The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1924-01-02
AS OTHERS SEE II

AS UIHERS Sit II
Searching for significance in the
scattered elections of November 6,
the political leaders who claim every
thing and admit nothing in. public,
have discovered a real note of warn
ing. 1t is the growing political
strength Of the Ku Klux Khan. This
strength puzzled by manifesting it
self in widely separated localities.
The Klan did not win every contest
it entered but proved enough of a
factor in several instances to cause
the wise men of the two old parties
to stop, look and listen.
Not only did the Khan manifest
itself at the polls but various edicts
have been issued telling how the
Khan regarded certain aspirants for
presidential honors in 1924.
The results of these Khan activi-
ties has been the silencing of some
of our once most garrulous politi-
clans. The average politician is
easily frightened, however. Any sort
of jack-'o-lantern, grining in the
dark, will send cold chills down his
back. Any sort of "vote," real or
imagined, will start his knees rafting
like a pair of minstrel bones. He
may regard the Khan and it's titles as
grotesque, but the potentially of the
supposed Klan "vote" is enough to
send him into a silence as deep as the
grave.
The suddenly discovered strength
of the Klan movement in the middle
West, particularly Ohio and Indiana,
has been one of the distinct surprises
to the politicians and today they are
cropping somewhat in the dark as to
the effect the so-called "Klan bloc"
may have on their future plans.
While senators and congressman may
be perfectly willing to form 'blocs"
among themselves, they do not like
to see the voters following their ex-
ample. Opponents of the bloc system
of government at Washington have
foreseen the development of the bloc
system among voters and it has
given them no small amount of
alarm.
They have contended all along that
a bloc system in Congress would fos-
ter group voting throughout the
country with all attending evils. Leg
islating by bloc, it has been held, is
no worse than voting by bloc.
This tendency toward group vot-
ing is springing up just at a time
when many political observers were
congratulating the country on the
disposition of the voters of the
younger generation to break away
from party lines and cast their bal
lots independently.
The late President Harding did not
share their views. He was a great
believer in party regularity and while
it is true his campaign managers
made direct appeals to some of the
embryo voting groups which have
since come to the surface, he held
that party allegiance was a thing to
be priced and fostered above every
other consideration. With the break
ing down of party lines Mr.. Harding
foresaw a dissolution of the system
of party government which has OBJ
tanned in the United States since the
formation of the Republic. Mr.. Hard
ing fought group control in Congress
as the forerunner of group voting.
It would be erroneous to picture
the party leaders as panic stricken
at this time but there is no doubt
they are giving grave consideration
to the tendencies noted in the recent
elections. The activity and success
of the Khan in assembly. districts of
Long Island was particularly interest
ing. It has been held along that New
York city, with its cosmopolitan pop
ulation, it's high percentage of all
anti-Klan elements would be the last
place for the Khan to find footing.
Northern elements of the Klan
seem to devote themselves almost
exclusively to political matters but it
is just this fact that is giving the
politicians concern. It is quite an
easy matter sometimes to swing an
election by appealing to the "peepul,"
but it is quite something else again
to conduct a campaign against or
ganized groups.-From New York
Paper.