The northwestern bulletin-appeal., 1924-04-12
DIRTY POLITICS
SAYS NELSON IN
CAMPAIGN TALK
Denies Accusation That He Is in
Any Way Affiliated With
the Klansmen.


Mayor Arthur E. Nelson in pub
lie statement Saturday night assail-
ed his enemies in the city election
campaign for what he termed their
whispered vilifcations. denounced ru-
mored insinuations linking him with
un-American institutions and fatty
denied membership in the Ku Klux
Klan or sympathy with its methods.
The Mayor referred to attacks on
him as dirty politics" and asserted
that continued efforts OF those an
tagonized by him during his regime
to circulate the Ku Klux Klan. have
caused him to issue a frank and fat
denial.
| Upholds Natural Rights.
He reiterated statements made by
him in the past that in his opinion
there is no place in America for any
person who does not believe in the
principles of equality and natural
rights on which the government is
founded.
Mayor Nelson's statement follows:
There is no place in America for
one who does not believe in the
principles of equality and natural
rights upon which this government
is founded. The right to life. lib
erty and happiness includes abso-
lutte religious liberty, and any at
tempt to divide the American. peo-
pie upon lines of race, religion or
color Is an attempt to overthrow
the principles upon which our gov
ernment rests.
Would Clear Up Fogs.
II have already, on several occa-
sions, made this statement, but this
seems to be the age of dirty poll
tics, and so whispering campaign
of vilification has been started by
my enemies. and one Of the most
persistent and false statements made
by them is that l am a member of
the Ku Klux Khan.
"I believed that my analysis Of the
true principle of government was a
sufficient answer to this falsehood, be-
cause membership in that order would
be Inconsistent with those principles,
and I don't believe that even my
enemies say that 1 am afraid to tell
where stand; but good friends Of
mine have told me that many we'll
meaning people have failed to put the
proper construction upon my utter
lances and suggest a direct answer.
Friday night John H. Hickman, a
coiored man who had been an en-
ploye of one of the oldest iobbing
firms of this city for forty years, was
honored at banquet by the officers
and employees of that great CONNER
icial concern, and we have had the
spectacle that during a period when
loyalty and honesty and steadfastness
seemed to be weakening, this colored
man, John H. Hickman, stood out as
. the representative Of each Of those
qualities.
Points to Friends.
: zone OF the closest political and
: personal friends I have is Carlton F
McNally. a sincere, loyal and con-
sistent Catholic.
Upon the district bench of this
city is Judge Charles Bechhoefer, a
Jew, whom I feel honored in calling
my friend and whose high character
and legal ability fits him for any posi-
, tion In his profession.
mo organization which would bar
such men from every privilege of pub
lie or private life is consistent with
) American ideals, and now state
with as much emphasis as am capa.
| BILE Of that am not member Of and
do not belong to the Ku Klux Klar
or the so-called Invisible Empire and
SO far as / am informed of its objects
and methods, do not approve oi
them; nor do I belong to or approve
+ Of any organization which would
. deny to the men I have mentioned
} and others like them, any privileges
or rights under the law of this coun-
> TRY which I enjoy as an American