KU KLUX KLAN.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17294, 4 November 1921, Page 6

KU KLUX KLAN.

WHITE TERRORISTS OF U.S.A. (FROM OUR own* CORRESroNDEN'T.) SAN FI'AIsCISCO, Sept. 30. Just now there is intense interest in tlio oxtraordinaiy spread of Ku Ivlux Klanism throughout the United States and efforts are being made to suppress tho organisation, which within un incredibly short period has grown to a membership of nearly a million, recruited from all ranks of tho American people. Years ago the Ku Klux Klan was started to repress the power of tho negro in America and many bloody fights ensued, but tho Klan ultimately died out. Coincident with the growth of crime in the United States recently and the apparent levity of certain judges in allowing criminals their liberty to commit further outrages upon defenceless citizens, lias come, tho revival of Ku Klux ism, but under a different guise to that organisation which was at daggers drawn with the black population of the Southern States. The present Ku Klux Ivlnn is headed by Imperial Wizard Simmonds, who styles himself "Colonel" in the 29th Regiment of the Uniform Rank of Woodmen of the World, in which he operated before associating himself with the K.K.K. Briefly, the "Ku Klux snirit" ia a spirit that rebels at oppression and even defies law itself, according to tho Emperor's own declaration. It works secretly and is out to eilforce justice. Opponents to the K.K.K. assert that the movement is a menace to American life and institutions and Congress , has been persuaded to investigate the whole of the methods and' aims of the Order. Any time a malefactor has been tarred and feavnered, the Ivu Klux Klan has been blamed, in fact, most of the crop of presentday outbreaks of high-handed disregard for law, outrage and furtive terrorism has been placed to the credit (!) of tho mysterious Klan. It has made great capital for the sensational newspapers of tho country, and many fantastic stories have been woven with the lnvisiblo Empire as tho central motif. The officials of the Ku Klux Klan indignantly deny in their mayazines that thev have been bui.ty of causing death to any person, and state that those who have alleged they have committed crimes as described in tho public press will be attended to later 1 One especial aim of the, K.K.K. is said to be where criminals have been brought to the bar for heinous offences, and in the face of abundant evidence, they have regained ti eir liberty, the lq,w has been administered b.v outsiders so that some form of justice might be enforced to prevent further repetition of such crimes. The K.K.K. defend the moral law where the recognised law is impotent, they say. Something of a bombshell has been hurled into the ranks of the opponents of the Klan movement, for, in the preliminaries demanding an official investigation, Attorney-General Daugherty. says that action only could be taken under some statute covering conspiracy. Mr Daugherty made it clear that the literature of the Klan was not in violation of the law and what was to be determined was what went on behind the scenes. , An .investigation of tho Klan was also proposed by Representative Tague, the Democrat of Massachusetts, the preamble to whose_ resolution asserted that the organisation is "anti-Ameri-can," and that its objects and purposes were "the exile and suppression of persons who are members of certain races and religious sects." "The Ku Klux Klan has in more than one hundred instances been charged with unlawful seizure,- abduction, trial, and punishment of certain free citizens and residents of the United St'itea," Representative Tague said in a formal statement, " and is operating in violation of Articles 4, 5, and 6 of our Constitution, which guarantee against unlawful search, for protection of life and property, and for jury trial. It also violates those sections whk'h relate to 'freedom of religious worship and involuntary servitude."