CHAPTER VIII

KU KLUX KLAN AND THE CATHOLICS

_Misrepresentation of Oath of Knights of Columbus is Used to excite Religious Hatred in order to get money._

Just as the organizers of the Ku Klux Klan misrepresent the Jews in order to get members and money for their order, they go to great lengths to create prejudice against Catholics. In some communities anti-Catholic arguments are thought to be those that will bring the most members into the fold. Fake documents and false statements on printed cards that can be slyly passed from hand to hand are used for this purpose. Anti-Catholic lies that can be hurled at Klansmen at meetings to inspire them to get in more members and increase the incomes of the "imperial wizard," the kleagles and other officers are spread around.

One of these documents is a card entitled "Do You Know?" A kleagle of the Klan asked the King Kleagle of his state for some literature that he could employ to stir up interest in the Klan. In a short time the kleagle received the literature from the Gate City Manufacturing Company of Atlanta, Ga., a company promoted by "Imperial Kleagle" Clarke. The supply of literature contained 100 copies of a card bearing the heading "Do You Know?"

Another document that is sent broadcast to foment religious unrest and hatred is a fake oath ascribed to the Knights of Columbus, which is composed of Catholics and which has published the oath that its members take. Before reading the fake oath, it will be well to examine the real oath.

REAL K. OF C. OATH

The bona fide oath that is taken by men initiated into the Knights of Columbus, and which, it has been proven, is the correct oath follows:

"I swear to support the Constitution of the United States. I pledge myself, as a Catholic citizen and Knight of Columbus, to enlighten myself fully upon my duties as a citizen and to conscientiously perform such duties entirely in the interest of my country and regardless of all personal consequences. I pledge myself to do all in my power to preserve the integrity and purity of the ballot, and to promote reverence and respect for law and order. I promise to practice my religion openly and consistently, but without ostentation, and to so conduct myself in public affairs, and in the exercise of public virtue as to reflect nothing but credit upon our Holy Church, to the end that she may flourish and our country prosper to the greater honor and glory of God."

BOGUS K. OF C. OATH

We can now appreciate the animus behind the bogus oath that is ascribed to the Knights of Columbus by the Ku Klux Klan. This fraudulent oath, as used by the recruiting organization of kleagles of Ku Klux follows:

"I, ---- ----, now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the III, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness the Pope is Christ's vicegerent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given His Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical Kings, Princes, states, Commonwealths and Governments and they may be safely destroyed. Therefore to the utmost of my power I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness's right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and the now pretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere, and all adherents in regard that they may be usurped and heretical opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome.

"I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical King, Prince, or state, named Protestant or liberals, or obedience to any of their laws, Magistrates, or officers.

"I do further declare that the doctrine of the Churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same.

"I do further declare that I will help, assist and advise all or any of His Holiness' agents, in any place where I should be, in Switzerland, Holland, Ireland or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise.

MORE OF IT

"I do further promise and declare that, notwithstanding that I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propaganda of the Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they instruct me, and not divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstances whatever, but to execute all that should be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred order.

"I do further promise and declare that I will have no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.

"That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions north, jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever is communicated to me.

AND STILL MORE

"I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crash their infants' heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisonous cup, strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.

"In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul and all corporate powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever.

NEARING THE END NOW

"That I will in voting always vote for a K. of C. in preference to a Protestant, especially a Mason, and that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote accordingly.

"That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families, that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics.

"That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed or I am commanded to defend the church, either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.

"All of which I, ---- ----, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which I am now to receive to perform and on my part to keep this, my oath.

"In testimony whereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist and witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and seal it in the face of this holy sacrament." (Excerpts from "Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell against Thomas S. Butler," as appears in the Congressional Record ---- House, Feb. 15, 1913, at pages 3215, &c., and ordered printed therein "by unanimous consent." Attached thereto and printed (on page 3216) as a part of said report as above.)

The above spurious oath, and others like it, have been found to be fraudulent, both by the courts and by an investigation made by Masonic bodies. The above oath made its appearance according to a book published by Maurice Francis Egan, for eleven years United States Minister to Denmark, and John B. Kennedy, in 1912. Messrs. Egan and Kennedy explain it as follows:

"It was filed by Mr. Eugene C. Bonniwell of Pennsylvania in his charge against Thomas S. Butler before the Committee of Elections No. 1, in Congress, when Mr. Bonniwell stated that it had been used against him as a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus in an election contest. Mr. Butler, in his defense, stated that he had refrained from condemning the 'oath,' until election day, although he did not believe it to be genuine, because he feared to give it notoriety.

"Far from being disconcerted by the airing of this delectable document in Congress, those profiting by its circulation seized upon its inclusion in the Congressional Record to give it an air of authority by printing on future copies the annotation 'Copied from the Congressional Record, &c.,' not pausing, however, to explain the circumstances under which it was allowed to appear in that official journal."

EDITORS ARE CONVICTED

A.M. Morrison and Garfield E. Morrison, editors of the _Morning Journal_ of Mankato, Minn., charged E.M. Lawless, editor of the Waterville, Minn., _Sentinel_ with having taken the bogus oath. Lawless took the case to court and the two Morrisons were convicted. The foreman of the jury was a Methodist minister.

In 1914 the bogus oath came to light in California. The Knights of Columbus asked a committee of two, 32nd and 33rd degree, Masons, Past or Past Grand Masters of Masonry of that state, to make an investigation of all the rituals, pledges and oaths used by the Knights of Columbus. The Masonic committee gave out a report saying that they had made such an investigation. They found that the ceremonies of the Knights of Columbus were embodied in four degrees "intended to teach and inculcate principles that lie at the foundations of every great religion and every great state."

WHAT MASONS REPORTED

Their report continued:

"Our examination was made primarily to ascertain whether or not a certain alleged oath * * * which has been printed and widely circulated was in fact used by the Order and whether * * * any oath, obligation or pledge was used which was or would be offensive to Protestants or Masons. * * * We find that neither the alleged oath nor any such oath or pledge bearing the remotest resemblance thereto in matter, manner, spirit or purpose is used or forms a part of the ceremonies of any degree of the Knights of Columbus. The alleged oath is scurrilous, wicked and libelous and must be the invention of an impious and venomous mind. * * * There is no propaganda proposed or taught against Protestants or Masons or persons not of Catholic faith. * * * We can find nothing in the entire ceremonials of the Order that to our minds could be objected to by any person."

_The Searchlight_, official organ of the Ku Klux, contains many articles that misrepresent the Catholics. For instance, of Feb. 26, 1921, _The Searchlight_ had an article which was captioned: "Facts Gathered by the Knights of Luther from the Washington Bureau of Statistics":

CHARGES OF "KNIGHTS OF LUTHER"

Without one word to support them, the following were printed as "facts":

"The National Democratic Committee is by majority a Roman Catholic body. It usually has a Roman Catholic President and secretary.

"Catholics influenced the national campaign which elected Wilson.

"The President's private secretary is a Roman Catholic.

"Over 70 per cent. of all appointments made by President Wilson are Catholics. Their influence is so powerful it compels the homage of those in authority.

"Five States now have Catholic Administrations.

"Thirty-one States have Roman Catholic Democratic Central Committees.

"Twenty thousand public schools have one-half Catholic teachers.

"Over 100,000 public schools now contribute a part or all of the school tax to Catholic Churches and schools.

"Six hundred public schools use Catholic readers and teach from them the Roman Catholic catechism.

"Sixty-two per cent. of all offices of the United States, both elective and appointive, are now held by Roman Catholics.

"New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston now have 75 per cent. Catholic teachers in their public schools.

"In all the cities and towns of the United States of 10,000 or more inhabitants an average of over 90 per cent. of the police force are Roman Catholics.

"Roman Catholics are in the majority of the City Council of 10,000 cities and towns of the United States."

MORE OF THE SAME STUFF

_The Searchlight_ continues:

"We will now look at the results of Catholic teaching on vice and virtue. The history of assassins of heads of Governments in the past is a history of murderous Roman Catholics. In 90 per cent. of the cases where criminals are executed for crimes committed, the victims of the execution have a priest at their elbow to administer the last sacrament.

"The man who shot Roosevelt was a Roman Catholic.

"The man who shot President Garfield was a Roman Catholic.

"The man who shot President Lincoln was a Roman Catholic.

"The plot that took the life of Lincoln emanated from Roman Catholic influence in the house of a Roman Catholic.

"Abraham Lincoln said, 'I do not pretend to be a prophet but, though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our horizon, and that cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears and blood. The true motive power is secreted behind the walls of the Vatican, the colleges and schools of the Jesuits, the convents of the nuns, and the confessional boxes of Rome,' and such opinions cost the Nation his life.

"Over 65 per cent. of prison convicts of all grades and of all kinds of prisoners are Roman Catholics, while less than 5 per cent. are graduates of our public schools.

"These statements are astounding when we remember that only about 12-1/2 per cent. of the entire population of the United States are Roman Catholics, while the other 87-1/2 per cent. are not."