JULY, 1923
11
more ways than one analagous to an appanage, in
the interest of Klancraft.
An open air initiation of candidates for member­
ship in the four R order took place one recent moon­
light night in an east side suburban park. Inside the
little roped off inclosure circle moved red robed figures
to the music of a certain Scotch bagpipe band and a
quartet, said to be the well known police quartet. For­
eign born members of the local police force were on
guard helping to keep the surging crowds in a proper
distance outside the ropes. A foreign born, said to
be a seasoned member of the order, and also said to
have recently served time upon a conviction of boot­
legging, it is stated, acted as crier, calling the candi­
dates forth into the inclosure. Among the neophytes
entering the realm of the red robed royalty several
persons present as onlookers aver that they recognized
some ex-saloon keepers and bartenders—some of them
still in the drink selling business. A huge emblem
of Christianity—the cross, was set afire in the inclos­
ure while twenty rows of ten men in each, were
marched around, lectured and initiated into the order.
The standing invitation to join the four R reads
that only the Americanized foreign born can join.
There may be Americanized citizens of foreign birth
who are true in their citizenship that are members of
the four R, but if the Ku Klux Klan idea of an Ameri­
canized foreign born is to be measured by some of
those whom they have made leading lights in the four
R and a number who are said to have become members
with the recent class, then the Klan’s concept of an
Americanized foreign bom is certainly not based upon
the true American code of acceptable Americaniza­
tion.
The flames of the cross fire burned low. The em­
bers were falling to the ground, as boastful groups of
the Klan “Americanized” foreign bom dispersed.
After all had gone, a thoughtful citizen of foreign
birth who had witnessed the mawkish display of
Christian fealty from outside the ropes, walked to
where the embers of the burned cross were dying out.
He knelt out there in the open, alone. And while a
tear fell on the ember he held in his hand he whis­
pered softly over and over again, the prayer from
Golgatha:
“Father forgive them for they know not what they
do!”
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
migrant Aid and Advice, with people at the helm
capable of dealing with the immigrants, in their own
language and save them from falling constantly into
the hands of suave nationality sharks who invariably
are highly respected members of the general Ameri­
can citizenry contingent. In that way many little
difficulties among the foreign born enlarged upon by
fee-seeking nationality lawyers who take these mat­
ters into court, could be settled amica/bly, and expen­
sive trial costs would be saved by the community. The
many papers the immigrant resident must acquire in
connection with proofs to citizenship muster, before
the naturalization court, are to many of these people
a gordian knot or an uncharted sea through which
they are unable to navigate without help or a pilot.
The nationality professionals charge goodly fees for
this and that simple little service that could be ren­
dered by a bureau for a fraction of the professional’s
charge.
In the larger cities of sixteen states in the Union,
commercial and civic organizations together with the
administration and state authorities have installed
such bureaus rendering service of immigrant aid free,
or on a small fee basis to help defray the cost of the
bureau. Broad language knowledge and thorough
familiarity with immigrant problems from racial
traits to all requirements for citizenship are essential
requisites for bureau management.
In the offices of The Western American alone thou­
sands of dollars in trial costs alone, are saved the
Multnomah county taxpayers by the immigrant aid
rendered regularly to those of foreign birth who are in
trouble of a domestic nature, in property or money
matters, meanings and translations of important pa­
pers, matters of naturalization from certificate of
landing to citizenship, etc.
Portland is telling the world of its many laudable
departures, in community building. Why not get be­
hind the Americanization movement with people at
the helm whose experience along the road of Ameri­
canization would mean a guarantee of results with
the proper organization backing?
The cities of the east are beginning to vie with one
another in efficient and thorough Americanization
work. There is an opportunity also in this respect for
Portland to make a name for itself, not by ignoring
its immigrant problems, but by promoting Americani­
zation work, in social service, in a broad educational
program within the public schools, and through an
effective immigrant aid service.
The Pittsburg plan might show the way how the
situation in some respects might be solved locally.
Where there is a will there is a way and Portland
might in this respect prove to the world that as a
community it has not adopted a Ku Klux Klan atti­
tude towards its foreign born.
NONE BUT “AMERICANIZED” FOREIGN BORN
A SUBSIDIARY order of the Ku Klux Klan de­
signed to inveigle the foreign born from Pro­
testant Europe into a servile allegiance to Klan au­
tocracy has been given the awe-inspiring name “The
Royal Riders of the Red Robe,” and its function is in
THE GLASSBLOWER FROM SWEDEN
'THE SENATORIAL campaign which recently closed
in Minnesota, in which the citizens of that com­
monwealth went to the polls to select a successor te
the late Senator Knute Nelson, presents a case in po­
litical developments in America that should not be
dealt with in a jocular way altogether, because the
man selected is of the new world specie of political
factors who boast their disregard for anything that
has come down to us through the ages of humanity’s
struggle, and preserved for our benefit by those who
have traced each current chapter of time on scrolls of
paper,—the source of knowledge by which we have
progressed.
Magnus Johnson, the Senator-elect of Minnesota,