ment of the people for law and order than the panic which overcame the lawless bands in the face of the power of the state, when three hundred militiamen absolutely held back and drove to cover this great criminal organization of ten thousand sworn night riders, with their many sympathizers. The night riders claimed that they had thirty-two thousand members, but the better opinion is that there were from eight to ten thousand.

To make the policy of the state authorities known, copies of letters written by the Governor to citizens who appealed for protection, were published, from which I give a few extracts:

"I am sure that in time the people will realize the enormous loss they have sustained in money, property values, liberty and reputation, and that presently the pendulum will swing back, with resistless power for the punishment of the criminals.

I have no idea whatever of coming to Hopkinsville to have a conference. . . . . I cannot understand how they can think that it would be even sensible, much less necessary, for the state to negotiate with them as if they were the government of another state. The laws are in full force to protect them. The courts are open to them just as to others. The state is not asking any conference with these men-it has no more interest in them than other individuals. It will not think of conferring with them as if they were elected representatives. There will not be a thread of compromise with these flagrant crimes. No matter how long it takes, the state with all its power, is ever pressing forward to the punishment of the guilty..... The trials may be temporarily delayed, some miscarry, but the law will be enforced and the criminals will be punished without any sort of compromise, and unless all violence ends at once and peace is fully restored, there will be no earthly possibility of any successful appeal to the Governor to make any allowances for the crimes. They have injured the property of the people; they have destroyed public confidence and hurt the good name of the state an hundred-fold more than a dozen murders committed without combination. No man could do his duty nor be faithful to the constitution and the liberties of the people who would entertain any possibility of mercy for organized crime, and there must be no possibility of mistake or doubt on this subject, and there need be no doubt or fear in the minds of the law-abiding people of the final result. When brought to face the failure of the purpose for which the crimes were instigated, it will not be long until there will be such public feeling for the prosecution that there

will be no difficulty in enforcing the law, no chance for any public official, who has failed to do his duty, and no chance for any man who planned, organized or took part in the crimes, and it will not be long to wait.”

Another letter to a law and order organizer:

.. I believe in organization, but there should be no use of the power of numbers to rule by force or in any way except by law, either members or those not members. The rules and contracts must be enforced by law and not in any case by private violence, and it will not be long until all men of ordinary sense will see that one cannot win customers by threats; and several counties have suffered brutal ruffianism quite as dangerous as the Indian ravages were to our pioneer fathers, so that nobody will wish to move into these counties, and every man who loves his liberty will wish to move out. Everybody, a few days ago, was safe and happy, but everybody is now unsafe and unhappy, and not a particle of good, nothing but harm, has come of it all-and presently the people will turn and punish the Ku Klux and there will be no mercy for them."

In a letter to Bracken county:

"I have been greatly surprised at the continued reports of flagrant, open Ku Kluxism in Bracken county. It seems that hundreds of men in so-called 'peaceful armies,' marching in large numbers, have visited people of their county, and even in Mason county, to compel them to give up their liberty, and to obey men who have no right to force their will upon their neighbors.

"The word peaceful army' is an insult to every man's intelligence. Every marching band is guilty of felony under the Ku Klux act and subject to indictment, conviction and sentence to the penitentiary, and I hope there will be no doubt in the mind of one of them that, no matter what temporary encouragement he may have had, the loss of liberties and rights will arouse the people to uphold their laws, drive the modern savages out, and demand their punishment.

"I glory in the noble courage of the woman who planted the flag, the emblem of our liberties, at her door when the mob rode up to her father's home. I honor the old Irish woman who defied them all. I honor the man who, with loaded shotgun, commanded them to turn back from his front door. I wish every man to be patient, and never hurt another until forced to, but I shall have a special desire to protect the man who defends his liberty, his property and his life at any risk from these peaceful armies' of Ku Klux."

Before the troops went on duty, there were thousands of Kentucky homes in which the men, women and children never went to bed without fear of death, danger and arson; yet in a few months a handful of soldiers suppressed the whole conspiracy, drove the leaders into hiding, and put an end to the rule of fear. The total expense of the militia for all purposes during these months, beginning in December, 1907, and ending this year, has been about $225,000, of which some $200,000 was made directly necessary by the night riders.

Several night riders were killed, but the fear of detection of the others caused desperate efforts, in every case, to conceal the fact of each death. Reports show that several committed suicide on account of the crimes.

A proclamation issued by the Governor called upon the people to defend themselves, and told them that if they did they would need no lawyer if they hurt anybody in defending their homes. This promise has been kept. The night riders never risked any chance of an engagement with the troops. The outrages were planned and executed in secret and under cover of darkness. No troops were ever sent except under the law authorizing the Governor to order them in case of danger to life or property, but they were always sent when applied for by the public officers, and whenever and wherever they were needed, and, in many cases, where local officers were in sympathy with the night riders, they were sent by the Governor's order without application when it was certain that the danger existed.

The state league resolution for calling out the whole state militia was answered by saying that under the law the Governor could not send any troops without information showing a necessity for them.

Under strict orders, there was no news nor information given of the movements of the troops. They carried on their patrols in such a way that the night riders never knew where they might turn up or intercept them. The people's soldiers, on their part, conducted themselves splendidly under great hardships, with patience, courage, sound common sense and unfaltering loyalty, and became seasoned soldiers fit for any duty. There was never any complaint of their behavior or performance of duty.

Prominent members of the Dark Tobacco Association called upon the Governor and offered to have the lawlessness stopped if the Governor would withdraw the troops and stop the investigations, but they were told bluntly that no parley would be held with them and no compromise made.

The highest reward permitted by Kentucky law was offered for information that would lead to the apprehension and punishment of every man guilty of co-operation with the night riders or of banding or confederating together to injure or intimidate others and for advance information of intended riots; these rewards would aggregate hundreds of thousands of dollars if the guilty were exposed and successfully prosecuted.

There has been no consideration of political future or popularity nor of the wishes of the lawless, but there has been a stern, relentless and unwavering purpose and an unceasing effort to suppress lawlessness and punish crime. It rests with the people of the Commonwealth and their courts to return the indictments and punish the guilty. There will be no pardon for this offense.

This plan of action has been denounced with every form of abuse and falsehood. Many county newspapers are under the influence of the night riders, and here and there a judge or state's atttorney, elected by the people and not subject to removal or correction by the Governor, has faltered in his duty, and in some instances sympathized openly with the criminals. But our people are coming to their own again, and there will be prosecutions and convictions for the wrongs suffered in so great a territory and for so many weary months. I do not know any state today where the sentiment for law and order is more universal, earnest and uncompromising than in Kentucky. We have the straightest typical Americans in all this land, and the best law and order people in the world.

While I have never faltered for an instant in the firm faith in our people, I may confess strong gratification that this faith has already proved to be just, and that the policy of law and order today has the cordial approval of the people of Kentucky. I deem myself most fortunate indeed that it has been my lot to be the Governor of Kentucky in these times of trouble and anxiety and to have the faith I have had in our American people. I

am entirely safe in saying that there is no issue in Kentucky upon the question of law and order; that the sentiment of the state is strong, earnest, faithful and unyielding in favor of upholding the law, without temporizing with any form of defiance of it.

No politics were, generally speaking, injected into this contest. In some counties the night riders tried to make it a political matter and were actively helped by some politicians, but the attempt has reacted. One circuit judge, who made righteous law and order charges to grand juries, but made a farce of the selection of men for juries and of the trials of the night riders in his court, was defeated for the nomination in his own party convention in the Dark Tobacco district. The Tobacco Association has publicly denounced lawlessness, and no candidate for office dares make any public claim or even admission that he was a night rider or a night rider sympathizer.

So far, only two men, I believe, have been convicted of night rider crimes, each receiving a sentence of only one year, but victims of these outrages have recovered in actions in the Federal Court large sums in damages.

Except for the first raid at Princeton, in which Tobacco Trust property was destroyed, and except one Trust building which caught fire from an independent factory, there has been no injury to any of the Trust's property or employes. It has never asked any protection and all of the efforts of the night riders. and the different tobacco associations have been directed against the independent farmers who would not join the farmers' pool and put their crop into its hands, and against the independent buyers and factories, who would not yield to the Trust. At the end of all the trouble, the two Trusts, the Tobacco Trust and the Association Trust, readily agreed with each other, to their very great mutual gain and profit, and the Trust got all of the pooled tobacco that it wanted, having the first choice and leaving the independent factories and buyers to get what it did not want, while those unfortunate people who cherished the liberty and the right of each man to do what he pleases with his own so long as he does not interfere with like rights in others, were ground fine between them.