Saturday, June 29, 2024

Governor Morrison Speaks Before Convention on Klan, June 29, 1924

Governor Morrison Speaks Before the Convention on Klan. . . Governor Morrison’s Speech

Madison Square Garden, N.Y., June 29. (AP)—Governor Morrison, speaking before the convention on the Ku Klux Klan question, stated:

“Are we without trial or evidence in a political convention to try, condemn and execute more than a million men, who are professed followers of the Lord? What do we mean by religious liberty? We mean, there shall be no legal test for the office. There shall be no discrimination of any man on account of his religion. But has any party ever placed itself to prevent foolish religious intolerance or bigotry? We cannot do it.

“I love many Jews, and I love many Catholics, and I have appointed both to office and laugh at the Ku Klux Klan since becoming governor of North Carolina. these men who can’t get into this order unless they profess to be Christians, have organized this association in which they won’t let a Catholic or Jew come. How can we help it? If anybody wants to be so foolish, and isolate themselves, can we prevent it by the action of a convention? It is a case for keepers of the protestant cause in the United States. It is not a matter for government action until they violate the law, and then the police power should act with the swiftness of lightning and the determination of a just God.

“My American brothers, let us deal with this matter in a high, just and wise way as becomes, not the followers of political standards, but the followers of the standards of Thomas Jefferson, and above all of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“We believe that when the great Democratic party speaks to the American people in the major resolution, all the people of this county will be in accord with the constitution.

“It will kill the Ku Klux Klan if we adopt it, and the suggestions of a majority will make a half million K.K.K. members in the next 10 days is my judgment.

Governor Morrison finished by launching a ?? for Senator Walsh. “I would like to see this great Catholic make a candidate for President or Vice President of the United States,” said the governor.“

From the front page of the Goldsboro News, Sunday, June 29, 1924

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