A few days later this card is sent:
"Sir--You have heard from us because we believe in you. We are for you and Need you!
"The impenetrable Veil of Mystery is drawing aside. Soon you will appear exactly as you are.
"Are you a Real Man?
"Lift your eyes to the Fiery Cross and falter not, but go forward to the Light.
"Discuss this matter with no one.
"Yu-Bu-Tu"
After another short wait this third message is sent:
"Sir:
"You have been weighed in the balance and found Not wanting!
"Strong Men--Brave Men--R-e-a-l Men. We need such Men. We know you are one.
"The Goblins of the Invisible Empire will shortly issue their Call. Be discreet, preserve silence and bide its coming.
"Discuss this matter with no one.
"Yu-Bu-Tu"
By this time the candidate is supposed to be in a mood to fall, and the kleagle calls on him personally.
QUESTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATE
The kleagle presents the prospective initiate with the following list of questions to be answered:
(Note the questions marked with stars. They are used to bar out Jews, Catholics, negroes and foreign born.)
1. Is the motive prompting your inquiry serious?
2. What is you age?
3. What is your occupation?
4. Where where you born?
5. How long have you resided in your present locality?
6. Are you married, single or widower?
*7. Were your parents born in the United States of America?
*8. Are you a gentile or Jew?
*9. Are you of the white race or of a colored race?
10. What educational advantages have you?
11. Color of eyes? Hair? Weight? Height?
*12. Do you believe in the principles of Pure Americanism?
*13. Do you believe in white supremacy?
14. What is your politics?
*15. What is your religious faith?
*16. Of what church are you a member (if any)?
*17. Of what religious faith are your parents?
18. What secret, fraternal orders are you a member of (if any)?
19. Do you honestly believe in the practice of Real fraternity?
*20. Do you owe any kind of allegiance to any foreign nation, government, inst.i.tution, sect, people, ruler or person?
I most solemnly a.s.sert and affirm that each question above is truthfully answered by me and in my own handwriting and that below is my real signature.
Signed .....................
Inquirer.
Business Address ......................
Telephone No. .........................
Date ............................. 19..
Residence Address .....................
Telephone No. .........................
N.B.--If s.p.a.ce above is not sufficient to answer questions, then make your answer on the other side of this sheet. Number the answer to correspond with the question.
If the candidate answers the question satisfactorily, he must pay his initiation fees, called "donation" and provide money to pay for his mask, robe, etc. This will be explained later. With his money affairs settled, he is ready for the initiation, together with whatever other candidates there are in the vicinity. The initiation services are held at midnight, with a flaming cross, an American flag, a sword or dagger, and a Bible as the chief outward signs of the order. There is also a bottle of water on the "altar."
CHAPTER V
OATH OF KU KLUX KLAN
_Those who join the order must pledge blind allegiance to Const.i.tution. They do not see._
Blind and unconditional obedience to the "const.i.tution, laws, regulations usages and requirements" of the Ku Klux Klan, even to the extent of indorsing the principle of secret mob violence, is accepted by every person who takes the oath of Grand Wizard Simmons" Invisible Empire.
That every Klansman, under penalty of death, also agrees to carry out the mandates, degrees, edicts, rulings and "instructions" of Emperor Simmons also is shown in a reproduction of the oath as supplied by Klan organizers and officials.
The first section of this oath that carries veiled hints of violence to back it binds the members to unconditional obedience to a const.i.tution he has never seen. Not only that but it binds him to obey any laws that may be enacted in the future, whether or not he approves of them. When he takes this obligation he gives a lease on his life to Simmons.
SWEARS TO ABSOLUTE SECRECY
Absolute secrecy even in the face of death is his second obligation and he promises that he "will pay promptly all just and legal demands made upon me to defray the expenses of my Klan when same are due or called for."
Then, with his left hand over his heart and his right hand raised to heaven and with the promise that "this oath I will seal with my blood," the candidate takes oath that he "will most zealously and valiantly shield and preserve by any and all JUSTIFIABLE means and methods (not legal means and methods) the sacred const.i.tutional rights and privileges of free public schools, free speech, free press, separation of church and state, liberty, white supremacy, just laws and the pursuit of happiness, against any encroachment of any nature by any person or persons, political party or parties, religious sect or people, native, naturalized or foreign, of any race, color, creed, lineage or tongue whatsoever."
MYSTERY IN AUTHORITY