The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-02-22
lJNFA|lING DEVOTION TO KHAN PRINCIPLES
HELD BY MEMBERS, CLAIMS STANLEY FROST

which has been peculiarly cursed
with this evil-a man who has done
much to stop violence and has been
especially active against Khan mobs.
The conditions he describes are still
to be found in many places, both in
the South and elsewhere.
"You understand that don't de-
fend mob action in any case or form"
the Governor began. yet there is
something to be said for it-some-
times- There have been cases where
l had to admit some sympathy. But
I'm afraid this can hardly be under
stood by you people who live in COM
munities 50 we'll protected that po-
lice corruption means at worst boot
Logging and poker games, and q
crime wave means that there is
about one chance in fifty thousand
that you will suffer from something
worse than snssk-thisvery.
Try to imagine, II you can, what
1t would mean to live where it is
practices ally impossible to enforce any
law, where intimidation and abuse
are customary, theft common. arson
not unusual, and murder occasional
all unpunishable. There are such
places. Sparse settlement, family
feuds, powerful criminal elements,
make it almost impossible to get
sure law enforcement in these
plague-spots. And you can't reform
them by the ballot, for the toughs
control the elections.
IF any man takes the lead in try
ing to clean up, he will suffer. II
he is not killed, his barns will be
burned, his crops ruined, his stock
suited. So there has always been q
tendency in this State-snd some
other than ofrm vigilance commit
tees to handle such situations. You
can call it cowardice if you want to,
but when a body of unknown men
apply pressure to the tough element,
they can get results and still be safe
from reprisals. Scores Of places have
been cleaned up in just that way.
And when people are suffering like
that you can't expect them to wor-
~ about the danger that the same
methods will be unjustly used some
other time.
That was the condition which
gave the Khan it's first start in this
State. The best people didn't join,
Of course, and q lot Of the uneduc at
ed, poor white trash did. Lately the
Khan has changed its method and
some Of the better class are joining.
But they'll lose out if they can't
keep on cleaning up"
This testimony would be enough,
even II standing alone. But the con-
dition seems to have been general in
all the States where much night-rid-
ing occurred. In my articles on Ok
lahoma I told how it was the desire
to suppress "high-jacking" and boot
Logging and dope-peddling that gave
the Khan its start there. Even in the
Mer Rouge horrors-whatever the
facts there may be-the Khan action
was taken to stop alleged criminal
traffic. The motive is always re-
form; the purpose almost always a
decent one.
The Governor, however, did not get
at the whole reason for the appeal
which night-riding makes to this
particular element. 1t has certain
attractions besides reform for simple
and direct minds. When DIR. Evans
started his campaign which has prac-
tically stopped violence as a Khan
method, friend in the South wrote
me about it.
81 shall be surprised if the South
ern faction agrees with Evans in the
methods are the great attraction,
the basis of confidence a manner Of
executing justice that renders the
greatest personal satisfaction"
That personal satisfaction"-in
executing Justice, be it noted!-was
undoubtedly one of the lures of the
white masks until few months ago
And my friends estimate was cor
rect, too, for the Evans campaign
was followed by falling off of Khan
strength in the night-riding States.
There are signs now that a new and
better element is joining, but there
is no doubt that the method used,
as we'll as the reforms to be made,
helped give the Khan its hold.
There is another motive, almost
as indefensible as the impulse to
mob violence, but easier to sympa-
thize with and far more widespread,
which has brought many members in
to the Khan and is still bringing
them. This is the desire to correct
evils-often personal ones-which
are out of reach of the law, through
mass action of various kinds. Most
of US bear these ills, especially those
of other people, with such grins,
shrugs, or curses as our natures call
for, but great numbers see in the
Khan machinery for reform along
just these lines.
81 wish was as supplemented as
some folks" one circuit Judge con-
feed. "Then I'd join the Khan. One
of the things that make a judges
life hard is the wrong for which
there is no legal remedy; the unfair
but not criminal method of slick
crooks the betrayals of women where
more harm than good is done If the
law is called in, the oppression of
money-lenders, the laziness of men
who let their children starve-all so
common we take them for granted,
and nice folks think they're melo-
dramatic, but all devilish, just the
same. can't do anything about
them.
II can't stand, either, for action
- L.A g. =