Secretary of State and Ambassador to England under President Cleveland and contributed dignity to both high offices.

The Dupont family is another remarkable development of Delaware life. Its founder, Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, was a French statesman, economist, and educator. He was a liberal, but not a radical, in the French Revolution, and carried on a most interesting correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, in which he outlined a plan of National education for the United States. He finally came to this country, settled in Delaware, and with his sons established a powder works, which has grown into one of the great industrial organizations of America. His lineal descendant in the fifth or sixth generation is one of its chief executive heads. It is an interesting fact that the present Pierre Dupont is as deeply interested in education as the founder of the family, the friend of Jefferson, was more than a hundred years ago. The "Service Citizens of Delaware," an incorporated organization, of which Mr. Pierre Dupont is the President and, I believe, the founder, is backing and aiding the public school system of Delaware in an original fashion, which it would take an entire newspaper article to describe.

But before the Bayards and the Duponts little Delaware put her stamp upon the structure of the United States. She furnished three signers of the Declaration of Independence Thomas M'Kean, George Read, and Cæsar Rodney. It is a matter of history that Read was at first opposed to the Declaration; it is a matter of tradition that Rodney rode post-haste on horseback the hundred miles from the southern extremity of the State to Philadelphia in order to affix his signature to the deathless document and thus record his State as an advocate of liberty. Speed was necessary-and in those days the bridled and saddled horse was the speediest machine of transportation-for in this great act the representatives in this Continental Congress voted under the unit rule. It is certainly not beside the mark to say that this ride of Rodney's is, in a way, comparable to Paul Revere's.

But the Delaware statesman who most appeals to my imagination is the one whom I met for the first time in person during my recent visit to Delaware, which I have already mentioned -Judge George Gray. Although not a Bayard by name, he is certainly a chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.

Paul Thompson

JUDGE GEORGE GRAY

Although in his eighty-third year, he is still as straight as an arrow and combines with the dignity that is always becoming to a leader of men a human sympathy that makes him a delightful companion. delightful companion. If he should see these lines, I hope that he will pardon their invasion of his privacy. Why should we wait, I ask him by way of apology, until a statesman dies to give public expression to our appreciation of his services to his country?

Judge Gray has been a member of the United States Senate, has sat on the bench of the United States Circuit Court, and has been one of the outstanding figures of the United States in the cause of arbitration. So far as I know, there are no records to prove it, but it is believed by many who are familiar with the course of politics that he might have been appointed to the Supreme Court by President Cleveland-possibly to the Chief Justiceship-if Mr. Bayard had not been Secretary of State. Political considerations of course make it practically impossible for a President to select appointees for two such high offices at the same time from the same State, especially such a little State as Delaware. The recently published official biography of President Cleveland by Professor McElroy reveals the fact that President Cleveland in his second term wanted Judge Gray to be his Attorney-General, but his offer was declined. Judge Gray has been a member of various commissions and tribunals of international arbitration, in which he made an international reputation for ability, learning, and justice. He has the highest type of legal tice. He has the highest type of legal

training, but his mind is not of the legalistic type. By that I mean that he does not belong to the school which thinks that the law is an end unto itself. He believes, I should say, that the law is made to serve man, not man to serve the law.

I feel more confident of this estimate of his spirit as a judge because President Roosevelt appointed him as Chairman of the Anthracite. Coal Commission which settled the threatened coal strike of 1902. Roosevelt called that crisis "as dangerous a situation as I ever dealt with." The story of. the strike and its settlement as told by Joseph Bucklin Bishop in Chapter XIX of his authorized biography "Theodore Roosevelt and His Time" is of absorbing interest-an interest which is enlivened by the curious mingling of tragedy and comedy. Under the leadership of Judge Gray the Commission made a report which averted what might easily have developed into an industrial civil war. If this statement seems an exaggeration on my part, I refer the reader to the letter written by President Roosevelt to Judge Gray at the time, which is published in Mr. Bishop's book:

White House, Washington,
March 24, 1903.

My dear Judge Gray:

Pray permit me through you to thank the members of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission for as important a piece of public service as any equal number of men have in our time rendered the country. When you were appointed, we were within measurable distance of a great national calamity. By your acceptance of the position and the wisdom, fearlesness and absolute fairness of your course since, you not only averted that calamity but performed great and lasting service to the nation. This service was rendered at a heavy personal cost to each of you, and to those of your body who were in public service it was simply an additional burden. But such service as you gave could not be bought, and perhaps it is as well for the country that it should be given at a personal sacrifice, as was true in this case. Thanking you again most heartily, I am Sincerely yours,

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

A fine letter from a great Republican to a great Democrat! It shows the too often forgotten but undeniable fact that genuine patriotism transcends party lines. It also shows that little Delaware has done some big things for her sister States which they ought occasionally to stop and think of when they are pluming themselves on the size of their cities or the vastness of their wheat fields or the value of their cattle and hogs.

I'

a

T was by the narrowest of margins that Governor Walton, of Oklahoma, failed to become a National leader- -a "great statesman"--as result of his attack on the Ku Klux Klan. For two weeks after he declared war in mid-August by ordering an inquiry by a military court under the protection of martial law in Tulsa it seemed that he would win a complete victory. The Klan itself was thrown into nothing less than consternation; other leaders who were planning to attack the abuses of Walton's administration were discouraged and silenced, since to oppose him at that time would have identified them with the Klan.

His move was hailed all over the country as fine and courageous statesmanship, and this also had its reaction in the State. People who doubted the legality of his actions were easily persuaded that the emergency warranted them. The opponents of the Klan who had been terrified into silence took courage and became vocal, and revealed for the first time how widespread that opposition was. Walton's strength and popularity rose to greater heights than ever before.

He

Partly this was responsible for his ultimate downfall, for nothing but a greatly enlarged self-esteem can account for some of his subsequent acts. Partly also he lost his nerve. charges that the Klan threatened his life; they deny this, no proof has been offered, and certainly his word is not sufficient evidence. But he undoubtedly was scared; he increased his personal body-guard of gunmen, and there are fairly clear signs of panic in some of his performances. Between exaltation and alarm he shortly provided the ammunition which was to destroy him.

At first, however, things went strongly in his favor. The military court in Tulsa promptly unearthed one case after another of vigilante lawlessness which were attributed to the Klan -usually with justice. These stirred the people of the State to the depths and brought thousands of neutrals as recruits to Walton. Some of the cases were, at least on their face, horrible; a man whipped nearly to death because he opposed a certain schoolteacher; a woman tarred and feathered from pure jealousy; a man nearly killed because he got the better of a

neighbor in a business deal; other men mutilated for unproved crimes. These stories Walton made public as fast as the court extracted them.

In the meantime Walton was keeping up a constant fire and making the gravest charges against the Klan and its leaders; not only lawlessness but attempts to subvert the whole Government, tremendous personal ambitions, plots for massacre and seizure of the property of Catholics and Jews; all these and more were alleged-some of them openly and some in whispersand were readily believed. The atmosphere of prejudice and suspicion which had been created by the Klan propaganda now helped condemn it; if such stories were true of one side, as the Klan charged, why not of the other?

Gradually, however, the opposition gathered itself together and began to fight back. It included several of the leading opponents of the Klan as well as the Klan itself; men who were even then beginning to raise the cry of "Neither Klan nor King." The counter-attack was based from the first on the illegality of Walton's actions.

Presently it got other ammunition. There were no convictions of Klan members as a result of the Tulsa exposures, except in one case where four men pleaded guilty, and admitted their membership in the Klan, but denied that they had any authority from the Klan officials or from any organization. In other cases witnesses vanished. Walton charged that the Klan had intimidated them; the officials of the military court replied that it was Walton's own action in making the evidence public prematurely which prevented prosecution.

Soon, at any rate, Klansmen began to point out that the charges made before the Tulsa court were never proved, that only one side of the story was told in each case, and that the whole thing was therefore of no more weight than gossip. They presently went further and said that Walton did not dare have the cases aired in open court. Even "neutrals" told me that the Klan itself admitted, and had been able in some sort to justify, far more than the court proved. Thus the Klan managed soon to escape responsibility in those cases which particularly aroused public opinion.

By this time the public indignation had become considerably confused and

it began to die down. This gave a chance to revive the old charges against Walton's administration, and his opponents made the most of it. More and more people came to believe that his attack on the Klan was merely politics, designed to prevent his being called to a long overdue accounting.

Probably Walton could have weathered this attack easily enough if he had changed his policy and given a fairly decent administration for the time being. But he was not the man to see the importance of this; pardons of desperate criminals followed one another rapidly, and more and more gunmen--some of them with criminal records were added to his staff. Men were caught red-handed in crime, with his pardons and his commissions as special peace officers in their pockets. Every such case cost him supporters; each strengthened the growing belief that in spite of his loud protestations he really cared nothing for law and order and that he was himself the chief danger to the peace of the State.

The Klan meanwhile had met his onslaught with great discretion. All overt demonstrations were promptly stopped, and it took care that nothing was done that could possibly irritate the public mind against it or give Walton a real hold upon it. It retired into the background and left Waltonapparently-fighting a shadow, which is unprofitable.

WALTON SLIPS

ALTON, beating the air and losing

ground steadily, began also to lose his head. So the third stage of the campaign opened with attempts to goad the Klan into overt action. Walton denies having any such purpose, but his gunmen certainly made vigorous attempts to provoke violence from Klan gatherings.

This stirred the Klansmen to white heat, and for weeks Klan officials were busy campaigning the State to keep the peace. They did it somehow; it is a fact that throughout the struggle there was no single Klan action on which Walton could seize as proof of any one of his charges against it. This of course immensely strengthened the Klan, and Walton suffered in proportion.

While this was going on the counterattack also developed along legal lines. A grand jury was called in Oklahoma

City to investigate charges that some of Walton's actions were actually criminal. Walton declared that the move was inspired by the Klan, as is entirely likely, and posted militia with machine guns around the court-house to prevent the grand jury from meeting. His opponents, besides pointing out the utter lawlessness and despotic nature of this performance, naturally cried also that he was afraid of investigation. Increasing numbers believed it.

THE FATAL ERROR

HE next step against Walton was

This

meet to impeach him, and its dispersal by soldiers under his orders. seems to have been his fatal mistake. However popular a Governor may be, he is never known to the voters, never has the hold on them that is kept by the neighbors they send to the Legislature. The people know these men intimately, especially in a comparatively sparsely settled State like Oklahoma. Generally they trust them. So when Walton attacked the Legislature he transferred the burden of proof from their shoulders to his own, in the minds of most men. From that time on the presumption went steadily against him.

It is notable that in all this the Klan and its allies against Walton were careful to keep at least the color of the law in their favor. Walton had al

gone far beyond his lawful

He had completed the case against himself. Oklahoma rose in a mass.

That revolutionary election was really the end of the fight in Oklahoma. It established legality as a principle in government above everything else. The overwhelming majority against Walton sobered him instantly. It destroyed most of what support he had left; the State banks refused to cash his vouchers for State funds to pay the militia, and he learned, as kings did of old, that a king cannot rule without money. The soldiers are not yet paid; they went home, and Walton came inside the law and started his losing fight in the courts to save his official life.

From that time on there has been complete submission to the law by both sides. Walton attacked the legality of the election, but he himself lost his own case by calling the Legislature in special session. This seems to have been done with the idea of luring that body into illegal action. He could claim that it had no right to consider any matters not mentioned in his call; impeachment was not so mentioned, but was sure to be undertaken. But the lawmakers delayed the impeachment vote till after the specialelection call became operative, and the trick failed. The only question that seems to remain is how completely Walton will be disgraced.

WHAT WILL THE VICTORS DO?
ITH

staying inside theirs. It is true they strained the law at times, but only when they could claim great fundamental rights such as that the Legislature, as the representative of the people, always had a right to assemble. Even Walton's illegal orders were obeyed peacefully up to the revolution.

This came when Walton attempted to prevent the election set for October 9 to pass on an initiated measure authorizing the Legislature to meet. Walton, for once seeking legal support, had appealed to the courts and lost. Then he ignored the courts and ordered militia, gunmen, sheriffs, every one he could get, to stop the voting. To oppose him then was nothing less than revolution by force of arms; every power of the Government in his hands was arrayed against the election.

THE VERDICT OF THE COURT OF LAST RESORT

signs of breaking up, and the fight against the Klan will be renewed. It is the general opinion of the men with whom I talked, however, that it has little chance of success. Many of the men who have come to power through Walton's downfall are Klan members. And, since it was the center of the fight, it gained greatly in numbers when that fight became a popular movement and is to-day far stronger than ever before. There is besides no one of the leaders against it who has any considerable political power. W. E. Disney, who led the action against Walton in the Legislature, is such a leader, but cannot swing the following he now has against the Klan.

It is probable, however, that there will be legislation which will be at least nominally against the Klan. There is strong support for this even inside the Klan itself. Many of its officials have fought lawlessness from the inside and are quite willing to bring more law to their aid. It is notable that several members of the military court which exposed Klan outrages around Tulsa were Klan members, and considered their work there helpful to the Klan.

The new law, as planned, will prohibit the use of Klan regalia in public places without official permits, thus eliminating the provocation from pa

rades. It will also provide severe penalties for entering private property disguised, for conspiracy to use force against any citizen, and especially for such a use of force. Grand Dragon Jewett says he will not object to such a law; there is reason to believe that it was drawn by Klan lawyers!

This will probably be the extent of the legal action, but careful observers believe that the Klan will decline fast in any case. They say that it began to lose members after it won its local victories last fall and was saved only by the war with Walton. Now that that war is over, they cannot see that it will have any important issue or appeal left, or any claim to public support, and they think that within a year or two it will have become negligible. My own opinion, for what it is worth, agrees with this, though of course Mr. Jewett sees a very different future.

Even so even if the Klan is unchecked and the apparent result of all the disturbance has only been to bring an unworthy Governor to book, Oklahoma has gained greatly from the crisis, and particularly from the revolt against despotism. The State has in a large measure already won back to decent government. More yet, . it has won a public demand for good government, backed by a civic conscience and a civic unity such as it has never had before. The fight has established in the group mind the demand that law should be observed, that order should be enforced, and that a public servant should serve the public. We think of these things as the common law of democracy, to be sure, but which of our forty-eight States really has them?

THE

OKLAHOMA'S NEW PURPOSE

HEY are not achieved yet in Oklahoma of course; far from it. But they have become the purpose of the State. It will take a long time to achieve them, but some progress has been made and more is in sight. The reform leaders are in the saddle, and there will be a general clearing out of corrupt officials in the next few months. The movement has brought better men into public life, has taught the better men how badly they are needed, and at the next election there will be a far higher class of candidates than ever before.

Best of all, it has taught the voters that there is something in politics besides gaudy promises and private graft. It has taught thousands-how many thousands and how well the lesson has been learned cannot be known till another election has been heldthat decent government is at stake in every election, and that if they are to preserve their peace and security, even their liberty, they must look well at the man behind the promises.

This change is apparent all over the State and with all classes.