Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 27 February 1925 — Page 3

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1925,

THE POST-DEMOCRAT.

Klan Grand Dragon Turns On Governor

Portland, Ore-,—The Oregonian of this city prints the following story illustrating the misadventures of the Ku Klux Klan in its attempt at

political domination in Oregon: I marked th e final break between the ! Wednesday, of course, will be de‘•Fred L. Gifford, Grand Dragon of! Governor and the Klan organization, j voted to the inaugural ceremonies.

th™ Kluxers, called

Governor ' The latter worked hard to elect

i Pierce, Democrat, against Olcott,

Pierce today and iayed fourteen stars | Republicall( in 1922( and 8i n C e then

Thursday the Hoosiers will be given an opportunity to spend the day as they desire. The special will

of special State officers on the desk, the organization has gradually lost | leave Washington, Thursday tven-

These stars the Governor had issued

to klansmen.

“Mr. Gifford informed Mr. Pierce j that he was through with him. This

the j

the

THE KU KLUX KLAN AS I SAW IT DEVELOP HARRY ADAMS HERSEY. I was pastor in Muncie, Indiana, when the Ku Klux Klan first began to show itself, and I saw it grow with astounding rapidity in that state where it became strongest and most in the open, and where at its height, according to a careful national survey, one person out of every six in the state was a member of some department of the Klan. Whatever the platform and the principles of the Klan may be, and however sincere and moral some of its members may be, and there are many good men and many ministers m it, I know how the Klan functions where it has the greatest popularity and the largest liberty. On the basis of that personal knowledge and experience I wish to present the story of an eye-witness who was not a victim of the Klan, who has no axe to grind, to grudgs to exercise, and no desire to state anything hut the truth. One Sunday moraing the papers reported a Saturday night parade of TClansmen, the first of its kind in our city, and the very first time I had heard of the Klan at all, excepting its predecessor in the days after the Civil War, when the United States Government had to invade certain states and put an end to the Klan, which had produced disorders beyond the power of the state to quell. As a matter of history I knew the Klan to be founded on racial discrimination and hatred, a high-handed organization which took the law into its own hands, and which sought to nullify obsolutely the chief provisions of our American “Bill of Rights.” I was not ignorant of the exceptional circumstances. and the great evils which called the original Klan into being—circumstances and evils which had no parallel when the modern Klan was organized, not in an emergency, but in cold blood and with racial and creedal malice prepense. So when one of my most devoted Sunday School teachers came to me and said, ‘,1 wish you would say something about that Klan parade, several of our young girls are completely carried away by it,” she found me ready to strangle that enthusiasm in the hour of its birth, if possible. As nearly as I can recall my extemporaneous remarks, which were more forceful than elegant, but which express ed opinion which ! still hold, I said: “I wish to say something of great importance. You all know that there was a spectacular parade of white-rob-ed and masked men last night, a lawless parade, according to my judgment, for I can not conceive that it had a permit. I wish to warn you now against that entirely un-American and un-Christian organization. It is founded on passions and hatred. I am afraid of it (not personally, but for our peace), and I hope you will oppose it. Those men are cowards who dare not reveal their identity.” “I repeated that speech to my congregation before preaching on a theme which had no relationship whatever to the Klan incident. immediately I had proof of the “cowardice” charge, for I received a polite anonvmous statement that some of my congregation were members and didn’t like what I said. Of course I paid no attention to this. I avoided making further direct attacks, which would have done nothing but defeat the ends towards which I aimed definitely and without wavering, even when the Klan increased mightily and at least one of the best women in my church, a Sunday school teacher, became so strong a Klanswoman that she alienated some of her hoys. At the same time one of the Sunday school officers, a man for whom I never ceased to have friendship and admiration, joined the Klan. I could not believe that there were many members in my own church, the whole thing seemed so clearly foreign to our faith, but I soon found that the other churches were not only full of Klansmen and Klanswomen, but that they were becoming disrupted by the Klan. Hardest of all to believe, but impossible to deny, several of the ministers became Klansmen, but the issue did not enter our Ministerial Association nor destroy our wonderful unity and fellowship. It was claimed that the Klan would strengthen immensely every Protestant church and bring men into it by the hundreds. How did it fulfill this promise? In Indianapolis was one of the largest churches of a certain very large denomination. The minister was very able and was phenomenally successful and popular with men. .But he opposed the Klan. And when he would not favor it or keep silent, those very men who had been his strongest friends and supporters “set him out on the sidewalk,” so to speak. His work for that.church was done and a consequent disruption ensued. Another church of the same denomination, a small church, which could not spare a single member, had a pastor who became a Klansman, and a Klan organizer. The result was that nearly all his anti-Klan members were driven out, among them one of his most valuable young man, a young man who was almost indispensable. Some of my fellow ministers, pastors of large city churches, were opposed to the Klan, but wise enough to oppose it, as .I did, after letting the people know where I stood, by a positive, emphasis, upon real Americanism and the true. Christianity, and a persistent endeavor to promote sentiments and principals which would open the eyes and modify the practises of the Klansmen. But to me personally these ministers confessed to the awful problems the Klan had created in the church, and the terrible burdens it had placed on the minister. It was (I presume still is) a fact that few ministers can be either pro or anti-Klan without alienating many of their flock. Meanwhile, in the community at large, although boasting that it had only one-tenth of one percent alien population, with only one Roman Catholic church, one small Jewish synagogue (without a rabbi) and one colored settlement. there was discord and hatred and division. Protestant and Roman Catholic clerks in the same office, formerly the best of friends became enemies. Friendships were sundered. I had it from a source which I could not possibly doubt, that one of the finest Protestant families kept a loaded rifle in the hall ready against a possible Catholic uprising (which the Klan has prophesied). “Take it from me.” friends, an eye-witness of the rise and growth of the klan in its most favorite state that whatever its high sounding principles appear to be, however good and sincere some of its members, it is an organization fraught with danger and attended with discord. It will die, undoubtedly, as it is already dying in once popular districts. Meanwhile let us try to be Christian by overcoming evil with good.

ing, arriving at Indianapolis at 8:30

o'clock Friday evening.

o

McCray Farm Is Sold for Taxes

confidence in the promises of

Governor. Yesterday marked final parting of the ways.” SPEClALTRABi

TO INAUGURATION

FROMTHK'TSTF'

Cmmittee Makes Arrange-

ment fr Round Trip

Fare.

, /

Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 27—All arrangements for Indiana’s part in the inaugural ceremonies at Washington, March 4, were completed at a series of conferences held here

during the last three days by Willis 1 sortment of apartment houses bonds

, , . j which have never returned divi-

general chair- I

dends, according to attorneys for

The 1,178-acre tract of land in Allen County, which was the property of former Governor Warren T. McCray until shortly before he was a.djudged a bankrupt has been sold for $8,000 for taxes and ditch assessments. Real estate authorities estimated the farm tp be worth between $110,000 and $125,000. The land was purchased by .A. W. Eiserman, president of the Fort Wayne

State Bank.

The farm was traded by Governor McCray to a Chicago firm for an as-

B. Dye of Kokomo,

man of the Indiana inaugural committee, and Clyde A. Walb, chairman of the republican state commit-

tee.

An important result of the conferences is seen in the announcement that a reduced railroad fare to Washington and return has been obtained for the passengers on the “Indiana Special” train, which will leave Indianapolis, Sunday evening, March 1. Mr. Dye stated today that every detail in connection with the trip has been taken care of, assuring members of the party an enjoyable journey entirely free from the usual worries and discomforts of travel. / “The committee has arranged to care for round-trip railroad fare,” Mr. Dye said, “sleeper and meals, going and coming, a room in the Hotel Lafayette for four days, a complete sightseeing trip while there and the Indiana dinner and dance—all for the sum of $85 for each person.” The chairman stated that the only additional expense will be meals and other incidentals while in the capitol. Governor Ed Jackson and Lieutenant F. Harold Van Orman, with their wives, will head the Indiana delegation, it is announced. Agreements have been made with leaders of the Indiana legislature by which they will withhold measures passed by both houses until the return of Governor Jackson, Thursday, March 5. This action was necessary be cause of a constitutional provision which provides that bills passed by the Assembly and submitted to the Governor must be signed or vetoed in three days. A large number of prominent republicans, both men and women, from all parts of the state have already sent in their reservations for the trip, the number indicating that the special train will be well filled Others who are planning to make the trip are urged to send in thenreservations at once, due to the shortness of time. Reservations should be sent either to Mr. Dye at Kokomo or to Mr. Walb at the republican state headquarters at the Hotel Severin, Indianapolis. The train bearing the Indiana par^ ty will leave the Indianapolis station at 8 o’clock, Sunday evening. Arrangements have been made by which those living in the southern and southeastern part of the state may obtain excursion rates directly from their home to Cincinnati, where they will hoard the special train at 10:30 o’clock Sunday even-

ing.

The route the Hoosiers will follow takes them directly through the famous Piedmont section of the Shenandoah valley. The schedule is such that the train will pass thru the most striking scenery during Monday morning and part of the af- [ ternoon. One or more short stops i will be made in order that the passengers may better appreciate the

scenery.

Four large sightseeing buses in Washington, have been chartered for the entire day Tuesday and will be used to take the Indiana delegation to Mt. Vernon, the Arlington cemetery and other points of interest in and near Washington, including all the important public build-

ings.

A big event of the trip will be the Indiana Dinner at the Hotel Lafayette, Tuesday evening. Prominent Indianians, including Postmaster General Harry S. New, James A. Davis, Secretary of Labor, Senator James A. Watson, David Hogg, Representative from the twelfth Indiana district, and several others, will be the speakers of the evening. Fred S. Purnell, president of the Indiana Society in Washington, who ha-s been active in assisting with the arrangements, will act as toastmas- - ter. A dance will follow the dinner.

the estate.

AIRCRAFT INQUIRY RETURNS TO UFE

Battery of Witnesses Summoned To Attack Battleship Today.

Washington, Ffebl 27—Returning to life after a mysterious premature demise the house aircraft investigating committee has summoned a battery of witnesses to attack the battleship at its hearing Thursday. The committee has set out to seek flaws in the report of the navy board which set the battleship up as the final arbiter of sea warfare and predicted that the airplane will never assume paramount importance over it. The issue of a separate air service, raised by Brigadier-General Mitchell, has been laid aside temporarily while the committee goes into the question of the supremacy of the battleship. The first witness will be AdmiraJ Hilary P. Jones, chairman of the navy board. After Admiral Jones has explained the conclusions of the board in favor of the battleship, the committee on Friday, will hear Admiral William S. Sims, retired, who has had a record in the n-vy even more turbulent than General Mitchell’s in the army. While Admiral Sims is not in agreement with General Mitchell’s independent air service plan, he is skeptical of the strength of the battleship. After the war he provided a sensation during a senate naval in quiry when he charged that the submarine had miade the battleship obsolete. He insists that the man of war is vulnerable to the submarine torpedo just as Mitchell declares it is vulnerable to airplane bombs. Rear Admiral Fullam, retired, another skeptic so far as the battleship is concerned was invited to appear, but will be unable to come because of illness. The committee is in doubt as to whether Secretary of War Weeks will be called for questioning regarding the state of the army’s air force. Likewise, it is doubtful whether many of the congressmen will attend the war department’s anti-aircraft gun demonstration at Langley field, Va., March 6. The committee hearings probably will be going on then, some members said.

ILLINOIS SENATOR DEAD AT CAPITAL

jMedill McCormick, Power

In Republican Party, Dies In Washington.

Washington, Feb- 27 —Medill McCormick, senior senator from Illinois and member of a celebrated family, was found dead here today in his apartment at the Hamilton hotel. While agreeing that death was due to natural causes, doctors disagreed as to their nature. The physician summoned hurriedly by the hotel management held that a gastric hemorrhage had brought about death, but the city coroner gave a verdict of death from dilation of the heart. The senator was alone in his apartment when the end came two hours or more before noon Mrs. McCormick, a daughter of Mark Hanna, was in Chicago where she had gone to be near Mrs. Nicholas Longworth upon the arrival of the Longworth baby. She will arrive here today to ta,ke the body to Chicago for burial Friday or Saturday. The senator was found in bed,

clothed in pajamas, lying on his right side, with his head on his chest and one hand across his chin where there was a deep gash caused by the apparent re-opening of a wound he received in Chicago last week while playing polo with his children, i Senator McCormick’s body was moved from the hotel to the home of the Countess Eleanor Gizycka, formerly Miss Eleanor Patterson, of Chicago, whose family long has been associated with the McCormick family in the management of the Chicago Tribune. Funeral services will be held at the countess’ home at 11 o’clock Thursday and will be conducted by the Rev. J. J. Muir, chaplain of the senate. The President and Mrs. Coolidge, senators and representatives and others high in the official life of the nation will attend. ST0NEM9UNTAIN SCULPTOR “FIREr Committee of Confederate Memorial Makes Charges Against Mr. Borglum. Atlanta, Ga. Feb. 27—Gutzon Borlum’s contract with the Stone Mountain Conference Memorial Association w r as cancelled by formal resolution of the association executive committee at a meeting Wednesday. President Hollins N. Randolph was instructed to appoint a subcommittee to select another sculptor to carry on the v r ork of carving on the side of the mountain a group of equestrian figures, representing leaders of the conference forces. At the same meeting the committee passed a resolution stating thal Lester P. Barlow of Cleveland, has no authority to represent the association in any capacity. Mr. Barlow recently announced his intention of holding a meeting in Cleveland, March 3, to raise funds jointly for the Stone mountain memorial in Georgia and the Harney Peak Mem orial in South Dakota. The Stone Mountain conference memorial project when complete is expected to show a group of Confederate leaders carved in gigantic proportion on the Side of Stone mountain, sixteen miles from Atlan-

ta.

Charge Contract ^Violated The contract called for completion of the central group by Sept. 10 1926, the resolution continued, but said that it was evident that the work couW not be completed by that time. It charged that Mr. Borglum had in effect abandoned the contract and said that undei' the terms of the contr'ot the ^sr-ocin-tion v T as authorized to cancel the contract by thirty-day written notice to the sculptor. In the resolution. the history of the Stone Mountain Confe-’^-Mo Memorial Association was sketched from the time of its organization. Many charges were made against Mr. Borglum in the lengthy document.

(SENATE PASSES POSTAL PAY BILL BY 69 TO-12 VOTE Measure Now Goes To the President—Corrupt Practices Rider Carries. Washington, Feb. 27.—The postal pay and rate increase bill received final congressional approval Thursday and now goes to the President. The conference report, practically substituting the House bill for that passed by the Senate, was accepted by the Senate after short debate. The bill also carries as a “rider,” a corrupt practices act strictly limiting campaign expenditures of con'gressional candidates, as recommendj ed by the Senate campaign funds committee. Pay Increase $300. • The measure provides for an aver- , age increase of about $300 annually in postal employes’ salaries, effective as of Jan. 1, this year, and increases postal rates, effective April 15, next, to raise about $60,000,j 000 of the $68,000,000 required for I the pay advances. Opposition to the conference report today was based entirely on the rate provision, Senator Harrison (Democrat, Mississippi) declaring the Senate conferees had yielded to the higher rates in the House bill after a conference with President Coolidge. Senator McKellar (Democrat, Tenn.i, | one of the conferees, also told the I Senate the President had “asserted i his prerogative” in insisting on some : of the rate increases, mentioning j particularly the 2 cents service ! charged on parcels post packages, i Hearings Are Provided, i The bill is one of the first pieces j of general legislation outside of the appropriation measures to be sent to the White House this session. It w r as advanced at the time the Senate, by a close margin, voted to sustain the veto of the pay increase measure. While no time limit is placed on the rate increase, the bill provides for a joint congressional committee to conduct hearings this summer l with a view to recommending further I revision of these schedules at the i next session. i Controversy over the rate in I Crease centered on the second and r fourth eyasses. In the forarer~ f he - | rate is made uniform on all reading 'matter at IV2 cents a pound, while 1 for advertising sections the rates are ! 2 cents a pound in the first and sec- ! ond zones; 3 cents a pound in the ; fourth, fifth and sixth zones, and 9 ; cents a pound on the seventh and eighth zones. ; In the fourth class n sftrvice i charge of 2 cents a pound on all parJ cel post packages is established, with j the present basic rates unchanged. A “special handling” service also is created with a charge of 25 cents a

package.

Mailing, Cards 2 Cents In the fipst class, the rate on private mailing cards and souvenir cards is advanced from 1 to 2 cents.

In the third class, the rate is iaf creased from 1 to l 1 /^ cents for each j two ounces. All matter under eight | oarers must be sent in this class, and | all oyer that amount in the fourth | class. o U. S. At The (Continued from Page One) ney to Rome and bow down before him? So he can lay American gold, jour gold, men, at his feet? It’s a | fact, I tell you brothers. Why they | tried to put A1 Smith, a Catholic, in 1 at the last presidential election and I they would have done it if it had not I been for the good klansmen present | at the convention in New York. The j army and navy are composed of sev- ! enty-five percent Catholics and right I tonight they have us at their mercy | Take St. Louis, brothers. There are I five priests at every church. One of ! them collects the money and the other i four pray for the dead and hunt for ' men to join the church. They even ' control our post office. I mailed ; twenty-six letters today and was i afraid to post' them all at one place. That is one of the many things we 'must take care of- ; “Another serious problem confronting us are the Jews. They ^on- : trol the finiftcial world of this country. The bread trust is in their hands and every loaf we purchase they set the price on. Take the very suit on our backs, the Jews tell us what we must pay for it. Look at the movies. Jew controlled. I went to a theatre in New York, r?cently . msn. and saw girls parading before a crowd of Jews with not enough on to fill a thimble. That is what the Jews are doing for us, men. , ‘‘The Greeks are the cause of another serious situation. Our women, forced to work in their candy kitchens are unsafe if they remain there three weeks. I fought them in Kansas City and I know what I am talking about.’’ Negro Problem Discussed. I Changing his voice, which had risen to a lusty crescendo, Dunleavy i discussed the negro situation as It affected St. Louis county, i ‘‘The negro question must be discussed softly, brothers. They greatly outnumber us and we must handle this diplomatically. Right here In this county a negro school board is in charge of hiring and firing white , school teachers. They dictate to them I asked a member of the community about it do you know what he told me? He said it was best to leave them have their way, because they were in the majority. Are we going to stand for this? Do you remember what occurred after the Civil War? Those days will come again and we will be prepared, brothers. I only wish I could go on, brothers, but my 't-o-Vo is failing me, so I am forced to close. I want to ask you all* though, not to forget our next secret meeting, which will be held at Webstar Groves next Wednesday night,,** The seventy-five members silently filed out of the hall into the night and vanished in the darkness to discuss again at their next secret meeting ways and means of saying Amer-

Improved Railroad Service a Constructive Policy

The railways have asked that the

Transportation Act, in its fundamental and cardinal provisions, be left unchanged until a normal record could be developed, and they believe that the splendid results of 1924, showing that the progress of transportation was not hampered by burdensome legislation, fully justified that request. It has been suggested by some that this was a “let alone’’ policy and one lacking all ele-

ments of constructive suggestion. The carriers feel confident, however, that they fully are supported in claiming by the record of what has been accomplished that this position

is fundamentally sound and construc-

tive.

While the carriers have refrained from aggressive action in seeking legisl*tion« they have spared no effort to be aggm* sive in the more fundamental and constructive matter of transportation service. They believe that it is more essentially constructive to offer the people and the shippers of the country a con-

tinuously improved transportation service than la anything else that they can do, and with this In view, I believe that— All railroad problems should be met as economic questions and not as political issue*. That rate-making by legislative action would be destructive. That amendments to the Transportation Act must be kept from political doctors. That adequate revenues should be assured the carriers to meet the needs of service and expan-

sion.

The carriers are determined

to keep transportation facilities

abreast of national growth.

Fair legislative treatment and the elimination of railroads as a political shuttlecock will see a normal expansion of rail systems to meet our national

growth.

W. J. HARAHAN, President, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway,

system;