New organizations and movements usually draw the fire of the uninformed. People are inclined to be suspicious of that which they do not understand. When Masonry first assumed its larger importance in America it was the object of attacks so bitter that some of the members were placed in danger of their lives. An Anti-Masonic party, nearly a hundred years ago, acquired material importance and sent several members to Congress. Just preceding the War Between the States, the Know-Nothing, or Anti-Catholic party ran through its brief but stormy career. This party was caused by the fact that the Catholic Church was growing in certain parts of the country where it had hitherto been almost unknown. When we Klansmen reflect upon these historical facts we are much consoled. It remains only to say, in this connection, that we bear our recent detractors not the slightest ill will whatever. They do not understand us. That is all. We confess that the Ku Klux Klan has been organized in order to help in the accomplishment of a great task. Neither the magnitude of this task nor its vital importance to the future of our country are yet widely realized. Our American citizenship is usually earnest and active with regard to the discharge of its more simple duties. With reference to larger social problems, however, problems which sometimes assume the form of great national dangers, our country is often enough soundly asleep. The Ku Klux Klan proposes to wake the sleeper and make him at least sit up, look around, and ask the time of day. Whether or not we are enabled to accomplish all that we have set out to do remains for the future to decide. But I may say that the growth of the Klan and the universal spirit and activity of its membership indicate pretty clearly that neither our hopes nor our efforts, thus far, have been in vain. The Klan is growing in the North and West more rapidly than in the South. It has been carefully and permanently grounded in nearly every large city. It will eventually spread to every town, hamlet and country cross-roads. With our six years of organized effort and our present status in mind, we may be pardoned for saying that we feel that there must be some need for an organization which has, in so short a time, shown such phenomenal strength. The Klan exists because it satisfies a most vital need in our national public life. Our opponents have tried to indicate that our position and purposes are purely negative. Nothing is farther from the truth. Any candid, logical and patriotic mind which will reflect upon this and the following chapters of this book can not be our enemy.