4. The Klan has now passed the zenith of its aggressiveness and its influence. The campaign of exposure, while it made thousands of members, also made thousands of enemies and robbed the Klan of the secrecy which was so essential an element of its strength. Many of its members lost interest, others were positively estranged by certain methods and ideals of the organization. The trials for murder at Mer Rouge, La., brought the Klan into bad odor generally. Most important of all, the Klan went into politics, and in this followed exactly the cycle of the Know-Nothings and A. P. A.’s—secrecy, growth, propaganda, politics, enemies, decline. In 1924 the Klan was an element in the national conventions of the two major parties. The Republicans considered planks opposing and favoring the organization and finally took no action. The Democrats had to take up the issue because of the movement to nominate as their presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York, and a professing Catholic. While Mr. Smith had political supporters in his own state of every religious denomination, still the entire strength of the Klan was thrown against him. At the same time, the many Irish Catholics belonging to the Democratic party resented the attempt of the Klan to dictate the nomination and introduced a resolution attacking the Klan by name. The conflict of that convention is now historic, and resulted in thoroughly disorganizing the Democratic party for the ensuing campaign. Finally, the passage of the immigration bills of 1921 and 1924 robbed the Klan of its chief reason for existence, its most potent argument. Immigration was abruptly cut down. Not only that, but its national origin was totally altered so as to favor the peoples of northern and western Europe, and to keep out the Italian Catholics and Russian Jews. It is no longer possible to stimulate fear or hatred on such a large scale again, now that immigration is no longer a large factor in American life, and the group integration is once more proceeding at its accustomed rate. 5.