II
The State Council

The State Council meets once each year to transact its business through the adoption or rejection of resolutions, to hear the reports of its officers and committees, to elect officers for the coming year, and to choose delegates to the Supreme Convention.  That is the annual convention of the State Council in its bare essentials, but fortunately with the passage of years various religious and social features have been added and have become traditional so that the convention is now a colorful affair.

The State Council meets annually in May.  It is composed of two delegates from each local council and the state officers.  Past State Deputies, District Deputies, and various committee chairmen are given the courtesy of the floor at times but exercise no vote.  The State Council is empowered to consider and pass resolutions for reference to the Supreme Council on "all matters whatever relating to the well-being and good order and laws of the society in the state, or throughout the Order".  It makes assessments to cover its expenses and passes laws for its own government and for the government of the local councils.  All such laws must be approved by the Supreme Board of Directors, or the Supreme Council.

The Kansas State Council adopted its first set of by-laws on May 5, 1903.  Slight amendments were offered in 1904 and again in 1907.  The Committee on Laws recommended redrafting the by-laws in 1912 and offered certain alterations in 1913.  The Committee on Laws reported in 1921 that a revision of the constitution and by-laws of the State Council was again necessary.  A complete revision was adopted in 1922.

In 1929 State Secretary J. J. Sullivan reported that the decisions of past State Councils were largely unobserved because no record of these decisions had been kept.  He recommended that the resolutions and decisions of the past be codified.  The same convention wrote the Legislative Committee, the annual Communion, an appropriation for the official band, and the State Deputy's revolving fund into the by-laws.  At the next convention the State Advocate submitted the revised by-laws, including the amendments that had been overlooked.  Following the recommendation of State Secretary McCaffrey, a complete redrafting of the by-laws by Advocate Emmet Blaes after comparison with those of other State Councils was adopted in 1933.  The last revision of the by-laws took place in 1945-46.

The growth of Knighthood in Kansas and its increasing activity are reflected in the history of the committees of the State Council, for the business of the State Council is today carried out largely through committees.  It is the state officers and the committees that form the tangible evidence of the State Council throughout the year.  Even the standing committees of the State Council, provided for by the constitution of the Knights of Columbus, were rather haphazard in their operation during the first ten years.  These were the committees on Credentials, Resolutions, Audit, Laws, Good of the Order, and Finance.  Frequently two were combined, sometimes one or the other was omitted, depending on the needs of the moment.  At first committees were named only after the convention met and it was consequently difficult to draw up a significant report.  This difficulty was pointed out in 1906 when it was suggested that the State Deputy, the District Deputies, and the State Chaplain be constituted a permanent committee on the Good of the Order.  Similarly, appointments for the year preceding the meeting of the State Council at which they were to report was adopted in a resolution of 1910 for the Committee on Law and Resolutions.  Apparently this was not followed as a definite policy in subsequent years, however.  The committee on Mileage and Per Diem was added by 1912, Press by 1914, and Necrology by 1921.

Through most of its history the various activities of the State Council were agreed upon in resolutions offered through the Committee on Resolutions.  In special instances where the matter demanded the work of a few men representing the State Council as such, action was taken through the appointment of a special committee.  In 1905, for example, a committee was appointed to consider the possibility of helping St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum.  In 1918 there were committees for the aid of the Orphans Home and to consider the problem of school history.  By the nineteen-thirties, however, committee organization was used not only for investigation and action upon a specific problem, but also to encourage, foster, guide, organize, and coordinate activities in subordinate councils.  Generally speaking the type of activity and its intensity can be traced through these committees.  This arrangement has always been fluid with committees coming and going and changing names.  The Committee on Legislation set up in 1935, for example, was the outgrowth of a number of committees concerned with problems of legislation that affected or might affect Catholics in their religion.  It was a very active committee and as its field tended to become broader it was renamed the Public Relations Committee in 1946.

After the Knights of Columbus began the organization of the Columbian Squires a committee to foster that movement was appointed in 1939.  Another modern committee, the Blood Donors, appeared in 1941.  Finally, in 1943, State Deputy Emmet Blaes separated the standing committees concerned with the operation of the State Council from the administrative committees. At the same time he greatly increased the number of the latter.  He organized all the activities of the Knights in Kansas under the following committees: Catholic Activities, Membership, Publicity, Program, Ceremonials, Blood Donors, War Activities, Boy Life, Insurance, NCCS, and Convention Arrangements.  The Legislative Committee was left classified as a standing committee.  The arrangement was improved with time and the Proceedings of 1947 listed the following administrative committees: Membership, Insurance, Program, Publicity, Catholic Activities, Public Relations, Columbian Squires, Ceremonials, Post-War Activities, Blood Donors, Historical, and Athletics.  The activities of these committees will be recounted in later chapters.

During the early years of the Knights of Columbus in Kansas the Catholic Advance of Wichita was the only important Catholic paper published in the state.  It was named the official organ of the Order in Kansas when the State Council was organized in 1902.  It was through this medium that the State Council and the local councils publicized their activities.  State Deputy Jochems announced in 1914 that the Advance was willing to devote an entire page to Knights of Columbus activities and that the only problem was to get the local councils to supply the material for the page.

In January 1922, near the peak of the first period of growth of the Knights of Columbus in Kansas, W. W. Graves of St. Paul started publishing the Kansas Knight.  This monthly was not guaranteed financial support by the State Council, but was recommended to all.  A year later only one fifth of the membership subscribed to it, and it seems never to have had the support of all for in 1928 the convention adopted a resolution that authorized the State Executive Council to designate an official state paper.  A year later State Deputy M. J. Healy reported that the Kansas Knight was not being supported as it should be and that the Advance had suggested that it be named the State Council's official publication.  The committee he appointed to study the offer recommended that the Kansas Knight be named the official publication. The convention of 1935 rejected a resolution that since news in the Kansas Knight was a month old when received and it was an imposition on the Knights to support two papers, the Advance should be named the official publication.  On the recommendation of State Deputy M. J. Dorzweiler the convention of 1937 granted the Kansas Knight fifty dollars for printing the state officers' bulletins.  A year later Mr. Graves transferred the paper to Brothers Clayton L, Walton and John J. Kinderknecht of Wichita.  The appropriation of fifty dollars was continued.  But in 1942 the convention designated the three diocesan papers the official publications of the State Council and appropriated a sum of fifty dollars for each.  A resolution offered the next year, pointing out that the Kansas Knight had been the official publication for twenty years and allotting a similar sum of fifty dollars to its support, was tabled by the convention and the Kansas Knight became history.  The State Council was financially unable to get out a paper of its own that would appear often enough to present fresh news.  The diocesan papers solve this problem but leave each council in ignorance of the activities of the local councils in the other two-thirds of the state.

Before the first World War the State Council needed but one day to complete its business in the annual convention. In 1907 a resolution that two days were needed for the meetings was offered but for ten years thereafter the conventions continued to be one-day affairs.  However, the standing committees began to meet informally on the eve of the convention.  At Wichita in 1918 the delegates gathered on the afternoon before the convention for the initiation of a convention class, followed by the usual social amenities connected with initiations.  The convention held at Hays in 1920 was the first to date its proceedings as a two-day convention.  Finally the Law Committee in 1926 presented a resolution that the State Council officially establish a three day convention convening on Sunday afternoon.  This, however, was rejected by the delegates.  At the same time a resolution pointing out that the custom of holding the convention near the first of May made it impossible for some delegates to attend by reason of business, and that the convention should consequently be held near the middle of May, was adopted.  With the necessity of preliminary meetings of state officers and District Deputies, and of various committees, a meeting lasting three days became the custom.  In 1928 the By-Law Committee recommended a two-day order of business, which was adopted by the convention.  Since that time, with the exception of wartime exigencies, the conventions have remained about the same in form.

The custom of granting state officers two consecutive terms began rather early.  As a consequence the suggestion that the State Council save money by meeting only every second year was brought up in 1904.  Although resurrected at intervals this motion was regularly lost, but not without considerable debate during the hard-pressed thirties even though it is contrary to the constitution of the Order.  The idea of picking a convention city so located that mileage costs could be kept at a minimum also recurred regularly, but other considerations usually outweighed the question of expense, again until the thirties.  The large mileage costs of the conventions at Newton and Parsons left the treasury in bad shape at a time when it was impractical to raise the state per capita tax.  As a consequence the State Council of 1931 amended the by-laws to the effect that would-be convention cities must submit their invitations to the State Secretary thirty days before the meeting of the convention so that the mileage costs could be computed and made known to the delegates when they chose a convention city for the coming year.  If no invitations are received before the expiration of this time limit the choice of a city is left to the state officers.  A question involving the application of this rule arose at the convention of 1948 and the delegates voted to ignore it.  During the years of the second World War the choice of a convention city was left to the state officers on account of the limitations imposed by war time necessity.  During some of these years conventions were limited to one day, and councils were represented by only one delegate.  Incidentally the cost of conventions had gone up with the inflation following the first World War and the delegates of 1921 voted to increase mileage allowances from four to five cents and per diem allowances from three to five dollars.  During the lush early twenties the State Council was even able to grant sums of several hundred dollars to help defray the expenses of the host council.

Resolutions concerning the election of delegates to State and Supreme Councils also occurred from time to time to upset the even tenor of Ayes in the State conventions.  Several times resolutions were presented that would permit councils to elect any member in good standing as the companion of the Grand Knight to the state convention.  Another offered in 1942 proposed proportional representation at the State Council.  This was gently tabled.  According to experienced convention goers, in the choice of delegates to represent the state at the Supreme Convention an early nomination putting one's name near the top of the list is a big help toward election.  A resolution of 1923 asking the Supreme Council to institute some system whereby delegates to the Supreme Convention could be nominated by districts, was followed a year later by the adoption of a resolution providing for district caucuses, after which the State Secretary and the district chairmen would make up a slate of nominees.  This seems not to have been followed, and in 1926 the convention rejected a resolution proposing that the order of nominating delegates be chosen by lot.  Control of this subtle angle still remains in the hands of the State Deputy as chairman of the convention.

One-day conventions left little time for entertainment and the first official mention of these added attractions was at Pittsburg in 1913 before the day when almost every man owned an automobile.  "Immediately following the closing of the convention the delegates and visiting Knights were taken for an automobile ride by the auto owners of the city of Pittsburg over the city and surrounding country and the Knights feel thankful for the generosity of the gentlemen of Pittsburg who were so kind in this respect." This was followed by the first reception and ball mentioned in the Proceedings.  From 1914 to 1917 the State Council, in order to foster a retreat for Knights of Columbus, met at St. Mary's College where the principal entertainment was a smoker on the evening preceding the convention.  In 1915 the flooded Kaw interrupted rail service and many delegates completed their journey to St. Mary's in automobiles and wagons, while some were forced to walk a part of the way.

The banquet and ball following the convention was reintroduced at Wichita in 1918.  In keeping with the times and the latest developments in military technique, the menu, was camouflaged.  The years immediately following were years of tremendous growth for the Knights of Columbus and almost every year saw the addition of some new feature to the convention.  It was during these years that not only most of the colorful elements, but also the finest religious features, of present conventions were originated.  At Kansas City in 1919 the State Chaplain, Reverend James McErlean of Delphos, celebrated a Solemn Mass on Sunday morning for the delegates.  The same convention closed with a banquet in the historic Coates House.  Two years later Pittsburg once again added to the fun of convention-going.  It staged the first recorded parade, in which for the first time appeared the Fifty Piece Uniformed Band of Commodore Barry Council 883.  It was quite a convention.  The featured speaker at the banquet, Reverend A. J. Kuhlman, S. J., discoursed on the relationship of Capital and Labor.  This convention also set a precedent, by naming the Commodore Barry Band the official Kansas Knights of Columbus band for the coming year.

State Deputy Downs reported in 1922 that there were four Knights of Columbus bands in the state: Pittsburg, Kansas City, Hays, and Leavenworth.  In the following years the Knights of Columbus bands of Belleville and Tipton were to become prominent.  In 1922 a thousand dollars was appropriated for the expenses of the official band.  The Resolutions Committee of 1924 presented majority and minority reports concerning the appropriation.  The majority reported that the band was too great an expense and recommended that no appropriation be made.  The minority recommended that five hundred dollars be appropriated.  The minority report was adopted by the convention.  In the following years the designation of an official band was rotated from one to another and the usual appropriation was three hundred and fifty dollars.  The appropriation went up to five hundred dollars in 1929, and even in the slim thirties the convention refused to do without a band.  There was no band at the conventions during the war years, but the delegates of 1945 resolved that a band added interest to the convention and authorized the state officers to appropriate up to three hundred and fifty dollars and designate an official band.  Inflation caused the convention of 1946 to increase the appropriation to four hundred and fifty dollars for Tipton, the official band of that year, and the only Knights of Columbus band still active in Kansas.

The Concordia convention of 1922 scored a number of firsts.  Many of the delegates arrived on a special train from Kansas City.  The parade on Sunday morning featured two K. of C. bands: Pittsburg's and Kansas City's.  Most important was the fact that for the first time the festivities opened with a Pontifical Mass, celebrated on this occasion by Bishop Tief.  The banquet was a novelty: sixteen hundred Knights and their ladies were served alfresco in the city park.  Supreme Knight Flaherty graced the convention with his presence, and the delegates missed the joy of hearing Madame Schumann-Heink only because illness forced her to cancel the engagement.  After that Leavenworth in 1923 did well to add the corner-stone laying of Immaculata High School and an Operetta "Bohemian Girl" by students of St. Mary's Academy to the usual parade, bands, and Pontifical Mass.

Conventions had always opened with a Mass on the morning of the convention proper.  In 1924 at Emporia this was a Requiem Mass for deceased members celebrated by State Chaplain Julius Becker, O.M. Cap. of Hays.  This is the first time this beautiful practice, followed ever since, is mentioned.  Two bishops lent the dignity of their presence to the same convention.  The Rt. Rev. John Ward, D. D., Bishop of Leavenworth, celebrated the Pontifical Mass, and the Rt. Rev. August Schwertner, D. D., Bishop of Wichita, delivered the sermon.  Subsequent conventions were frequently favored with the same evidence of episcopal approval, as was that at Wichita in the following year when Bishop Schwertner pontificated in his own cathedral, and Bishop Kelly of Oklahoma preached the sermon.  At this convention the Daughters of Isabella aided the local Knights by entertaining the delegates.

Conventions in the following years followed pretty closely the pattern thus set.  Balls were held at the close of the convention at the country club or in a lodge hall.  From 1927 to 1938 the Daughters of Isabella met concurrently with the Knights of Columbus.  At Parsons in 1930 their drill teams added color to the parade.  The parade in Topeka in 1928 featured five hundred Fourth Degree Knights in their regalia and three bands.  Hays in 1931 provided for both young and old by putting on two dances, one with popular music and the other with old time music and dances.  Perhaps it was the severity of the times rather than the hilarity of the delegates that prompted the committee on the good of the Order in 1932 to recommend that councils use more care in choosing delegates -- for the good name of the Knights of Columbus.  And the State Deputy in his meeting with the District Deputies stressed the importance of temperance at conventions.  The Topeka convention of 1933 showed the effects of the hard times.  The theme running through all its deliberations was "How to hold members?" At the suggestion of the Supreme Convention, the councils agreed and the convention voted to pay the expenses of only one delegate from each council in order to reduce the state per capita tax.  The weatherman conspired with the economists at Wichita in 1934 and the parade was rained out.

A movement to interest the Knights of Columbus in sponsoring troops of Boy Scouts occasioned rather elaborate programs demonstrating Scouting at the conventions at Abilene in 1936 and at Manhattan in 1937.  At the Abilene convention Monsignor McInerney's sermon at the Pontifical Mass celebrated by Bishop Tief, was broadcast by the local radio station.

Herington offered a new feature in 1941 when Bishop Thill of Concordia officiated at a Pontifical Field Mass in the city park.  The year marked the Quarto-Centennial of the Coronado expedition and in a memorial service at the close of the Mass State Deputy A. J. Pflumm and other officers placed a cross of red and white flowers at the foot of the Padilla monument in the park.  The parade to the park had been enhanced by the drilling of the crack platoon of cadets from St. Joseph's College at Hays.  This precision group added to the color of many conventions during these years.

With the coming of World War II the color went out of the annual convention.  The delegates met simply to transact the essential business of the State Council.  At Topeka in 1943, as in Wichita a year later, the State Secretary recorded the terse fact: "Notably absent, because of the war, were the usual band music and parade from hotel headquarters to the church." The union in prayer, of course, continued.  In accordance with the regulations of the Office of Defense Transportation, each council sent only one delegate to the meeting of the State Council in Emporia in 1945, and the meeting was limited to one day.

The color and gaiety returned to the convention in Topeka in 1946.  The Belleville and Tipton Knights of Columbus bands were there and the Fourth Degree proudly led the parade again.  Bishop Schulte celebrated the Pontifical Mass.  This convention started another tradition.  The report of the Necrology Committee, reminding the delegates to pray for their departed brothers, a practice begun in 1921, was combined with the beautiful official Knights of Columbus Memorial Service at the Sunday afternoon meeting.  The same service has been held every year since.  The convention at Hays in 1947 was distinguished by a parade that was outstanding in size and color, and the performance of the crack platoon of St. Joseph's College, and in the first use of a mounted color guard.

One rule of which Knights frequently remind themselves, or are reminded of by their officers, is the tabu on politics in meetings or council chambers.  After the first World War, however, enthusiasm for Irish independence rose to such a pitch in some quarters that it reached the convention floor and provides us with the only violation of this rule enshrined in the series of annual Proceedings.  In 1920 the convention endorsed a campaign for the relief of suffering in Ireland readily enough, but a resolution favoring the recognition of the Irish Republic by the government of the United States was adopted only "after considerable debate" -- no doubt an understatement.  However, a repetition of this resolution in the following year split the Committee on Resolutions.  The majority report recommended that the resolution be rejected; the minority recommended its adoption.  By vote of the convention the motion was lost.  The subject was not mentioned in the following year, and it was not until 1923 that the State Deputy, James Malone, warned the delegates against the introduction of politics in the Order, a sentiment heartily endorsed by the Committee on the Good of the Order.  Nothing specific is mentioned in a resolution adopted by the convention of 1928 condemning the tendency of branches of the Knights of Columbus to pass resolutions bordering on the political, but Alfred E. Smith's campaign no doubt had something to do with it.

As seen at the end of the first half-century in the life of the Knights of Columbus in Kansas the annual convention of the State Council has already developed a mellow patina of tradition.  About the bare essential business of the convention have been gathered not only the customary frosting of innocent merriment, friendly social gatherings, and bright trappings to glitter in the lovely May sunshine, but deeply satisfying religious experience as well.  May endless generations of Kansas Knights enjoy similar conventions.

Convention Cities of the First Fifty Years

Delegates From Kansas To The National Convention