KU KLUX KLAN: Washington Splurge

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"On June 7, 1920, Simmons contracted with E. Y. Clarke to increase the membership. As Imperial Kleagle, he was to receive $8 of the $10 admission fee, and $2 for every member added to a local Klan within six months after its organization. He agreed to pay all expenses of the central office and $75 a week to Simmons. When Clarke's system was perfected, $4 of the original fee went to the local Kleagle, $1 to the King Kleagle or state sales-manager, $0.50 to the Grand Goblin, or head of the local Klan. The remaining $4.50 went to Atlanta. . . .

"The appeal of the Klan came to a people suffering from the hysteria of the World War. Those who had enjoyed power in citizens' committees which forced the purchase of Liberty Bonds, intimated German sympathizers and hounded slackers, saw in the Klan a continued outlet for their patriotism. . . . But far more numerous were those who cherished the racial and religious prejudices of their ancestors....

"In Jan. 1926 it was impossible to say whether the Klan was still growing, or whether, like its predecessor, the Know-Nothing movement, it would prove only another temporary though meteoric organization."