At the dinner table Ruth remarked, "I heard in the bank this afternoon that there is an organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in town, and that he intends to organize here." "Mercy on us!" exclaimed Aunt Clara, "I hope those awful Ku Kluxers won't come to this town. I was just reading today of some of the terrible things they are doing in Texas." "I know it's two turns to the right, then back to the left to forty." "Father, we were talking about the Ku Klux Klan." "What's the Ku Klux Klan?" her father asked. "Don't you remember from your study of history of the Ku Klux Klan that came into existence after the Civil War?" "No, I have no memory of it. You told me about the Civil War the other day, and as you told me it seemed to me I had heard of it before." "The Ku Klux Klan was an organization that originated at Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866. Its object was to preserve order. Local authority had been broken down as a result of the war and women were not safe on the streets. Carpet-baggers from the North were controlling the negro vote in the South and actually placing ignorant negroes in office for the purpose of preying on the impoverished South. The Ku Klux Klan was not only for the purpose of preserving order, but to control the political situation as well and keep ignorant negroes from office. It was claimed that while it seemed necessary to establish law and order at that time through an organization outside of the officers, since these were mostly carpet-baggers and negroes during the reconstruction period, there were many cases of abuses, such as whippings for minor offenses and occasionally someone even punished who was not guilty of any offense." "It's dangerous for people to take the law into their own hands," said Aunt Clara. "Yes, but you remember it was thought necessary to have vigilance committees in pioneer days out West. The old Ku Klux Klan claimed that no one was ever punished without a trial." "But wasn't there courts to give trials?" "Yes, but the civil courts were at that time presided over by ignorant negroes and by carpet-baggers who were anxious for political reasons to please the negroes. It is quite likely that there were not nearly so many cases of miscarried justice where cases were passed on by the Ku Klux Klan as there would have been if these cases had been passed on by the courts." "But you said a moment ago that it may have been true that some innocent persons were punished." "Of course that is always to be regretted but our courts often make mistakes also." "Is this the same organization that is coming here?" her father asked.