The Dallas Journal, Volume 51, 2006 Page: 41
124 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
A Glimpse into Dallas County Election - 1922
"In the jury box - that palladium sought for
thousands of years by men who would not be
slaves, or serfs, or serving men for the powerful
of the earth - in the jury box shall sit his peers.
Before it and them shall stand witnesses on
whom shall be imposed the strongest oath to be
conceived, binding them to tell the truth. The
jury box destroyed, the whole fabric of a free
government falls. The jury box destroyed,
man's struggles for liberty and security have
been in vain.
Secret Organization Intrudes.
"To our State and our city there has come within
the past months a secret organization which has
for its boasted mission a better remedy for our
social and governmental ills than those
established in constitutions and statutes and
tested by the people.
"This organization impertinently intrudes itself
on the established Government of the people,
intrudes itself in masks and cowls and terrifying
spectral parades as its assistants and aids, and
usurps the most serious of all the responsibilities
of government, that of trying and condemning
the citizen, and that without a trail as guaranteed
him by his Government.
"It calls itself the Invisible Empire. It calls its
sovereign the imperial wizard. It mimics in
shroud and flambeau the Prussian 'terribleness,'
to frighten the weak, and the circus poster to
impress the ignorant.
"Good citizens joined it and some still belong to
it simply because they did not and do not really
contemplate the harmful possibilities or it, or
because their irritation at the slow processes of
the courts, in indifference or stupidity of
executive officials and the failure of juries to
perform their duties drove them into this
organization which promised its aid in the
enforcement of our laws.
"But the time has come when this assumptious
organization shows that its existence is
threatening the life of the republican and free
Government which we enjoy."Our Government recognizes no distinction
between Jew and Gentile. It knows no
difference between Catholic and Protestant. To
the wizard's empire, the Catholic and the Jew
are anathema. Our Government in its very
marrow, opposes class distinctions. The
invisible Empire cultivates them. Our
Government holds the jury box sacred. The
Invisible Empire holds it in scorn.
"Our Government protects life and liberty by
requiring that its citizens shall only be convicted
on sworn testimony. The Invisible Empire
believes in the punishment of citizens on reports
of accusers by whom the victim is not once
confronted. And so it has fallen out that a
situation has arisen where jurisdiction is claimed
and exercised by two governments - one of
them, established and maintained by the people,
under the leadership of men of profound
learning, of vast experience and unfaltering
loyalty (men like Washington and Jefferson and
Lincoln and Lee, men like Coke and Roberts
and Hogg), and the other organization by some
man in Georgia, unknown to the world until his
masks were put on and his copyrighted oaths of
loyalty to himself were mumbled out under the
stars of night.
No Room for Such.
"There is not room for an invisible empire and a
free Republic on North American soil. "One or
the other must parish. We can not tolerate an
imperial wizard nor grand goblin who competes
for power with the President of the Republic and
the Governor of the State. We can not submit to
being ruled by public servants whose
copyrighted oath of loyalty to wizard or kleagle
conflicts with their oath of loyalty to our
Constitution and laws.
"This, our Government, demands single fealty
and fidelity. It neither recognizes nor forgives
that citizen who in his heart has a greater loyalty
to another country or ruler or organization or
church than he has for this Government, and it
denounces him as bad. Our statute books define
all crimes against individuals and society. TheyDallas Journal 2006 41
Dallas Journal 2006
41
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Dallas Genealogical Society. The Dallas Journal, Volume 51, 2006, periodical, October 2006; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth186865/m1/45/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.