounce things
but the K. X. K. in 1920 was rela-
| lively negligible factor in national
| politics. Should an effort be made
| in the platform committees of either
party to squelch the question with
| out any expression whatsoever, it
seems certain that the issue will be
raised from the floor. Reports re-
ceived by some of the party leaders
here indicate that both political par.
| ties will be challenged to say some
thing on the question which will in
substance seek to compel the K. K
K. to throw off its mask and con
duct its campaigns in the open like
other social. political or religious or.
| CARNATIONS.