Congressman Shafer, of Wisconsin, who, with Congressman La Guardia of New York charged on the floor of the House that the Ku Klux Klan and Anti-Saloon League were behind the proposed constitutional amendment to reapportion Congressional representation so as to omit aliens in computing the basis of representation, read a letter during a session of the House from W. H. Anderson, former head of the Anti-Saloon League of New York, in which the latter claimed the credit for originating the plan ten years ago in a dry enforcement manual prepared by him.
Anderson declared that the Klan has never endorsed the reapportionment plan, although klansmen “generally approve it.” He also denied that the Anti-Saloon League approved the plan, but said the National President and the Superintendent of the League have approved the plan “from the prohibition angle.”
Anderson wrote the letter to Congressman Shafer in his new capacity as President of the American Protestant Alliance. On the letter-head, the “Fellowship Forum,” generally identified with the Ku Klux Klan, is listed as cooperating with the “Amance.”
Dr. Hiram Evans, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, responding to the inquiry of the Jewish Daily Bulletin correspondent, refused to make any statement regarding the charges of Congressmen Shafer and La Guardia, except to state that the Ku Klux Klan has never issued any literature or made known its attitude toward the reapportionment plan.
Both Shafer and La Guardia insist that they have received literature which they have as yet been unable to locate among their papers, showing that the Klan is behind the proposal.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
