The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-09-30

Copyright by the Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by
special permission.
Rising Above Their Convictions
The return of Mr.. Hugo Black to
America does not lessen the strain
imposed upon the professional liberals
who at the time of his appointment
hailed him as "great liberal leader,
commended that he would elevate the
Supreme Court and, from the Roose-
welt standpoint, regarded his selec-
ton as ideal.
The reason these self-styled "lead-
ers of liberalism" now suffer so acute
ly is that, regardless of the attitude
assumed by Mr.. Black, they are con-
fronted with an exceedingly painful
alternative. Either they must turn
upon their hero, asserting his unfit
ness to sit upon the bench and con-
demning the President as negligent
for not having ascertained the facts
or they must strangle their liberal
principle" smother their hatred of
bigotry and, practically condoning
Khan membership, dismiss as trivial
the Khan oath, Khan record, and Khan
principles, the mere mention of which
few years ago filled their souls
with lothing.
1t is an illuminating commentary
upon the sincerity of these "saviors
of the people," both political and
journalistic-a true measure of their
liberalism-that, confronted with a
choice, they should choose, almost
unanimously, the craven rather than
the courageous course. Instead OF
sticking to their principles, they de-
liberately stultify themselves. In the
words of an old-time politician caught
in jam, they have risen "above their
convictions" With one of their own
ilk caught in the Klan company, they
have been finding all sorts of spurious
excuses and explanations, ranging
from the wholly false assertion that
everybody in Alabama politics had
to join the Klan," to the fervent state
ment that while Mr.. Black, for polit-
ical reasons, Joined this evil and I'M
savory organization, he later re-
signed, is not now in sympathy with
it's principles, policies and practices,
and never was.
The latter has become the favorite
argument with which Mr.. Blacks par
tisans are meeting the situation in
which the disclosures have left him
and them. 1t is the line most of them
want him to take, coupling it, of
course, with an indignant assertion
that the whole business has been con-
cocted by "Wall Street Tories" and is
aimed at the President. Mr.. Roose-
welt, who in former days was one OF
the strongest opponents of the Khan
will help create this much-to-be-de-
sired impression if he adheres to his
policy of dignifed silence on the
subject.
However, it is not likely that these
efforts to divert and becloud the pub
lie mind will obscure, from any save
the altogether undiscerning, the sig
nificant facts which refute the
strained contentious of Mr.. Blacks
friends and render their arguments
absured. For example, against the
contention that he never really be-
lieved in or was in sympathy with the
principles of the Klan, there is the
record of the solemn Klansman's oath
| to which he subscribed, pledging his
adherence to those principles. And
there is the further record of the ex-
traordinary speech he made praising
those principles upon the occasion
of his induction into life membership
$50
There is an even more complete an
swer to the somewhat plaintive as
sertion that, while once Klansman
Mr.. Black long ago discarded those
principles and, as shown by his rec
ord, is now wholly free from bigotry,
with no trace in him of the racial and
religious hatred upon which the Khan
is founded. On this question of
whether men change in this way, Mr.,
Black, himself, delivered a speech on
the floor of the Senate on February
10, 1880. He was at that time oppos-
ing the confirmation of Mr.. Hugh NJ
Tate to the Interstate Commerce
Commission on the ground that he
once had had connection as lawyer
with a railroad.
Mr.. Black Delivered himself as
follows:
81 do not mean that, as an in
variable rule, man is so bent or has
such trend that he cannot change
his method of thought, but I do mean