K. K. K. at Tuskegee

Seven hundred masked Ku Klux Klansmen paraded at Tuskegee, Alabama, to protest the installation of Negro physicians at a Negro war veterans' hospital there.

The Negro hospital was recently established in connection with Tuskegee Institute, of which the late

Booker T. Washington was head. The Klansmen who made the demonstration apparently did nothing more than march in silence through the town and past the Institute. Immediately the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent a telegram to President Harding asking that troops be sent to protect the lives of the colored doctors and of Dr. Robert R. Moton, present head of the Institute.

It appears, however, that only one member of the Negro staff, the installation of which had been ordered by Director Frank E. Hines, had appeared at Tuskegee when the Klansmen made their demonstration. He was not a doctor but an auditor, and quickly departed when sentiment in the town demanded he do so. Actually there were 15 Negro patients and a white staff present. Dr. Moton left town shortly after the incident. It was declared at the Institute that no "direct threats" had been made on Booker Washington's successor. Reports declared, moreover, that he was not in favor of the installation of complete Negro staff and that sentiment in Tuskegee was friendly to him.

General Hines, who had issued the offending order, appeared oppportunely on the spot and conferred with the townspeople. A committee of three was appointed to confer with Director Hines, who declared his unwillingness " to be a partner to anything that might be detrimental to the Tuskegee community." Before the hospital was established it seems that the citizens of Tuskegee were given to understand that a white staff would be in charge. Director Hines declared that the Government might be under a moral obligation to provide white doctors, even if Negro orderlies and nurses were employed.

It became quickly apparent the difficulties were in a fair way to composition, and that the life of Dr. Moton is not in danger.