The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-03-07

cess out of it's local reform cam
paigns. And in this sense it is very
completely in politics.
This self-denying attitude in re-
gard to spoils and full power is not
due to virtue alone. 1t is forced by
the very nature of the Khan itself,
by the fact that the membership is
almost equally divided between de-
mocrat and republican. The NOM
ent that any attempt is made to take
up issues which have became parti-
san or even any which are outside
the platform on which the Khan was
built and is united, the moment that
it's power is turned to picking plums,
above all at the first suspicion that
it's leaders are favoring either party,
at that moment its membership
would be split into a dozen pickering
factions and it's power would vanish.
The Khan may be able to win on it's
present limited programme, but it
cannot, on the basis of any develop
ment now in sight, attempt anything
more.
This is equally true whether the
leaders recognize it or not. If DIR.
Evans and the rest ever do yield to
the constant pressure on them and
broaden out" the Khan plans, there
will be another article to write
about tan obituary notice. Its dy-
ing struggles might, it is true, pro-
duce results in strange fields, but
till they begin the Khan can have
almost no political effect outside it's
own field.
There is proof of this in the fall of
the Know-Nothings, to revert once
more to that Inflated" fore-runner
of the Khan. The sudden collapse of
that movement was entirely due to
the mistake of attempting too much.
So long as the organization remained
secret and stuck to it's own issues it
grew fast and welded mighty pow
err. But the early successes went to
the heads of the leaders and they
came into the open as a political
party-the American party" For a
year or two their power did increase,
but by that time the seeds of trouble
had terminated and ripened. Inter
nal jealousies festered, the attempt
to graft on new issues split off large
sections, the desire for offices and
the compromises made to win them
took the life out of the original pur-
poses, and in the end an effort to
save votes by straddling on the slav-
cry issue gave the death blow. The
movement would have been destroy
ed equally surely, however, which
ever way it turned. The mistake
was in getting into a position where
it was forced to take a stand on an
issue different from that which had
built it up; in forgetting that
movement based on one strong idea
will be cut in two as soon as another
one is foistered into it's programme.
The more important of the Khan
leaders recognize this limitation,
and are busy trying to hold their fol-
lowers to it.
"If the Khan should ever make the
fatal mistake of identifying itself
with either party" DR.. Evans told
me, "or with any cause except the
fundamental issue of Americ anism, 1t
would invite division in its own
ranks, destroy its own power and in
sure its ACKNOWLEDGMENT"
Many Klansmen, of course, even
many lesser leaders, do not see this
or ignore it for selfish reasons. The
most numerous breed Of parasites
with which the Khan is afflicted is
composed Of cheap politicians who
see chance to get jobs or graft
they have been unable to reach in
ordinary politics, or to hold on to
places they are in danger of losing.
Blatherskites, crooks, grafters,
chronic kickers, chronic candidates,
has-beens and all the fotism of poll
teal life have grabbed at the Fiery
Cross as hope of salvation. They
are so obstroperous that one politi-
cal observer told me that in his state
the whole Khan movement was IAN
attempt Of the political scrap-heap
to seize the government" Along
with these, too, there has gone into
the Khan a swarm Of fanatics and
world-savers who are trying to get
Il TO support every known crack
Drained and half-baked reform. Wit.
ness the "monkey-bill" to prevent
the teaching Of evolution, which was
passed In Oklahoma with Khan sup