K.K.K. IN AMERICA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 149, 26 June 1922, Page 6

K.K.K. IN AMERICA.

NEW POLITICAL FORCE. (I'rom Onr Own Correspondent.) SAX FRANCISCO, June 2. Sonic of;the old-time politi al organisations of the United States are showing, considerable trepidation among their ranks owing to the remarka'ile grjwth of the Ku KKix Klan, for this new cecret gathering of 100 per cent. ' Americans is str.k.ng terror into eorr.e of tl e organii satiens which for many decades in I America have enjo; cd a predominance !in political ''plums,'' where lucrative ' positions have been monopolized by j followers of Hibernian societies and kin-, |drcd associations. ! j The first real test of this claracfer , has just been conc uded in the Pacific I Coast State of Oregon, where the effort j of the Ku Klux Klan and its allied 1 "patriotic societies'' in the Oregon Re-1 I publican primaries to nominate Char'.os I | Hall for Governor of the State, and to j name other candidates for State offices, undoubtedly was the bitterest and; closest political campaign ever witnessed j ' in the Western State. I Although the Klan and so-called j

| patriotic "societies lost the gubernatorial t • race by the narrowest of margins, CMldi-1 ) dates for the Legislature in most of the. (Western Oregon counties which were I endorsed by these organisations were ; nominated, and now adherents of these forcce are claiming a virtual victory. | Throughout the primary campaign the I Klan pursued an intensive "edueatio'nal" j • battle, emphasising the need of "real! ' patriots" for office. It was argued that' I American-born Protestants were the best' I fitted, and' on this basis the Klan put up j 'complete State and county "tickets 1 '- in j the. populous Multonomah Couuty, the , metropolitan centre of the State, and | !centred its fight there. For weeks priori | to election day the Klan put up a 6eries l of lectures in the larger cities, bringing | in propagandists from Eastern States for ' (hat purpose. In Portland the Municipal I Auditorium was obtained for stajrins : these lectures .a.?tho"»h vigorous protest was made by anii-Ivlan forces MENACE TO LIBERTY. Healed attacks on the Catholic Church, •in which the people were told that the I Church of Koine constituted a direct menace to American liberties, wrought I up an intense feeling in Portland and j elsewhere where the lectures were gi v .. | Catholics and Jews became alarmed : persons allied with neither the KJ . nor j the two former also' voiced protest , against the Klan'a aaivities. Khin ceremonials. in which thousands were initiated into the "Invisible Empire," were | held in the Municipal Auditorium in ! Portland. White-robed and masked ; figures stalked the streets at frequent . intervals. i Marked Klansmen 011 the Sunday preI ceding the primary posted themselves at 1 the churches in Portland, giving out statements of the Klan'? aims. In Southern Oregon several attacks upon citizens were made by masked men, but ,'denial that the Klan had authorised ! such attacks was promptly made. The general election in November promises to witness an even more bitter battle , fcr. the gubernatorial honours, ! ' Coincident with these demonstrations iin Oregon, official investigations were i initiated in California and other American States into the activities of the : K'ansmen. whose forces were daily being ) added to bv enormous numbers of new candidates. Generally throughout the , l'nited States the opinion of the man in i the street is that the tenets of the K.K.K. do not, violate the Constitution of the United States, but rather aims to , purify public morals and secure better ■ civic government. j MOURNERS AMAZED. ! Whenever detachments of the Klan have appeared at funerals the incident | has never failed to attract the attention i of the sensational Press, and it has been | "played up" with never-failing rcgu- | j larity. i A late news dispatch front New York 'relates that, after the burial ceremonies 200 persons were slowly leaving the grave of Harry S. Tomer; in the Ridger lawn Cemetery, Delawanna, in New , Jersey, when 40 masked figures, clad in ■ i t]ic white robes and hoods of the Kit ' j Ivlux Klan appeared from a hollow in the far end of the cemetery. Silently I they marched single file toward the • ! grave as the amazed mourners stood •, hack. The leader, in an elaborately ■ t decorated robe, was followed by a colottr- [ 1 bearer carrying a large American flag i and two members supporting a cross of ; red roses. Surrounding the grave, they •, stood with bowed heads while the Klan ': ritual was read by the King Kleagle. I, For a moment all was quiet. Then a ijeign from the leader, and the white- • j clothed Klansmen knelt as a prayer was i. offered. White carnations, carried by ■{each of the men, were dropped into the •, gTave. The forty Klansmen arose and • j silently marched away in single file and . vanished over the top of the hill front ' Which they came. Eight automobiles • awaited the men, and they sped toward •! Rutherford, New Jers'ey.' Mr. Tomer, aged 40, of Carlstadt, New Jersey, was : an electric lineman for the Now Jersey . Public Service Corporation, and was electrocuted while working on the tramway line wires at Lyndhurst.