The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-05
KHAN ISSUE NOT
 VITAL, IS VIEW
 OF COL. HARVEY
Claims Both Party Plat forms In Exact Ac-
 cord On Subject
By CHARLES MICHELSON

George Harvey has decided that Presi- dent Coolidge shall not go after the Ku Klux Klan. The colonel is man of bifurcated activities these days. He edits Edward B. McLean's Washington Post with one hand and with the other seeks to guide the presidents political course. Not that he bothers with cam paign details, Mir. Butler and MT. Slemp attend to these. But on every serious question of broad policy 1t IS understood that they must wait to hear what the colonel says.
 Possibly it was the convenient access to the White House-to quote from one of the telegrams explaining the special wire to Palm Beach referred to during the oil investigation-that was one of the inducements to Col. Harvey to ac- cept the newspaper connection.
 It has been said that MT. Coolidge is not always obedient-or at least not cheerfully obedient. Perhaps that ac- counts for the colonel's latest broadside editorial, which reads as if it were in- tended for one eminent reader In this it is pointed out that the klan is not yet an issue in the campaign. Col. Harvey makes the declaration that mo- VI the major parties to take a definite at- titude for them in this matter. Con trary to the understanding of many thousands who have been misled by ir- responsible headlines, that is fact of considerable importance"
 Alarmed By Democrats.
 It appears that some of the Republic m leaders, noting the waning of the l;lan power, in Ohio for example, are alarmed that the democrats should have the appeal to the foreign-born 'oter embraced in a denunciation of the prescribing order. Their candidates for overnor, etc., are waiting to see what ihe president does before committing themselves, which is rather uncomfort- ble when their democratic adversaries re harvesting the German-American ote, the Irish-American vote and the talian-American vote on the issue of tolerance. The klan is republican in Ohio and also in Illinois. If both par es jumped on it it would have mo- here to go, for La Toilette has made ne strongest of all assaults on it. So lere is logic in the Ohio cry that a oolidge blast could not harm him or !le local candidates and might prevent ;he Hooking of the anti-klaners to the pposition. They are even afraid they ~ innot hold the negroes, for already | embers of that race are doing demo- | atic missionary work, as Lewis, as- stant attorney general in the Taft ad- | inistration, is doing in New York.
 Pulling the president on the other ,de is Senator Watson of Indiana,
 here the klan is stronger than in ka cIO l. ge is keeping cool with Watson. In 1 ct, coolness is a mild term for the at- | osphere of the White House when the ldiana senator is there. He is not one If the old guard who has been forgiven what it did to the president in the osing days of congress. Moreover, ere is a pretty definite idea that h. ana is gone anyhow, while Ohio and .linois are still counted in the Cool ge column.
 No Danger In Maine
 Maine, of course, merits some con- Iteration, but there is no danger of 'aine deserting the president, klan or
 , klan. However, the situation is suf- 'i iently doubtful to make republican
 ndidate for the presidency, particular
 cautious, not to say hesitating can late, peevish when people try to make | n take a stand on the matter.
 So Cononel Harvey, in leaded long Y imer-three wide columns of it-as-
 res the president that officially, so far'as denOuncing the sheeted knights is
 ncerned, "the slates of both parties
 clean. The two parties are in LII and complete accord"
 To be sure, Mir. Davis said some ing: "Whenever any organization, ) matter what it chooses to be called, neither Ku Klux or by any other lme, raises the standard of racial and Gligious belief as a test of fitness for public office it must be condemned" / That doesn't mean a thing, accord rg to Colonel Harvey. It is like a rosecuting attorney boldly declaring, If, or whenever a man, be he John ;mith or what not, commits crime he $ a criminal. I challenge my oppO- aent to agree with me-"
 NOT WORTH ATTENTION
 The inference is, of course, that there no challenge that the President hould pay any attention to.
 The Presidents attitude seems to be hat of the little boy who, wearying of necdotes conveyink moral percept, aid "Please Daddy don't tell any more tories tha tmean me-
 There is some evidence that the Col 0nel is a trifle impatient at this atti- sude. This sounds like it: Presently ve shall hear from the real candidates tor President" Git is republican fic- sion that the election is between the President and the democratic vice pres dential candidate)" unless, of course, they have conferred full powers of at torney upon their colleagues. Neither has yet been consulted upon this or any other subject, but Brother Charles has intimated that he will have something to say later, and Mr. Coolidge, after refraining from consultation with Mr. Dawes, conferred with Mir. Slemp and then went to church, probably to pray"
 Evidently something disagreed with Colonel Harvey at his last White House luncheon.
 It was demonstration of the per versity of the news that in the same issue of his paper that carried his word that there was no klan issue the most conspicuous political headline was this adnBy .andfna kes emf vb cm cmfmb Klan As Political Issue OvershadOws
 Campaign In Ohio
 The Colonel had no experience with the ingratitude of a President, indi- cated by his refusal to take advice and eliminating in a message that he felt he would be better off without the liar vey support, and it be- ms to look as if history might repeat itself. Actually there has been no such relation between the Colonel and the President as existed when Harding was in the w! ite House. Colonel Harvey was quite willing to go right on being mentor, still i5 perhaps, but MT. Coolidge's hesitation applies to taking advice as well as to other things, and what is the use being a mentor if the other fellow won't ment?