Sunday History Column on Anti-Catholic Legislation points to Much More

The history column in the Sunday paper on the anti-Catholic "religious garb" legislation was nice to see. Not that the topic was reassuring, but the second Klan and the radicalism of reactionary conservatism deserve much more attention at our particular moment.

Brief reference to the Klan

With word count limits, the piece could only go so far. Its focus was on the aftermath and struck a positive tone, on "collaboration" and "partnership," not on conflict, and contained only a brief reference to the second Klan. 

There is so much more to say of course! In particular the Klan wasn't just "them," just some vague and mysterious force out there. It was "us." Many Salemites were sympathetic and a substantial number were active in it. In March of 1923, Salem Mayor Giesy attended a public Klan banquet, you may recall.

It also relates to Mill history. Narrowly, Thomas B. Kay, owner of the Woolen Mill, voted for the anti-Catholic religious garb bill. More generally, the Kay family seems to have displayed sympathy for Klan politics and may even have been active in it.

Legislative preview, January 9th, 1923

There is a need for research on tension and sympathy between Thomas B. Kay, who was prominent in State government in the 1910s and 20s, and Speaker of the House Kaspar K. Kubli, whose initials say everything about his politics. There may be specialist academic histories on this, but any discussion has not influenced enough our popular history.

The relation was not likely a simple one. In the primary election of 1922, through a front organization and under dodgy auspices, the Klan endorsed Fannie Kay Bishop, sister of Thomas B. Kay. They could have endorsed, but did not, Thomas.

May 17th, 1922

Bishop danced around repudiating the endorsement, saying only that she had "not sought the endorsement or entered into alliance with any organization..." (Also in that May 17th issue.)

May 19th, 1922

She did not win the primary.

Her brother did win. Though Thomas B. Kay had himself been interested in the Speakership for 1923, ultimately he struck a deal with Kubli, and he seconded Kubli's nomination.

January 9th and 10th, 1923

At a minimum there is evidence for tolerance between the Kays and the Klan, and it could be more, be definite sympathy, and even possibly membership. Even if they were not members, they also didn't work to distance themselves, and through a strategy of plausible deniability may have been more cozy.

That front organization for the Klan, the Federation of Patriotic Societies, introduced a slate of bills at the start of the 1923 session. It was a mixture of things we would today say were reactionary and progressive. It included that ban on "religious garb."

January 9th, 1923

The ban passed the House with 58 votes and two absences. Thomas B. Kay voted for it.

January 15th, 1923

It sped through the Senate and was signed on January 31st.

January 31st, 1923

There may be some uncertainty about the bill.

In a 2009 preview of a repeal the Oregonian wrote:

The 1923 law on teacher dress was passed when Kaspar K. Kubli, an open supporter of the Ku Klux Klan, presided as speaker of the Oregon House. It was included in the Alien Property Act of 1923, which prohibited Japanese Americans from owning property in Oregon, and was designed to prevent nuns and priests from wearing their habits or vestments in classrooms.

The newspaper evidence appears show the ban as a separate bill, not a provision folded into the anti-Japanese legislation.

February 2nd and 15th, 1923

But Thomas B. Kay voted for the alien land act also, and it was part of the whole slate of bills expressing nativism and reactionary conservatism, even if its primary sponsor was the American Legion and not the Federation of Patriotic Societies.

The Klan's reactionary take on patriotism and Americanism was popular, and Kay support for the bills not out of step with his constituents.

November 6th and 9th, 1923

In a series of anonymous pieces leading up to the parade and rally for the Salem Klan Charter on November 10th, 1923, "a Klansman" from Salem claimed membership numbers:

• In September of 1921, 167 Salem members
• In May of 1922, "over 400" Salem members
• In November of 1922 "over 600 names on the roll."
• After in-fighting during 1923, in November of 1923 perhaps 300 total, about 100 loyalists and 200 "composing the backbone of the anti-Gifford element."

Nov 10th and 11th, 1923

In addition to membership in the Klan, more Salemites would have sympathized in some degree, some strongly, some less so, but generally not enough to protest or disavow. The Klan itself was scammy, kind of a grift, but its politics of a reactionary "Americanism" were popular.

There's just so much more to say about the second Klan here in Salem. We'll come back to it as the 100th anniversary of the parade and rally approaches.

Previously here:

• "100 Years ago The Birth of a Nation "took Salem by Storm" (2016)
• With evidence of Klan harassment, "Policing Racial Boundaries in 1920s: Herman Hayes, D. H. Brown, and Charlie Maxwell" (2021)
• On increasing acceptance, "Between 1921 and 1923 Salemites Seemed to Shift Radically on the Triple K" (2021) and "George Putnam and the Afternoon Paper's Seeming Shift on the 1923 Legislature" (2023)
• With more on the Federation of Patriotic Societies, "Reassessing Asahel Bush and the 1922 Election: Our Problematic Legacies" (2022)
• Actual funny business in, "Recount and Fraud in the 1922 Primary Election for Governor" (2022)
• On our own Mayor, "Mayor Giesy attends Klan Dinner in 1923" (2023)
• And a complication. Even in the face of proto-fascist anti-Catholic politics and sentiment here, straight-up fascism in Europe appealed to some Catholics: "The Appeal of a Strong Man: Mussolini and the Fascists Praised in 1923" (2023)