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To most Harvard students the vagaries of the Ku Klux Klan have in the past been rather "an innocent source of merriment" than a cause for terror or agitation; only a small minority of unbalanced impressionists has been drawn within the folds of the "Invisible Empire" by the glamor and prejudice of its appeal. And there is little reason to believe that these conditions are radically altered in the present. Unless Harvard individualism--or Harvard indifference, as the critics have it,--is a thing of the past, the University will never be swept by the cheap and ignorant iraternalism of Kleagles and Wizards.
But the mere fact that the Klan should exist is cause for surprise. That college men, especially Harvard College men, supposedly rational and tolerant, should accept the doctrines of the Klan, founded as they are on blind prejudice and fierce racial bitterness, is extraordinary. It is but little excuse, however much it may serve to explain the situation, that the romantic and mysterious glamor of hooded figures of the inborn American craving to belong to something are probably the real attraction.
Despite what Yale friends may say, Harvard has a reputation for a sense of humor which is sure to stand it in good stead in the present situation. Laughter is a powerful weapon and Harvard is sure to laugh at its Klan.
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