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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOSIATION OF GEORGIA
NON-CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN AND EDITORS OF ATLANTA
SCORE ANTI-CATHOLIC MOVEMENT
WAVE OF PREJUDICE CULMINATING IN READING OF FAKE FOURTH DEGREE OATH OF
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS BEFORE CITY COUNCIL CAUSES REACTION
The anti-Catholic movement in Atlanta, to which
the papers of the state have had occasion to refer
several times during the summer, culminated shortly
after the September convention of the Catholic Lay
men’s Association of Georgia in the adoption of a
resolution in the City Council of Atlanta to investi
gate the Knights of Columbus. The fake oath of the
Knights of Columbus was read into the resolution
calling for an investigation, and the author of the
resolution calls the attention of his colleagues to
the fact that the oath is taken from the Congression
al Record. He failed to mention that it was read
into the Congressional Record as the fake oath, and
for the purpose of disproving it.
Mayor Key of Atlanta vetoed the resolution of the
City Council. Councilman W. D. Hoffman voiced his
objection to the resolution at the time it was read.
The resolution gave as a reason for its introduction
the fact that the New York World and other news
papers throughout the country are now engagen in
the investigation and exposure of what they claim to
be unpatriotic and un-American secret orders, and in
our opinions there exists an unpatriotic and un-
American secret order, with lodges throughout the
country, known as the Knights of Columbus.” The
votes were eleven for the investigation and eight
against it.
“Have faith in Massachusetts,” wrote Hon. Calvin
Coolidge, vice-president of the United States, when
he was governor of the Old Bay State. The Catholic
Laymen’s Association of Georgia took Mr. Coolidge’s
advice and applied it to the Empire State of the
South. It stuck to the slogan even after the insult
handed its people by the Atlanta City Council. Its
faith has been vindicated.
Editors Condemn Intorerance
Shortly after the publication of the resolution con
taining the fake oath of the Knights of Columbus
the three Atlanta newspapers published editorials
condemning the wave of intolerance and prejudice in
Atlanta. Nor were they alone. Several Protestant
clergymen denounced the movement. Rt. Rev. Henry
J. Mikell, Episcopal Bishop, in a sermon preached at
All Saints Church, declared: “Unless we eradicate
this spirit of religious intolerance, neither our pros
perity nor our happiness is secure.”
Rev. C. B. Wilmer, D. D., rector of St. Luke’s
Church, said in his sermon: “The revival of religious
intolerance and persecution in Atlanta and Georgia is
absoultely without a scintilla of excuse. If that
spirit is one of the fruits of Protestantism, then we
are putting into the hands of Roman Catholics to
prove that after all Protestantism must be a mighty
poor sort of religion. If patriotism is love of coun
try, then stirring up strife and dissension, and mak
ing charges and bitter denounciations against our
fellow-citizens is as unpatriotic as it is irreligious.”
Other Protestant clergymen have expressed them
selves on the subject of the religious intolerance in
Atlanta, and the matter has been discused by civic
bodies of the city. The Atlanta Knights of Columbus
have adopted resolutions requesting the various or
ganizations of Atlanta to use their best efforts to
put an end to the existing prejudice, which is placing
Georgia in a bad light before other parts of the
country. City council has called off the investigation.
In the alleged official organ of the organization
which is the subject of investigation by the New
York World and its allied newspapers, a charge is
made that the Knights of Columbus are behind the
expose. The man who makes the charge—he is noto
riously anti-Catholic—calls on all American patriots
to “unleash their dogs of war and make these hounds
of convict stripe pay penalty,” the “hounds” being
the Knights of Columbus.
MASONS AND THE KU KLUX
Is there any connection between Masonry and the
Ku Klux Klan? This frequently recurring question
is answered in the following editorial from The
American Tyler-Keystone, published at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and devoted to Freemasonry and its con
cordant orders:
The activities of the Ku Klux Klan throughout the
country in recent months have been a matter of
much comment. Originally regarded as the assem
bling of a few individuals here and there with the
thought and purpose of taking the law into their
own hands and executing it as their judgement dic
tated, there has in more recent weeks developed a
more highly organized system, with klans appear
ing in various parts of the country and even in
some of our northern cities. There have been news
paper reports of meetings held at midnight in some
isolated spot in the deep forest, and masked and
gowned figures go through a series of incantations
which, by the light of the candles they carry, must
present a wierd effect, and cause cold chills to run
down the backbone of the beholder.
A regular organization is announced and platform
set forth, which declaration in itself is commend
able in some respects, but we are unable to under
stand the necessity of a few men acting and work
ing under such mysterious conditions taking upon
themselves the heavy burden involved.
We regret very much to note that some persons
have associated the name of Mason with this Klan.
There is and can be absolutely no official connec
tion. Of course individual Masons may, if they
chose, unite in such an organization, as they are
free to act upon their judgment in other matters
so far as they keep within the laws governing good
citizenship which are insisted upon by the Masonic
fraternity, but we very seriously question the judg
ment of any Mason who associates himself with
such an organization.
Without doubt there are many evils in the exe
cution of our laws. Courts in some instances are
doubtless lax, and public officials are but human,
and sometimes err, but it will not help conditions
for men to unite in any such organization as seems
to be represented in the Ku Klux Klan. The idea of
taking the law in their own hands and attempting
to do what, in their opinion, the law does not do is
a dangerous policy.
We sincerely hope that Masons will leave this
organization severly alone.