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12 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.