This Fascist Racket—

The following is the sixth of a series of articles, “This Fascist Racket,” by Mr. McGrady, exposing, from the inside, the workings of a typical Fascist organization here, and revealing, through publication of the Fascist “chieftain’s” correspondence, how and in what manner these racial rackets are operated. The series appears daily in the Jewish Daily Bulletin.

It is difficult to pass lightly over the correspondence between George W. Christians, commander-in-chief of the Crusader White Shirts, and his foremost supporter, C. F. Fulliam, regional leader of the Germanischer Bund with offices in Muscatine, Iowa.

The correspondence reflects the manner in which many demagogic Fascist leaders succeed in leading on their henchmen in various parts of the country, who are motivated in their support by some pet peeve, religious or political-slant, desire for power, or for such profit as may be found in the movement. Fulliam’s purpose in aligning himself with Christians appears to embrace all these motives.

The preceding article, reviewing the early correspondence between Christians and Fulliam, portrayed the development of this relationship. Although Fulliam has a wholesome disrespect for many things ranging from the use of commas to policies of the present administration, he really has a heart of gold, as one can readily discern from extracts from his correspondence. Fulliam by this time serves Christians as Minister of Propaganda.

On May 8, 1933, Fulliam wrote Christians as follows: “Attached is a clipping from Muscatine Journal of May 5th containing letter from a German to his brother-in-law in Muscatine praising Hitler and giving opinion as to Jewish propaganda. There is a strong sentiment and population in Muscatine and vicinity and Lutheran clergy and all they are certainly sore at the way the Jews are propagating against Germany and Germans and in Muscatine and Iowa people say what they have to say and the papers give them space to say it in because people insist around here that all sides on any question get a fair hearing as to their opinions no matter what. I have seen 25,000 KKK in their robes with the mayor of the city at their head in his robes on a horse with police and chief of police leading a parade down the main streets of the city and I have heard Senator Heflin here speak at our public park before large ###rongs and I have seen Catholics parade and have their speakers here and get just as much publicity as the other side.”

EXPLAINS PLAGIARISM

Indicating that his propaganda efforts had been rewarded to some extent, Fulliam wrote his leader about the same time: “Attached you will please find clippings of article that I had in Muscatine Journal of May 4th. This article was built up from circulars of yourself and from some letters of Mr. Arps together with some ideas of my own. The main idea in my opinion is to get something before the people no matter how. If I took down something over your signature they would not print it but over my signature it would not be so easy to refuse so if I borrow from any of your communications it is for a purpose and the purpose is to get things before the public.”

After absolving himself from plagiarism in the above manner, Fulliam must have reflected that he should have a few idealistic ideas of his own, so on May 10 he wrote Christians in part as follows:

“Ours is a holy crusade to save American liberties and institutions. We look to you to give us the lofty ideals and vision that is necessary to arouse the American people…. The spirit of the American Revolution must be stirred. We must have some stirring and appealing music with four or five verses to it for our marching song.”

FOUR-PAGE LETTER “HOT”

The letter was four pages long. It was in much the same tenor. Fulliam drew a picture of the halcyon times to come under the dictatorship of Christians, and, despite the apparently fine oratory of his own letter, called upon the leader to furnish him with “a number of blunt statements,” which he might use to influence the masses.”

On May 12 Christians replied in part as follows: “Your letter of the 10th is plenty hot. You certainly have the spirit. This is a Holy Crusade, and I am glad to have you propagating it as such. For the present at least I can not afford to pose as a prospective dictator. This doesn’t prevent me from issuing blunt statements, and you will find plenty of them in my writings. For me to assume a dictatorial attitude now would eliminate a very large and important following which has been built up to promote an idea rather than a personality. This does not prevent you from promoting the idea of making me a dictator over my objections, for those who want a dictator, but you can see that I can have no part in it. Yes, we need music. I wish I knew where we could get it.”

Apparently during the day Christians had received more advice from the fervent Fulliam advising him that he would be swept into the dictatorship of the country on the crest of the Holy Crusade wave. On May 13, Christians wrote again: to Fulliam (possibly disturbed over the fact that his correspondence might fall into government hands):

ROOSEVELT AS “DICTATOR”

“Your recent letters have troubled me considerably. In the first place I have no desire to be a dictator; in the next place, it is an impossible objective; third, I think it will hurt our cause to promote the idea. Roosevelt, I believe, will give us all we want of dictatorship. We can do better by pointing him out as a horrible example of what dictatorship does to American institutions and American ideals of liberty. Personalities are important, however, and the people do want a leader, but let’s stop at that. I think you can be far more effective if you sell me as a leader with an idea and ideals that are open and aboveboard for everyone to see.”

On May 15, 1933, Fulliam introduced a plaintive note into his correspondence by reporting the rejection of a manuscript. He wrote: “Colliers sent me back the article on Crusaders—as I expected they would. See their attached letter. The day will come when they will be glad to print what they can find out about Crusaders.” The enclosed note, indicating the malice and prejudice of the “Conspiracy of Silence” levelled by the American press against Christians’ ideals, read as follows: “This article has been read with interest but we regret to report that we cannot see our way clear to using it for Collier’s, chiefly because we are so loaded up with non-fiction.”

“BLUNT STATEMENTS”

On the same day Christians wrote to the Muscatine literateur: “You wanted some blunt statements. Here are two pages of them. If they are published send me about a dozen copies of the paper. I shall have someone else point out the misstatements in Dale’s article, which I ignored. These attacks are exactly what we have been working for a long time. No one but the Communists and Technocrats have been foolish enough to give us these opportunities. This letter of mine, if it is published, would open up the fight in good shape. Go after them. Try to carry this fight to the Chicago papers by the same tactics. This is going to be fun.”

We have seen the development of this relationship with Fulliam. Correspondence between the Chattanooga headquarters and the Muscatine ministry of propaganda had been intense during the last year. But there has recently been an abrupt break occasioned by the failure of Fulliam to write. Christians has been worried. During my visit to the White Shirt headquarters, a single telegram from Fulliam in response to an urgent wire by Christians assured the White Shirt chief that all was well with him, but he did not explain his non-participation in the Holy Crusade.

That the connection between the Crusader White Shirts and Nazi elements extends beyond the casual relationship between Christians and Fulliam, who serves as regional head of the Germanischer Bund and the Minister of Propaganda of the crusader “government” can and will be proved in the next of this series of articles.

PFAUS LETTERS NEXT

Correspondence between Oscar C. Pfaus of Chicago, national leader of the Germanischer Bund, will be published. This correspondence contains in it elements that may prove damaging to Pfaus. The reporter expressed some reluctance to present the true state of affairs with Pfaus, who is not an American citizen and who may have compromised himself with the government.

Pfaus is a poor man, as his correspondence readily shows. He is bent on the destruction of American Jews and a revolution of the sort that Christians advocates. But for all his bigotry and revolutionary tendencies there is something pitiful about his plight. When I asked Christians his motive in incriminating this apparently misguided individual, he merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you think it is right to let down an ignorant but loyal follower like Pfaus?” he was asked.

Christians responded that he had offered to open his files to the reporter and that he did not feel impelled to ask for mercy for the Chicago Nazi. He did, however, request that Pfaus’ most recent address be withheld from publication to give him “a running start.”

The same relentless unscrupulousness with regard to his followers Christian indicated in all his dealings. This peculiar quirk of his nature once caused his “Minister of Economics,” Higgins to remark to me:

“Christians is the most ruthless man I have ever met. He doesn’t have a heart. I’ll bet that if he were to learn that I had been shot down while crusading, he wouldn’t bother about me at all. He’d run to all the newspapers to see if they wouldn’t give the story a big spread and mention the Crusader For Economic Liberty in the headline. He’d hope I was shot dead, because it would be a bigger story for the Crusaders.”

Christians professedly builds his organization on the lines that motivated the original crusaders about the turn of the millenium. If my memory of history serves me rightly, there was then an expression common to the enemies of the crusaders with regard to the deportment of the invading host with one another. It went, “How these Christians love one another.”

To Be Continued Tomorrow