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Posted on Mon, Aug. 18, 2008

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Kansas governor stood up to Klan

BY BECCY TANNER

The Wichita Eagle

This is one in a series of vignettescelebrating Kansas history. The series'name comes from the state motto, Ad astra per aspera: "To the starsthrough difficulties."

In the summer of 1922, hate no longer simmered in Kansas -- it was boiling.

The Invisible Empire, otherwise known as the Ku Klux Klan, was rapidly gaining popularity in communities such as Arkansas City, Independence, Winfield and Fort Scott.

Wichita was a hot bed as well, boasting more than 6,000 members with regular meetings of Klansmen in the Broadview Hotel. They met under names such as the Spin Club, Crescent Club and White Owls.

Tensions were growing across the nation as American society underwent dynamic changes. Native-born Americans felt underrepresented, particularly after World War I brought influxes of immigrants into the country. They also felt threatened by the progress that came with tractors and electricity and popular culture. The Modern Age jarred their sensibilities.

Klansmen touted themselves as Protestant, fundamental Christians who believed in old-fashioned morality and patriotism.

What irked them the most, though, was that a national railroad strike was under way as Kansas Klan members planned their first parade in Kansas at Arkansas City. Railroad workers in Kansas who were not on strike were predominantly African-American, according to Charles William Sloan Jr. in his 1974 article for the Kansas Historical Quarterly titled "Kansas Battles the Invisible Empire: The Legal Ouster of the KKK from Kansas, 1911-1927."

Henry J. Allen, Kansas' governor, believed the parade had the potential to intimidate African-Americans and threatened to bring in troops to squelch it.

Besides being a national political figure, Allen was a prominent figure in the state's media as editor and publisher of The Wichita Beacon.

Allen and his wife, Elsie, were enormously popular people. They enjoyed a close friendship with Emporia publisher William Allen White, who urged Allen to run for governor in 1918.

Allen won that election decisively even though he was in France with the Red Cross for most of the campaign as the World War I wound down, and he wasn't home in time for the election.

He made his mark on Kansas politics as the governor who created the Industrial Court to mediate labor disputes in essential industries, which was effective in neutralizing the efforts of labor unions during the railway strike of 1922.

Once Allen voiced his opposition to the Klan, the parade in Arkansas City was called off. But ill will didn't end.

Placards began showing up at businesses in communities such as Arkansas City and Wellington threatening some Kansans, particularly those who were poor or of minority ethnic descent. They were warned to either leave town or be subject to tar and feathers.

On Sept. 5, 1922, Kansas newspapers reported that hundreds of white-robed Klansmen held a meeting at Winfield. An airplane dropped pamphlets announcing the meeting.

Allen would write about the Klan:

"In my State the thing has gone beyond a laughing matter. Every day my mail is choked with letters from people who have received threats -- pitiful letters from poor people so frightened they know not what to do. Everyone who has a private grudge is using the Klan to scare his enemy."

Reach Beccy Tanner at 316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.