The Modern Ku Klux Klan

by Henry P. Fry

The tendency of unwarranted dictation of one group to another has produced in recent years the voluntary “uplifter,” who, generally for personal gain, has, with his followers, presumed to take charge of the personal habits, the morals and the liberties of the community under the alleged plea of elevating the community. This is one of the phases of the Ku Klux movement, which, surreptitiously, would attempt to pry into the affairs of the people of a community, and assume to itself the prerogative of regulating their private matters. It is, however, but a natural outcome of a general condition. I believe, however, as a general thing:

The American people are “fed up” on the “uplift!”

It would be a great blessing if ninety-nine per cent of all the associations and societies of the “uplifting” character were completely wiped out of existence, and the public be permitted to try the wholesome experiment of attending to its own business without the assistance of meddlesome individuals whose sole means of livelihood consist in professional “uplifting.”

Another situation in America that may be classified as a group antagonism is the race question which must be settled by practical common-sense methods basically upon the elementary principles of justice. For fifty years the American negro has been the football of party politics, and as a result both the negro and the country at large have been sufferers. When the negro ceases to be a political issue and when the “uplifters” keep their hands off of him and let him work out his own salvation, he will become a better and more useful citizen.

Other group antagonisms that exist in America are Capital and Labor, Radicalism, and religious groups of all shades and varieties. In the matter of Capitalism and Trades-unionism, the average American is between Scylla and Charybdis, and is inevitably the victim of both discordant elements. The burdens of taxation, high prices, and labor disputes fall upon the shoulders of that vast army of Americans constituting the middle class. Intruding its ugly head into the industrial situation comes radicalism as a disturbing factor in unbalancing the peaceful conditions of the country. All these divergent groups must be co-ordinated and taught a national unity—a more profound respect for real Americanism—before this country can truthfully call itself a really great nation.

Perhaps the most senseless of all group antagonisms is the religious. It is a peculiar thing to the student of world religions to note the extraordinary amount of friction and discord that has attended organized Christianity almost from its inception, resulting oftentimes in persecution and bloodshed. It was, in a great measure, to escape the religious intolerance of Europe that many of the first settlers came to America. The Puritan, driven from England, sought the rock-bound shores of New England; the Quaker immigrated to Pennsylvania to found a colony, based upon the principle of brotherly love; the Catholic, led by Lord Baltimore found refuge in Maryland; the Cavalier settled Virginia; and, to the Carolinas came the Huguenots,—all seeking the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of personal conscience. So strong was the feeling against religious intolerance, and so jealous were the early fathers of the principle of religious liberty that the very first amendment incorporated into the Constitution of the United States read: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

For one hundred and twenty-five years, more or less, the antagonism of religious groups was not felt to any great extent, but in recent years there has been a steady increase of religious discord. There has been antagonism between the Christian and the Jew, between the Protestant and the Catholic, and between the various sects and denominations that profess and call themselves Christians.

The anti-Semitic feeling in the United States is due, in my opinion, to several causes. I think primarily it is based upon a feeling of jealousy of the Jew’s great advance in America along all lines of commercial and professional activity. When one considers that there are only a little more than three millions of Jews in the United States, it is astounding what great progress they have made in practically every field of endeavor. The popular conception of the Jews as merely commercial people is not borne out by the facts, because in the legal, medical, and scientific professions, in music, in the drama, and in the arts some of the leaders in America are Jewish people. Instead of meeting this unusual rise by emulation and competition, many people give vent to their jealousy through the channels of an unreasoning anti-Semitism. On the other hand there is a great deal of legitimate criticism against the extremely lower classes of foreign Jews who have been permitted to come indiscriminately to American shores, people who are ignorant of real Americanism and unwilling to learn. The general characteristics of these people are eagerly seized upon by the professional Jew-baiter, and consequently the great mass of Americans of Jewish origin, men and women of refinement and ability are made the targets of a general attack of anti-Semitism.

There is a great deal more anti-Catholicism in America than the average person realizes, and the sooner the Protestants and the Catholics find some common ground of agreement, the better off this country will be. Much of this sort of group antagonism could be eliminated if both sides of the controversy would get together and abandon the spirit of intolerance that is characteristic of each. The increase of Catholicism in America has been very rapid. There are now over seventeen million Catholics in this country, and they are found to a great extent in the larger cities. In these places the church is a force for great good, controlling people that no other religious organization can control, and should its good influence suddenly be withdrawn, the most wretched conditions would prevail.

I do not believe that the Protestant churches possess the ability to cope with certain phases of metropolitan life as successfully as does the Catholic Church.