Fiery Cross, Volume 2, Number 34, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 July 1923 — Page 15
Friday, July 6, 1923
THE FIERY CROSS PAGR FIFTEEN.
11 Back to the Constitution
(Continued from Page' 7) In a reasonable time following each election, to end that abortion known as "lame duck" sessions.
Third, that the work of Congress shall be confined strictly to matters that are public and national in scope, eliminating a thousand and ono corruptions in the ever-increasing fields of spoils and the pork barrel. Fourth, " that no senator or congressan shall directly or Indirectly be permitted any voice or influence in connection with patronage. Fifth, that all "spoils" committees shall be abolished with those that are essential, selecting their own chairman and in every function made to conform to the principle of open, expeditious, majority-det e r ml n e d public service. Sixth, that in every major and minor activity, throughout the proceedings of Senate and House and all their subsidiary bodies, there shall be the fullest, most far-reaching publicity. If the theory of representative government Is real and practical and patriotic, pien execu
tive sessions should be outlawed as
a crime against the people. Judicial Anarchy
It was the intention of the constitution that the national legislature
Bhould be tho final authority In law
making. The president was given
the veto power, but Congress could and often has, overridden the objections of chief executives.
Gradually, however, without the sanctionof specific instruction in the
basic law, but because that document did not directly forbid it, the supreme court has assumed the
power to annul acts of - Congress
Therefore immeasurable, unlimited
obstructive power is in the hands of
that judicial body, which Is further removed from sovereignty than any other governmental agency and correspondingly more immune to the mandates of public opinion. It is Incontrovertible that the negative power to obstruct becomes ultimately the positive power to legislate. Both theoretically and practically has that tremendous truth been demonstrated. Let a supreme authority say what can not be done and finally what is done is in conformity to its position and desires. No other result Is possible. Thus has the supreme court become both legislative and judicial, and higher than sovereignty itself in two distinct departments of a government founded upon the idea of delegated authority.
sains through manipulations of money and monopolizations of credit adding by Inverse ratio to the numbers whose unjust impoverishment
becomes a menace to the nation.
If the fathers were here to deal with this most Important mid perplexing problem, I believe Unit first of nil they would rewrite certain sections of the constitution, about which ambiguities and controversies huve arisen, their revised version being In the light of present-day conditions, and phrased so simply, so specifically, that not even u supreme conrt could fail to comprehend ex
actly their meaning and relation to
the common weliare.
Then, I . believe, they would make
It possible for Congress, by a two-
thirds or three-fourths vote, to pass a law over the judicial vote. Also, in my opinion, they would not provide that no supreme court decision as to the unconstitutionality of a federal enactment should be at all binding unless approved by at least seven of the nine members. Finally, I believe the forefathers wnulil today provide that any' adverso decision affecting the validity of tho constitution might be submitted to a referendum of the sovereign people, whose basic fudamental law it is.
Currency and Credit : The constitution gave to Congress the power "to coin money and regu
late the value thereof." There has
como a perversion in that connection which in the economic field renders Insignificant all others. There Is private, not public, control of currency and credit. The power over the value of money Is not exercN.H by Coiitrress as the fathers Intended. It Is In the hnnds of m-IIMiIv Interested Individuals, usually workliisrns a class. Dr. Frank A. Wolff, an able, courageous economist, thus describes this greatest of all property privileges: "I'lace the money power in the hands of a combination of a few
Individuals, mid they, by expanding or contracting the currency, may rise or sink prices at pleasure, and by
purchasing when at the greatest do
pression. and selling when at the greatest elevation, may command the
whole property and industry of the community and control its fiscal operation. The banking system concentrates and places this power In tho hands of those who control it. Never wns an engine Invented better calculated to place the destinies of the runny In the hnnds of the few, or less favorable to that equality and Independence which lies at tho bottom of our free Institutions." In the last few years It is estimated that, by the wholly artificial and parasitical processes of Inflation, $-lO,noo,OOO.noo was transferred from one set of pockets to another, while twenty billions again changed
hands when the manipulators were ready for deflation. All that must stop. The constitution must bo vitalized to compel common economic Justice with respect to currency and credit. Otherwise, in another fifty years, this nation will be experiencing all the agonies of a class conflict that can end only in economic chaos and political revolution. More and more will the great middle class be wiped out. Already the tendency is dangerously toward an unproductive. ' dividend-clipping aristocracy of wealth, with every billion that It
111 fares the land, to hastening- Ills a prey.
Where wealth accumulates, and men
decay." The Menace of Militarism Even In their day, when strength
and safety lay In the sword, the
creators of the constitution had a
vision of the dangers of a military
establishment. They made provision
against it. The army was to be civil
ian controlled. Citizens were pro
tected against martial oppressions.
Appropriations were not permitted to cover a longer period than two years, making it possible for the people, through their representa
tives, that often to measure, cur
tail and control any menacing
growth.
Since the great war there have como the distinct "beginnings of a Prussian kind of militaristic system in this country, not so much In numbers as In powers, privileges and unconstitutional tendencies. Only with respect to appropriations has Congress acted according to the obvious purposes of the constitution. It has surrendered all else, with the result that today we stand face to face with an appalling problem as new to our conception as it Is alien to every experience of the past. On the one hand are extreme mil-
ritarists, headed by martial leaders
whose self-interest lies In the parisitic growth of the army establishment. Opposed are all the forces
and Influences of peace and pacificism, with motives as varied as their object is unified. I can Imagine a group of those revolutionary patriots dealing with this problem and settling all controversy along lines of "the common welfare." They would side
with neither faction They would replace in the constitution what has recently been taken out. They" would add certain vital, evolutionary changes dictated alike . by common sense and common patriotism. Briefly, I believe that they would
re-establish, so it could never again be threatened, the principle of civil
ian control; but it would be a highly trained and efficient civilian leadership. " They would provide amply for the national defense;" but their army could not become so large as to be dangerous or burdensome, because always and forever, except in times of invasion, it would be most usefully and profitably employed on public works. Engineering, road construction, water power developments, river and harbor improvements, sanitation, reforestation, fire
patrols, the erection of public buildings all such enterprises, they would have publicly conducted, with
the labor performed by army officers
and men. That would be the peacetime occupation of the army, sane, essential, creative public work. Arsenals and all other military plants
would be utilized, every day, in every way, to meet governmental
needs. The army would be trained and expected to fight, when necessary, but at all other times, for its own and the general good, it should labor and its labors should contribute directly and constructively to every phase of the national welfare. The preamble of the constitution says : "We, the people of the United States, In order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos
terity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America."
Under that doctrine, no agency or
Instrumentality of the government should be permitted to exist which
does not recognize that the structure as a whole contributes as directly to all of those objects as it does to any
single aspiration of the fundamental law. Were we guided by that principle, the size of our standing army would not then be measured so much by possible contingencies upon the field of battle as by the extent of the public developments upon which its brain and brawn could be expended. Then a soldier would not be a slave In a Prussianized military system, with an occasional utility, beyond which all was degenerating parasitism, but an honored, adequately paid, highly respected and
self-respecting contributor to the
safety and prosperity and happiness of the nation.
The conscription of soldiers would
be a new Idea to those patriots. They
would not balk at It, but they did not I In their day, nor would they In ours, place property above people. Were they here, and facing war, they would not hesitate to draft men, but first they would conscript every dollar that might be needed to safeguard the national defense. Another thing, the most vital of all, those founders would now write into the constitution: they would oat-
law war.
They would, In all Its phases, bold Internationa conflict as civilization's snnremest folly and greatest crime.
Their attitude toward war would be from that point of view. Crime will always exist, and so, perhaps, may war. Ther would amply protect this
nation from assault and oppressions of 'every kind, but assaults and oppressions would not be Initiated un
der our nag. and for ail otner na
Hons they won Id be rightly named In
the moral code. They would understand that clvl
lization itself may not withstand
another great conflict. War is no
longer an issue of battlefields. Noncombatant populations are Involved. Gases and germs now exterminate by the millions. Whole cities can be destroyed at a single low. In the air above and waters below are diabolically powerful Implements of devastation and death- which, from sun to sun, can tear down more than humanity can rebuild through a generation of back-breaking toil. "Where war cost a million, now billions are required. Where war destroyed thousands, In, property and productions, its devastations now reaches billions, and extends, not through years, but centuries' of privation and pain. Directly and immediately the great war cost us $38,000,000,000. When the books shall finally be closed, It will have taken from the taxpayers of America at least two hundred billions.
The solvency of the world, the sanc
tity and security, nay, the very ex
istence of civilization, are involved
in this problem.
If its solution were in the keeping of men like the founders, they would
outlaw war; they would permit no
secret diplomacy; they would publish to the world the full truth respecting concessions and every re
lated economic cause of war; they would provide In the constitution that this nation should never engage iu war, except to repel invasion, unless, through a referendum, the sovereign people themselves had determined the fateful issue.
States' Rights AH our traditions and history center as much in the states as in the nation. It was not a national, but a federal government, which the fathers estab
lished. Always and forever, in their minds, it was a federation of states. -
The supreme, sovereign power was vested iu the people. Next in importance came the states. And generally the states were regarded as
the intervening agency through which
sovereign rights and powers should
be extended into the federal field.
Thebasic. law says that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Notwithstanding that provision, through a gradual, ever-lncreasin? assumption and usurpation of power, there has developed a centralization of authority in bureaucratic and political sources that makes a mockery of state rights. No middle ground exists. Either the states are something vital and useful in our scheme of government,
or they are nothing. Either the process of nationalization should be completed, and even state lines wiped out, or the states should be re-established in their original relation to the republic. It humbly seems to me that the fa
thers had the correct idea. Qertainly it can not be disputed that every governmental problem can most wisely and safely be left to those citizens closest at hand. The farther government is removed from the
people, the greater becomes the irresponsibility and the opportunities for perversion. Its makers would at once strike a blow at bureaucracy by restoring to the constitution, in
phrases imperatively plain and unequivocal, what they intended with respect to states' rights. Moreover, I believe that they would at the same time vastly increase the dignity and duties of countries, cities and towns, onthe unnttackable theory that democracy should be practiced whenever it is practically pos
sible for the people themselves to deal directly with their public affairs, leaving the delegated powers only
such tasks as can not thus be consummated. In country, state and nation, let the representatives of the people exercise only such progressive powers as can not better be employed in the field of government next below.
The states had In the beginning,
and were intended to retain, certain
fundamental rights and duties of sovereignty. During the last two generations, end-ln-itself politics has so
viciously assaulted both the doctrine
of federation and the ancient theory of local self-government that today the commonwealths are little more
than white slaves to a centralized rul
lng caste power a recruiting ground for the big bosses of politics and
their predatory partners in the un
holy alliance of spoils and plunder.
The Prostitution of Democracy
And what have the political masters of America done directly to
sovereignty Itself? to blind the eyes, deafen the ears, still the voice and
chloroform the conscience of the
people! to poison the food and drink
of democracy 1 to threaten the very
life of representative government
upon this continent T
Tom Paine would answer:
'Til tell you, friends, they have
violated every principle and Implication of the bill of rights, which is tho soul ot the constitution. They
have mocked at and made" meaning
less the sacred inheritance of free
assemblage and tree speech. While
permitting war grafters both license and liberty, they have filled our prisons with persons whose only
crime was the expression of opinion.
They have guillotined truth. They
have assassinated news, and set up
it In its stead, poisonous propaganda, They conduct our all-important pub
lic affairs in an evil atmosphere of spoils and secrewy. The doors and windows ot our own structure are
closed to us. We are denied knowl
edge even of the routine of our own governmental business, and only
through underground channels,
through rumor and hearsay, are we permitted an occasional, fleeting glimpse at graft and corruption In
high places."
Would Tom Paine, In that lan
guage, overstate the pitiful Impoverishment, the deplorable plight, of our sovereignty In this day and generation? If you have doubts, remember
recent incidenits like Teapot Dome, and the tragic fact that at least half the billions borrowed or taxed out of the pockets of the people to carry on the great war was either -wantonly
wasted or shamelessly stolen by
those who had the opportunity and
the disposition thus criminally to prostitute tho patriotism of a nation. Our system of government Is not and can not be democratic, but Its integrity and success to depend upon democracy in, the only field where democracy is practically possible and imperatively necessary. A government of, by and for the people, even though their powers be delegated, can not long endure without the freest functioning of public opinion.
With respect to public opinion, to all that feeds and sustains it, to Its
every instrumentality, utility and influence, there must be real, responsible democracy.
But the principle and policy of
free discussion woud not be sufficient: there must be not only the entire freedom to think, speak and act,
but also complete publicity with reference to all the personalities and processes of our public life. And not
even that combination would be adequate to restore and keep wholesome the representative system: there should be added publicly sponsored and paid-for instrumentalities of inXormation and education that would enrry all the vital facts about the government to every nook and corner of the republic. By saddle and stage coach, through ox-driven, ax-hewn trails, were the fathers compelled to carry on communication. The air is our thorough
fare. Minutes are as months used 'to be. Today our president speaks and his voice Is heard throughout the republic. There is an event and within the hour it may be read by
the entire nation. The printed page is expressed with speed exceeding
that of the wind. These are devised not in the con
stitution, because they did not exist
when that document was created
The founders now would place them
there as instrumentalities to snfs
guard and serve the principles which
time and invention can not improve.
First, they would re-write, re-detail, re-enthrone, the bill of rights,
to make evasion and violation polit ically impossible.
Next they would establish consti
tutionally the imperishable principle
of publicity. No agency of governmei. local, state or national, would
ever again be permitted to imitate criminality by locked doors and
drawn blinds. An executive session,
sentineled by politically controlled police power, is comparable only to border banditry, with scouts ahead and behind to protect their thriving, to prevent surprise and capture. Guards would no longer be employed to kick the people out of their own committees and chanceries, but there woud be guides to usher and welcome them in. In elections, legislation, administration and diplomacy, not only would secrecy be outlawed, but also would every public body find it compulsory to keep and publish a complete, detailed record of all its official, acts. All that should be In the constitution, with
not an exception from city council to
cabinet meeting. Then the fathers would provide, constructively and aggressively, for the most far-reaching utility of every modern device in the dissemination of official Information. The public printer would be a distinguished statesman, elevated to the cabinet, with importance second to none. Un
der him would be a great federal organization, having the purpose and equipment necessary to prepare.
print and publish, in regular public periodicals, reports, pamphlets and
books, and disseminate through mail
and express, telephone and tele-
raph, wireless and radio, the com
plete, unbiased truth with respect to all that the government is and does. Were it to cost a billion, the profits
in and to our citizenship. Its direct
and lasting benefits both to sover
eignty and to society, would ulti
mately far exceej those of any pub lie expenditure ten times as large.
Disraeli once said that "justice Is
truth in action."
Truth should be the greatest of all
nnblic functions. Its permanent es
tablishment, its daily application to
public problems, should be aided dl
rectly bv every public utility that
now exists or may oe evoivea m time
to come.
"The consent of the governed" Is
fraudulent and futile except when
grounded upon the granite of a fnlly
Informed electorate, "ine common welfare" will always be an unattainable dream, unless both the paramount object and the practical attainment of education are centered
hi the fieldt)f government
"Consent of the Governed" In Elections With publicity constitutionally es
tablished, and the dissemination of
official truth amply provided for, the fathers would complete the restoration of representative government
through constructive changes In our
election system.
The principle upon which they
would build is that every elec
tion, from beginning to end, is
a public matter, to be publicly
controlled and paid for only out
of public funds.
No candidate should be permitted, or find it necessary. In any way to snemd a csjit of his own money. No
individual or interest, directly or in directly, should find It possible law
fully to contribute to any campaign
fund. Easily , workable instrumentalities and adequate finances Bhould
both be provided by the government.
Then a candidate's character and
capacity would control. Whether he
or she possessed millions or owned
thousands would not be a factor.
Then a candidate would be responsible only to the public. No selfish Interest, either political or predatory, could buy and pay for the representatives of the people. We have so far and so menacingly departed from that principle that today a public - servant, whose first
obligation Is to campaign contributors, is more important to his economic owners than any other kind of employe, because his powers are
those of the government Itself, be
cause his service to them carries with It every conceivable Immunity
and privilege, to the constantly Increasing degradation and impoverishment of the people.
It would be a simple task, onoe
the principle of elections of, by and
for the people had been established
and coupled with publicity, to accomplish the great object of superseding politicians with statesmen through
out our public life, of converting
EVERY CONCEIVABLE
SCHEME PUT TO USE
Despite Enemies, Owensboro Klan Is Growing Steadily Bootleggers Fearful
OWENSBORO, Ky., July 2. Despite every conceivable scheme used to fight the Ku Klux Klan n this city there has been a steady growth In the past six months and the last few weeks an impetus Is seen in the growing numbers that are now Joining its ranks. The local newspapers have been very strong against the Klan and use every possible Incident to discredit, ridicule and belittle the organization. The burning of two fiery crosses
caused caustic stories In the newspapers and an unnecessary run of the
fire department was made. The alarm was turned In by an enemy ot the Klan In an attempt to further the ends of the opposition. .,
MOLLYS STATEMENT
BRANDED AS CRUDE
Director of Cleveland Foundation Leaves Much to Conjure Over
Opposed by Ticlous Class The Klan Is strongly opposed by the vicious class as well as others who. for various reasons that are
their vicious end-in-itself system into familiar to all, are against the prinone of wholesale public utility. ciples of the one hundred per cent First comes that new and funda- organization. The bootleggers In
mentally different attitude toward the selection of our servantry. Then the creation of instrumen
talities to make it attainable. Pollt-
Owensboro are aiding In every way
they can to prevent the growth of the
organization although they are meet
ing with disappointment. At this
ical parties would have to be shorn time it is almost impossible to seof those elements of partisanship cure the. conviction of those charged
which are now so deluding and witn tne saie or illicit liquor. ; Tnose deadly dangerous. From political engaged In this occupation, having organizations should be taken away heard of the excellent results in every opportunity and temptation to other cities, where the Klan has
taken up the cudgel against vice, fear the growth of the organization
here.
prostitute the public service to their
own aims and ends. Backed by the
constitution, legislators should set up new political machinery, without
pmusaiiHiiip or Kpous, wiluoui me mere were no .Benedict Arnolds oi smallest opportunity for perversion the batlefteld, but, without waiting to machinery which the people them- be drafted, the Benedict Arnolds' "of selves would never have to struggle politics flocked to places of power
against, out could always at will em- to prey and profiteer. They lied and
pioy as an instrument of "the con- thev stole. Thev piled added bit
sent of the governed" to promote lions of burden . upon the backs of "the common welfare." the people. And, today, five years Appointments are the blood broth- after that orgle of graft, there is still
ers or campaign contributions no audit, no general apprehension
throughout the realm of end-in-itself no restitutions, no Just and exacting
pontics. One does not pervert more punishments
than the other.
Ninety-nine per cent of federal appointments to public office should be taken out of the hands of profes sional politicians. Except for his cabinet, the president should be shorn of his machine-
building spoils and perquisites. The civil service should actually be taken out of politics, and, wherever necessary, be given the same power over appointments that it is supposed to exercise in determining the qualifications of applicants.
Certainly the constitution should
All this was new only in opportu
nity and proportions. The spoils and
perversions of politics had existed for two-thirds of a century; it had grown steadily. Suddenly the war revealed
the terrible truth of its menace to
our institutions. Now we have seen,
and yet apparently dp nothing. We must do something. We must do everything to save and safeguard
the American republic. To re-establish Justice and rein
sure the blessings of liberty to our
selves and our posterity, we must
CLEVELAND, O., July 2. Americanization work as a branch of the state government has ceased to function in Ohio. Henceforth, the alien can learn the language and the ways of the land of his adoption through the efforts of benevolent or community organizations, or stay to a rut. The public school pupil will learn as much about civic and American history while in the grades as his teacher sees fit to give. For alleged political reasons fearing Governor A. V. Donahey
would appoint a Democrat as state
director of Americanization the Re
publican legislature refused to vote
funds for the contiruance of the
work of the state bureau.
This occurred several weeks ago.
but the effects of It are now being
decried by educators and school men
of Ohio, who met at Cedar Point, re
cently, for the Ohio State Teachers' . Association convention.
Raymond Morey. director of the
Cleveland Foundation, speaking at a session of the teachers, declared that
the situation was a critical one
throughout the state, and charged
that "intellectuals" and certain groups represented by the Ku Klux
Klan were blocking effectual Americanization.
Crude Work by Moley The statement by Mr. Moley that
the Ku Klux Klan 13 blocking an
American move was received, wnth wonderment here. The statement Is looked on as only another -effort to
"lay it on the Ku Klux Klan" when the accuser Is hard put to find a legitimate excuse for an act or is eager to "get under cover." "Just as the work is beginning to get under way and showing signs of bearing fruit, we have to cut it out, owing to the number of agencies that are actually fighting the movement," said Mr. Moley. Just what "other agencies" are fighting this movement, Mr. Moley did not state. It would be interesting to the public to learn jist who compose the "other agencies." Mr. Moley's statement leaves much to conjure over. His crude attempt-to lay at the door ot the Ku Klui Klan, " the failure of the state bureau to function, is considered a most ludicrous move to turn the eyes of the
public from the real reason.
It is believed here that Mr. Moley
could throw much light on the situatlon if he were so disposed.
duck" evil, providing unequivocally that no man or woman who had been rejected by the people should ever be appointed to any office In a field as high or-higher than that in which the repudiation occurred.
deal determinatively with the "lame now, -outlaw, each and every official
who prostitutes the public service to private gain. To keep the representative system
from further degeneracy '.and death, we must, not tomorrow; btit today, begin its repair and reconstruction,
With public opinion fully informed so that its ancient spirit may be upand uncontrolled, and with a truly plied to modern conditions and probrepresentative electfon system, the lems.
reopie inemseiyes coma oesi mane To attaIn the dlvlna ,deal of tne
heiecuons 10 inousanas oi places COmmon welfare, we must at once now riven to barter and trade. The constructively provide ways and
lOUnaers or tniS repuWlC WOUia nol ,.., whftrehv tho nntrlnrlam Intnl.
now hesitate to extend the popular licence and honesty that is In our
lrancmse, properly sai e g u a r a e a, citizenship may find unselfish, expe
even to ine selection or supreme dltlnna Axnreaainn thrnnerhnnt tha
TRIBUNE AGAIN
ATTACKS KLAN
Perverts Truth and Violates
Newspaper Ethics to Garble Truth
conrt judges,
It might not immediately fulfill all
our expectations, but its dangers and
difficulties would be Lilliputian as
(By Staff Correspondent) SOUTH BEND, Ind., July 3.
Again the Tribune, notorious for 1t3 '
perfidious attacks upon the Invisi
ble Empire, is guilty of garbling.
government.
In the beginning the founders gave
everything that they had to tho es- This time in an account of a "closed"
held here last Monday
tabltehment of this nation. Their
compared with the un-American re- lives, their fortunes and their sacred
suits that now . obtain. honor went into the building of a I
Whenever any public position be- new republic. Les3 than their all
comes so Important that there arises would have meant failure.
a question as to sovereignty a right Today our public problems are ap- dressed, the South Bend daily carica-
or nraess nirecuy to mi it tnrougn pallingly more complex and danger- tured the event as "a Bmall affair,"
eiecuou, men ueware oi any oi-n-er ous. Tney conceived and crested, addinc that the meetine had not eot
. t ! , ; ... . v, i w. , , . . i
jiicmuu. ii-n vcij iii)uuttuto iu mo i q mm correct ana reconsecrate, people invites the corruptions of pol- it was Innocent infancy that they
lticians. Uur clt'.zensnip mlgnt err. cradled in libertv. nourished and nro-
but they would not knowingly proa- tected. It is with adult degeneracy
Vi n urn V n tra rv innl I
rm. . J . "There was no meeting, rain preThe fathers Played their part venting," confidently reported the
uuujjt auu w.i. nuu iuey hii- wrlter, and he garbled his story ac-
uiuiuu in veaiM as inoy wers iu spiru I cordingly.
tn !ir,t tha'ir. r,t atato ir cw. Facts about the meeting? It was
quent generations, we would have H16 g.reat.!?1 anllarsest gathering by
titute, and a thousand virtuous" er-1 rors are less harmful than a single
vicious perversion.
meeting,
night.
Said by the principal speaker of
the evening to be the largest gath
ering of its kind but one he had ad-
under way before Dame Nature shot
down a torrent of rain, and made the secluded dell nothing short of a "wash-out"
To Outlaw False Officials Finally, the founders would write
Into' the constitution the never-to-be-
violated principle that a public office is a public trust.
escaped many a disaster and dlstor-
the Ku Klux Klan ever held in St.
Hnn hMfliim nnrtor their miMano Joseph county. The meeting was
If, directly or Indirectly, through the government would have kept ne,d and the speaker of the evening
anv frtn of lirihprv. nnlit.ic.nl mnnin- nncA -nrlth nvnliitfnn tn nthar flolHa ' was on the final Wind-up Of his
speech before the first scattering
drops of rain fell. The speaker fin-
ulation or intrigue at home or w9 m,1Bt now rncovnr thn W
abroad, any omci.il or tne govern- ground, we must revive their spirit "'" ul . lc", ment employed that position for his f nhort icn 0 lsbed and the meeting adjourned be-
own or other private eain. he should ,nCra na r,r,ntio u, . fre th downpour that commenced
be publicly execrated, outlawed and Lgeous, competent, unselfish states- f t10:30 ent th automobUes on
exuea. witn nis nronerxv connscawa manRh n w must. nA tho ncrvor.
to pay tne puoiic loss. When the Lords of England sought to bestow upon Benjamin Franklin royal distinction- and favors in return for his influence against the
colonies, he answered them: "You are spitting in my soup."
sions of public opinion, and establish The crowd attending was conserv-
a freely functioning, far-reaching sys- atively placed at 2,200
tem of governmental educatlpn. We The face of the Tribune's front-
must provide for all our citizenship page story was a lie. Reporter Noble, the most modern Instrumentalities whose reputation for garbling has
inrougn wmcn iney may ana snan earned for his newspaper general
maKe a reality or tne consent or tne criticism for unreliability, was at the governed" throughout elections, leg- PUard lines and to TTTm la iven tha
Every official who violates his oath islation and the administration of credlt for the Inaccurate and earbled
a ... i A 1 I 11 , 11 i - X X 1.1 1 - 0. I v
to support tne consuiuuon Dy . luoir own an-iuiyui ioui puujic aiiairs. rei)ort Cf he meetine
wa vim in ill mm ni niii w HrM a n nva nil Qiaa m 11 hy a Tmn rv r r a i . ... .
iv , . V, people subscribing ror a news through any selfish service to him- government, In its every phase and paper want accuracy. The news
. iZ vywra 'WJ ,u uo wim uumy, imwi.ru umi;ii oi uib- paper tbat vaiUe3 its circulation Is and in the face of democracy. He covery and Invention. operated on this DreceDt. first of alL
is as guilty of treason as though he Because the body politic has been Garbling Is a newspaper's greatest
itcic a uhuuiu cuciu, i bo long neglected, oecause tne oin crime.
God's mercy could not save the conscience and patriotism i have be-
traltors of our day from the right- 1",!':
and appetites of end-m-Itself politics
because qf a thousand and one dis
tortions, which the founders would
have constructively' averted, our task
eous wrath of the fathers, were they here, with authority to detect. Indict
and punish the Judas Iscariots In the publio life of this generation.
Think of Valley Torge, and then
of Hog Island I
Had tha natriots of that dav con- "fortunes", and our "sacred honor.'
structed our aircraft, can you lmag-1 must now and henceforth be given
ine that It would be known, where- to our common country,
ever current events are recorded, as 1 It Is worth our all. Individual bll-
alrgraftl
Yet, here is the 'steenth example ot
It by the South Bend Tribune In Its
many articles condemnatory of tha Ku Klux Klan.
will require tireless effort and cease-1 Cohorts Gather
at Kendallville
KENDALLVILLE. Ind.. July - 2
linm pin nnt nnmnnra with n sfnc-io I One of the biggest open-air meetine
.. i... i rltlKen'a ahara In a nation where "tha Of the Ku Klux Klan ever Staged In
the vea tiat ar. maXd b7 cataa- common welfare" has been estab- this locality was held last Tuesday aarSaL lhed and forever safeguarded by the night just west of the city.
and matron were called by humaal- Intelligent, unselfish "consent of the The crowd that attended was esfity's need, they entered the back door governed." , mated at over 500 and during the to despoil and plunder. When. "Where there is no vision, the evening over 100 candidates were throughout the great war our peo- people perish." Ifil that not be -T-tC tnttlated Into the pie responded aa patriot should, the cnTtanh of the American organUaUon their breasts bared and purses opea. i16 V?!l?Pn OI ine American a cross., fifty feet high, and" visible
thev roelled patriotism p-a-y. IKepUDllC 1 ml!" "nd, was .burned.
