My contention is that this part of the obligation is absolutely illegal, that it is an accessory before the fact to lawlessness and mob violence, and brands the entire proposition as an outlaw enterprise that should be abolished and suppressed by the United States and State governments. Let us study a few of the words, as they stand out so strikingly. "Zealously and valiantly," "shield and preserve," "any and all justifiable means and methods," "against any encroachment," "of any nature," "any person or persons," "political party or parties," "religious sect or people," "native, naturalized, or foreign," "any race, color, lineage, or tongue whatsoever"! Just read these groups of words over and over again! When individuals or a group of individuals proceed to "zealously and valiantly" use "any and all justifiable means and methods" to accomplish a certain specified end, they take the law into their own hands. When the Barons wrested Magna Charta from King John at Runnymede, they "used any and all justifiable means and methods"! When the Germans invaded Belgium, and cynically declared that a treaty was a "scrap of paper," they used "any and all justifiable means and methods"! When a mob of masked outlaws takes a helpless old man from his bed and beats him up, they use "any and all justifiable means and methods"! When masked men drive up to a hotel and seize a helpless woman, convey her to a secluded spot, strip her clothing from her body and cover her with tar and feathers, they have used "any and all justifiable means and methods." Under this outrageous oath, any band of ruffians or outlaws can defend any lawless action they wish to commit on the ground that the "means and methods" were "justifiable." In the concrete instance I have previous mentioned, where the _Johnson City Staff_ undertook to protest against the coming of Ku Kluxism to the town, the spirit of the "Invisible Empire" interpreted "freedom of speech" to mean freedom only in so far as the Ku Klux Klan was allowed to proceed with its affairs unmolested. As soon as opposition developed the Ku Klux "freedom of the press" manifested itself in a desire to boycott the newspaper. Under the obligation to use "any and all justifiable means and methods" I see no reason to deter a local organization from taking an editor out and administering a liberal coating of tar and feathers, in case he should presume, in the columns of his paper, to antagonize the "Invisible Empire."