On the other hand, if I am right in the stand that I take, that the Ku Klux Klan is a secret, political, military machine, actually developing into an "Invisible Empire" and possessing potentialities that may undermine the very idea of representative government; if I am correct in my position that the whole scheme is an attempt to create class hatred and antagonism, which in the end will array race against race, class against class, and religion against religion; if my contention is just that the proposition is a money-making scheme; and, if the public adopts my viewpoint to the extent of demanding that the organization be legislated out of existence and made an outlaw in the world of open things, then I shall feel satisfied that the violation of this oath has been a public service. There is no middle ground. I am either entirely right, or else I am entirely wrong. CHAPTER II JOINING THE KU KLUX KLAN My first intimate contact with the "Invisible Empire" took place in upper East Tennessee, a section of the United States where one would least expect such a movement to take a definite foothold. There is practically no racial friction whatever in this section. The negro population is not large, and the negroes themselves are orderly and well-behaved people, industrious and well liked by the white people. A remarkable thing about East Tennessee is the scarcity of Jews. It is very doubtful if a careful search of the entire fifteen counties would disclose enough Jewish people to fill a synagogue. There is likewise a paucity of foreign population, for, with the exception of a few Greeks, the foreign element seems strangely absent. It is also remarkable that in this section the Roman Catholic religion does not seem to have been able to take root. While there is a small Catholic Church in Johnson City, and one in Greeneville that is opened but once a year, the other places have few, if any, Catholics in them. It is doubtful if one could find in all America a group of people who appear to be more overwhelmingly Americans or more uniformly Protestant in their religious views than the inhabitants of this section. In January, 1921, I was sent by a Chattanooga business house with which I had been connected for some time, on an extended trip through East Tennessee. In February I arrived at Johnson City, intending to make that my headquarters and visit the other towns, which are easy of access. Early in March, 1921, I noticed a young man of pleasing personality, but I had never talked with him until the morning of March 16, when we were thrown together at the breakfast table. "What are you selling?" I asked, taking it for granted that he was a traveling salesman.