The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-04-25
THE great need of the age is for
an ideal American boyhood and
- Young manhood, which shall en-

I"hE great neeQ OF the age Is 1OT
an ideal American boyhood and
= young manhood, which shall en-
brace in its character all the ideals
and principles found in the great
American heroes of Revolutionary
times. Boys who will, at all times
and in all places, stand firmly for the
right, and who will have been so
trained and taught that they will
recognize the right wherever they
may see it.
Recognizing that boys are inherent
ly clean, decent and honest, and that
they become otherwise, if at all, only
through the force Of circumstances
and environment, the Junior Ku Klux
Khan has sprung spontaneously into
being to fulfill this need-to give the
boy those teachings that he should,
but does not, receive in other places.
1t takes all the best teachings of the
home, the Protestant Sunday. schools,
the public schools, the DeMolays, the
Boy Scouts, and many other such
great teachers, and correlates them,
adds to them such features as are
necessary, but not found in the above
mentioned institutions, and teaches
the American youth the great funda-
mental principles and ideals of true
Americanism, i. e., Protest
loyalty to our country and our coun-
try's laws; love and respect for the
home; decent respect for all woman
kind; the single standard of morals
Explained to older boys only; the
operation of different governmental
departments; the privilege, as we'll as
duty, of American citizenship and
franchise, and a completer knowledge
of our constitutional rights and priv
ileges than Is ordinarily taught.
There is also complete program Of
clean, manly sports and recreation to
keep the young body in good physical
condition, and the mind so occupied
that it will not have room, nor time,
to learn indecencies.
Therefore we hold it self-evident,
that in accordance with these ideals
and principles upon which our great
democracy is founded, these boys of
ours must be so trained and taught
that they will naturally become the
best type OF citizen, else our land
cannot continue and endure as the
great nation that it is.
Community efforts should be d.
rected towards co-ordinating neces-
sity and opportunity in the lives of
the boys and young men, by rational
direction, intelligent supervision and
sympathetic control of their ener-.
gies. 1t is easier to direct than to
restrain activity or desire. 1t is
easier to control by anticipation and
suggestion than by opposition and
command. 1t is easier to lead than
to drive. As soon as the youth mani
tests a disposition to choose the
means of satisfying his wants, and his
amusements and instruction, the pc
riod of useful, helpful, activities has
arrived, and the time that they pass
from the condition of irresponsible
dependence to responsible indepen-
dence. The transition is gradual, but
the change is extreme. Our order has
a plan of activities that will form a
safe and constructive bridge that will
carry the youth of America safely
across this chasm into the realm of
clean, decent manhood and citizen
ship.
Is 1t asking too much that our BOYS
be given every chance to learn the
value of their vote-how necessary
it is that 1t be cast, that only men
who will serve the people, whose SER
wants they are, may be elected, so
that political power may be forever
wrested from the hands Of those who
would prostitute it to their own self
ish ends, or the ends of the great
financial interests of the country?
In the last presidential election, with
54h million eligible voters in the
United States, less than one-half vot-
ed. The figures are approximately
26% million. Do you think that
condition would have obtained had
the men who were then voters been
properly educated In their duties rs
citizens when they were still youths?
Is II asking too much that our bows
! be taught the full meaning Of such