Evening star., 1925-07-11
COOLIDGE WILL NOT
ADMIT KLAN ISSUE
Determined to Have Nothing
Officially to Do With Parade
Controversy.
By Consolidated Press.

NcA'EOA'NA~hNA
SWAMPSCOTT, Mass, July IL
President Coolidge has determined to
ignore the Ku Klux Klan issue and all
its ramiffcations as completely as pos
sible-even to the point of declining
officially to receive communications
relating thereto.
When Col. G. o. Sheriff. addressed
a letter to the President telling him
that he had granted a permit to the
klan to parade in the National Capt.
tai August 8, the matter was not Off.
cially brought to the attention of the
President. 1t was pigeonholed with
other communications on the subject
by the able Executive secretary, Ru-
dolph Forster, who sends on to Mr..
Coolidge from the White House such
mail as he ought to see during his va
cation.
Not long before this, when one of
the klan leaders told the press he
might invite the President to review
the parade, it was announced here
that the invitation had not been re-
ceiVed," which is tantamount to say
ing that even If a sufficient amount of
postage is placed on the letter, it will
not get any further than the Presi-
dents secretaries, who see to it that
klan letters are filed in a thick file
especially prepared for such epistles.
Avoids Embarrassment.
The view here is that the easiest
way to embarraSs the President is to
require him in some way to meet the
klan issue and the easiest way to save
him embarrassment is to forget that
the issue exists, or at least to decide
that it has nothing to do with the
Federal Government or any of its
functions.
There is a suspicion here that the
Khan parade is being staged more to
give life to the issue than anything
else. 1t is argued that the strength
of the klan is diminishing politically
and otherwise; that it has always
thriyed on advertising and controversy
and that since the 1924 campaign there
has been a noticeable falling off in in.
tereSt in the klan. If the organiza-
tions opposed to the Klan make an
issue of it and force the President
into 1t, this would stimulate the drive
for members on the ground that the
opposition rules the Government"
Mr.. Coolidge has insisted that a
dignified attitude on his part toward
such an eXtraneous issue required
complete aloofness, and while the Dis
trict of Columbia is governed by three
Commissioners appointed by the Presi-
dent, he feels that they should decide
the question of a klan parade as they
would any other kind of request for
a parade permit.
Cite Other Parades.
In the past many organizations have
appeared in Washington with which
there has been relatively little popular
sympathy, but the permit to parade
has been granted just the same. An
instance in point was the demonstra-
ton by pacifists against war, staged on
the very day Congress was voting to
declare war against Germany. Feeling
in Washington ran high at the time,
but the parade was held, notwithstand-
ing the protests of various patriotic
organizations.
The Klan leaders have agreed not to
permit masks in the parade. and con-
tend therefore that they are entitled
to as much consideration as any other
religious organization.
On the legal record they have forti-
fed their case and the District Gov
ernment in Washington has been COM
PEELED to issue the permit. The only
ground on which it may be revoked, if
at all, is the charge that it may in
cite to riot" The Commissioners have
the authority to refuse any permit if
they have reason to believe it may re-
suit in counter demonstrations, brawlS
or bloodshed. SO far as the President
is concerned, he regards it as an af-
doesn't want to dignity it by official
or personal attention. D. L.
Copyright. 1920