PERSONALITIES

Southland Times, Issue 19099, 17 November 1923, Page 9 (Supplement)

PERSONALITIES

OKLAHOMA’S GOVERNOR

(By

Ædile.)

Although of late the cable news has not contained many references to the situation in Oklahoma, the war between the Governor of the State and the Ku Klux Klan is not finished. The position in the State is unusual because it is claimed that neither side enjoys the confidence of the people, but there are some special features centring on the personality of the Governor which explain the affair and its bearing on politics. John Calloway Walton, a radical, was elected Mayor ofOklahama City and in that post had a good administrative record, and so when the State elections came round the Farmer-Labour Organisation re-elected him as its candidate. He stood on a Liberal platform and was elected by an overwhelming majority, though all the big cities went against him. The farmers stood loyally to Walton and his triumph was a big shock to the financial and commercial interests in the State. Walton was described as “the champion of political freedom and democracy, a two-fisted fighter after the style of Roosevelt with a heart like the heart of Lincoln.” His opponents declared him a Red and a menace to law and order. This view of the Governor was expressed more pungently when at the behest of the Farmer-Labour Organisation he appointed as president of the State Agricultural College a Socialist by the name of George Wilson. Then came a quick change. Wilson was reported to have condemned the American Legion, corresponding to our R.S.A., and to have shown “Bolshevist tendencies,”-with the result that Walton removed him summarily. This act turned his Labour supporters from him, but the farmers kept their faith and Walton went ahead. ; At this moment the K.K.K. raised its masked-head ‘more boldly than before. A deputation from a place called Henryetta waited on the Governor and complained | that the town was being terrorised by the ' Klan. Masked men had taken citizens and whipped them, one man had been killed, but nothing could be done because the K.K.K. was so feared. Within five minutes of the deputation’s arrival in the Governor’s room martial law was proclaimed in the terrorised country and the Oklahoma Press were announcing that the Governor had made a mistake. His quick action, however, was a declaration of • war, and before long the effects were felt right through the State. The Governor had a

fairly substantial legislative record for the benefit of the farmers, but the Klan war overshadowed everything else. An effort was made to impeach him, but it failed by one vote, and Walton proceeded merrily on his “two-fisted” way. In Tulsa, a young Jew with a police court record was seized in the main street of the town by the Klan and whipped. The Governor hurried troops to Tulsa where martial law was clamped on at once. Within six weeks a Grand Dragon and a Titan, two fairly high officers in the K.K.K. were under arrest and four members of the Klan were serving sentences for having flogged a defenceless citizen. At the same time hundreds of Klansmen were bound over to keep the peace. It was at this time that the Klan sought to attack the Governor through the State Congress, but Walton refused to allow it to assemble, stating that it was the creature of the Invisible Eikpire. He used the troops to prevent the legislature meeting, but it assembled somewhere late in September and carried a resolution suspending him from office. This Walton ignored. The next move came in Tulsa where the Klan “deferred” all masked parades and the fiery cross, which had blazed right through the district were quenched. This looked like a victory, and actually it was, but the Invisible Empire was not disposed of and Walton is still in danger. An interesting sidelight could be gleaned ' from the fact that one prominent Klans- I man declared in public that the organisa- 1 tion in Oklahoma would unmask if Walton were removed from office. Unfortunately the removal cf the disguising hoods is opposed to the tenets of this sei 0 so- I ciety, and it is difficult to see in thu, new j move anything but an attempt to marshal new forces for the dethronement of the Governor. This leading Klansman also declared that the Klan had intended to unmask and Walton, through his spies, discovering this fact had sought by anticipatory action to appear to have forced it. This was a clumsy piece of argument and cannot help the K.K.K., particularly as Wai- ( ton promptly responded with the declarai tion that either the Klan or he would have ' to go out of the State altogether. It is 1 plain that Oklahoma's Governor is given to ' acting with a high-hand, but when he tack- 1 led the Invisible Empire, he undoubtedly struck a good blow for constitutional gov- I eminent. No secret society can exist to j the benefit of the people in a democratic ] State, and as soon as such an organisation begins to take the law into its own hands it becomes a menace to good government. The protection of democracy, the best safeguard against corruption in public life, is publicity. This man has been described as a Mus- ' solini, but that is rather nonsensical, be- | cause he is the properly elected Governor of the State and his actions have been directed against a body of masked men known to have engaged in lawless acts. There are powerful non-Klan forces arrayed against him, but he claims that there are 177 legislators in the State Congress who are members of this dangerous body. John Colloway Walton is a picturesque figure and evidently prone to playing a lone hand. But remember that when he took office the Klan had been at work for two years and was a hidden force felt in public and private life. Walton is opposed to capital punishment and undoubtedly is radical in his tendencies. He was for ten years a salesman in Kansas City, and is now a man in the prime of life. About twelve years ago he went to Oklahoma as a salesman for a firm of electrical engineers and stayed there, turning quickly to politics. He is a squarebuilt man with powerful shoulders and a strong face. He is a non-drinker, but his views on the liquor question are not known. He is an inveterate smoker of the pipe and an energetis worker. In times of stress he has a habit of assuming charge of detail work, on one occasion, as Mayor, dismissing the Chief of Police and leading the constabulary personally in clearing the city of the disorderly elements. He is a ready i speaker and seems to make quick decisions. 1 The conventions do not worry him very much in the discharge of public affairs, but in private life he is said to be a charming man who readily makes friends. Although he is out to fight the Ku Kluk Klan as vigorously as possible, he is a member of many of the societies which seem to attract the American mind. He is a Mason, a Shriner, a Knight of Pythias, Oddfellow, and a member of an organisation known as the Modern Woodmen of America, but he is out to make the K.K.K. unmask or reform and in that fight he should have the support of his countrymen whatever may be their political ideas. At the present moment he is on top, but the war is still on and this Governor of Oklahoma is sure to appear in our cable news again before long.