Did He Mean the Klan?

To the Imperial Council, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, President Harding made an address in which he said:

" I like the highly purposed fraternity because it is our assurance against menacing organization. In the very naturalness of association men band together for mischief, to exert misguided zeal, to vent unreasoning malice, to undermine our institutions. This isn't fraternity; this is conspiracy. This isn't associated uplift; it is organized destruction. This is not brotherhood; it is the discord of disloyalty and a danger to the Republic."