The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-02-29

has done good. The reasons given are
vague and not fundamentals; disap-
proval of secrecy, of espionage, or
the statement that 'nobody's got ann
business doing such things"
There are many people, of course.
who hate the Khan merely because
they fear it, and never acknowledge
| that reason. But the real cause OF
the most serious opposition seems to
me to lie in the complaint against
meddling. On analysis it shows three
sound reasons against the Khan meth
DDS, even against the modified meth
DDS the leaders are trying to enforce.
The first is that public opinion and
our own accustomed punishment of
obnoxious persons are often unjust
and unfair, imply a right to Judgment
which cannot be we'll maintained,
and are tempered by varying opinion
in the community as a whole. The
evils, overlooked and ignored in or
binary social relations, become mag
nified and self-condemning when they
appear on a large and organized
scale.
In the second place there is .
vast difference between pressure ap-
piled by the community as a whole
and similar pressure applied even
in the same ways, by part of the
community which has arrogated full
power to itself. In the third place
there is no safeguard that the power
Of the Khan will not be perverted
at any moment to all kinds of per-
sonal desires-spite, jealousy, re-
venge, ambition or plain meanness.
The objections to the Khan on fl,e
ground Of secrecy and espionage are
loud but very often do not ring true.
Most Of those l have heard have been
from men who themselves belong to
org aniZatiOns more or less secret ana
more or less accustomed to use es-
piOnage. They are anxious for Lawn
which will stop the Khan from using
those weapons, but balk when any
attempt is made to provide Lawn
which will stop all organizations
from using them. This probably ac-
counts for the futility of all anti
Khan laws so far passed. There are,
of course, a few men who are clear
sighted and public-spirited enough 10
see these things as evils in them
selves. Many of them are fighting
the Khan, but they do not single it
out for hatred above other bodies.
At any rate, the opposition In
there. In some places it has divided
quiet communities into hostile fac
tions. In others it is at present hid
den, held down by fear of the Khan,
but ready to spring into action IL
ever that fear dies. The Kan, / be-
lieve, will be stunned to find how
great a baying will arise at its first
sign of weakness. The storm which
followed the collapse of the Know
Nothings made their name Kissing
for two generations. and this will
not be less. This suppressed hatred
also makes it certain that if the
Khan does start to break up, its fan
will be even faster than it's growth
Important as are these social &C
Invites Of the Khan, it's politica
power and its results in that field
are even more so. 1t can only be
through politics that it may carry
| out it's official aims; it is only in
politics that it can even make its
social reforms permanent. The klsR
denies that it is in politics, yet IN
the same breath DR.. Evans declares
that it's program must result IN po-
litical action and be carried out IL
no other way" The Khan in politics
and what it means in the govern
ment of America and particularly IN
the coming election, will be taken
up in the next, and final article.