CONCLUSION
The facts which I have endeavored to set forth in these pages should have
caused the reader to do some serious thinking, for serious thought is
something this country at present needs above all else. The United States
has but lately emerged from the greatest war in the annals of the race.
When we laid down our arms the might and power of the German Emperor was
forever crushed. Having assisted materially in crushing a visible Empire
in Europe, the American people should be able to make short work of
exterminating an "Invisible Empire" at home. When this righteous task is
accomplished, they should pause a little and reflect upon some of the
conditions that exist in this country today--conditions that must be
soberly and earnestly faced.
There has never been a period in American history where sounder, saner,
and more intelligent leadership was a prime necessity than it is at
present. Totally unprepared in every way to enter a war on such stupendous
a scale, American idealism and American practical sense were fully
adequate to meet the abnormal situation; but the termination of the war
found the country still functioning abnormally. To accomplish
successfully the return to normal, pre-war conditions has been, is, and
will be the chief thought of the leaders and the people. Economic
conditions require readjustment, important matters of trade must be
regulated, vital questions of finance and taxation must be handled, in
fact, the whole country must settle down to production, manufacture,
distribution of merchandise, and the transaction of the nation's regular
business.
These matters alone should be sufficient to occupy the entire attention of
the people, but, unfortunately, there exists in the United States a series
of group antagonisms that bode no good for the future peace and prosperity
of the country. The fact that there are a number of discordant groups in
America is the basic reason why the Ku Klux propaganda has been so
successful. The further fact that the country requires all of its best
thought to the readjustment of its vital interests makes it all the more
dastardly to stir up domestic dissension in the United States at this time
of all others. These group antagonisms are of such importance to the
country that until they become reconciled and subordinated to the common
public interest there will never be, on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, a
cohesive, homogeneous nation such as is the British Empire. The
development of a national unity for the United States, which really began
at the termination of the Civil War, is yet in its infancy stage.
Outwardly the nation is, to all intents and purposes, great power, rich,
inventive and capable of meeting the most terrific forces that might be
arrayed against it; inwardly, it is a collection of discordant elements,
many of which assume the prerogative of dictating to the others. If the
United States ever goes to pieces, the cause of its disintegration will
not be due to foreign aggression but will result from internal strife.
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.
Basic causes of group antagonism between Protestant and Catholic lie
partly in the fact that the government of the Catholic Church is outside
of the United States, and partly on account of the attitude of the church
itself toward certain American institutions, notably the public-school
system and the laws in this country governing marriages. If the Catholic
Church was under an American head, with no connection with any foreign
organization, there would be but little ground upon which the
professional Catholic-baiter could stand, but the fact that it is governed
from Rome furnishes the chief objection to the system. In spite of this
however, it lies in the power of Protestant and Catholic leaders to "get
together" and endeavor to eliminate the present growing friction. In my
study of the Ku Klux movement, I found that one of its greatest bids for
popular favor was in its attitude to the rise of Catholicism in America.
The fact that such a thing can be true, should be a matter of serious
reflection to the Catholic and to the Protestant. In the succeeding years,
if this feeling is not allayed and the differences reconciled it means
mischief.
I believe in a real Americanism based on a deeply rooted love of country,
and a broad respect and mutual understanding on the part of the people. I
believe firmly that all of the internal dissensions and discords in this
country, where group is arrayed against group could be completely
eliminated by the application of the philosophy and love of Jesus Christ.
"Invisible Empires," "Ku Klux Klans," and all organizations seeking to
advance one group at the expense of another, pale into oblivion and
nothingness, when the voice of the gentle Nazarene speaks down the
centuries, breathing a sweet message of brotherhood alike to the white man
and the negro, the Gentile and the Jew, the Catholic and the Protestant,
giving to each the same message, and voicing a common creed:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself.
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"similiar" corrected to "similar" (page 6)
"WEELKY" corrected to "WEEKLY" (page 48)
"violating" corrected to "violation" (page 75)
"opnion" corrected to "opinion" (page 95)
"in in" corrected to "in" (page 118)
"Afracanize" corrected to "Africanize" (page 125)
"compiled" corrected to "complied" (page 215)
End of Project Gutenberg's The Modern Ku Klux Klan, by Henry Peck Fry