MUSSOLINI: THE WILD MAN OF EUROPE - Part 1
CONTENTS:
(1) ODE TO THE LITTLE LIBRARY
(2) THE WILD MAN OF EUROPE
(3) FREEMASONS, KLANSMEN AND OTHERS
(1) ODE TO THE "LITTLE LIBRARY"
After decades abroad, one of the great joys of life back in the United States is the proliferation of Little Libraries —chockful of fun things to read, all for free and in English too!
I love having the fates guide my reading, tossing me into literary byways I barely knew existed.
Still, I live only a few blocks from Politics and Prose, in the raised-consciousness bubble of Ward 3 (Upper Northwest Washington DC).
So, my discoveries —while endlessly intriguing— often run through predictable local channels.
This is Washington after all, a strangely unquantifiable place.
It is perpetually at the center of the world's attention, superpower capital and all that.
Meanwhile, it remains an oddly shapeless town, craving a unique sense of place that might or might not exist.
God knows, they try!
I could easily fill my living room— floor-to ceiling— with eager Washingtoniana from Little Libraries within a one-mile radius of my home.
There are serious historical studies, for sure, and shrewdly observed novels —but far fewer of the latter than you might expect.
But above all, Little Libraries overflow with bright-eyed feel-think from the talking heads of yesteryear (often concocted on their way out the door).
Also "inside glimpse" picture books from every presidential administration, now looking more or less alike.
Then— perhaps most intriguing —we have a steady stream of "collectibles" with the shelf life of unrefrigerated crème fraîche.
You can't imagine how much DC whimsy I scoop out of Little Libraries and then —coming to my senses —offload in others before returning home.
At times, however, I wish that I had held on to the Bill 'n Hillary Bobbleheads, the Road to the White House Board Game and and a few of those recurrring sets of DC Politicards.
(2) THE WILD MAN OF EUROPE
Washington's Little Libraries can be endearingly silly.
But sometimes—in their randomness —they crack open the past and make us rethink what we know.
Like it or not, this qualifies as Washingtoniana too.
The Fellowship Forum and the Independent Publishing Company were joined at the hip in the Nation's Capital and exerted massive influence in their day.
But first, let's take a look at Wild Man.
Bond was not a born wordsmith, piling up shapeless paragraphs where single sentences would do.
Meanwhile, he compensated— almost obsessively —with vehement headings from hither and yon.
Vanity and violence... Unpleasant Traits... The Old Ego Remains...
Bond— it seems —had "Marvelous Mussolini" stuck in his craw, right out of the gate.
The Duce's media assault on American values is clearly working.
But what motivates this "Superman" anyway?
The author discerns three "purposes".
"Hyphenism"? "Italian-American" would be a prime example, it seems.
"Alienism"? A word of his own devising— from "alien" meaning "foreign" —signalling less than total commitment to the American Way of Life.
"Weeds" and "hothouses"? The metaphors come thick and fast.
Bond exposes a dire conspiracy at home and abroad, masterminded by the Duce himself.
Subverting the "Italian Vote" —otherwise "Italian-American" —is a chief goal.
In the economic sphere, Mussolini commands the resources of his Corporate State, channeling them wherever he pleases.
Thus he manipulates American public opinion —in pursuit of his global ambitions.
What is Dictator Mussolini's endgame— according to John Bond?
Nothing less than a Clerical-Fascist Empire jointly ruled by the Duce and the Pope.
(3) FREEMASONS, KLANSMEN AND OTHERS
Heady stuff! But who was John Bond writing for?
Based in Rome, he operated as the "European Correspondent of The Fellowship Forum".
This was "A National Weekly Devoted to the Fraternal Interpretation of the World's Current Events".
The Fellowship Forum was printed by The Independent Publishing Company, both headquartered in Washington DC.
The Independent also issued several of Bond's books, including Mussolini: The Wild Man of Europe.
The journal, the publisher and the author all shared a "Fraternal" point of view— meaning what exactly?
The New York Times went straight to the point in the summer of 1927, while assessing The Forum's request for a radio broadcasting licence .
The Times set the stage in their very first sentence, "The Fellowship Forum, alleged Ku Klux Klan publication, devoted in large part to attacks on the Roman Catholic Church..."
James S. Vance, the paper's general manager, fired back when the Forum's plan for a "Patriotic Protestant America" broadcasting station stalled out.
"Stories" were circulating about the Forum.... Were they "untruthful" like Vance claimed?
Whatever Vance and his crew were saying and doing, they had moved beyond simple words into the murky realm of coded messaging.
In "100% American" circles (to use a favorite catchphrase of the time), "Protestant" meant "Non-Catholic" and usually "Anti-Catholic" as well.
"Fraternal" was another favored term of art, evoking friends and neighbors in thousands of predominantly White Protestant lodges across America (Odd Fellows, Elks, Moose, Knights of Pythias and whatever else).
The Forum reported on a wide swathe of these organizations while privileging Freemasonry and the Klan.
In practice, there was a recurring overlap between those two —and when you hear "Militant Freemasonry", "Ku Klux Klan" is strongly implied.
(For the complex and often fraught relationship of Freemasonry, Militant Freemasonry and the Klan in those years, see Adam Kendall's impressive and well-sourced survey, "The Ku Klux Klan, Freemasonry and the American Fraternal Press", Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 134, 2021).
The Fellowship Forum was founded in 1921— conspicuously based in Washington DC.
By 1927, this "National Voice for Protestant Fraternal America" had attained a circulation of over a million.
Freemasonry has a long history in the Washington area with many powerful adherents, going back to George Washington himself.
This Fraternal Order developed a network of influential connections across Protestant America (with some Jewish involvement as well).
The Masons did not need to exclude Catholics, since the Church got there first. As a secret society, Freemasonry was deemed incompatible with the Roman faith and membership triggered instant excommunication.
In 1915, the Ku Klux Klan was refounded —after its suppression in 1870, following a horrifying run of lynchings and other violence.
In the course of the 1920s, the organization was restyled, with an eye to broad public acceptibility. By mid-decade, the Klan attracted some 2.5 to 4 million members and played a leading role in political, social and business life.
The culmination came on August 8, 1925 and September 13, 1926, when tens of thousands of robed and hooded knights paraded through the Nation's capital, claiming their place in the American mainstream.
James S. Vance, the Forum's General Manager, combined America First boosterism with cash pay-outs to subscription agents.
"There is always work for loyal Americans to do because America’s enemies are at work every minute of the day. We must arouse the sleeping Protestants throughout the country and get them properly informed. Interview every Protestant in your territory and solicit his subscription. They will learn the truth by reading The Fellowship Forum ....How about the BONUS?—do you want it? If so show some speed!"
When it came to relentless huckstering, Vance wasn't doing this alone.
The Fellowship Forum's bold expansion was managed by The Southern Publicity Association, the Atlanta-based advertising and fundraising agency that also programmed the rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan.
On November 25 , 1915, William Joseph Simmons (a Protestant preacher) led 16 stalwart "Knights" to the summit of nearby Stone Mountain.
Robed, hooded and masked, they reconsecrated the Ku Klux Klan, amidst neo-chivalric antics not seen for decades.
We don't know for a fact that Edward Young Clarke was on top of Stone Mountain with Simmons on that fateful night —but if not, he wasn't far off.
From 1915 to 1922, Clarke served at Imperial Wizard Simmons' side, as Imperial Wizard Pro Tempore (Chief Deputy) and Imperial Kleagle (Head of Recruiting).
"We were here yesterday, We are here today, We will be here forever."
At the outset, Simmons doubled-down on his Invisible Empire's connection with the past, flourishing every symbol and motto he could find.
America, however, was looking ahead —in the full flush of White Protestant Fraternalism and entering the age of modern advertising.
"An Urgent Call to Real Men"? That was cutting out half the population... The WKKK (Women of the Ku Klu Klan) would be founded in 1923.
By 1920, Clarke and Tyler founded The Southern Publicity Association.
In June of that year, they stipulated a contract with Grand Wizard Simmons (whose previous recruitment efforts had been scattershot at best).
Clarke was already their inside man as Imperial Kleagle —the Klan's chief strategist and enrollment officer.
Their task was to restructure the KKK as a centralized membership organization. In return, Clarke and Tyler would pocket a share of the fees.
In June of 1921, the Fellowship Forum began publication— helping normalize Klannish activity in a wide sector of American Society.
(Eventually, the Association's accounts would include the Anti-Saloon League, the Armenian Relief Fund and the American Red Cross, as well as the Klan and the Fellowship Forum.)
This intriguing image was staged in Washington DC, in sight of the Capitol, on November 1, 1921. We see two conspicuously liberated women (by the standards of their day) with their plus-fours, their bicycles and their dog.
Why are we featuring this here? The photo records one of The Fellowship Forum's earliest publicity campaigns —only four months after the appearance of their first issue on June 24, 1921.
This was the softest possible approach to Protestant Fraternalism (and now Sorority), much favored in these years— sending Florence Deering and Evelyn Morey, two youngish Christian ladies, on a cross-country bicycle trip from Washington DC to San Francisco.
They were "accompanied by 'Buddie', a German police dog, given them when they were doing YWCA work overseas."
"The young ladies represent the Fellowship Forum, a national publication in the interest of Masonry, and were accorded every welcome and courtesy by Asheville Masons. They reported a good volume of business for their publication."
Florence and Evelyn were routed through the heart of Klan Country in the South, but in this article we hear only of "Masonry" and not even the "Militant" kind. Now —a hundred years later—we can merely wonder about their conversations on the ground
What was in this for Edward Young Clarke and Mary Elizabeth Tyler (apart from maybe saving White Protestant America)?
Power, influence and a vast amount of money.
According to their 1920 agreement with Simmons, they claimed $8 from every $10 initiation fee (with the other $2 going to Simmons).
Meanwhile, it was up to Clarke and Tyler to finance the membership drive, with hefty finders' fees going to hundreds of Kleagles (recruiters, not Imperial) across the country. (In fact, we are looking at a classic pyramid scheme.)
By the end of 1921, the KKK had already attracted more than 700,000 members (as estimated, since it was a secret society with its records closely held).
Clarke and Tyler should have netted some $1,750,000 from initiation fees alone in 1921 (worth some $32,000,000 today).
Meanwhile, the two Southern Publicity Association partners added another layer of profit to their business plan, manufacturing and selling robes, hoods and other Klan regalia —setting themselves up as sole authorized suppliers.
Then the crash came...
Clarke and Tyler were an irregular couple with a lively public history of sexual transgession, including an arrest on morality charges —now showcased in their lavish new home.
Then their financial machinations emerged— arousing anger and presumably envy within the organization.
In 1922, the Klan fired Louis D. Wade as Kligrapp (branch secretary) and filed an injunction to stop him defaming Clarke and Tyler. That left Wade no choice but to break open the full story.
We can hardly improve on Wade's own sworn deposition (above): Clarke (Imperial Wizard Pro Tempore, Imperial Kleagle and Imperial Klaliff, all at once) preyed on the drunken condition of Simmons (Imperial Wizard), allowing Clarke and Tyler to "suddenly become enormously wealthy from ill-gotten gains collected from the ranks of Ku Klux men."
Simmons, Clarke and Tyler were all eventually sidelined within the organization, but the Klan forged ahead —building on their innovations for a few more years at least.
According to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, new Klan members were expected to spend $23.30— right up front— including the $10 initiation fee, a $6.50 robe, a $5 membership fee and a so-called "imperial tax" of $1.80. That represented approximately $430 in 2026 money.
Then came recurring annual charges... Klansmen tended to be better educated and more financially stable than average Americans, generally able to meet such expenses.
Still, $23.30 was serious cash for a respectable lower middle-class guy like railway clerk C.D. Myton. He might have earned $37 a week while living in a modest but comfortable 3 bedroom, 1 bath house on a hill in Altoona, PA.
Myton began the membership process in 1923 but evidently stopped short of joining.
Altoona was a small but thriving city in those years, with 60,331 inhabitants according to the 1920 census, rising to 82,054 in 1930.
A major railway center, in Altoona the Pennsylvania Railroad Company employed some 15,000— including C.D. Myton— mostly in its vast workshop complex.
Altoona boasted the largest Klan organization in the area, with some 2,800 members. Meanwhile, approximately 200 other Klan groups were dispersed throughout Western Pennsylvania, mustering at least 140,000.
In that part of the world, the Klan fixated on the Catholic menace. Altoona had an estimated 40 to 50 Protestant churches in those years, embracing a dozen or so denominations.
It also had its own Roman bishop, 7 Catholic parishes and 42 parochial schools with over 11,000 students.
"Your friends say you are 100% American and invited you to present this card"—which is the ticket of admission to a "patriotic lecture" at the Jaffa Temple (a Masonic Shrine). The "friend" in question was evidently the cryptic "89" (who might have had a finder's fee in play).
Myton evidently attended on February 2, 1923 and presented the application —which he presumably aced, since it wasn't mined with trick questions.
Were your parents born in the United States of America? (Yes)
Are you a gentile or jew? (Gentile)
Are you of the white race or of a colored race? (White Race)
Of what church are you a member? (Lutheran)
Do you believe in White Supremacy? (Yes)
Do you believe in the principles of a PURE Americanism? (Yes)
Do you honestly believe in the practice of REAL fraternity? (Yes)
We also learn that Myton is 32 years-old, married, high-school educated, a clerk for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a Republican and a Knight of Pythias.
And No, he does not "owe ANY KIND of allegiance to any foreign nation, government, sect, institution, people, ruler or person".
in Altoona PA in 1923, the "Catholic Church" and the "Pope of Rome" were surely at the top of the list —but "sect" and "people" left plenty of space for Jews too.
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