The Builder Magazine 

December 1924 - Volume X - Number 12 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

FRONTISPIECE - OUR MASONIC PRESIDENTS 

A REAL MENACE - By Bro. S. Parkes Cadman, D. D., New York 

THE THREE DEGREES - By Bro. David S. Lofthouse, Canada 

AN EARLY OHIO MASONIC RECORD - By Bro. James J. Tyler, M. D., Ohio 

GOD IS LIGHT - By Bro. H. L. Haywood, Editor 

THE AMERICAN CRAFT AND THE GREAT PLAGUE - By Bro. Robert J. 
Newton, Texas 

A NOTE CONCERNING ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND FREEMASONRY 

THE ECLIPSE OF THE HEAVENLY BRIGHTNESS - By Bro. Donald Hughes, 
California 

MORMONISM AND MASONRY - ANTI-MASONRY IN THE BOOK OF 
MORMON - Concluded - By Bro. S. H. Goodwin, Grand Secretary, Utah 

DANIEL COXE AND THE "HENRY BELL LETTER" - By Bro. Melvin M. 
Johnson, P.G.M., Massachusetts 

GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - RUFUS PUTNAM - By Bro. Geo. W. 
Baird, P. G. M., District of Columbia 

THE STUDY CLUB - Studies of Masonry in the United States - Part IV, Benjamin 
Franklin's Masonic Career. - By Bro. H. L. Haywood 

FREEMASONRY IN AUSTRIA - By Bro. Dr. Wladimir Misar, Grand Secretary, 
Vienna 



EDITORIAL 


"Problem of the Side Order" 

THE LIBRARY 

A Great Symbolist Writes of Symbolism 
Lord Bacon, Rosicrucianism and Lreemasonry 

A New Catalog of Masonic Books: Bound Volume for 1924: Annual Index 
"The Little Masonic Library” 

Two Roman Catholic Priests Write About Lreemasonry 
"Loibles and Lallacies of Science" 

THE QUESTION BOX AND CORRESPONDENCE 
Scottish Rite Ring in Northern Jurisdiction 
Masonic Membership in the United States 
Our Greatest Opportunity for Charity 
"Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science," etc 
"Working Tools" of Operative Masons (Cut) 

Freemasonry and the Sick 
Builder Index for 1924 


YE EDITOR'S CORNER 



o 


A Real Menace 


By Bro. S. PARKES CADMAN, D. D., New York 


Dr. Cadman contributed to THE BUILDER for May last an essay so forceful that 
after these many months special copies of it are still being requested. In the present 
article Dr. Cadman returns to his attack on sin and unreason and reiterates his appeal 
to Masons to stand guard over our precious moral heritage. He is making similar 
appeals to Masons from the platform every little while; Ye Editor has been urging it 
upon him to collect these addresses into a volume that they may have the permanence 
and wide hearing they deserve. Will not Dr. Cadman's admirers in the Brotherhood 
back Ye Editor in this effort to persuade so busy a man to add yet one more 
obligation to his many duties? A review of his latest book was published in the 
Library Department, September of this year, page 285. 


TIME was when the secret societies of Continental Europe were organizations that 
wove plots about the feet of tyrannical rulers who sniped treason everywhere. 
Although the majority of such rulers have vanished, and those who remain are shorn 
of their power, the traditional enmity between them and secret societies persists, and 
differentiates English speaking Masonry from that of the European Continent. The 
Royal House of Windsor has been identified with our Order for nearly two centuries. 
It is an accepted procedure for one or more of the princes of that house to enroll as a 
Mason. King Edward VII, before he came to the throne, was the Grand Master of the 
Order in Britain. The Duke of Connaught now holds that office, if my memory serves 
me correctly, and the Prince of Wales belongs to the Fraternity as a matter of course. 
The leading citizens of every shire in Great Britain follow the example of these 
princes who, although limited in politics by a strictly interpreted constitutionalism, 
have great influence in the social life, not only of Great Britain but of the Empire. 



In a recent history of Secret Societies and Subversive Movements Mrs. Nesta H. 
Webster infers that while conspiracies and plottings against the established 
government in church and state are congenial to the secret societies among 
continental peoples, those societies are nothing more than fraternal and loyal 
organizations so far as we and our English speaking brothers are concerned. Indeed, 
this talented authoress goes so far as to assert that our type of Freemasonry and the 
Roman Catholic Church are the two chief bulwarks of faith and morals against 
assaults from the secret and open forces of disruption. This theory will not commend 
itself to many of my readers, any more than to many Christians of the Roman 
Catholic persuasion. Yet there is something to be said in its favor since both Masons 
any many Roman Catholics, along with the bulk of Protestants generally, are 
conservative in their attitude on ethical and religious issues. None who maintain a 
firm belief in God as the Father of all men, and in the Bible as the Great Fight of 
Masonry and of mankind can be anything else but conservative in view of the present 
welter of opinions publicly paraded and detrimental to the whole structure of our 
culture as a nation. 


An attack is made upon marriage in particular, and the accepted codes of sex morality 
in general, by those who have a common and utterly foreign point of view. The 
leaders of this invasion come in the main from Eastern and Central Europe, but they 
have recognized allies in English speaking lands, who ridicule faith in another and a 
Higher Power - self existent, independent, absolute, from whom all true religion and 
virtue alike proceed. They are materialists to a man and not a few literary women are 
included in their ranks. Samuel Merwin, the well-known American novelist, declares 
that these propagandists are "Freudian in morals, futurists in painting, cacophonously 
suggestive in music, perverse in literature, Bolshevists in politics." One does not have 
to admit all the articles of this sweeping indictment, but it gives Masons food for 
serious reflection. So long as many earnest brethren among us are liable to misdirect 
their reformative energies the real antagonists of social wellbeing are likely to elude 
them. It can be said of some of these brethren that, 


"Twice they vanquish all their foes 


And twice they slay the slain." 



While putting up men of straw for the sheer pleasure of knocking them down again 
may fascinate Masonic brethren of a certain kind, the foes they should defeat occupy 
strategic positions in journalism, and in the republic of letters, from which they 
disseminate a considerable quantity of filth. 


RECENT DEVELOPMENTS CAUSE ALARM 


I am not an alarmist nor have I lost my trust in the healthy mindedness of the average 
American, but recent abominations upon the part of young criminals are but the 
sinister indications of a widespread mischief wrought by non-moral writers and 
publicists who take advantage of our freedom to sap its foundations. Croce, the best 
philosopher of the Latin people, is alive to this evil. He defends monogamous 
marriage, not only as the responsible and disciplinary act which insures the 
continuance of parenthood, but as the legitimate and necessary fulfilment of one of 
the noblest functions of human beings. It is superfluous for me to undertake its 
defense in these columns, which are dedicated to its sanctity and to that of the family. 
Our Order has enacted excellent regulations bearing upon a Mason's conduct in all 
questions relating to domestic security and peace. 


But the shameless exhibitions I have mentioned, the demoralizations of a debauched 
drama, the tolerated paganism of clever paragraphists of the press, the scandalous 
escapades of those wretched creatures, rich or not rich, who occupy the front pages of 
the press and supply its daily sensation, require far more drastic treatment than 
Masonry as a working system has yet introduced. It is high time for those who still 
believe in the Theism of Israel, in the Christianity of Christ, in the obligations of 
morals, and in the fundamentals of our individual and national life, to awaken out of 
their fatuous slumber. Their enemies are in the field and there is nothing secret about 
their operations. They produce and defend conscienceless assassins. Their outer 
fringe of sentimentalists who oppose the penalties attached to capital crimes 
unwittingly aid and abet them. 


What can Masons do practically to resist this contagion? They can be active in 
detecting its symptoms in cults, groups, lecturers, pressmen, columnists, and "high 



brows" who ridicule the plain morals we profess. Once these symptoms are 
manifested, it is the foresworn duty of every Mason to cut them out of his life and that 
of his family; and reject the papers, magazines and books that print this erotic 
rubbish. . Disregard those subtle pleas about eugenics and psychoanalysis and the 
brilliant imagination and enthralling style which are nothing more nor less than briefs 
for personal uncleanness and social degradation. 


You hear or read in the prevalent clamor of talk that men and women have the right to 
express themselves in any way that instinct and impulse may urge. It is said that to 
repress these instincts and impulses is contrary to life's best estate. The hogs of the 
stye, had they reason and speech, would echo such pleas and arguments. But the men 
and women whom we have known in our homes and churches, in our cities and 
towns, and upon the farmsteads of the country sides are not prepared to surrender the 
America they have inherited from God-fearing ancestors to Orientalized barbarians. 
They abhor the turpitude and lust, half concealed and half revealed by advocates 
whose backgrounds lie in moral anarchy. They feel that the decency we associate 
with our wives and mothers must be passed on to our sons and daughters undefiled by 
this river of death. 


Those English speaking Masons who were wise enough years ago to reject affiliation 
with Continental lodges that were and are largely atheistical and political have been 
abundantly justified. Some of the sickening results of that mongrelized system, which 
is neither truly Masonic nor religious, have been transplanted to our shores. Brotherly 
love, truth, relief of suffering, defense of the real values of life still make us strong in 
the Deity who ordained them to resist the onslaught now being made, and if nation- 
wide Masonry undertakes the effective rebuke of its dirty crusades it will earn the 
renewed gratitude of our citizenship and insure its own causes. 


— o — 


THE THREE DEGREES 



BE BRO. DAVID S. LOFTHOUSE, Canada 


Entered Apprentice 

WHEN, by a word, the Architect divine, 
Called into being this vast universe, 

He also formed, with wonderful design 
Man, in His likeness, upright and averse 
From doing aught his destiny to mar. 

But darkness came and man till time shall end 
Must struggle upward, waging endless war 
Against the foes that constantly attend. 

When his uncertain chequered life began, 

The choice was his to make that life sublime, 
For, as a builder, 'tis his lot to plan 
And raise a building till the end of time. 

The edifice, if well-constructed, stands 
A great and grand memorial of hours 
Well spent, a monument built up by hands 
Strained to the very utmost of their powers. 



For life is not stagnation; how debased 
The limpet's mean existence, such a fate 
For him who, by the Great Designer, placed 
To forge toward highest heaven were to rate 
Him of a servile nature not his own. 

True actions, high ideals, firm resolves, 

By these man's truest character is shown 
And prove he, from the hand of God, evolves. 

Fellowcraft 

The finer, rarer qualities of soul and mind 
Demand insistently that they be not denied 
That which is theirs by right, and so they seek to find 
Some noble thought, some splendid imagery, wide 
As the widest sea; or as the loftiest hill 
Majestical, clear as a limpid, crystal stream: 

Or as a summer night, silent profound and still 
Or as the fleeting fancies of a wondrous dream. 

So from the Halls of Science comes a stirring cry, 

And Nature, with a face now frowning, now all smiles, 



Invites to contemplation of the earth and sky; 

Of this so complex life, its arts and earning wiles, 

Its riddle, vast, inscrutable, unfathomed still 
Despite the learning and the wisdom of the years, 
Despite philosophy, research or thought, or skill, 
Incomprehensible, stupendous as the spheres. 

And thus, forever, through the corridors of time 
The mysteries of Nature and of Science, hid 
From all but noble minds attuned to the sublime, 

Make their imperious demand, and heard amid 
Clam’rous, intruding tongues, compel attentive thought 
And contemplative study; yielding rich requite 
To those who, knowing wisdom to be hardly bought 
Yet fail not in pursuit of all pervading light. 

Master Mason 

Darkness, the Grave and Death; three dreaded foes 
Confront and threaten mortals from their birth, 

Invading palaces and halls of mirth, 

Respecting not the humblest cot; for those 



Who, lost within a labyrinth of woes, 

Oppressed by visible obscurity, 

Yet seek to penetrate futurity, 

A radiant luminary shines and glows: 

Its-rising gives unto the faithful peace, 

Its ardent rays dispel the deepest gloom; 

The burdened heart finds comfort and release 
From haunting visions of impending doom: 

Threats which the King of Terrors hurls, now cease, 
The shining star illuminates the tomb. 


— o — 


An Early Ohio Masonic Record 


By Bro JAMES J. TYLER, M. D., Ohio 


AN interesting discovery has been made by , W. H. Cathcart, secretary of the Western 
Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, in the form of a printed copy of the 
proceedings of the Grand Convention of Free and Accepted Masons at which time the 
Grand Lodge of Ohio had its origin. Added interest is taken in the little pamphlet of 
seven printed pages because on the title page appears the signature of George Tod, 
representative from Erie Lodge, No. 47 (now Old Erie, No. 3, Warren, Ohio), 
secretary of the convention and the first Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden of 
the Grand Lodge of Ohio. 



The discovery was made by Mr. Cathcart upon opening the drawer in a desk and 
going over some old papers, no one evidently having been acquainted with its 
existence, although the Western Reserve Historical Society possesses all the papers 
which belonged to George Tod. 


The pamphlet is in a remarkable state of preservation, the paper being but slightly 
discolored by age. The title page reads as follows: 


PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 

GRAND CONVENTION 
OF 

FREE MASONS 
IN THE 

STATE OF OHIO 


Published for the Society 


Chillicothe 


Printed at Brothers Parcells & Barnes 


A. L. 5808 -A. D. 1808 



The opening paragraph recites that "at a meeting of delegates from all the Lodges in 
this State, at Chillicothe, on the first Monday of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and eight, and in the year of Light five thousand eight 
hundred and eight, were present, to-wit: 


Brothers Robert Oliver, R. A. 
Ichabod Nye, R. A 
William Skinner, R.A. 


From Union Lodge No 1 (Marietta) 


Thomas Henderson, M. M. 
Francis Mennessier, M. M. 


From Cincinnati Lodge No. 13. 


Thomas Gibson, R. A. 
Elias Langham, R A. 


From Sciota Lodge No. 2. (Chillicothe) 


James Kilbourn, From New England Lodge No. 48. (Worthington) 



George Tod, P.M. 
John W. Seely, P.M. 


From Erie Lodge No. 47. (Warren) 


Isaac Van Horn. P.M. 
Lewis Cass, R. A. 


From Amity Lodge, No. 105. (Zanesville) 


This list of twelve delegates is remarkable because of the fact that Lewis Cass, future 
Governor of Michigan, is mentioned. He later became Secretary of War in the 
administration of President Jackson. George Tod was the father of one of the “war 
Governors” of Ohio, David Tod. The first Grand Master chosen by these delegates 
was General Rufus Putnam, cousin of the noted Revolutionary war veteran, General 
Israel Putnam. In 1778, General Rufus Putnam founded the first organized, lawful 
English settlement at Marietta, Ohio. 


The proceedings narrate that Robert Oliver was called to the chair and that George 
Tod was appointed secretary. The credentials of the delegates were examined and 
after some discussion those of New England Lodge, No. 48, were ruled out. 


The convention deliberated through four consecutive days, and its labors resulted in 
the unanimous adoption of the following resolution proposed by Bro. Lewis Cass and 
seconded by Bro. John W. Seely. 



"RESOLVED, That it is expedient to form a Grand Lodge in the State of Ohio." 


They next drafted and adopted a few simple rules in the form of resolutions for the 
formation of a Grand Lodge, among which was one appointing as the time the first 
Monday in January, 1809, and Chillicothe as the place, for holding the first Grand 
Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. 


The convention then proceeded to elect, by ballot, the following officers of the Grand 
Lodge, viz.: 


Rufus Putnam, Rt. W. Grand Master. 

Thomas Henderson, Rt. W. Deputy Grand Master. 
George Tod, Rt. W. Senior Grand Warden. 

Isaac Van Horn, Rt. W. Junior Grand Warden. 
Henry Massie, Grand Treasurer. 

David Putnam, Grand Secretary. 

Philemon Beecher, Grand Senior Deacon. 

Levi Belt, Grand Junior Deacon. 

Charles Augustus Steuart, Grand Marshal. 

Peter Spurck, Grand Tyler. 


The Grand Lodge met the following year at the time and place designated. The Most 
Worshipful Grand Master not attending, the Deputy Grand Master presided. 



The following letter from Worshipful Bro. Rufus Putnam was read: 


"To the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and 
Accepted Masons, for the State of Ohio your Brother sendeth Greeting: 


"It was with high sensibility and gratitude I received the information that the Grand 
Convention of Masons, convened at Chillicothe, in January last, elected me to the 
office of Grand Master of your most ancient and honorable society; but, however 
sensibly I feel the high honor done my by the Convention, and am disposed to 
promote the interest of the craft in general, and in this State in particular, I must 
decline the appointment. My sun is far past the meridian; it is almost set; a few sands 
only remain in my glass; I am unable to undergo the necessary labors of that high and 
important office, unable to make you a visit at this time, without a sacrifice and 
hazard of health which prudence forbids. 


"May the Great Architect, under whose all-seeing eye all Masons profess to labor, 
have you in His holy keeping, that when our labors here are finished, we may, 
through the merits of Him that was dead, but now is alive, and lives forevermore, be 
admitted into that temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens - Amen. So 
prays your friend and brother, 


"RUFUS PUTNAM." 


“Marietta, Dec. 26 th , 1808.” 


At this Grand Communication one of the delegates from Erie Lodge, No. 47, Samuel 
Huntington, was elected as the second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. He 
was a learned lawyer, the nephew, namesake and protege of that Governor of 



Connecticut who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and who himself 
became the second Governor of Ohio. 


Note by the Author - The Robert Oliver delegate from Union Lodge, No. 1, is the R. 
Oliver, Master of American Union Lodge No. 1, mentioned in Bro. M. M. Johnson's 
article "Concerning the Story of Freemasonry in New Jersey," page 109, THE 
BUILDER, April, 1924. On page 1 10 of the same article a record is quoted from the 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to the effect that delegates from American Union 
Lodge were prevented from attending in 1808, but this old record shows that 
delegates were present at the Convention of that year. The records of the Grand 
Lodge of Ohio show that they were not present the following year on Jan. 2, 1809, on 
the day set for holding the first Grand Communication: 


"About the time it would have been necessary for them to commence their journey, an 
alarming and unprecedented inundation had laid that town under water, and the 
distress and confusion inseparable from such a situation, probably prevented the 
attendance of their delegation." 


— o — 


God Is Light 


By Bro. H. L. HAYWOOD, Editor 


THE man who is abroad at night-fall sees a profound change come over the world. 
The distance grows purple; orange and red settle about the nearer hills; a mist creeps 
up the valleys, and earth and sky grow strangely beautiful. After a little, red, orange 
and purple change to a deep gray; the horizon grows black; nearer things begin to 
fade away, until at last nothing at all remains visible. A darkness almost solid 
envelops everything, even the mind, so that the mountain which a little while ago 



filled up half the sky is now as if it were not; there is no distance: there is nothing left 
but a sensation of blackness. The man gropes slowly along; he stumbles against 
boulder and ruts; he cannot find his path; he grows confused and afraid; the home 
toward which he was making his way is now lost in some unknown direction. He is 
compelled to lie on the ground lest he inadvertently walk over some bank and fall to 
the rocks below. ° 


After interminable hours, day breaks again. Light comes. Once again he can see 
things as they are. The sky is no longer a blackness but a great blue depth in which 
gray clouds float by. Each common thing becomes itself again; the tree is a tree, the 
rock is a rock, the mountain stands where it did before. The traveler now walks 
swiftly along, without fear of losing his way, because he sees here and there beyond 
him the familiar landmarks by which he guides himself to his home. Such is light. It 
enables one to see things as they really are; it helps one to find the path home; it 
restores to a man his own world. 


God is light. What the sun does for a world lost in night, God does for the human 
mind. In the mere thought of Him the darkness lifts; we see things as they are, and not 
as in a mirage; we find the path that "leads us thither where we wish to go"; we walk 
and live in certainty, in confidence, and therefore in peace. The man who walks 
through a world which he believes to be a blind, dead thing, composed of unliving 
forces and indifferent energies, where the human soul itself is the strange result of a 
chain of chances, where his very being rests in the keeping of forces to which it 
means no more than a fly on the highway, that man must necessarily live in 
uneasiness and fear, ever afraid lest the blow fall and he cease to exist, ever doubting 
his own senses, ever looking forward from catastrophe to catastrophe. To such a one 
God comes as a great light. All things fall into normal proportions; the ground grows 
solid beneath his feet; he treads the path before him with confidence. 


God in Himself is light. He understands everything there is. Unlike us, He is such by 
His nature that He does not need to feel His way about, blindly putting out one hand 
before the other, puzzled and alarmed; but He is perfectly at home with the universe. 
Under every conceivable circumstance, He knows immediately what to do, and is 
able to do it. There is no great sphinx to Him, no appalling enigma; all is broad 
daylight, and He knows each and everything as it really is. The meaning of this world, 



the outcome of the human race, the purpose of suffering, the mission of death, the 
future of us all, these things bear down upon our minds like a great weight, but to 
Him they are all as plain as the ground beneath one's feet at noon time. Some men 
live like passengers who have no confidence in the captain's ability to handle a ship; 
their fears rob every moment of its joy. They should learn that there is no possibility 
of God's failure. To Him the good ship Earth, every atom of it, every passenger upon 
it, and every inch of the Great Deep over which that "divine ship" sails, is as clearly 
known as if it were all transparent glass. For to Him there are no puzzles, no 
mysteries, no fears, no dreaded outcomes, but everywhere the clarity, the certainty, 
the calmness of daylight, because He is Himself light. 


When I am most harassed and driven, I like best to think of God. It heals the hurts of 
my mind to feel that the One who knows the most about all things is the One who 
does not fear or worry. It makes me believe that if I lived in such light I also would 
have no fears either, but would endure a little while, knowing that sooner or later all 
things will make for our peace. When I once found myself very close to death, it gave 
me great ease of heart to know that my own being was in the keeping, not of an 
aggregation of helpless and blind energies, but of One who was as easily able to care 
for me, to carry me through the Great Experience, as I had been, in the days of health 
to carry my own babe across the room. 


— o — 


The American Craft and the Great Plague 
By Bro. ROBERT J. NEWTON, Texas 


If a deluge of letters can be accepted as a fair indication the challenge issued by Bro. 
Newton in his "J'Accuse!" in the October issue, followed by Bro. Skinkle's plea and 
Bro. Potterton's statement of the large ideals of Masonic relief in the November 
number, has come home to the heart of the American Craft. In the statement given 
below Bro. Newton presents with telling emphasis facts and figures about our 
Tuberculosis problem, prepared, so he writes privately, for the brethren "from 
Missouri" who desire to "be shown" about this tragical situation. Grand Master Frank 



Knox, of Idaho, has already expressed his deep and active interest in the great project, 
may many others follow! The American Craft has no other such opportunity for 
service. Communications from Masonic bodies and individuals will be forwarded to 
Bro. Newton; the limitations of space make it impossible to publish many of them in 
THE BUILDER. If you have an idea, a suggestion, or a criticism send it in; it will 
help, whether published or not. 


IN the Editor's appeal entitled "A Sign and a Summons," in the October BUILDER, 
discussing the Masonic tuberculosis problem, he said, "Brother Mason, will you not 
acquaint yourself with the facts ? Will you not help to make these facts everywhere 
known?" 


And the brethren are responding. They are interested in the appeal made for Masons 
suffering from consumption. Many of them, with the well-known and much 
advertised Missouri spirit ask to be "shown". What are the facts ? Upon what do we 
base our appeal for help? I submit the following for their information: 


In November, 1921, 1 addressed a letter to the National Tuberculosis Association and 
asked them to make an estimate of the number of deaths and number of living cases 
of tuberculosis among 2,500,000 Freemasons. Following is a copy of this estimate 
given me under date of Nov. 23, 1921: 


"MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY STATISTICS AMONG MASONS - 1921 


"An Estimate by the National Tuberculosis Association 


"In the registration area for the period 1910 to 1915 (the only period for which such 
information is available) the tuberculosis death rate for males over 20 was 228.1. The 



tuberculosis death rate for both sexes, all ages, during the same period was 150.2. 
Therefore, the death rate for an exposure of males over 20 years was 1.5 times that of 
the death rate for the exposure of the population in general. The tuberculosis death 
rate (all forms) in the registration area for 1919 was 125.6. The death rate for males 
over 20 in 1919 would approximate 188.4. The number of deaths in 2,500,000 males 
over 20 would approximate 4,710. 1 think one could safely say that 4,700 Masons 
died annually of tuberculosis. 


"The Framingham Demonstration showed a probability of nine active cases to every 
death. This means that if 4,700 Masons died of tuberculosis, there are 42,300 active 
cases needing treatment. There are two additional ways of reckoning the morbidity 
rates for tuberculosis. The first applies to the general population. One per cent of the 
general population has tuberculosis in an active form, and an additional 1 per cent has 
tuberculosis in an arrested form. The second method of reckoning morbidity rates for 
tuberculosis is taken from the statistics of examinations by the draft boards. Two 
point four (2.4) per cent of the men physically examined were rejected for 
tuberculosis, all forms. The first degree, 1 per cent, is too low for an exposure of 
males over 20. The second, 2.4 per cent is too high, for it included men at the most 
susceptible ages. The morbidity rate for Masons would probably be between these 
two, about 1.6 per cent. This rate gives 40,000 cases, which tallies fairly well with the 
estimate of 42,300 active cases as figured by taking 9 times the number of deaths. 
(Signed) Philip P. Jacobs, Publicity Director." 


The brethren are asked to take note of the fact that this estimate is based upon the 
Census Bureau reports for the years 1910 to 1915, the only years for which such 
information was available in November, 19212. 


Also please note that this estimate was made upon a Masonic population of 
2,500,000. 


A MORE RECENT ESTIMATE IS GIVEN 



Nearly three years later, I again asked the National Tuberculosis Association for a 
revision of these figures and a new estimate of the number of deaths and living cases, 
based upon a Masonic population of 3,000,000, which is nearer correct at the present 
time than the previous figure of 2,500,000. This new estimate is based upon the 
Census Bureau reports for the years 1920 and 1922, which are now available. 


"MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY STATISTICS AMONG MASONS - 1924 


"An Estimate by the National Tuberculosis Association 


"In the registration states for 1920, tuberculosis death rate for males over twenty years 
of age was 165.2 per 100,000. The tuberculosis death rate for both sexes, all ages, 
during the same year was 1 13.2 per 100,000. Therefore, the death rate for an exposure 
of males over twenty years of age was 1.5 times that of the death rate for the ordinary 
exposure. 


"The tuberculosis death rate (all forms) in the registration states for 1922 was 97. The 
death rate for males over twenty years of age in 1922 would approximate 145.5. 


THEREFORE THE NUMBER OF DEATHS AMONG THREE MILLION MALES 
OVER TWENTY YEARS OF AGE WOULD APPROXIMATE 4,400 ANNUALLY. 


"The Framingham demonstration showed a probability of nine ACTIVE cases to 
every death. THIS MEANS THAT IF 4,400 MASONS DIED FROM 
TUBERCULOSIS, THERE ARE UPWARDS OF 40,000 CASES NEEDING 
TREATMENT." 


These two estimates based upon National vital statistics show a decrease in the 
number of cases and deaths throughout the country and of course a corresponding 
decrease in the ranks of Masonry. Any group of three million males would contain an 
equal number of cases and have an equal number of deaths. Note that there are one 



and one-half times as many deaths and cases among males over twenty years of age 
as there are in the general population. 


Reference is made in both estimates to the Framingham Demonstration. For the 
benefit of those who are not students of sociological and public health activities we 
submit the following: 


In 1916 the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company made an offer of a gift of 
approximately $200,000 to the National Tuberculosis Association to finance the 
expense of a comprehensive and complete tuberculosis and health study of a typical 
American community. Framingham, Mass., was selected for this purpose in 
November, 1916. 


This survey was carried on during a period of seven years and the reports are now 
available and it is from this study, as well as from the reports of the Census Bureau, 
that the foregoing estimates have been made. 


According to the National Tuberculosis Association one person in every one hundred 
of population has tuberculosis in an active form and one person in every one hundred 
has tuberculosis in an arrested, or latent form. 


Among three million Masons this would total 30,000 active cases and 30,000 arrested 
or latent cases. However, the Census Bureau returns indicate that there are one and 
one-half as many deaths among males over twenty as there are in the general 
population, so it is reasonable to assume that there are more living cases among men 
than among the general population. The latest estimate of the National Tuberculosis 
Association of 40,000 active cases needing treatment is conservative. 


WHAT DOES TUBERCULOSIS COST? 



Another aspect of the problem which has heretofore received no attention is the 
economic cost of tuberculosis to the Fraternity. How much does it cost us in dollars 
and cents? Following is an estimate prepared by the National Tuberculosis 
Association covering this phase of the subject: 


"ECONOMIC COST OF TUBERCULOSIS AMONG 3,000,000 MASONS 


"There are three items to be considered in the economic cost of disease. First, what is 
lost to the country because of the deaths, second, what the individual loses in wages; 
third, what it costs to provide for his care while he is sick. There are a number of 
other items which might be added, such as provision for the family of the sick person. 
Tuberculosis takes three-fifths of its toll during the age period - fifteen to forty-four - 
during which years family responsibilities are heaviest. 


"According to life tables showing the life expectation including all deaths, as 
compared with tables made with tuberculosis excluded, tuberculosis cuts off two and 
a half years of life from the complete expectation of every individual under present 
mortality conditions. It is agreed that a loss of one year of life is equivalent to a loss 
in value of $100 to the country. Therefore, the loss for each person among the general 
population is $250. Among the 3,000,000 Masons this loss to the national wealth is 
$750,000,000. 


"In New York City it was found that a tuberculosis family was under care on the 
average for a period of two years, four and a half months. Probably for one year the 
patient is totally unable to earn. The average annual earnings of employees normally 
engaged in various industries is estimated as $1,000. Among 40,000 tuberculosis 
Masons unable to earn, about $40,000,000 is being lost each year in wages. 


"The length of stay in a sanatorium ought to be at least six months. The average 
sanatorium cost per patient for six months is about $500. For 40,000 Masons, if they 



all received sanatorium care for six months, the total cost would be $20,000,000. 
When it is remembered that the cost of caring for them must be borne whether they 
are in sanatoria or not, and that the period of disability is ordinarily more than six 
months, $20,000,000 is undoubtedly not too high. 


"These estimates of the economic cost of tuberculosis among 3,000,000 Masons total 
as follows: 


"$750,000,000 lost in national wealth due to loss of years of life 


40,000,000 lost in wages because of sickness. 


20,000,000 cost of caring for the patient. 


Total, $810,000,000 


"Statistics of this kind are based so entirely on limited data that the total may shift, 
but the figures presented are the only ones obtainable at present." 


A MASONIC SURVEY WAS MADE 


In 1922 the Tuberculosis Sanatoria Commission of the M. W. Grand Lodges of 
Texas, Arizona and New Mexico made an investigation, limited by meager funds, of 
the situation in the Southwest, to which part of the country thousands of 
consumptives resort in search of health or a longer lease of life. Such facts as we were 
able to gather were included in our report, which also contains the recommendations 



of the Commission and much additional matter pertinent to this subject, and which we 
have been unable to print be cause of lack of funds. Following is a portion of this 
report: 


While this commission has no definite instructions to secure any facts as to the 
number of consumptive Masons who come to the Southwest seeking health, an effort 
was made to get some information from the Masonic lodges of West Texas, Arizona, 
New Mexico and Colorado, as to the number of applicants for aid and the amount 
expended for their care and treatment. 


Circular letters were sent to all lodges, but very few responded to the request for 
information. Lack of records showing the cause of distress made it impossible for 
them to give us the facts we sought, and we are unable to furnish any complete 
statistics for this report. 


The Masonic Relief and Employment Bureau of San Antonio records do not show the 
cause of distress when relief is given. Secretary Leland S. Woods estimated that at 
least 50 cases of tuberculosis are given some assistance every year at an expense of 
about $2,000. This includes Masons or members of Masonic families. About one-half 
of this amount is refunded by the lodges to which the afflicted brethren belong. 


The Masonic Relief Bureau of El Paso reports that approximately 25 Masons were 
under treatment in El Paso sanatoria at all times during the years 1917-18-19, at an 
expense to the Relief Bureau of $50 monthly. During 1920-21 the average dropped to 
14 and the expense to $35 monthly. The home lodge reimbursed the bureau for the 
greater part of the expense. On Aug. 14, 1922, there were 185 members of El Paso 
lodges under treatment for tuberculosis, the expense of which was borne individually 
or by the lodges of the city. Few of these patients were natives of the city and 
affiliated with lodges in El Paso after they came to the city in search of health. 


Tucson Lodge, No. 4, of Tucson. Ariz., reports the expenditure of $3,000 in the last 
five years for the care of the sick, practically all suffering from tuberculosis. This 



does not include additional funds secured from home lodges for the same purpose. 
The largest amount was expended in 1921, and this would seem to indicate that the 
number of sick brethren coming to that city is increasing. 


Arizona Lodge, No. 2, located at Phoenix, reports that they care for a large number of 
consumptive Masons from the North and East every year, but that the expense, in 
most cases, is borne by the home lodges. 


Temple Lodge, No. 6, at Albuquerque, reports that there are many brethren who are 
patients in tuberculosis sanatoria in and about the city, and that the number coming to 
the city seems to be increasing. Home lodges have refunded money expended for 
relief of the brethren. 


The Sojourners' Club, an organization of Masons who are patients at the U. S. 
Veterans' Hospital No. 55, and of Masons who are residents of Fort Bayard, N. M., 
reports that aid has been given to 38 Masons and members of Masons' families since 
Nov. 1, 1921, at a total expense of $2,529.27. This relief consisted of monthly 
allowances to Masons who are not receiving Government compensation and have no 
income, and also takes the form of emergency loans and family relief. The club 
Secretary reports 12 Masons, who are not service men and who cannot therefore 
receive Government aid, who need hospital treatment for tuberculosis, but who are 
financially unable to pay for same end' who must work to maintain themselves. These 
12 men are employed at the station and there are other brethren, the total number of 
whom cannot be ascertained, in like circumstances in the vicinity of Fort Bayard. 


Of the brethren assisted by the Sojourners' Club only three claimed New Mexico as 
their home state and the remainder came from 19 other states of the American Union. 


Many lodges in smaller cities have given aid to sick brethren from all parts of the 
country but few have kept records of this fraternal assistance. It is impossible to 
compile any exact statistics showing the total number of such brethren who have 
received help, or to give any figures showing the number of Masons who have come 



to the Southwest because of tuberculosis. Every Mason living in the Southwest knows 
of one or more such eases, and every Mason in the North and East knows of brethren 
who have gone to the Southwest seeking health. The number is legion. 


The United States Public Health Service made a study of the Inter-State Migration of 
Tuberculosis Persons, during the years 1914-15. The reports were published in 
bulletins of the service and are available on request to the surgeon-general. Much 
valuable information was secured by the officers of the Public Health Service in this 
survey. It was found that, the migration of the far-advanced cases was decreasing but 
that apparently the number of first and second stage cases moving to the Southwest 
was on the increase. Much destitution and suffering among the sick was found. 


The survey by the Public Health Service was made at the request of the state health 
officers of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and California, and the request for 
the survey was made at the suggestion of the Southwestern Conference on 
Tuberculosis. The conference submitted several bills to the Congress of the United 
States, designed to secure hospital care for the consumptive sick from northern and 
eastern states. About the time the effort was near successful culmination, the war 
ended all chance of securing the necessary legislation for some years. About this time 
the National Tuberculosis Association made an estimate that no less than 10 per cent 
of the population of Colorado New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California and West 
Texas have tuberculosis. In this same bulletin the Association stated that the health 
authorities estimated that not less than 10,000 hopelessly diseased consumptives 
come west to die each year, and that 50 per cent to 60 per cent of them are too poor to 
provide the necessaries of life, and they are either starved to death or compelled to 
accept the meager charity which this part of the country affords. 


The latest information on this subject is contained in an article by Miss Jessamine S. 
Whitney, statistician of the National Tuberculosis Association entitled "The Indigent, 
Migratory Tuberculosis in Certain Cities of the Southwest." 


Miss Whitney's survey covered six of the leading health resort cities of the Southwest. 
In the six cities there was a total of 7.3 19 tuberculous individuals cared for wholly or 



in part by the municipal charity agencies, an average of one indigent tuberculous 
person to every 155 of the entire population of these cities. In Cleveland, Ohio, where 
a similar study was made there was found only one tuberculous person to every 23 1 
of the population. 


The enormous burden carried by the Southwest in the care of these sick from other 
cities and states can be appreciated when it is understood that 75 per cent of the sick 
in the Southwestern cities are non-residents, while in Cleveland, Ohio, only 1 1 per 
cent of those under the care of social agencies are classed as non-residents. The sick 
men and women of the Southwest are citizens of northern and eastern states. Of this 
large number of non-resident sick, 1 6 per cent made application for help to some local 
agency within one week of their arrival in the Southwest. One-third applied for help 
within one month of their arrival. Fifty per cent asked for assistance within three 
months and 90 per cent of them were in need of help and made application for it 
within one year. 


Seventy-two per cent of all known non-residents were men and 28 per cent women 
showing that it is the men primarily who roam in search of health. Thirty per cent of 
the men brought their families with them. Seventy per cent are classed as "homeless" 
men and are, therefore, the biggest part of the problem, numerically. 


Citizens of the following states in the order named furnish half of the migration to the 
Southwest Illinois. New York, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan. Indiana. 
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Minnesota. One-fourth of the migration to San 
Antonio is from other Texas points, and many Texans go to New Mexico and Arizona 
cities. 


The foregoing, from an official report to the great national organization, which has for 
years led the light against the Great White Plague in America, will give just a faint 
idea of conditions in the Southwest. 


WHAT SHALL WE MASONS DO? 



Organize, as suggested in the article in the October BUILDER. Raise money, build 
hospitals, take care of the sick and restore them to health and to their families. The 
cost to each individual Freemason will be small. 


The Modern Woodmen of America, The Woodmen of the World, and other 
fraternities, labor unions and churches are doing this for their membership. Why 
should Freemasonry be the last, when it should be the first in benevolent work? 


Dr. J. G. Pace, Superintendent of the Modem Woodmen Sanatorium, says in his 1921 
report: 


"Patients who have graduated from the Modem Woodmen Sanatorium have earned 
twelve million dollars since leaving the institution, as shown by the annual report 
received from our graduates, or ex-patients." 


In addition to all of the other arguments, brethren, the care of our Masonic brethren in 
Masonic Hospitals will be a good business proposition. 


— o — 


A NOTE CONCERNING ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND FREEMASONRY 


Of late years a great many articles have been published in Masonic periodicals 
concerning a possible connection between President Lincoln and the Masonic Order. 
We have just come upon an item that will be considered of some value by brethren so 
interested, and is here offered as a contribution to the data that has been accumulated. 



On April 17, 1 865, only three days after Lincoln had been shot by John Wilkes 
Booth, Tyrian Lodge, No. 333, A. F. & A. M., Springfield, 111., adopted a set of 
resolutions to express the lodge's great sorrow at Lincoln's death. Of this resolution, 
signed by five members of the lodge as a committee, two paragraphs are here printed: 


"RESOLVED, That as the immediate friends and neighbors of our late beloved and 
now revered President Lincoln, we deeply and sorrowfully deplore his death.... 


"RESOLVED, That the decision of President Lincoln to postpone his application for 
the honors of Masonry, lest his motives should be misconstrued, is in the highest 
degree honorable to his memory." 


The second of the two paragraphs just quoted proves conclusively two very important 
points: First, that Lincoln at the time of his death was not a member of the Craft; 
second, that he had planned, at such a time as he might believe suitable, to petition 
for-the degrees. This resolution, coming from friends and neighbors of Lincoln so 
short a time after his death, is the highest degree of authenticity and, therefore, 
deserves a prominent place: in Lincolniana, so far as Masonry is concerned. Also it 
shows that at the time of his election Lincoln was not, as has often been alleged, a 
non-believer in God, else a man of his sincerity of mind would not have considered 
membership in an Order of which belief in God is the first requisite. 


— o — 


The Eclipse of the Heavenly Brightness 


An Apologue 



By Bro. DONALD HUGHES, California 


MASTER OF THE SECRET - My son, it has now been many years since first you 
sought us out in our Hidden School. You arrived at the end of a weary day, worn and 
disconsolate, with the burden of a great search upon you. 


AN APPRENTICE - 1 came from a place very far away. From my childhood I had 
cherished the great fear of death. The Tragedy of the End was one I dared not to 
confront. The wise told me that if I sought you out you would teach me how to escape 
death. I have learned the Great Secret. My feet are now on a path that has no ending. 
Mornings will break and evenings will fall forever, but I shall heed them not. My 
friends will never be called upon to weep above my grave. My gratitude for your 
wisdom is more than I can express. 


MASTER - And are you now satisfied? Is there not something else to be desired in 
the cup of your happiness ? 


APPRENTICE - Nothing. What more could I wish? Endless life is mine; is not a 
man's joy complete after he has put the Shadow behind him? 


MASTER - Perhaps. Your feet have indeed found the Path that has no Ending. Is 
there not something you may wish to find as you journey along it? 


APPRENTICE - What could there be ? I shall start upon it at dawn tomorrow, with 
no fear before me. 



MASTER - If that be your intention, my son, let me then have this last hour with you, 
before the dusk falls. Even in so short a time it is possible that I can teach you another 
wisdom. Let us follow this path a little on which we now stand. See, it leads among 
the hills toward the mountain that has overlooked the valley in which you have been 
abiding with us these many years. You will notice that as we leave the village behind 
us we meet with no more gardens. A garden is a man's out-of-doors home. . . . Now 
we find the trees thinning away; like us they crave for companionship. . . . Here the 
shrubbery begins to grow more sparse; there is little soil upon these heights.. . . At 
last the grass fails us; its tender blades demand more than these naked rocks can give 
them.... And now we have reached the summits where only eagles are at home. . . . 
You start with surprise! 


APPRENTICE - Yes, I had always supposed this to be the outermost sentinel of a 
chain of snowy peaks. 


MASTER - No, it is only the wall of our valley. You are taken aback to find the 
immensity of this high plateau before you? 


APPRENTICE - It appears to be endless. 


MASTER - It is. Those flat reaches stretch on forever. 


APPRENTICE - But the sky is boundless with blue and golden splendor ! 


MASTER - It is a land where no birds sing. 


APPRENTICE - But it is very beautiful. There are no shadows upon it. Its floor is 
like a carpet of beaten brass! 



MASTER - It is a land of little rain. 


APPRENTICE - It is immensity itself, filled with magnificent distances! 


MASTER - You would not come upon a house were you to walk across it through 
countless days. You would encounter no pilgrims upon that road which lies across it. 


APPRENTICE - The road! I had not seen it before! It loses itself in the horizons. One 
might think it had been laid along the edge of a rule. Whither does it lead ? 


MASTER - It is the Highway of Endlessness. It leads nowhere. It is upon that road 
that you are to begin your journey tomorrow. What would you say if you were to 
walk along it through numberless life-times without meeting another being like 
yourself ? what if you never came upon a human habitation? how would you feel if 
you were to find yourself with nothing except the knowledge that your path will never 
come to an end ? 


APPRENTICE - Master! That would be an eclipse of the Heavenly Brightness! 


MASTER - Yes. But you asked for nothing else. You came to us with only one fear - 
the fear of the Tragedy of the End; you had only one desire - that no night should ever 
fall upon your existence; you made only one request of our wisdom - that we should 
teach you the Secret of Endless Existence. 


APPRENTICE - 1 have learned the Great Secret. 



MASTER - Yes, but it has not given you the joy you expected. Why not begin your 
journey at once? The Road is at your feet. 


APPRENTTCE - Master! Master! 


MASTER - You are filled with a tumult of new fear and apprehensions. The prospect 
of that everlasting solitariness fills you with dread. You are already wishing that you 
might remain with us in our Valley. You came seeking only the first Dimension of 
life. Did it never occur to you that Life has many Dimensions ? 


APPRENTICE - 1 discover that I have been an ignorant child. 


MASTER - You came seeking Endless Life; it is Eternal Life that you need. 


APPRENTICE - Eternal Life! 


MASTER - Yes. That is life made perfect in all its Dimensions My son, have you 

ever heard of the Brethren of the Mystic Tie? 


APPRENTICE - 1 have seen their emblems above the lintels of a door. I have heard 
that they are Travellers toward the Light. 


MASTER - They are, and more. They are a Hidden Brotherhood that has learned the 
secret of Labor and Refreshment. But they are more even than that. They possess a 



Great Wisdom for which you are now greatly hungered. It is the mighty need of your 
nature for their wisdom that causes your unhappiness. 


APPRENTICE - What is their Great Wisdom? 


MASTER - It is the knowledge of the Divine Geometry. The Brethren of the Mystic 
Tie long ago discovered the dimensions of the Holy City of Man. They learned, as 
you have learned, the lesson of the Mystic Twenty-Four Inch Gauge, that existence is 
endless; but they learned other lore to which you are a stranger. They know the secret 
of the Square, that life must have breadth, else its mere length would drive us insane; 
and of the Plumb, that life must have height and depth, else it is thin and poor, with 
no satisfaction for our hearts. What will it profit a man to travel the Road of 
Endlessness if his soul is eaten out with loneliness all the way! 


APPRENTICE - 1 find myself weighed down with a new ignorance. Is it too late for 
me to turn back ? 


MASTER - To one who has learned the Secret of Endlessness it is never too late. Let 
us then return to our brethren. Their road is not a bleak and unbroken infinity, but 
winds and winds, with many a halt, and, many a hill, and countless feet upon it. 


— o — 


Mormonism and Masonry- Anti-Masonry in the Book of Mormon 


By Bro. S. H. GOODWIN, Grand Secretary, Utah 



(Concluded from November) 


THE second step in our discussion of the subject brings us to a consideration of a few 
characteristic examples of the effects of this Anti-Masonic environment upon the 
Mormon prophet. To get the full force of this reaction to those abnormal conditions, 
one should have before him a compilation of all the charges made by the Anti- 
Masons, and check these by passages dealing with the same matters to be found in the 
Book of Mormon. 


In all the discussions of the one absorbing subject, on the platform and in the press, 
certain alleged characteristics of the Masonic Institution were singled out for 
execration, and where these did not furnish the topic they came in for a large share of 
attention and denunciation. Among these, and given an unenviable pre-eminence in 
the catalogue of Masonry's offendings, was the matter of obligations, or "oaths", as 
they were more frequently designated. It is doubtful if a single AntiMasonic gathering 
occurred in the period we are now considering, during which these "oaths" were not 
held up to ridicule and contempt. One has but to turn to the literature of the day and 
note how this word is sprinkled over its pages to find ample confirmation of this 
statement. (44) And in the treatment of this subject no epithet appeared to be too 
severe, or to suggest to auditors or readers the possibility of exaggeration; no 
arraignment, however scorching or malevolent, overtaxed the credulousness of those 
who sought the destruction of Masonry; no picture of the enormities of Masonic 
"oaths", however absurd in outline, or shocking and impossible in coloring, failed of 
public approval. In a word, to the highly inflamed imagination of Anti-Masonry, 
Masonic "oaths" embodied all that was horrible, irreligious and depraved. Evidence 
of contact and familiarity with this situation by the "Author and Proprietor" of the 
Book of Mormon is to be found in many passages in that book: 


"And Akish did administer unto them oaths which were given by them of old who 
also sought power, which had been handed down from Cain"; "And now I Moroni do 
not write the manner of their oaths ... for they are had among all the people"; ". . . 
and he applied unto those whom he had sworn by the oath of the ancients"; "... and 
they adopted the old plans, and administered oaths after the manner of the ancients' 1 ; 



"Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites . . . that they did unite 
with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths"; "Now 
behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants those secret oaths and 

covenants and cloth hand down their plots, and their oaths and their covenants, and 
their plans of awful wickedness". (45) 


WASHINGTON'S PHRASE WAS USED 


Arguments against Masonry were drawn from almost every conceivable source by 
those who sought, and confidently predicted, the overthrow of the Masonic 
institution. Passages from the Bible, and from public documents and state papers, 
were torn from their connections and were made to do duty as militating against 
Freemasonry. A singular instance of this is to be found in the use made of a certain 
passage from Washington's Farewell Address. In two paragraphs of his final message 
to the people he refers twice to "combinations and associations" which were formed 
"with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation or 
action of the constituted authorities," as endangering fundamental principles of the 
government. Beyond any reasonable doubt, Washington had in mind the "democratic 
societies", to which he refers in his correspondence, and which then, and previously, 
had been operating in behalf of the Revolutionists of France. He had felt the keen 
sting and sharp power of hot criticism for which these societies had been responsible, 
and clearly saw the end toward which they were driving, and he warned the people 
against this danger. By no legitimate or fair construction or interpretation can those 
words be made to apply to Freemasonry. Yet, from a hundred Anti-Masonic 
platforms; in newspapers, and pamphlets, and books they were unblushingly and 
increasingly proclaimed as having been aimed directly at the Masonic Institution. 
And where they were not referred to the quarry whence they were digged, the words 
"combinations" and "associations" early came to occupy an outstanding position in 
the popular vocabulary of vituperation and denunciation. (46) 


That these words, and especially the more significant of the two, "combinations," 
should be unmistakably echoed in the Book of Mormon, and this in its evil sense, 
need occasion no surprise: ". . . these workers of darkness and secret combinations"; 
".. cursed be the land forever . . . unto those workers of darkness and secret 
combinations"; ". . . like unto him . . . who beguiled our first parents, .... and stirreth 



the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret 
works of darkness"; "And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, 
according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the foundation of all these 
things"; "And it came to pass . . . there was continual peace in the land, all save it 
were the secret combinations which Gadianton the robber had established"; "And thus 
they did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations, in 
which there was so much wickedness"; "And the regulations of the government were 
destroyed, because of the secret combination of the friends and kindreds of those who 
murdered the prophets"; "Now this secret combination, which had brought so great 
iniquity upon the people, did gather themselves together ..." (47) 


"Abomination" was another word early seized upon and recoined in the mint of Anti- 
Masonry - some time before the Morgan agitation convulsed western New York - and 
thrown into circulation to express the abhorrence and detestation felt by those who 
sought the destruction of the Masonic Institution. "Men of every profession, 
occupation, and rank in life," declares one of the enemies of Freemasonry, and a 
"renouncer", "have borne public testimony to the profanity and abominations of the 
secret order." (48) The frequent recurrence of this word in passages in the Book of 
Mormon, descriptive of the doings and character of the secret society alleged to have 
been active among the progenitors of Mormonism, affords another illustration of 
Joseph Smith's reaction to his surroundings. In a single chapter it occurs eight times 
in as many verses, and nearly always linked with other words descriptive of heinous 
doings, as "murders, and robbings, and plunderings, and wickedness, and 
abominations"; "secret murders and abominations"; "works of darkness, and 
wickedness, and abominations)'; "their secrets and abominations"; "their secret 
abominations". In such a passage as the following the reflection is unmistakable: "Wo 
be unto you because of that great abomination which has come among you; and ye 
have united yourselves unto it, yea, to that secret band which was established by 
Gadianton.” (49) 


EVERY CRIME WAS CHARGED AGAINST FREEMASONRY 


To the thoroughgoing advocate of Anti-Masonry, Freemasonry appeared as a 
veritable Pandora’s box, without so much as one redeeming feature. As already 
intimated, there was not a wrong, or a crime, that was not directly charged to the 



Craft. Not only had Masons abducted and murdered Morgan, but many other murders 
were specifically laid at their door, and, in the language of an ax-President of the 
United States, "clusters of crimes perpetrated" to further the objects of Masonry. (50) 


In many passages in the Book of Mormon, which deal with the doings of an alleged 
ancient secret society, the influence of the author's environment is plainly visible. "I 
must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders . . ."; "And he went 
unto those that sent him, and they all entered into a covenant, yea, swearing by their 
everlasting Maker, that they would tell no man that Kishkumen had murdered 
Pahoran"; "But behold, Kishkumen, who had murdered Pahoran was upheld by his 
band, who had entered into a covenant that no one should know his wickedness"; 
"And it came to pass that Helaman did send forth to take this band of . . . secret 
murderers, that they might be executed according to law"; "... therefore they began 
to commit secret murders . . . And behold those murderers . . . were a band who had 
been formed by Kishkumen and Gadianton . . . and there were many, even among the 
Nephites, of Gadianton's band"; "Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the 
Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands . . . and did enter into their 
covenants and oaths . . . that they should not suffer for their murders . ..." (51) 


Another charge urged with great vehemence and persistency, especially after grand 
juries had been summoned, as already noted, had used their best endeavors - without 
success - to run down the guilty ones, and had been discharged, was that the ends of 
justice were not served because officers of the law, more particularly the judges, were 
Freemasons. And when several men who were suspected of participation in the 
Morgan affair were brought to trial, and acquitted because of insufficient evidence, 
popular judgment at once declared that beyond a doubt such a termination of the trials 
was due to the influence of Freemasonry and to the fact that judges and juries were 
Masons, or dominated by Masons. (52) 


THE PROPHET PAINTS A LURID PICTURE 


The Mormon prophet's reaction to these charges appears in numerous instances. "And 
seeing the people in such a state of awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers 



filling the judgment-seats . . . doing no justice unto the children of men . . . 
condemning the righteous . . . letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished"; 

"And . . . behold there were men who were judges, who also belonged to the secret 
band of Gadianton"; "And those judges were angry with him because he spake plainly 
unto them concerning their secret works of darkness." (53) 


Many other accusations were brought against Masons and Masonry, all of which are 
clearly reflected in the Book of Mormon, but which cannot be considered at length 
here. The following additional brief list will help to an understanding of the character 
and scope of the crimes and misdemeanors imputed to the Craft. 


It was charged by Anti-Masons that Masonry tried offenders against its own laws and 
punished them, even to the infliction of the death penalty; that it was a menace to the 
Government, destructive of the liberties of the people, and ruinous of Christian 
principle and practice; that Masonry is devilish, satanic in its origin, operations and 
tendencies; that it pretended to an antiquity to which it had no just claim; that it 
usurped political power and placed its adherents in high positions to further its own 
selfish and infernal ends; that it acts in secret because it fears the light of day, its 
deeds being evil; that Masonic obligations require that Masons shall protect a brother, 
right or wrong, and that Masonry had become so powerful that means for its 
overthrow cannot be found in the executive authorities, or judicial establishments of 
the country. All these and other charges, not set forth here, but which were almost as 
common in western New York as the air itself, during all of the time occupied by 
Joseph Smith in the preparation of the Book of Mormon, are faithfully and fully 
reflected in that book. (54) 


To appreciate fully the extent to which the Mormon prophet reacted to his 
environment, in the particulars under consideration, requires the reading of the 
passages, to which reference has been made, in their connection. This course will 
leave no room for doubt that, to say the least - and however the fact may be accounted 
for - the secret society which is alleged to have operated among the ancient 
Americans, strangely and unmistakably paralleled, in principle and practice, and with 
remarkable accuracy in detail, all that fanatical hatred, inflamed by popular passion, 
asserted was characteristic of Freemasonry at the time when Joseph Smith was 
dictating the contents of the Book o f Mormon. The conviction that the excoriation of 



Gadianton and his followers is a reflection of the Anti" Masonic conditions in western 
New York, in the midst of which the prophet did his work, will be greatly 
strengthened by an examination of the evidence, furnished by this "American Bible", 
of other palpable points of contact with, and admitted reminiscences of, environment. 
( 55 ) 


CONTEMPORARY OPINION IS CITED 


The third division of the material available for our present purpose is more restricted 
than either of the two divisions already considered. Its significance, however, is not to 
be gauged by this fact alone. Here we have to do with contemporary opinion. The 
testimony is that of men who belonged to the very times in which Joseph Smith 
produced and published the Book of Mormon. So far as the records show, neither one 
of the witnesses now to be called had any reason whatever for attributing the "secret 
society" passages of the Book of Mormon to the Anti-Masonic excitement, other than 
the reasons current and generally accepted by the people of the time and place. In this 
matter these men reflected - and apparently with no ulterior motive - the convictions 
and beliefs of those who certainly were in a position to know how this matter was 
regarded by the people in that part of western New York. 


In an earlier paragraph reference was made to the restless, turbulent, chaotic 
conditions which characterized the religious world for some time previous to the birth 
of Mormonism. Zeal for doctrine, which accompanied the emotional, passionate 
expression of devotional feeling, carried no hint of the importance of doing justice to 
the opinions of others, or of teaching and practicing a wider charity. The tossing of 
the murky waters of this uncharted theological sea strewed the shores with all 
manners of isms and sects - the flotsam, it would seem, of long years of religious 
bigotry and intolerance. 


Among the men who were more or less responsible for keeping these waters in this 
roiled, disturbed state, was an Irishman, well-versed in religious polemics, a 
determined, fearless and unyielding controversialist, a protestant divine, Alexander 
Campbell by name. During the year in which the "plates" were turned over to Joseph 



Smith, he organized a church - the first fruits of his activities and the first of a new 
denomination, the "Disciples of Christ," or "Campbellites". As a "faithful watchman 
on the hills of Ephraim", he shirked no battle and was prepared for any emergency. 


The first edition of the Book of Mormon was published in 1830, in the early part of 
the year, it would seem, and not long after Campbell secured a copy and proceeded to 
study its contents. His findings were presented to the public in the columns of the 
Millenial Harbinger, a monthly paper published by him at Bethenay, Virginia, which 
bears date of Feb. 7, 1831. The caption of the article, which later was published in 
pamphlet form, was "Delusions. An Analysis of the Book of Mormon." A hint as to 
the method and purpose of the reviewer is found in the words - from the title-page of 
the pamphlet: "With an examination of its internal and external evidences, and a 
refutation of its presences to divine authority." 


In spite of the acerbity of the comments - a feature which characterized all 
controversy of the period, especially in the realm of religion - this bit of work is lucid, 
searching, interesting and valuable; it blazed the May, apparently, for a considerable 
number of more recent critics of the "Golden Bible". Our interest in Campbell's 
criticism, however, centers in the few comments which show that he recognized and 
accepted the Masonic origin of the numerous secret society passages in the Book of 
Mormon. 


CAMPBELL IS QUOTED 


He remarks that "Masonry was invented about this time (in the period covered by the 
book of Helaman); for men began to bind themselves in secret oaths to aid one 
another in all things, good or evil." He notes the fact that Moroni "finishes what 
Mormon his father left undone, and continues the history till A. D. 400", and that he 
"laments the prevalency of freemasonry in the times when his book should be dug up 
out of the earth." (56) Under "Internal Evidences", Campbell presents many details 
illustrative of the influence of environment upon the author of the Book before us, 
among them one which bears directly on our subject. Number seven, of the series of 
paragraphs under this caption, reads: 



"This prophet Smith, through his stone spectacles (57) wrote on the plates of Nephi in 
the Book of Mormon, every error and almost-every truth discussed in New York for 
the last ten years. He decides all the great controversies - infant baptism, ordination, 
the Trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, 
transubstantiation, fasting, penance church government, religious experience, the call 
to the ministry the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and 
even the question of Freemasonry, republican government, and the rights of man. All 
these topics are repeatedly alluded to. How much more benevolent and intelligent this 
American Apostle than were the holy twelve, and Paul to assist them! ! He prophesied 
of all these topics, and of the apostacy, and infallibly decides, by his authority, every 
question. How easy to prophecy of the past or the present time! ! . . . But he is better 
skilled in the controversies in New York than in the geography and history of Judea." 
(58) Concerning this list of reflections of local issues in the Book of Mormon, a 
recent and accepted writer of the Mormon church says: ". . ., the list is pretty accurate, 
but by no means complete." He, however appears to take exception to the reference to 
Free Masonry in the somewhat cryptic statement: "In the item of Freemasonry, Mr. 
Campbell's hate spills over a little." (59) 


Another keen observer, and occasionally sharp critic, of things American, who wrote 
his findings soon after the Book of Mormon first saw the light, was E. S. Abdy, 
"Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge." Abdy came to this country in the company of 
two other Englishmen, one of whom was commissioned by his Government to inspect 
the prisons of the United States. Abdy himself was interested chiefly, it would seem, 
in slavery as it then existed in this country, but he by no means confined himself to 
this subject. He traveled about in much the same way as had his countryman, Arthur 
Young, in France fifty years earlier, and in his book, Journal of a Residence and Tour 
in the United States of America, he has given us an interesting and valuable account 
of conditions as he found them. 


ABDY IS QUOTED 


In the course of his travels - which covered the period extending from April, 1833, to 
October, 1834, he passed leisurely through that part of western New York which had 



been the home and scene of the abduction of William Morgan, as well as of the 
operations of the Mormon prophet. Here, among others, he fell in with an ax- 
postmaster of Rochester who, evidently, was strongly Anti-Masonic in his views, and 
who was well acquainted with Joseph Smith. Abdy also came into contact with 
Mormonism and the "Mormonites" in Ohio and Kentucky, and early in his travels had 
access to a "copy of the translation Smith pretended to have made of the 'Shaster' he 
said he had found under a tree." Later, in his narrative, our author devotes more space 
to the Mormons and their Bible. From this portion of his record the following excerpt 
shows how he - as well as those with whom he mingled - regarded those passages in 
the Book of Mormon which refer to secret societies: 


"One passage in this curious Koran," says Abdy, "clearly points to the place of its 
concoction and the prepossessions of its author, who would doubtless ground a claim 
for the prophetic spirit on this very objection from the unbeliever. It alludes most 
unequivocally, to the free-masons: Ontario county, in the State of New York, being 
the place where Morgan's murder excited such a spirit of hostility to the 'craft'. 'Satan,' 
says the plate, 'did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites insomuch that 
they did unite with those bands of robbers, an] did enter into their covenants and their 
oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another, in whatever difficult 
circumstances they should be placed; that they should not suffer for their murders, 
and their plunderings, and their sterlings. And it came to pass, that they did have their 
signs, yea, their secret signs and their secret words: and this that they might 
distinguish a brother, who had entered into the covenant, that, whatever wickedness 
his brother should do, he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did 
belong to his band, who had taken this covenant, and whosoever of their band should 
reveal unto the world their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not 
according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness 
which had been given by Gadianton and Kishkumen.' “ (60) 


HIS CONTEMPORARIES HAD NO DOUBTS 


From the statement quoted above, and the character of the extract from the Book of 
Mormon, one can hardly escape the conviction that the contemporaries of Joseph 
Smith - those into whose hands came copies of the 1830 edition of the "Golden Bible" 
- had little, if any, doubt as to the source of the many Anti-Masonic reflections, or 



echoes, in the Book of Mormon. For a reading of the three volumes of Abdy's Journal 
will furnish conclusive proof of the fact that the author of that work catches, reflects 
and presents the opinions, prejudices and viewpoints of the communities he visited. 
Upon these he comments; these he criticizes or commends; and from a consideration 
of them, and other sources of information, he arrives at his own conclusions. 
Manifestly, he was not the only one who traced the origin of the Anti-Masonry of the 
Book of Mormon to the furore incident to, and the conditions growing out of, the 
disappearance of Morgan; in this he simply records the opinion commonly held by 
the people of that community and period. 


It may be that the annals of the doings of Akish, Kishkumen and Gadianton found in 
the Book of Mormon are historical, instead of being palpable and perfectly natural 
reflections of conditions existing at the time, and in the locality in which Joseph 
Smith lived and did his work - as the present writer firmly believes to be the case. If 
historical, trustworthy and conclusive evidence in support of such a claim - or any 
reliable testimony - seems not to have been uncovered by anyone. On the other hand, 
there are so many known facts which unmistakably support the position taken in this 
paper that little, if any, room appears to be left for question. 


It is quite possible, to be sure, that the matters selected for consideration in this study 
have not been arranged and presented to the best advantage, so that readers may get 
the full force and value of their testimony. But the writer is fully convinced that 
anything like a fair appraisal of the facts will amply justify the belief that those 
portions of the Book of Mormon which record the alleged doings of an ancient 
American secret society, owe their origin and character to the pressure of 
environment, to which the author of that book was as constantly exposed, and was as 
susceptible, as were his contemporaries. 


NOTES AND REFERENCES 


44. Opinions on Speculative Masonry, Odiome; 1830; pp. 58-101 185, 202-203, 
Proceedings U. S. Anti-Masonic Convention; Philadelphia, 1830, pp. 43-53, 76, 97, 
llOf, 128-130, AntiMasonic Review; 1828; vol. 1; pp. 26f, Elf, 85, 98; vol. 2; 1829; 



pp. 33-44, 306f; An Inquiry Into the Nature, etc., J. G. Stems; 1826; pp. 97-98, 104, 
106-114. 


45. Book of Mormon: Ether 8:15, 20; 9:5; 10:33, Alma 37:27, 29, Helaman 6:21, 25, 
26, 30; Third Nephi 4:42, cf. Pearl of Great Price, 1891, pp. 14-16. 


46. National Observer, vol. 1, Jan. 16, 1829; p. 4; AntiMasonic Review, 1828, vol. 1, 
pp. 296, 301, 325; vol. 2, 1829; p. 242, Proceedings U. S. Anti-Masonic Convention, 
Philadelphia, 1830; pp. 16, 41, 92, 107, 157; Catalogue Anti-Masonic Books, Henry 
Gassett; 1852, pp. 13, 18, 53. 


47. Book of Mormon: Alma 37:30, 31; 2nd Nephi 9:9; 26:22; Helaman 3:23, 3rd 
Nephi 5:6, 9, 7 6. Also see Helaman 2:8; 7.25, 28, 8.1, 3rd Nephi 4:29, 6 28, 7:9, 
Mormon 8:27, Ether 8 18, 19, 20, 22, 24; 9:1, 11:15; 13:18; 14:8, 10. 


48. Anti-Masonic Review, 1828; vol. 1; pp. 252, 303, 314; vol. 2, 1829, pp. 247, 249, 
National Observer, Jan. 16, 1829, p. 4; Proceedings Grand Lodge of Maine; 1830; p. 
195; Proceedings Anti-Masonic Convention Philadelphia; 1830; p. 52. 


49. Book of Mormon: 2nd Nephi 10:15; Alma 37:21-37; Helaman 7:25, Mormon 
8:40, Ether 11:22. 


50. Proceedings Anti-Masonic Convention, Philadelphia, 1830 pp. 14, 89, 153, 162, 
165, Catalogue Anti-Masonic Books, H. Gassett; 1852; pp. 2-12; Opinions on 
Speculative Masonry, Odiome, 1830 p. 204; Letters on the Masonic Institution, J. Q. 
Adams, 1847, pp. 99-100. 



51. Book of Mormon: 2nd Nephi 9:9, 10:15, Alma 37:29; Helaman 1:11; 2:3, 10; 
6:17, 18, 21, 29; 9:6; 3rd Nephi 5:5, 6. 


52. Anti-Masonic Review; 1828; vol. 1; pp. 235, 237, 289, 290; History of the People 
of the U. S., McMasters; 1900- p. 1 14; The Anti-Masonic Party, McCarthy; Annual 
Report, American Historical Association, 1903, p. 371. 


53. Book of Mormon: Helaman 7:4, 5; 8:1, 4, 28; 3rd Nephi 6:26, 27, 28, 29, 30. 


54. Anti-Masonic Review, 1828, vol. 1; p. 296; vol. 2, 1829; pp. 32, 245 Proceedings 
Grand Lodge of Maine, vol. 1; pp. 195, 197, 198, 202. Opinions on Speculative 
Masonry, Odiorne; 1830; pp. 12-18, 155, 267; Proceedings Anti-Masonic 
Convention; Philadelphia, 1830, pp. 31, 39, 79-83, 95, 98, 99, Book of Mormon: 
Helaman 6:30; 3rd Nephi 3:9, Ether 8:14, 15,25,9:6; 10:33; 11:22; 3rd Nephi 1:27; 
2:12; 5:6; 6:26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 7:6, 11. On the origin and antiquity of Masonry, see 
the Pearl of Great Price (1891), one of the four standard books of the Mormon church, 
for some significant passages. Note particularly the words, "Master Mahan", pp. 14- 


16. 


55. In connection with this, suggestive matter is to be found in such articles and 
books as Riley's, The Founder of Mormonism, Prince, article in American Journal of 
Psychology, vol. 28; 1917, and Campbell's, Delusions: An Analysis of the Book of 
Mormon. Also, and in particular, The Mormon Point of View, Nelson; 1904; pp. 1 13- 
124, 135-137. 


56. Delusions: An Analysis of the Book of Mormon, Alex. Campbell; 1832; a 16- 
page pamphlet. Note especially pp. 8, 9, 10. 



57. A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Anderson; 
1893; pp. 24-25; Note; History of the Church, Period I, Joseph Smith, B. H. Roberts, 
1902, vol. 1; p. 12; The Mormon Point of View, Nelson, 1904, pp. 143-146. 


58. Delusions: An Analysis of the Book of Mormon, Campbell; 1832; p. 13; The 
Mormon Point of View, Nelson; 1904; p. 183, Note. 


59. The Mormon Point of View, Nelson, 1904, p. 183. 


60. Journal of a Residence and Tour of the U. S. of North America, April, 1888, to 
October, 1884, E. S. Abdy, vol. 3, 1835; pp. 40-42; 54-59; vol. 1; pp. 320-325; Book 
of Mormon: Helaman 6:21-24; passage quoted by Abdy. 


BOOKS CONSULTED 


American Journal of Psychology, 28; 373-489; 30; 66-72. An Inquiry Into the Nature 
and Tendency of Freemasonry, etc. J. G. Stems. Annual Report of the American 
Historical Association, 1902. Anti-Masonic, The, Movement, E. S. Gibbs. 

Proceedings Grand Lodge Massachusetts 1917. Anti-Masonic Review; 1; 2. 
Autobiography of Thurlow Weed; 1. Book, The, of Mormon. Brief, A, History of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, E. H. Anderson. Broken Seal, The, S. D. 
Greene. Catalogue of Books on the Masonic Institution in Public Libraries Anti- 
Masonic, etc., Henry Gassett. Delusions: An Analysis of the Book of Mormon, A. 
Campbell. Early Records of the Grand Lodge of Vermont, 1794-1846. Founder of 
Mormonism, The, I. W. Riley. Freemasonry in Michigan Conover; 1 . History of 
Freemasonry in N. Y., C. T. McClenahan, 2, 3. History of Freemasonry in the State of 
N. Y., O. Lang. History of the Church, Period I, Joseph Smith B. H. Roberts, 1,10- 
16. History of Utah, H. H. Bancroft. History of the People of the U. S., J. B. 
McMaster; 5; 109-120. History of Portland Lodge, No. 1, Dmmmond. Journal of a 
Residence and Tour of the U. S., etc., E. S. Abdy; 1; 3. Latter Day Saints The, 
Kauffman. Letters on the Masonic Institution, John Quincy Adams. Masonic Light on 
the Abduction of William Morgan P. C. Huntington. Memoirs of the Life of 



Nathaniel Stacy. Mormon Group Life, E. E. Ericksen. Mormon Point of View The, N 
L. Nelson. Myth of the Manuscript Found, G. Reynolds. National Observer, The, Oct. 
2, 1827; Jan. 16, 1829. New Witnesses for God, B. H. Roberts, 3. Niles Register, 32, 
33; 35; 37; 38. Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith. Proceedings of the Anti-Masonic 
Convention; Philadelphia; 1830. Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Maine: 1830. 
Opinions on Speculative Masonry, etc., J.C. Odiorne. 


— o — 


Daniel Coxe and the "Henry Bell Letter" 

By Bro. MELVIN M. JOHNSON, P. G. M., Massachusetts 


IN THE BUILDER for April last I said interalia, "The fact is that while Coxe was 
appointed June 5, 1730, as Provincial Grand Master of New York, New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania for two years, he was not on this side of the Atlantic at any time during 
those two years. During that entire period he remained in England," etc. In THE 
Builder last month Bro. David McGregor criticizes me for having made such a 
categorical statement based on statements made by others and on the lack of evidence 
to the contrary. 


His criticism is just. That statement was inadvertent. In my book, The Beginnings of 
Freemasonry in America, published shortly after the April articles what I said on this 
subject was more carefully stated as follows: 


"There has appeared no evidence that he (Coxe) exercised this deputation, or even 
that he was on this side of the ocean during the said two years," etc. That statement 
was correct. Up to the publication of Bro. McGregor's November article there had 
appeared no such evidence. Assuming the facts stated by Bro. McGregor to be correct 
(and I have no reason to doubt them), it now seems probable that Coxe did cross to 
this side of the ocean shortly after June 5, 1730, and was in New Jersey from the 



latter part of July, 1730, until sometime in November of that year. I have made a 
reference to this article in the second edition of my book which is now on the press. 


This new discovery by Bro. McGregor is a valuable contribution. It, however, does 
not in the least change the conclusions stated in my April article and in my book. 


The mere fact that Daniel Coxe was in New Jersey during these four months does not 
justify the conclusion that he did in fact exercise his deputation. 


Benjamin Franklin in 1730 in his Pennsylvania Gazette published accounts of 
Masonic meetings, and in December of that year he published a long article on 
Freemasonry. In February, 1730, Franklin was made a Mason in Philadelphia. He 
immediately became very active. His intimacy with the affairs of the Fraternity is 
shown by his draft, in 1732, of a committee report containing what was almost a set 
of by-laws for the lodge. In 1734 he signed himself as Grand Master. His well-known 
characteristics and his position in the Fraternity forbid any doubt as to his intimate 
knowledge of the then affairs of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania. 


FRANKLIN WROTE TO HENRY PRICE 


On Nov. 28, 1734, he wrote two letters to Henry Price, one official and one personal. 
In the official letter which he signed as Grand Master, and wrote (as he himself says) 
at the request of the Fraternity in Pennsylvania, he said that Masonry in Pennsylvania 
in 1734 needed "the sanction of some authority derived from home." He further 
asserted that if Henry Price would grant them "a Deputation or Charter," the Grand 
Master of Pennsylvania would yield his chair whenever Henry Price, Grand Master of 
North America, should be present. 


Franklin did not say that in Pennsylvania they needed more authority derived from 
home, but that they needed some authority, clearly indicating that then they had none. 



He did not ask for "recognition"; he prayed for "a Deputation or Charter." These 
words had then the same clearly defined meaning they have now. If the Masons of 
Pennsylvania had theretofore received authority from Coxe, they did not need 
anything from Henry Price in 1734. If Coxe had given them any authority during the 
term of his commission (June 24, 1730 - June 24, 1732), they certainly would have 
known it in 1734. They would not have sought nor received, nor acted under the 
appointment made Feb. 21, 1734-5, by "Henry Price, Grand Master of His Majesty's 
Dominions in North America" of Benjamin Franklin as Grand Master of 
Pennsylvania. 


Benjamin Franklin when he signed the letter of Nov. 28, 1734, as Grand Master and 
"at the request of the Lodge," knew what he was writing en cathedra. It is also 
submitted that the brethren who officially requested their Grand Master to send the 
petition to Price knew more about the facts of that day and generation than some 
partisan historians of the second century thereafter, who have struggled to convince 
the Masonic world that what Franklin, Price, and their associates said as to the facts 
of their own day and in which they were the actors was wrong. 


Should other evidence and argument be disregarded, these letters are definite and 
final. They establish that Pennsylvania Masonry was wanting in authority, i. e., was 
not "duly constituted", until Feb. 1734/5. 


Bro. McGregor having made a valuable discovery of a letter apparently genuine, 
showing a fact hitherto unknown, proceeds to jump to the conclusion that the "Henry 
Bell letter" really existed. It therefore becomes necessary briefly to review the story 
about that letter. 


The claim that there ever was such a letter as the Henry Bell letter was long ago 
abandoned by Bro. Sachse, who certainly did not fail to press Pennsylvania's claims 
to their limit. (See note No. 1.) 



The first story was that a "gentleman of a mysterious turn of mind" - name unknown - 
came into the office of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania "in 
the year 1873, when the Craft were preparing for the dedication of the new Masonic 
Temple" exact date unknown - and showed "one of the clerks" a letter. The unknown 
clerk copied a single paragraph of the “Henry Bell letter” presented by the unknown 
"mysterious gentleman." Immediately the "clerk," the "mysterious gentleman" and the 
"letter" vanished into thin air. Since that day they have all as completely disappeared 
as the fabled island of Atlantis. If any of them ever were in Philadelphia, they must 
have immediately departed to some "undiscovered country from whose bourne no 
traveller returns." Lives there the Mason so credulous as to believe that if such an 
important document had ever been in the office of the Grand Secretary of 
Pennsylvania in 1873, all trace of it and its possessor would instantly have 
disappeared! 


MacCALLA'S ACCOUNT IS GIVEN 


The next story (which was told by Bro. MacCalla) dated the incident back to 1872. 
He supplied as the name of the "mysterious gentleman," "a Mr. Bancker (since 
deceased)." What was his full name? Where did he live? Where and when did he die? 
Who took over his effects? How did he come by the "letter"? What became of the 
"letter"? 


Bro. MacCalla supplied as the name of the clerk, "Brother Francis Blackbume." What 
is known about him? Has he ever made the statement over his own signature that he 
ever saw the "letter" ? If there ever has lived a man who would or will say that Bro. 
Blackburne stated to him that he (Blackbume) had seen the letter, we have never been 
told so categorically. No man has ever yet said, so far as we can learn, that Bro. 
Blackburne himself ever made such a statement. Bro. Sachse, of course, with his long 
years of service in the Temple in Philadelphia, had a perfect opportunity to know all 
these details. Yet Sachse abandoned any claim to the genuineness of the incident. 



No court in the world would accept as evidence (much less as proof) the story which 
any known person has ever told in writing about this incident - or either in a speech 
which has been reported. 


In August, 1874, the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, in The New England 
Freemason, asked for information about the "letter," but his questions remain 
unanswered to the present day. 


And now, once more, we ask for information. What was the balance of the 'Tetter"? 
In whose custody was the "letter"? Where had it been for one hundred and twenty 
years? And even more to the point, where is it now? The answer is obvious. Like the 
whiffenpoof, "there ain't no such animal never." 


Notwithstanding repeated requests and demands during the last forty years, the 
document has never been produced for examination. No known living or dead man 
has ever stated that he has seen it. Unless and until it is produced or accounted for, no 
credit can be given to it or to any conclusions based upon it. For one seriously to 
predicate any argument upon it is so ridiculous that his readers can hardly be blamed 
for being inquisitive as to the soundness of his other historical deductions. 


Bro. McGregor's discovery of the Coxe letter of 1730 and his publication of the facts 
about it ought to be appreciated. For myself, at least, I thank him. Let us hope that 
there will be many more discoveries which will be made public so that they may be 
subjected to the test of examination and verification. How much better this is than the 
attitude of a certain brother who has said, in effect, that he has discovered something 
which the author of The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America didn't know and 
which he wouldn't tell him. Real historians want demonstrable facts. No honest 
historian will conceal facts or distort them or attempt their manufacture. No one is 
entitled to be regarded as an authority who is not willing to throw any or all his 
conclusions into the discard whenever new discoveries show them to be wrong. 


CONCERNING THE CARMICK MS. 



Just one other word. In a statement by Bro. Haywood on page 243 of the November 
BUTEDER, he dubs the Manuscript Constitutions, dated 1677 and owned by the 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, as spurious. (See Note No. 2.) We fail to see his 
excuse for doing this. There never was a better authenticated ancient document. Bro. 
Haywood, or any other brother who is interested, may see it in the Temple at Boston 
whenever he wishes, and may subject it to the most critical examination. The fact, 
however, that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in Boston owns genuine Manuscript 
Constitutions dated 1677 is, to my mind, no evidence that there was any Freemasonry 
in Boston in 1677. Likewise the fact that the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 
Philadelphia owns similar genuine Manuscript Constitutions dated 1727 is, to my 
mind, no evidence that there was any Freemasonry in Philadelphia in 1727. 


If we are to accept Bro. Haywood's conclusion that if the 1727 manuscript "be 
accepted as genuine it proves that a lodge, or lodges, must have been active in 
Pennsylvania in lq27," then he ought to draw the conclusion that the 1677 manuscript 
"proves that a lodge, or lodges, must have been active in" Massachusetts in 1677. But 
it seems to me that either "contention is unworthy of serious discussion." 


A lot of this controversy is wide of the mark. Much of it is barking up the wrong tree. 
Nobody, so far as I know, doubts that there were Freemasons in Pennsylvania in 
1730. The same is true as to Massachusetts. There is positive proof of at least one 
Freemason in Boston as early as 1705, a man so prominent that he became Governor 
in 1730. Probably no Masonic student doubts that Freemasons met not only in 
Pennsylvania and in Massachusetts, but also in other of the Colonies as early as 1730, 
and perhaps earlier. It is likely that they met as "lodges." Before the organization of 
the Grand Lodge of England and its assumption of jurisdiction over its Colonies that 
had been the custom wherever Freemasons had met. It is doubtful if we ever shall 
know when and where the first of such meetings in America was held. All that 
Massachusetts claims is that within its borders was the first "duly constituted" 
Freemasonry in the Western Hemisphere, and that Henry Price was, as he said 
himself (and as Franklin admitted for himself and his associates) the "Founder of 
Duly Constituted Freemasonry in America." 



Note No. 1. See Old Masonic Lodges of Pennsylvania; Vol. I, page 10. - M. M. J. 


Note No. 2. When questioning Bro. Johnson's disposal of the Carmick MS. I offered 
no opinion as to the spuriousness or genuineness of that document or of the 
Massachusetts MS. dated 1677, such a discussion lay outside my province. My point 
was that the Carmick MS. deserved a different treatment at Bro. Johnson's hand. His 
manner of treating it will be found at the top of page 56 of his Beginnings of 
Freemasonry in America: "At one time it was attempted to claim for this year proof of 
Masonry in Philadelphia because of the finding in 1756 of a manuscript copy of the 
'Old Charges' dated 1727. The contention is unworthy of serious discussion. The 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts owns a similar manuscript dated 1677 but makes no 
claim by virtue thereof." This tells the reader of Beginnings nothing about the 
Carmick and does not tell him why it is useless. Thus far in my present Study Club 
articles I have ventured no opinion on the subject as to the priority of Massachusetts 
or Pennsylvania in the establishment of Masonry in America; I shall hope to do that 
later. The facts now known show that the first lodge in America to be deliberately and 
formally brought into existence according to the regulation adopted by the Grand 
Lodge of England in 1721 was the First Lodge in Boston, so constituted in 1733. - H. 
L. H. 


— o — 


Great Men Who Were Masons 


Rufus Putnam 


By Bro. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P. G. M., District of Columbia 



FEW Americans prominent in our history more justly earned for themselves the title 
of pioneer. Rufus Putnam was a pioneer in the State of Ohio, a pioneer in early 
Masonry, a pioneer in Ohio law, and a pioneer - one of the earliest - against slavery. 


General Putnam was bom in Sutton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, April 9, 1738, 
the same year, it happened, in which Pope Clement XII issued the first Roman 
Catholic Bull against Freemasonry. He died in Marietta, Ohio, May 1, 1824. 


At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the war against France and saw four years of 
military service. In 1761 he gave up military life, married, and took up farming and 
surveying. In 1773, after having become proficient as a surveyor, he spent eight 
months in Florida with his cousin Israel, equally famous as a soldier and pioneer, and 
while there assisted in arranging for the migration of several hundred families from 
New England into the province now known as the State of Florida. 


Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he enlisted in the Continental Army 
with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers. Very soon thereafter his skill in 
military engineering became so noticeable, especially in view of the fact of his having 
had no previous experience, that General Washington highly complimented him upon 
his work. Congress commissioned him an engineer with the rank of Colonel in 1776, 
and he held the post of Chief Engineer until 1778, at which time Kosciusko 
succeeded him. The military impregnability of West Point was very largely due to his 
plans. 


It happened that while Colonel Putnam was in the army at West Point, the Masons, of 
whom General Washington was the most conspicuous, celebrated the festival of St. 
John the Baptist in an army lodge on the Hudson River. It is probable that this 
inspired Colonel Putnam to apply for membership. He was raised in American Union 
Lodge Sept. 6, 1779, at a meeting held two miles from West Point. 


In 1783 Washington secured for him a commission as Brigadier General. After the 
Continental Army was disbanded at the close of the Revolution, General Putnam 



spent several years in helping to organize a company that later settled on the 
Muskingum River, where a settlement was made, now known as the town of Marietta. 
Putnam laid out the town and thus may be thought of as a father of the State of Ohio. 
From that time on he passed from one station of influence to another, with a career 
too full of incident to be described here. After the settlement of Marietta a charter of 
the old American Union Lodge was employed as authority for organizing a lodge 
there, and Putnam became its first Junior Warden. When the Grand Lodge of Ohio 
was organized in 1808 he was unanimously chosen Grand Master, although by that 
time he had become too aged for active service in the Masonic ranks. His beautiful 
letter of resignation is still very interesting to read: 


"To the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and 
Accepted Masons for the State of Ohio, your Brother sendeth Greeting: 


"It was with high sensibility and gratitude I received the information that the Grand 
Convention of Masons at Chillicothe, in January last, elected me to the office of 
Grand Master of our Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity. But however sensibly I 
feel the high honor done me by the Convention, and am disposed to promote the 
interests of the Craft in general and in this State in particular I must decline the 
appointment. My sun is far past its meridian, and is almost set. A few sands only 
remain in my glass. I am unable to undergo the necessary labors of that high and 
important office. I am unable to make you a visit at this time, without a sacrifice and 
hazard of health which prudence forbids. 


"May the great Architect, under whose all-seeing eye all Masons profess to labor, 
have you in his holy keeping, that when our labors here are finished, we may, through 
the merits of Him that was dead but is now alive and lives forevermore be admitted 
into that temple, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Amen. So prays your 
friend and brother, 


"RUFUS PUTNAM. 



"Marietta, December 26, 1808." 


The early pioneers of Masonry were an heroic band. Cass, Johnson, Carson, Lewis - 
with hundreds like them; to such Putnam belonged. To Masonry they gave the same 
devotion as to the flag. In Masonic research, there are more than worthy of our study 


— o — 


The S TU DY C LU B 


Studies of Masonry in the United States 


By Bro. H. L. HAYWOOD, Editor 


PART IV. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S MASONIC CAREER 


IF by the universal suffrages of public opinion George Washington and Abraham 
Lincoln are to be considered our two greatest Americans it is safe to believe that by 
the same general consent Benjamin Franklin would be ranked immediately after those 
two shining names. Unlike the fame of those who are illustrious only when judged 
according to the standards of their own times, Franklin's greatness is absolute. The 
empire of his influence extends across many countries and will outlast many 
generations; we of today live in a world unbelievably changed from his, but we can 
nevertheless sit at his feet to learn many things from so many-sided a genius. 



It would be a temptation to dwell at length on the story of his life and to catalog once 
again the list of his hundreds of achievements were it not that his Masonic career is so 
rich in fact and incident as in itself to press against the limitations of space. That 
career extended from 1730/1 to 1790 and was so filled with activity that the most 
casual examination of it shows at once that Franklin, unlike some other famous 
Americans in the Craft - John Marshall, Mark Twain, et al. - was not satisfied with a 
merely nominal membership, but worked in the thick of things. He was a Mason as 
well as a member. 


Some months before becoming a Mason, and when only twenty-four years of age, he 
published in his Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 108, Dec. 5 to 8, 1730, the first known 
printed item concerning Masonic lodges in America, quoted in the Study Club article 
last month. During preceding months of the same year he had published three items 
about English lodges. Perhaps he had become interested in Masonry while working as 
a printer in England during 1725 and 1726. If so, it may be, as Bro. Julius Sachse 
hints (in his Franklin as a Freemasons a work to which I am greatly indebted here), 
that from the Fraternity he caught the idea of founding a secret society of his own 
after returning to Philadelphia. He called this the "Leather Apron Club," a name 
possibly suggested by the Masonic apron, but later changed it, at the same time 
transforming its character, to "Junto," "a club for mental improvement." 


"The exact date of Franklin's initiation is not known," writes Bro. Sachse, "but it was 
before the legal year of 1730 expired, evidently in February, 173031." This 
approximate date is based on Liber B. described last month, in folio 10 of which is an 
entry showing that on June 24, 1731, Franklin paid 2.2.6d as balance owing on his 
initiation fees and dues. The same record proves that at the time he was a member of 
St. John's Lodge, from which one may suppose that he was raised in that lodge. 
Within two or three months after this, presumably, he published in the Gazette "Some 
Information Concerning the Society Called Free Masons," an excerpt from Chambers' 
Universal Dictionary of All Arts and Sciences. Bro. Sachse believes that he must 
have been elected Junior Warden of the lodge on the date just given, June 24, 1731, 
and that since the term of elective officers ran but six months at that time he became 
Senior Warden six months afterwards, and Worshipful Master on June 5 of 1732. If 
such a surmise is correct, as there is every reason to believe that it is, the young 
Mason must have proved his ability as well as his zeal, because on June 24, 1732, 
Grand Master Allen (of whom more anon) appointed him Junior Grand Warden, and 
at about the same time he was made secretary of a committee "To consider of the 



present state of the lodge and of the proper method to improve it." The report, in 
Franklin's handwriting, is described by Bro. Sachse as "the oldest draft of By-Laws of 
an American Masonic Lodge", and he adds in a footnote, "These By-Laws antedate 
the first By-Laws of the First Lodge in Boston just sixteen months, they having been 
adopted October 24, 1733." I am not able to agree with our learned brother in this; the 
Committee's Report can only by a stretching of words be described as "By-Laws," for 
of the five paragraphs three arrange for the purchase of an outlay of "Books of 
Architecture, suitable Mathematical Instruments, etc."; paragraph numbered five 
adjures the brethren to make more careful use of the ballot; and paragraph numbered 
six states that a brother having a complaint to make should first take it up with the 
Wardens. (Paragraph four was erased.) Such a document cannot be described as a By- 
Law in the strict sense of that word. 


ST. JOHN'S FUNCTIONED AS A GRAND LODGE 


It is now a matter of almost certain knowledge that the St. John's Lodge of which 
Franklin was made Worshipful Master in 1732 functioned also as a Grand Lodge after 
the fashion of a few old English lodges, notably the one at York. Franklin was 
installed as Grand Master in June, 1734, as we may learn from his Gazette of June 27 
of that year. As indicating Franklin's close attention to lodge affairs, Bro. Sachse 
notes that in five years he was absent from lodge only five times. 


We may also guess that many other brethren in North America were becoming more 
and more interested in the Craft from the fact that in 1734 Franklin found a sufficient 
demand to warrant his publishing an edition of the Constitutions, of which the title 
page is here reproduced. This was the first Masonic book ever printed on this 
continent. It was a reprint of Anderson's Constitutions published in London in 1723; 
omits the music, substituting one song, contains a number of typographical slips, and 
measures six by eight and three-eighths inches. According to Bro. J. H. Tatsch (The 
Master Mason, 1924, page 344) the existing copies are in the possession of the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts (bound up with the Beteilhe MS.), the Grand Lodge of 
Pennsylvania, the Grand Lodge of Iowa, the Supreme Council, A.&A.S.R., N.J., 
Washington, D.C., the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the University of 
Pennsylvania. The book was advertised in May but was not ready for distribution 



until August, in which month seventy copies were sent to Boston, a fact indicating 
that Masons there were also active. 


In this connection may be noted two of Franklin's letters, both of which have served 
as the basis of volumes of discussion. In April 1733, as will be explained in a later 
chapter, Henry Price of Boston received from Lord Viscount Montague, Grand 
Master of Masons of England, a deputation appointing him "Provincial Grand Master 
of New England and Dominion and Territories "hereunto belonging." In August of 
1734 the Earl of Crawford, then English Grand Master, extended Price's authority to 
cover the whole of North America. On the 28th of the November following we find 
Franklin addressing a letter to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the body of which 
is here quoted: 


THE 


CONSTITUTIONS 


OF THE 


FREE-MASONS. 


CONTAINING THE 


History, Charges, Regulations, &c. 




of that most Ancient and Right 
Worshipful FRATERNITY. 


For the Use of the LODGES. 


LONDON Printed; Anno 5723. 

Re-printed in Philadelphia by Special Order, for the Use 
of the Brethren in NORTH - AMERICA. 

In the Year of Masonry 5734, Anno Domini 1734. 


TITLE PAGE OF FRANKLIN'S REPRINT 


"We have seen in the Boston prints an article of news from London, importing that at 
a Grand Lodge held there in August last, Mr. Price's deputation and power was 
extended over all America, which advice we hope is true, and we heartily 
congratulate him thereupon, and though this has not been as yet regularly signified to 
us by you, yet, giving credit thereto, we think it our duty to lay before your Lodge 
what we apprehend needful to be done for us, in order to promote and strengthen the 
interest of Masonry in this Province (which seems to want the sanction of some 
authority derived from home, to give the proceedings and determinations of our 
Lodge their due weight), to wit, a Deputation or Charter granted by the Right 
Worshipful Mr. Price, by virtue of his commission from Britain, confirming the 
Brethren of Pennsylvania in the privileges they at present enjoy of holding annually 
their Grand Lodge, choosing their Grand Master, Wardens, and other officers, who 
may manage all affairs relating to the Brethren here with full power and authority, 
according to the customs and usages of Masons the said Grand Master of 



Pennsylvania only yielding his chair when the said Grand Master of all America shall 
be in place. This, if it seem good and reasonable to you to grant, will not only be 
extremely agreeable to us, but will also we are confident conduce much to the 
welfare, establishment, and reputation of Masonry in these parts. We therefore submit 
it for your consideration, and as we hope our request will be complied with, we desire 
that it may be done as soon as possible and also accompanied with a copy of the R. 

W. Grand Master's first Deputation, and of the instrument by which it appears to be 
enlarged as above-mentioned, witnessed by your Wardens, and signed by the 
Secretary; for which favors this Lodge doubt not of being able to behave as not to be 
thought ungrateful. 


"We are, Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy Brethren, Your 
Affectionate Brethren and obliged humble Servts. 


"Signed at the request of the Lodge, 


"B. Franklin, G. M. 


"Philadelphia, Nov. 28,1734." 


HE SENT A LETTER TO HENRY PRICE 


On that date Franklin sent a letter to Price himself here given in its entirety: 


"Dear Brother Price - 1 am glad to hear of your recovery. I hoped to have seen you 
here this Fall, agreeable to the expectation you were so good as to give me; but since 
sickness has prevented your coming while the weather was moderate, I have no room 
to flatter myself with a visit from you before the Spring, when a deputation of the 



Brethren, who are foreigners, being about to set up a distinct Lodge in opposition to 
the old and true Brethren here, pretending to make Masons for a bowl of punch and 
the Craft is like to come into disesteem among us unless the true Brethren are 
countenanced and distinguished by some such special authority as herein desired. I 
entreat, therefore, that whatsoever you shall think proper to do therein may be sent by 
the next post, if possible, or the next following. 


"I am, 


"Your affectionate Brother 
& hum. Servt. 


"B. Franklin, G. M. 
"Pennsylvania. 


"Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1734. 


"P. S. - If more of the Constitutions are wanted among you, please hint it to me. 


[The address upon the letters:] 


"To Mr. Henry Price 


At the Brazen Head 



Boston, 

N.E." 


Unfortunately the originals of these important documents were destroyed at the 
burning of the Masonic Temple in Boston, in 1863, but there can be no doubt of their 
authenticity as here given. As to their significance there have been endless opinions. 
Do these two letters mean that Franklin was formally acknowledging Price's authority 
over Pennsylvania? Do they mean that in the minds of Franklin and his lodge 
associates there was doubt as to the regularity and legitimacy of the Philadelphia 
lodge (or lodges) ? Do they also indicate that Coxe had not exercised his authority in 
Pennsylvania? 


On page 42 of his Franklin as a Freemason Bro. Sachse presents the Pennsylvania 
point of view in a brief paragraph: 


"Franklin's information appears not to have been correct, for on examination of 
Price's deputation, granted by Ford Montague on April 30th, 1733, it appears that his 
authority was limited to New England, and there is no evidence that he ever 
attempted any control over the Grand Fodge of Pennsylvania, which continued to 
elect Grand Officers annually, as prescribed in the Coxe deputation, until the 
appointment of Franklin as Provincial Grand Master in 1749 by Thomas Oxnard, of 
Massachusetts, which was of a short duration." 


On page 3, of Vol. I, Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, : 1 727-1907, written by Sachse in 
association with Norris S. Barratt, is another passage expressing the same opinion in 
other words: 


"There should be no question as to the regular constitution of our early Pennsylvania 
Fodges. The appointment of Col. Daniel Coxe as Provincial Grand Master on the fifth 
day of June, 1730, presents undeniable evidence that there were lawful Brethren 
residing in Pennsylvania who were recognized as regular Freemasons. The 



Deputation granted Col. Coxe gave almost unlimited powers to elect officers and 
continue the Grand Lodge, without any further correspondence with the Grand 
Masters and Grand Lodge of England. In fact the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 
1731 was in all respects practically an independent Grand Lodge, the third oldest 
Grand Lodge of the world. With the exception of the Grand Lodge of England, 
established in the year 1717, followed A. D. 1726 by that of the Grand Lodge of 
Munster, which merged into the Grand Lodge of Ireland, 1729-30, the Grand Lodge 
of Pennsylvania had no superior in seniority or rival in rank." 


JOHNSON REGISTERS A DECIDED NEGATIVE 


Bro. Melvin Johnson gives expression to the counter view in his characteristically 
pungent manner on pages 126-7 of his Beginnings of Freemasonry in America: 


"In the official letter, Franklin, acting as he himself says at the request of his Lodge, 
acknowledges its want of lawful authority and prays that Price by virtue of his 
Commission from Britain, which had been extended over the whole of North 
America, would confirm the Brethren of Pennsylvania in privileges which they then 
enjoyed of holding their Lodge although without 'the sanction of some authority 
derived from home.' He further admits that the Grand Master of Pennsylvania would 
thereafter yield his chair whenever the Grand Master of North America, to wit, Henry 
Price, should be present. This letter is a flat and explicit admission made officially 
that the Brethren of Pennsylvania had no authority, and that they were irregular 
without it; and they prayed for the grant thereof. 


"Benjamin Franklin when he signed the letter of November 28, 1734, as Grand 
Master and 'at the request of the Lodge,' knew what he was writing ex cathedra. It is 
also submitted that the Brethren who officially requested their Grand Master to send 
the petition to Price, knew more about the facts of that day and generation than some 
partisan historians one hundred and fifty years later who have struggled to convince 
the Masonic world that Franklin, Price, and their associates were all wrong as to these 
facts. 



"Should all other evidence and argument be disregarded, these letters are definite and 
final. They establish that Pennsylvania Masonry was wanting in authority, i. e., was 
not duly constituted: that Henry Price was the 'Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry 
in America’.” 


After Franklin's term as Grand Master expired he served several years as Secretary of 
his lodge, and at the same time continued to publish Masonic items in his Gazette. 

One of these, dated June 9 to 16, 1737, furnishes an account of how a number of local 
young blades carried off a mock Masonic initiation with such severity as to burn their 
dupe to death. This unhappy occurrence stirred up excitement in Philadelphia and led 
to a certain amount of condemnation of the Masonic lodge, thereby serving as the 
first known Anti-Masonic effort in this land, as will be noted more fully in a later 
chapter to be devoted to the melancholy theme of Anti-Masonry. Officers of the lodge 
published a condemnation of the practical jokers and at the same time declared the 
innocence of the Masonic brethren. A rival of Franklin's Gazette, Bradford's 
American Weekly Mercury, took up the affair and published several columns of 
controversial matter, mostly aimed against the Masons. 


The report of these exciting happenings reached Franklin's mother, who knew little or 
nothing about Freemasonry, and caused her uneasiness lest her son had become 
involved in a disgraceful organization. After giving much thought as to how best to 
compose her fears Franklin sent a letter to his father, dated from Philadelphia, April 
13, 1738, in which, while discussing a number of other topics, he wrote of 
Freemasonry in this wise: 


"As to the freemasons, I know no way of giving my mother a better account of them 
than she seems to have at present, since it is not allowed that women should be 
admitted into that secret society. She has, I must confess, on that account some reason 
to be displeased with it; but for anything else I must entreat her to suspend her 
judgment until she is better informed, unless she will believe me when I assure her 
that they are in general a very harmless sort of people, and have no principles or 
practices that are inconsistent with religion and good manners." 



In his letter to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, quoted above, written under date of 
Nov. 28, Franklin suggested that Price, as Grand Master having authority "over all 
America," appoint a Deputy Grand Master for Pennsylvania. Bro. Melvin Johnson 
succeeded in locating a news item in the American Weekly Mercury, published at 
Philadelphia, under date of March 20 to 27, 1735, under a Boston heading of Feb. 24, 
to the effect that "on Friday last" Mr. Henry Price, "Grand Master of His Majesty's 
Dominions in North America, Nominated and Appointed his Grand Officers for the 
Year ensuing," among which was "Mr. Benjamin Franklin, Provincial Grand Master 
for the Province of Pennsylvania." This discovery has greatly strengthened the 
position of those brethren who argue that the Pennsylvania Masons acknowledged 
and accepted Price's authority over their own lodges. 


FRANKLIN IS AGAIN APPOINTED 


Franklin was again similarly honored in 1749, at which time Thomas Oxnard was 
Provincial Grand Master for all North America, he having received a deputation to 
that effect at the hands of John Ward, Grand Master of England, Sept. 23, 1743. On 
July 10, 1749, Oxnard appointed Franklin “Provincial Grand Master of 
Pennsylvania." Franklin convened a Grand Lodge under this warrant on Sept. 5, 
following, and this Grand Lodge warranted a new lodge to meet in Philadelphia; 
Franklin's natural son, William, was made a Mason in this lodge. 


It was in this same year that Franklin set afoot the organization of a college that 
became in time the University of Pennsylvania; among the trustees of this new 
institution meeting in November of 1749 were seven Past Grand Masters of the 
Provincial Grand Lodge. Christopher Saner, of Germantown, had some years before 
"accused" the Masons of fostering public schools. "The people who are promoters of 
the free schools," he had written, "are Grand Masters and wardens among the 
Freemasons, their very pillars." The fact mentioned just above would indicate that 
Saner had not guessed wildly. 


By this time there were at least three lodges functioning in Philadelphia. One of these, 
that meeting at the Tun Tavern, petitioned "Mr. Benjamin Franklin" for a "deputation 



under his sanction." The Philadelphia brethren evidently desired to be "regular" in 
every sense of that word. 


Franklin's term of office under the Oxnard deputation was not of long duration, for at 
the meeting of Grand Lodge, March 13, 1750, William Allen exhibited a commission 
as Provincial Grand Master received direct from the Grand Master of England. Allen 
appointed Franklin as his Deputy. It is apparent -that he remained in that office for 
some years because on June 24, 1756, when the new "Lodge," the first Masonic 
building to be erected in the United States, was dedicated, "The Deputy Grand Master 
Benjamin Franklin, Esq." appeared in the procession immediately behind Grand 
Master Allen. The sermon preached on this occasion by the Grand Chaplain, Rev. 
William Smith, was afterwards, on resolution proffered by the Grand Master, printed 
in book form from Franklin's press. 


Franklin went abroad in 1757, returning in 1762; he retained his office during that 
time, or else resumed it after returning. He went abroad again, on missions of highest 
importance to the Colonies, in November, 1764. The Minutes of the Grand Lodge of 
England show him as a visitor to Grand Lodge Nov. 17, 1760, but there, is no other 
known record Of any Masonic activity while among the members of the parent Grand 
Body during his various sojourns in England. On going to Paris, November, 1776, he 
almost immediately became active in lodge affairs, for he was made a member of the 
famous Loge des IX Socurs ("Lodge of the Nine Sisters," referring to the Muses), 
probably in 1777. From Kloss' History of Freemasonry in France we learn that he 
assisted at the initiation of Voltaire; and that on Nov. 28, 1778, he served as a Warden 
in a Lodge of Sorrow held by the Lodge of the Nine Sisters after Voltaire's death. 
Franklin filled the office of "Venerable" (roughly corresponding to our Worshipful 
Master) in the Lodge during 1782; was made a member of the Order of St. John of 
Jerusalem; in 1785 was elected an honorary member of the Lodge of Good Friends at 
Rouen; and was made the recipient at various times of Masonic medals struck in his 
honor. 


Upon returning to Philadelphia in 1785 he found that the old Grand Lodge in which 
he had been so active had passed out of existence; and that the new Grand Lodge 
erected to take its place was severing all connections with the Mother Grand Lodges 
abroad to the end of setting itself up as a sovereign body in Pennsylvania. Bro. Sachse 



believes that during the last years of his life Franklin remained an unaffiliate. He died 
in his eighty-fifth year, April 17, 1790. The ceremonies at the tomb were under the 
direction of the Grand Master of Pennsylvania. 


HE WAS SILENT ABOUT MASONRY 


For some private reason Franklin almost never mentioned Freemasonry in his 
correspondence or his published writings. His Autobiography, the earliest American 
classic, has no reference at all to his many lodge interests. His oft-quoted paragraphs 
on the Masonic signs and tokens show what a book of his would have been like had 
he ever written on Masonry: 


"These signs and tokens are of no small value; they speak a universal language, and 
act as a passport to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world. 
They cannot be lost so long as memory retains its power. Let the possessor of them be 
expatriated, shipwrecked, or imprisoned; let him be stripped of everything he has got 
in the world; still these credentials remain and are available for use as circumstances 
require. 


"The great effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable 
facts of history. They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer; they have 
softened the asperities of the tyrant, they have mitigated the horrors of captivity; they 
have subdued the rancor of malevolence; and broken down the barriers of political 
animosity and sectarian alienation. 


"On the field of battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated forests, or in the busy haunts 
of the crowded city, they have made men of the most hostile feelings, and most 
distant religions, and the most diversified conditions, rush to the aid of each other, 
and feel a social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a 
brother Mason." 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 


For references on the general events coincident with Franklin's early Masonic career 
see bibliography appended to Study Club article last month, page 314. 


The volumes above referred to contain sketches of Franklin's Masonic career. For 
more detailed accounts see Benjamin Franklin as a Freemason, Sachse; Philadelphia. 
Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, 1727-1907, Barratt and Sachse; Philadelphia, 1908 
Vol. I, page 3. Beginnings of Freemasonry in America, Melvin M. Johnson; New 
York, 1924; see index. Grand Fodge Proceedings Massachusetts, 1871, page 356 If. 
Grand Fodge Proceedings Massachusetts, 1914, page 257. Memorial History of 
Boston, Justin Winsor, Boston, 1882; Vol. II, page 269. History/ of Freemasonry, 
Gould, American Edition, Vol. IV, pages 236, 361. The Freemason's Monthly 
Magazine, Chas. W. Moore; Boston; Vol. XV, pages 21, 373; Vol. XVII, page 7. 
American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry, A. G. Mackey; New York 1858, page 
212. 


The Builder, 1915, pages 174, 232, 233; 1916, pages 60, 84, 93, 95, 181, 196, 229, 
253, 294, 320, 325, 1917, page 164; 1918, pages 153, 170; 1919, page 39; 1921, page 
264; 1922, page 351; 1923, page 174. 


Among the almost innumerable biographies or biographical studies of Franklin may 
be mentioned his own Autobiography. Fife and Times of Benjamin Franklin, James 
Parton, two volumes, New York, 1864. Benjamin Franklin, John T. Morse, Jr., 
Boston, 1889. The Many Sided Franklin, Paul F. Ford; New York 1899. The True 
Benjamin Franklin, S. G. Fisher; Philadelphia, 1899. Franklin in France, E. E. Hale 
and E. E. Hale, Jr., two volumes; Boston, 1888. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 



What is your estimate of Franklin's place in American History? Why may Franklin's 
greatness be described "as absolute?" How long did his Masonic activities last'? 


What was the first known printed item concerning American lodges? What was the 
“Leather Apron Club?” “the Junto?” 


When and where was Franklin initiated? What is Liber B? What offices did he hold in 
the Masonic lodge and when was he appointed Junior Grand Warden? What is meant 
by by-laws of a lodge? 


Of what Grand Lodge was Franklin Grand Master? When? How active was Franklin 
in his lodge? 


What is meant by the Constitutions? What was the first Masonic book printed in the 
United States? When? Where are copies known to exist? Describe it. 


What is the significance of Franklin's letters to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and 
to Henry Price? Do these two letters indicate to you that Pennsylvania was then under 
the jurisdiction of Price? Give the gist of Johnson's argument. 


Describe the first known anti-Masonic excitement. What would Franklin's letter to his 
mother indicate as to his own feelings about Freemasonry? Describe and explain 
Johnson's discovery concerning Price's appointment of Franklin as Provincial Grand 
Master. When was Franklin again made Provincial Grand Master? By whom? 


What part did early Pennsylvania Masons take in public education ? Under what 
circumstances did Franklin become a Deputy Grand Master? 



What is meant by "Lodge of the Nine Sisters?" Who was Voltaire ? Was Voltaire an 
atheist ? Where was he made a Mason? What part did Franklin take in it? Why, do 
you suppose, did Franklin not mention Freemasonry in his public writings? Give a 
summary of his tribute to Freemasonry. 


— o — 


UNITY AND LOVE 


"Let these words be our motto, 
Breath of our social sphere 
Let each one give his quota 
Of kindness, love and cheer 
Real brothers we shall be, 
Decreed by Heaven above 
Our law shall be our high degree 
Of Unity and Love! " 


— o — 


Freemasonry in Austria 



By Bro. DR. WLADIMIR MISAR, Grand Secretary, Vienna 


Having noted the absence of any mention of the Grand Lodge of Vienna (Grossloge 
Von Wien) in Ye Editor's Study Club article on "Various Grand Lodges" in THE 
BUILDER of last June, Bro. Dr. Misar was kind enough to prepare an authentic 
account of that Grand Body to fill that regretted omission, and with it sent greetings 
to his brethren in America. 


FREEMASONRY in Austria dates back to the first half of the eighteenth century. 
The first lodge, Zu den drei Kanonen, was founded in Vienna, 1742. It was forbidden 
under the Government of the Empress Maria Theresa, but later was permitted by the 
Emperor Joseph II, in whose time many famous men - Sonnenfels, Mozart, Haydn - 
were members of Vienna lodges, which in those times mostly worked under the 
obedience of the Grosse Landesloge of Berlin. 


The Grosse Landesloge van Osterreich, founded 1784, was dissolved under the 
government of Francis I and since then Freemasonry in Austria has been permitted 
only for short periods till the year 1918. 


Meanwhile in the year 1871 another Austrian lodge had been constituted by great 
efforts of Hungarian Masons living in Austria. This, the oldest of our existing lodges, 
called Humanitas, was founded in a place on the territory of Hungary, but near the 
Austro-Hungarian frontier. 


The lodge Humanitas and a number of other lodges, partly emanating from it, partly 
founded by Austrians in the territory of Hungary, all working according to the 
constitution of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, were taken under the protection of the 
Symbolic Grand Lodge of Hungary. 



Before the Great War there existed fourteen such lodges, all of them not being 
admitted in Austria and therefore being obliged to perform their works of initiations, 
etc., in Hungary, in such places as Neudorfel, Pressburg, etc., situated near the 
frontier. In order to secure the possibility of the Austrian Freemasons meeting on the 
Austrian territory for purposes of administration, instruction, or social intercourse, 
each of the Austrian lodges formed a parallel society of profane name and character, 
publicly maintaining a social, cultural, educational or charitable purpose. Most of the 
lodges also maintained special benevolent institutions. The oldest lodge, Humanitas, 
is known to have founded the first Austrian orphanage, Erstes Osterreichisshes 
Kinderasyl Humanitas. 


The break-up of the old Austrian Empire suggested the possibility of creating an 
Austrian Grand Lodge, which idea met with complaisant understanding at the 
Symbolic Grand Lodge of Hungary. On Dec. 8, 1918, the fourteen Vienna lodges 
assembled to found the "Grand Lodge of Vienna," the charter of which was issued by 
the Symbolic Grand Lodge of Hungary, Jan. 25, 1919. 


A period of new cultural and intellectual ascent for Austrian Freemasonry then began. 
Opened for new parts of the society remaining aloof from Masonry as long as it was 
forbidden, the Vienna lodges by and by acquired members prominent both in social 
and in intellectual rank. 


Politicians, men of science, and famous artists adorn the Craft. The meetings reveal a 
most interesting selection of instructive lectures and the solemn initiations, 
embellished by the famous art of Vienna musicians, are festivals of ever memorable 
impression. 


Built up since its beginnings on the basis of impartial humanity, without any 
prejudices of theological or national character, Austrian Freemasonry has always seen 
its first and highest aim in moderating and reconciliating all opposites of any kind 
among human individuals, parties and nations. 



In consequence of these convictions the Grand Lodge of Vienna in the year 1922 
solemnly declared "The promotion of inward and outward peace" to be its chief 
program. 


At the present time there are working under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of 
Vienna sixteen lodges with nearly 1500 members. 


— o — 


IN WHAT BROTHERLY LOVE CONSISTS 


"Brotherly love is not found in beautiful words; it is not in public works; it is not 
ostentation; it is not done for glory, for these can never be recorded as the real service 
of Masonry. It is in the kind word, quietly spoken, in the little act of kindness when 
the soul craves for aid and comfort; it is in the little touch of love given when the 
heart is breaking; it is when your life, like the rose whose beauty gives forth sweet 
perfume for you and me, touches the other life in sweet accord and perfect tune, that 
it is recorded in everlasting history. Such service is brotherly love, and the Divine in 
man and the all-seeing eye of the Great Architect of the Universe will forever watch 
over it, and never, never let it die.” 


— o — 


EDITORIAL 


"Problem of the Side Order" 



UNDER a headline dated from Utica, N. Y., Oct. 6, 1924, the Associated Press sent 
out a news story to the effect that with a view to fostering "a spirit of toleration in 
economics, politics and religion," fifty Protestants, nearly all of them Masons, and a 
like number of Roman Catholics, most of them Knights of Columbus, "met tonight 
for the formal organization of the Hamilton- Jefferson Association," announced as a 
"non-secret, non-sectarian and non-partisan" undertaking. 


"Organization of the association," we continue to read, "was brought about when 
Attorney Arthur J. Foley, member of the Knights of Columbus, discussed its 
formation with Wm. Ross Lee, former District Attorney of Oneida County and a 
Mason. The plan was broached to Andrew F. Kelly, director of the Utica branch of 
the National Catholic Welfare Council, who, after approving it, suggested presenting 
it to Root." Elihu Root was named as the most prominent person allying himself with 
this new association. 


It would be obviously impossible for such an association, if it ever becomes a reality, 
to become a Side Order, and nothing is said to that effect, but even so this episode 
furnishes a perfect laboratory specimen whereby to make a dissection of that subject. 
There is a distinction between a "Side Degree" and a "Side Order," for where the 
former originates within a regular Masonic body, and remains under the official 
control of that body (the Past Master's Degree, as worked in many jurisdictions is an 
example), a "Side Order" originates outside any regular Masonic body among private 
individuals who happen to be Masons, and who make use of Masonry as a means to 
an end. What has come to be called "the Problem of the Side Order" arises not from 
the fact that it is an addition to the recognized degrees - the Order of High Priesthood, 
never brought into question, may be described as such an addition - but from the fact 
that private Masons make use of the name of Masonry unofficially or extraofficially . 
An organization appends itself to Masonry but at the same time lies outside control by 
Masonry; therein lies the crux of the whole matter. 


That crux may be thrown into the form of a series of questions. Have individual 
Masons a right to claim a connection with Masonry for extra-Masonic purposes? Has 
any Masonic Grand Body a right to confer such a privilege on private Masons ? If 
such a privilege is extended to one group for one purpose why not to some other for 
another purpose ? Can any group of Masons, as Masons, take action concerning 



questions forbidden to lodges, chapters, commanderies and consistories? What if such 
a group misuses the name or influence of the Craft; how is it to be controlled by 
regular Masonic bodies? 


The wisest leaders of the Craft are endeavoring to answer these perplexing questions, 
each of which bristles with a hundred difficulties. It will be interesting to exhibit in 
this connection a catena of their answers and remarks, selected at random from Grand 
Lodge Proceedings of the past year or two. These quotations are not chosen with a 
view to making out a case - it is not the purpose here to make out a case - but are 
lifted from our reference files regardless of their being pro or con: 


Colorado. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1921 


At our last annual communication we were obliged to repudiate one of those fraternal 
parasites which sought to fasten itself upon the body of Freemasonry, appropriate its 
degrees and march beneath its banners. Others are appearing and causing much 
concern in this, as well as other Grand Jurisdictions. The same principles apply to all, 
and if we could turn back the pages of history and write it anew, we might 
discountenance all. This, of course, at the present time, is impracticable. We have a 
condition to meet, due largely to our easy tolerance, and not a theory to vindicate. But 
we should take no additional step down the road we have mistakenly traveled in the 
past. 


Delaware. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1921 


It is our sincere judgment that Masonry is suffering in these modem days from two 
serious diseases. The first of these is the anxiety on the part of the majority of the 
members of the Craft to know the mysteries of the so-called "Higher Degrees." There 
are no higher degrees. There can be nothing higher than the three degrees of Blue 
Lodge Masonry and nothing holier than to attain to that moral eminence which is 
involved in the term Master Mason. A Master Mason has the mastery over himself 
His passions have been subdued, his ambitions have been brought into harmony with 



truth and justice' his powers are directed into the channels of duty to God and his 
fellow men, selfishness has been conquered. He is a man, a master, the noblest work 
of God. 


It is a serious mistake for our members to come into our lodges and immediately upon 
receiving the Master Mason Degree, rush a petition into the chapter, or the consistory, 
and on into the Mystic Shrine before they become acquainted with the basic 
principles of Masonry, all of which are to be found in the Blue Lodge. 


Florida. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 


It is with regret that we notice the very large number of fraternal organizations which 
have been organized within a few years, all of which require membership in the 
Masonic Order as a prerequisite for membership, or which require on behalf of the 
women members, relationship to some member of the Masonic Order. 


Georgia. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1922 


It seems almost unnecessary for me to mention here my personal opinion and official 
action in regard to Masonic parasites. The two and a half million men who constitute 
the Masonic membership of the United States are a tempting bait for many and 
sundry organizations of various kinds. They attempt to attach themselves to Masonry 
for monetary gain, and to aid them in rapidly filling their ranks Symbolic Masonry is 
the foundation and the life germ. It seems to be the opinion of many that if the least 
bit of this simon-pure Masonic protoplasm can be injected into the veins of their 
organization Masons will be induced thereby to join, and will follow their lead. It is 
useless to enumerate the different organizations; many of them are no doubt good and 
honorable, many beautiful, and teaching in their ritual morality in forceful drama and 
symbols. Many are possibly not so worthy. Perhaps one who does not know has no 
right to speak, but I only wish to utter a word of caution and urge your most serious 
consideration of all organizations that use the word "Mason" or "Masonry" to further 
their interests, making membership in Masonry a prerequisite to their membership, 



and to most seriously ask your attention to whether or not we should legislate against 
such practice. 


A clipping the Fulton County Daily Report was sent me, in which appeared an 
application for charter to be granted "The Great American Fraternity." In this charter 
they propose "Uniting into one great fraternity those members in good standing who 
desire to affiliate and amalgamate with the following societies or fraternities, to-wit: 
Junior Order of the United Mechanics, Free and Accepted Masons, Guardians of 
Liberty, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Daughters of America . . . except in the 
case of male members the feminine members of his family between the ages of 
sixteen and sixty . . . 'The Great American Fraternity' is to provide a ritual. ... It 
being the intention of petitioners to carry on a fraternal and benefit society . . . 
provide a medium whereby a practical expedient may be found by putting into 
execution the precepts recognized and taught by all the aforesaid fraternities or 
societies," etc. 


Masonry never having "affiliated" or "amalgamated" with any other society or 
organization, I felt aggrieved that we should be so associated, and immediately 
entered my protest to the attorney of the proposed "The Great American Fraternity," 
courteously requesting him to exclude the Free and Accepted Masons from his 
application. He refused to do so. I sought legal advice, but to no avail. I entered in 
person and by attorney my protest as Grand Master, but it seems that we have no 
remedy. I felt it my duty to do what I could to prevent our Fraternity from being a part 
and parcel of such an organization. 


At the time this is written no license to do business in Georgia has been issued; I am 
told that they have not met the requirements of our state laws. 


Kansas. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 


In the first place, Symbolic Masonry never has admitted of there being any fraternity 
other than that of Ancient Craft Masonry, and any attempt on the part of the Grand 



Lodge to introduce into its deliberations subjects dealing with outside organizations is 
an admission that there is Freemasonry outside of the first three degrees, known as 
Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. The right of any Grand Lodge to 
provide a penalty for one of its Members who joins an outside organization might be 
questioned, as we do not believe it is within the power of any Grand Lodge to make it 
an offense for a brother to join some other organization so long as in so doing he does 
not become a member of a society which is inimical to the good name and reputation 
of Symbolic Masonry. 


Oregon. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1922 


The very romantic history of the medical fraternity advised us years ago that we had 
an organ in our interior called the appendix. We were told that it was a perfectly 
useless organ but, so long as it behaved, it was also a perfectly harmless one but when 
it began to misbehave, it could only be cured by absolute removal through the 
surgeon's knife. In recent years this country has been afflicted with an increasing 
number of so-called secret fraternal or appendant organizations which make 
membership in a Masonic lodge a requisite for membership therein. 


Born without cause reared in selfish interest, the effect is well known - trouble and 
disorder. Claiming to be a "little brother" to the Masonic Fraternity, it leaves to that 
organization its troubles, while the organizer goes on to pastures still more green The 
time is present when this Grand Lodge should stop this imposition and use the 
surgeon's knife of removal. Masonry is complete within itself. It needs no side 
organizations to develop its principles or support its growth among its membership. 
This Grand Lodge should demand a thorough investigation of all such organizations, 
and only until such organizations are recommended by the Grand Master and 
approved by the Grand Lodge should membership therein be permitted. I trust that the 
time is close at hand when it shall be declared a Masonic offense for any Master 
Mason to petition for additional work in Masonry until three years have elapsed after 
his raising. 


California. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 



In this respect, however, I suggest that action be taken by Grand Lodge, through our 
Jurisprudence Committee, to exercise a general supervision over any new bodies 
claiming to be co-ordinate Masonic bodies and which make as a prerequisite for 
membership, good standing in the Blue Lodge, with the idea of preventing the 
formation of other organizations claiming to represent Masonry. 


Minnesota. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 


Gradually during the last years, organizations have sprung up in other states that 
require as a prerequisite to membership, membership in good standing in the Blue 
Lodge. Think of the audacity, brethren, of using us as a foundation to build up 
organizations over which we have no control, and whose shortcomings will be laid to 
all those bearing the name of Mason. I recommend the passage of a resolution which 
will make it a Masonic offense, punishable by expulsion, for anyone to join any order 
that requires membership in the Blue Lodge in good standing as a prerequisite to its 
own membership, if that order has not been recognized by this Grand Lodge. 


Many of these orders have splendid teachings, but they contain nothing that Masonry 
does not teach. It is time that we are getting back to our own philosophy again. In our 
mad rush for badges, plumes and honors, we have gotten away from the teachings of 
our forefathers in this great work. In one of the foreign jurisdictions where one of 
these organizations was encouraged, it became so active that it sought to elect the 
officers of the Grand Lodge of that jurisdiction and so control Masonry for its own 
ends. These organizations are not only useless, but they are a decided drain on all 
things undertaken by the Blue Lodge. They are a detriment, and I hope that you will 
pass some sort of legislation with teeth in it, that we may have this settled before they 
start in this state in any numbers. 


Washington. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 



Many complaints have been made by zealous brethren during the year, from an 
entirely different viewpoint. Some to the effect that Masonry was being exploited for 
the purpose of furthering interests not entirely Masonic or in keeping with our time- 
honored principles. Others, that it was high time for Masonry to assert itself in an 
institutional way on some of the perplexing topics of the day, in order to emphasize 
its right for existence. 


In answer to the former, I am of the opinion that it is high time that this Grand Lodge 
make it known, with no uncertain sound, to the entire Craft in this Grand Jurisdiction, 
that it is a guardian of the Ancient Landmarks, the glorious history, the honor, the 
dignity and the prestige of this Institution, and that it will not permit its members to 
trail it in the dust by doing things as Masons which they would not dare to do in a 
Masonic lodge, by using Masonry to promote that which is contrary to Masonic 
principles and Masonic ideals. By lending their support to methods of raising money 
that are not in keeping with our profession, and when informed that such methods are 
unlawful, some claim the right to pursue these methods because other societies have 
been permitted to do so. Since when, my brethren, did this Institution fall so low that 
it gives as its excuse to civil authority for doing things contrary to law: "You have 
permitted others, and why not us ?" Masonry does not deprive any one of its members 
of his individual liberty as a citizen, in Freedom of thought, word and action. But he 
must be particularly careful. He must not use Masonry in the promotion of anything 
that is not strictly Masonic. Nor should a building, dedicated to Masonry, virtue and 
benevolence, be used for anything that is not in keeping with these ideals. It must not 
be overlooked that this Grand Lodge still retains the power and authority to enforce 
obedience among its members to a strict observance of its landmarks. 


Ohio. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1922 


During the year my attention has been repeatedly called to the activities of the various 
organizations which predicate their membership on Masonry. An investigation of 
these activities discloses conditions which constitute a menace to Masonry more 
serious and destructive than anything that has ever heretofore concerned it. Masonry 
in the past has been assailed from without and has withstood its every assault. Now, 
however, it is being attacked from within by most insidious and pernicious artifices. 



Pennsylvania. Grand Lodge Proceedings: 1923 


He [Grand Master Harry S. Johnson] was of the opinion that Craft Masonry in Ohio 
needed protection (!) from other organizations based on Masonry, and his method of 
defense was to make it impossible for a Master Mason to join any such body until one 
year has elapsed from the time of receiving his Master Mason's Degree, and also after 
a satisfactory examination therein. This subject has engaged the attention of a number 
of Grand Lodges and some of them have adopted measures along the lines suggested. 
Query: Pushed to its legitimate conclusion does the policy tend ultimately to the 
control of Masons as to what other organizations they may affiliate with? We believe 
we can see that possible eventuality, and that it may lead to serious dissensions 
among the Craft. 


— o — 


THE LIBRARY 


A Great Symbolist Writes of Symbolism 


THE SYMBOLIST MOVEMENT IN LITERATURE, by Arthur Symons. Published 
by E. P. Dutton, New York. May be purchased through the National Masonic 
Research Society. Cloth, 193 pages, postpaid, $3.60. 


ONE of the very few masters among those recent men of letters who work in poetry, 
essays, and literary criticism, Arthur Symons belongs to a group that began (in 
England, at least) with Pater, and became a power with Maeterlinck, Yeats, Flaubert, 
d'Annuzio, the Goncourts, Huysmans and others, along with Anatole France, who has 
died recently. The root of his genius is an almost tragical sincerity of effort to get at 



life itself, to know and to comprehend it, not by means of literary conventions, but 
through immediate vision and unfearing insight, which is in essence almost at one 
with the secret of the most creative of the geniuses in religion. The mark of those 
geniuses, of whom the great mystics are most completely representative, is a daring 
desire to come into close touch with Reality itself, all shams discarded; Symons is not 
in any sense a religious genius but he possesses in unusual measure their arduous 
sincerity; and the human fear that paralyzes most men from making any such effort is 
as lacking in him as in them. Out of such a soul, and with the experiences born of 
such an effort, he has in labor and countless sacrifices created a literary style in which 
sentences are living forces that startle and waylay, like unexpected miracles; in which 
the words, created anew from within, are sonorous and orchestral, and remain 
vibrating in the memory long afterwards, like golden bells. The effect on a reader is 
disconcerting at first, because most readers approach a book instinctively expecting to 
find its author expressing himself in forms of the familiar traditions. These traditions 
are not in Symons himself and therefore not in his books, not in his Dramatis 
Personae, Studies in Prose and Verse, Studies in Seven Arts, The Symbolist 
Movement in Literature; and it is because these traditions with their conventions, 
their set judgments, their worn vocabularies are not in him that he is listed with the 
decadents. 


Our Masonic Presidents 


THE frontispiece of this issue shows the eleven Presidents of the United States of 
whom we have evidence that they were members of the Masonic Fraternity. This 
picture has been printed separately on heavy engravers' proof paper suitable for 
framing at fifty cents postpaid. Beginning with the top row and reading from left to 
right their names and dates of initiation, passing and raising are as follows: 


James K. Polk (1795-1849) - Initiated June 5, 1820. Columbia Lodge No. 31, 
Columbia, Tenn. Passed Aug. 7, 1820, raised Sept. 4 1820. 



James Monroe (1758-1831) - Held membership in Kilwinning-Crosse Lodge, No. 2, 
Virginia, and Williamsburg. Lodge, No. 6, Williamsburg, Va. 


Andrew Jackson (1767-1829) - Was a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 4, Nashville, 
Tenn. Time not known when made a Mason. Was Grand Master of Masons in 
Tennessee from Oct. 7, 1822, to Oct. 4, 1824. 


James Buchanan (1791-1868) - Initiated Dec. 11, 1816, Lodge No. 43, Lancaster, Pa. 
Passed and raised Jan. 24, 1817. 


George Washington (1732-1799) - Initiated in Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4 
Fredericksburg, Va. Nov. 4 1752: passed March 3, 1753: raised Aug. 4, 1753. 


Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) - Raised in Greenville Lodge, No. 1 19, Greenville. 
Tenn. Dates unknown but supposed to be between 1848 and 1852. 


James A. Garfield (1831-1881) - Initiated Nov. 22, 1861, in Magnolia Lodge, No. 20, 
Columbus, Ohio; passed Dec. 3, 1861, and raised Nov. 22, 1864. 


Wm. McKinley (1844-1901) - Initiated May 1, 1865, in Hiram Lodge, No. 21, 
Winchester, Va.; passed May 2, 1865, raised May 3, 1865. 


Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1918) - Initiated Jan. 2, 1901, in Matinecock Lodge, No. 
806, Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y.; passed March 27, 1901; raised April 14, 1901. 



William Howard Taft (1857) - Made n Mason at sight in Kilwinning Lodge, No. 385, 
Cincinnati Ohio, by Grand Master Chas. S. Hoskinson, Feb. 18, i909. 


Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) - Raised in Marion Lodge, No. 7, Marion, Ohio, 
Aura 7, 1920. 


When a literary man finds that a great tradition has broken up, after he and his 
forbears had found shelter within it for centuries, he has no alternative except to 
retreat upon his private self. He becomes, in a sense not doctrinaire, an individualist; 
and since in the terminology of literary criticism such a period is termed a decadence, 
such A1 individual is a decadent. The misuse of this word To describe a man morally 
corrupt should be abandoned; it should not be permitted even to enter the mind when 
one is thinking of such a man as Arthur Symons, or of that austere artist, Symon's 
spiritual father, Walter Pater. If here and there some decadent, a Verlaine, perhaps, or 
an Ernest Downson - who sought the path followed to its suicidal end by Richard 
Middleton, Thos. Lovell Beddoes, John Davidson and Chatterton, "the marvelous boy 
who perished in his pride" - who wrote his pathos and heartbreak into that poem of 
darkly melodious lines, Non sum qualis cram bonae sub regno Cynarae, if such a one 
collapses into a bankruptcy of the moral life it is not because he is a decadent but 
because he is human. 


The Symbolist Movement in Literature is an appraisal of the work of a group of 
decadents who discovered the value of symbolism in the art of literature, and who as 
they perfected their books perfected their understanding of those experiences and 
needs of the mind that symbolism, and symbolism alone, can satisfy. We Masons 
ourselves, who think and talk so much about symbols, have never won an 
understanding as clear and rich as theirs. They learned that symbolism is not an 
invented ingenious device for mystification, least of all a thing for the purpose of 
concealing truth - at any rate not in this age when learning does not need to hide itself 
underground. It dawned on them that every human mind must think thoughts in 



advance of facts; that many of the most necessary ideas transcend knowledge; and 
that every mind must find a way to deal with experiences that lie outside the fields of 
present science. It is necessary for us to think, for example, in some fashion, the idea 
of the universe, of immortality, of God; but such ideas are larger than our knowledge, 
therefore they are symbols; as such they do not fly away from facts, or contradict 
truths, or move in a mere realm of fancy. When properly understood such symbols are 
as reliable a method of thinking and as 'dependable a means for expressing truths as 
logic or philosophy, or science itself. Symbols are not playthings of the soul, but 
necessities. If any human being will carefully examine his own inner experiences he 
will find that he is using symbolism every day, in every moment of his existence, 
even in his dreams. 


Freemasonry has understood this importance of symbolism for these many centuries. 
But alas! for all our books we do not yet possess - save in very few instances - any 
literature of symbolism at all, literature I mean, in the only true sense of the word, and 
not merely pages of print. The same thing is true, for that matter, of any of the other 
of our major subjects, for the majority of our books are pedantic and dull, oftentimes 
mere catalogues of unliving facts, remaining over, many of them, as forlorn survivals 
from an age that has passed. Ashes of print! that is a not unfair characterization of 
scores of our manuals of labored information, bereft of any power they may once 
have possessed of opening up new and profounder revelations of Masonry or of 
moving the souls of men. Until we repent of this great sin of omission in such a 
manner as to make it possible for the masters of literature to come with us and to 
work in our name we have no choice but either to leave all our symbolism lying half 
understood in the depths of our consciousness, or else to go abroad, outside our own 
circles, into literature at large, to learn our lessons from men who have never passed 
the portals of our initiations. 


* * * 


LORD BACON, ROSICRUCIANISM AND FREEMASONRY 



FRANCIS BACON AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY: AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT 
AND UNITE THE LOST LINKS OF A LONG AND STRONG CHAIN, by Mrs. 
Henry Pott. May be purchased through the National Masonic Research Society. Blue 
cloth; illustrated; bibliographies; index. Price, postpaid, $4.50. 


AFTER this unique and much sought for book had passed out of print, and apparently 
had become unobtainable, the National Masonic Research Society was fortunate 
enough to discover a publisher's remainder or a limited number of copies. Such 
brethren as may not be able to add this item to their collection - it is often referred to - 
may be interested to know something of its contents; they are peculiar and in a certain 
sense are fascinating; and they have an importance from the fact that many more 
recent books have had their point of departure from them. 


The theory at the center of Francis Bacon and His Secret Society is simple enough: 
the point of it is that Bacon determined to set up a new order of culture through a 
secret school; that he either founded or utilized the Society of the Rosicrucians; and 
that Freemasonry is a kind of split-off, or lower grade, of the Rosicrucians. 


In support of this theory the authoress makes a number of startling assertions, of 
which a few contained in her Preface to the Second Edition are typical of many more. 
Therein she avers that "at the age of 15 Francis began to draw together his 'Invisible 
Brotherhood,' the Rosicrucian Fraternity." Mrs. Pott says that a Rosicrucian, "the last 
of his circle," [italics hers] told her this. "It has also been announced to a Lodge of 
Masons, by the 'Supreme Magus. Ros. Cru. in Anglia,' [this was Dr. Wynn Westcott] 
that the Rosicrucian and Masonic Orders are parts of One and the Same Society - The 
Rosicrucians, a Secret Society - the Freemasons, a Society with Secrets. This 
statement after some objection from the Lodge, was accepted as an incontrovertible 
fact." These sentences are astonishing enough, but see what follows! "The President 
of the Bacon Society also received from Sir C. Purdon-Clarke positive confirmation 
of the statement that Francis Bacon (so-called) founded modern Speculative 
Masonry." In Mrs. Pott's world miracles never cease. All the biographies tell us that 
Bacon died in 1626, but Mrs. Pott says that this is not true; Bacon did not really die 
then, but merely adopted aliases and lived on undetected. "Francis St. Alban [Bacon] 
the 'Magus,' the 'Miracle of Men,' 'died at the age of 106-7, in the year 1668." 



As regards Bacon and his connection with the Rosicrucians it happens fortunately 
enough that a great work, fresh from the press, stands ready to be quoted. Bro. Arthur 
Edward Waite published in 1887 a since famous book entitled The Real History of 
the Rosicrucians; it now happens that at the end of his long laborious career as a 
scholar he has found it possible to replace that work by another, The Brotherhood of 
the Rosy Cross, to be reviewed in some subsequent issue. Inasmuch as Bro. Waite 
knows more about this subject than any other living person it is important just here to 
quote him from the pages in which he pays his respects to Mrs. Pott: 


"An examination of Mrs. Pott's somewhat elaborate work presents her from the 
beginning as her own court of appeal, as well as her own counsel. She has credited 
Francis Bacon directly or indirectly, with the bulk of important Elizabethan literature, 
and as it is impossible that he could have produced single-handed so vast an output - 
not to speak of the post-Elizabethan works which are also fathered upon him - she 
postulates 'united efforts.' In other words, Bacon was the centre of a 'secret league for 
the advancement of learning.' It will be seen that the thesis depends in this manner on 
the accuracy of her credit side of the account, with which no one is in agreement 
except a few kindred enthusiasts to whom I shall advert shortly. She tells us in the 
next place that she has searched the history of Secret Societies throughout the Middle 
Ages and has decided that the Rosicrucian Fraternity is 'the one of all others which 
would have been best fitted to promote Bacon's lofty aims.' There is no need to point 
out here, as an obvious answer, that the existence of Rosicrucian Society in the 
Middle Ages happens to be one of the chief questions at issue; no doubt her purpose 
would be served equally well by saying that he founded the Order - which is one of 
her alternatives. It is enough that her contention is based on a question of Baconian 
authorship, about which neither she nor anyone like her has been able to satisfy a 
single reasonable mind. When the evidence has been based on supposed critical 
considerations we are embarked on a sea of false analogies and gratuitous 
speculations: when it is founded upon buried ciphers they prove to be arbitrary 
inventions by means of which any authorship could be got out of any document. 


"Let us admit, however, for a moment the ruling of the court of appeal and even 
extend its findings. Let us say that Bacon wrote all which matters in English literature 
from the Canterbury Tales to Sartor Resartus. Be it granted also that a single Secret 
Society to furnish amanuenses, or even aids in research seems strictly moderate. But 



what considerations are offers by Mrs. Pott to persuade us that he selected the 
Rosicrucians - supposing that they preceded him in time - or established them as a 
league of scriveners? I have searched the whole volume recommended by Mr. A. P. 
Sinnett and have found three pieces of alleged evidence. (1) It is said in the Fama 
Fraternitatis: 'After this manner began the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross at first by 
four persons only, and by them was made the Magical Language and Writing, with a 
great Dictionary, which we still use daily to the praise and glory of God, finding great 
wisdom therein.' Herein, as we are told, are the head and heart of Bacon discovered 
certainly, because one of his most cherished schemes was the compilation of 
dictionaries. Unfortunately however, for Mrs. Pott, the Rosicrucian lexicon was 
obviously a glossary of words to accompany an invented language and its cipher 
alphabet, whereas Bacon's hypothetical dictionaries stood for encyclopaedic 
compilations, for repositories of knowledge. That is the distinction between them, and 
thereon collapses the evidence. (2) The second evidential point, according to Mrs. 
Pott, is that Bacon's College of the Six Days, described in The New Atlantis, is the 
College of the Rosicrucians. This as she says, 'we know,' the rejoinder to which is an 
equally distinct negative. (3) For the third she produces a selection from fifty-two 
alleged Rules or Laws adopted by the original Rosicrucians; but with due respect to 
the good intentions of a deceased lady I have to submit that, as enumerated by her 
these Laws are fraudulent. The 'original' Rosicrucians - according to their legend - 
had an agreement in common together, embodied in Six clauses only, as we shall see 
in the proper place, and out of these she extracts three. The fifty-two Laws are those 
published by Sigmund Richter in 1710, but Mrs. Pott has subjected them to a process 
of editing in the interests of personal predilections, as, for example, to shew that 
Rosicrucians were forbidden to issue Rosicrucian writings under the names of their 
authors - presumably because the vast suppositious works of Bacon appeared under 
other designations than his own. Such are the heads of evidence that Francis Bacon 
belonged to the Rosicrucian Society, whether as member and chief at his period or as 
its original founder: they are of the same kind and the same value as those by which it 
has been sought to shew he wrote the plays of Shakespeare, The Faerie Queen, The 
Anatomy of Melancholy, and so onward through the centuries, almost to our own 
day." 


Thus far Waite. He has overlooked one of the choicest of Mrs. Pott's attributions of 
authorship. On page 266 of her Second Edition she makes this delicious statement: 
"At least one-third of Preston's Illustrations is, we believe, taken directly from Bacon, 
perhaps originally dictated by him." Shades of the Czesars! William Preston was bom 
in 1742; if Mrs. Pott were correct in her theory that Bacon died in 1668, his death 
occurred seventy-four years before Preston's birth! 



Our authoress devotes her Chapter IX to Masonry. It is a vague and vaporous treatise, 
with no ballast in it, and serves as a kind of narrow peninsula to her argument, which 
is, as already indicated, that Freemasonry is a lapse from Rosicrucianism, a 
subordinate and quite inferior offshoot; there is no need to discuss it because there is 
no knowledge of Masonry revealed in it. 


According to the judgment of the present reviewer Chapters IX and X are the most 
interesting in the book, for they deal with "Paper-Marks Used Until the Time of Sir 
Nicholas Bacon," and "Paper-Marks in and After the Time of Francis Bacon." The 
bibliophiles who have chanced upon Harold Bayley's Lost Language of Symbolism 
know how fascinating is that by-way of research, whatever value he may or may not 
attach to it; and such brethren as have been unable to secure a copy of Bayley will 
find his materials here condensed and his arguments very ably epitomized. 


For all its vagaries Francis Bacon and His Secret Society is a book one likes to have 
on his shelves, especially if he is fond of running down references and checking up 
quotations. The authoress has left behind her a mass of information about Bacon 
himself - she saturated herself in his writings, real or imputed, for years - and her 
boldness is always refreshing. 


* * * 


A NEW CATALOG OF MASONIC BOOKS: BOUND VOLUME FOR 1924: 
ANNUAL INDEX 


WITH this issue THE BUILDER completes its tenth W volume, the first having been 
published January, 1915. As in preceding years a volume will be issued during the 
next few weeks, securely bound in goldenrod buckram, with a complete descriptive 
index, thereby transforming the twelve numbers into a book for permanent use; 
unused copies are employed, with covers removed, to be sold at $3.75. Brethren 



desiring this volume will receive an allowance of one dollar on returning their own 
file of separate issues for the year, providing they are in good condition; or they can 
have their own copies bound for $2.75. Orders may be placed on file at once. 


For such as do not have their volumes bound, an index is being prepared to cover all 
numbers for the year 1924, to be printed separately. In order to prevent all waste of 
funds of the Society this index will be mailed only to those requesting it. In asking for 
it kindly see that your name and address is given in full and as legibly as possible. 


Also the Society is happy to announce the completion of a new catalog of books for 
Masons, for general distribution without cost. Containing some 550 titles, none of 
them secondhand, this is probably the most comprehensive Masonic book list 
published in English during many years. Titles of especial interest to Royal Arch, 
Knight Templar and Scottish Rite brethren are separately indicated. 


The distinguishing feature of this new catalog is the large number of titles included 
not specifically Masonic but having value for Masons; this is the first time, perhaps, 
that any attempt has been made to work out a well rounded list of such auxiliary 
subjects. It makes it possible for a Mason to find literature on any imaginable theme 
that may come up in the course of his Masonic activities or of his reading; and 
oftentimes the material in such non-Masonic books is more valuable or more 
authentic than can be found in the Craft's own literature. Members of Side Orders, 
speech makers, Study Clubs, members of social committees, musicians, architects and 
all others in specialized activities will find here their literary wants. So also will 
brethren in the English speaking world outside of the United States; all Masonic 
books published in England, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, etc., known to be 
available have been included. 


Each title is described as to its general nature, size and binding, so that the catalog 
will serve as a permanent bibliographical reference work. Readers who find any 
available titles omitted will confer a favor by giving notice of the same for inclusion 
in a future edition. 



The book is attractively printed on good paper, pocket size. All prices cover post 
payment. Single copies will be sent postpaid on request; when more than one copy is 
required, send stamps to cover postage; brethren needing large quantities may make 
special arrangements by mail. Address all letters and inquiries to Book Department, 
National Masonic Research Society, 1950 Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. 


* * * 


"THE LITTLE MASONIC LIBRARY" 


THE Masonic Service Association, with headquarters at Washington, D. C., has 
announced the publication of The Little Masonic Library, a set of twenty volumes, 4 
1/2 by 6 1/4, bound in cloth, stamped in gold, containing along with a number of 
works hitherto unpublished such standard writings as Goodwin's "Mormonism and 
Masonry," Pound's "Masonic Jurisprudence," Shepherd's "The Landmarks," and 
many others of similar calibre. The association is to be very much congratulated on 
this fine new venture in publishing. An extended review will follow in a succeeding 
issue. The set will retail at five dollars. 


* * * 


TWO ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS WRITE ABOUT LREEMASONRY 


AMERICAN MASONRY AND CATHOLIC EDUCATION by Rev. Michael Kenny, 
S. J. Published by International Catholic Truth Society. May be purchased through 
the National Masonic Research Society. Paper, 31 pages; price, postpaid, ten cents. 



FREEMASONRY, by Rev. Lotion Johnston, S.T.L. Published by International 
Catholic Truth Society. May be purchased through National Masonic Research 
Society. Paper, 24 pages; price, ten cents postpaid. 


REV. KENN Y is a former editor of the Roman Catholic journal, America, and is 
now, so he inscribes himself in his little book on American Masonry and Catholic 
Education, a professor in Loyola University, New Orleans. The Rev. Mr. Johnston is 
Associate Editor of Truth, the official organ of the International Catholic Truth 
Society. Both of them, like the International Catholic Truth Society itself, are active 
in propaganda against Freemasonry and their two books were written expressly for 
that purpose. 


Mr. Johnston's book is a collection of essays reprinted from Truth and deals with 
generalities; Mr. Kenny's book attacks Freemasonry for its support of the public 
school system and for what he fancies is its antagonism to Roman Catholic parochial 
schools. In both cases the primary purpose of the authors has been to assemble as 
many arguments as they can conjure together that will, in their view, make some kind 
of a case against the Masonic Craft. 


It is evident that neither of these authors has ever made a study of Masonry. If they 
have it is difficult to understand why they have fallen into so many errors of fact. Mr. 
Kenny makes such statements as this: 


"Freemasonry was founded in 1717 in a London tavern on the basis of four moribund 
societies of working Masons, the remains of one of the great Catholic guilds which 
the Stuarts had utilized as a medium for communication with their British partisans. 
When the house of Hanover was established two ministers (a French Hugenot and a 
Scotch Presbyterian) drew up the ritual and constitution for a philosophical and 
benevolent society of speculative Masons working not in mortar but on minds.... 
Introduced from England in 1729, American Masonry remained largely convivial in 
character, often of a bibulous type, till the Scottish Rite of Perfection was imported 
from France and a Supreme Council of 33 continental degrees was erected in 
Charleston, S.C., in 1801." 



Most of this is wrong. It proves that Mr. Kenny has not studied his subject. He could 
have learned the facts if he had been interested enough, but apparently he did not 
wish to learn them. If he had wished he could have learned them easily enough; and if 
he had learned them he would not have made the errors with which his book is filled. 
In thus writing about a subject on which he was not sufficiently informed Mr. Kenny 
sinned against the most elementary principle of authorship, which is that no man has 
any moral right to publish a book on a subject about which he is ignorant. 


* * * 


"FOIBLES AND FALLACIES OF SCIENCE" 


FOIBLES AND FALLACIES OF SCIENCE, by D. W. Hering Professor Emeritus of 
Physics, New York University. May be purchased through National Masonic 
Research Society. Cloth index, 295 pages. Price, $2.65 postpaid. 


IDEAS and symbols used and believed in during the Middle Ages came into the 
Masonic Ritual. That Ritual is somewhat like a building in some old city, such as 
Athens or Rome, constructed of stones gathered from the ruins of other buildings that 
had been built in previous centuries; the building as it now stands may not be so very 
old but some post or pillar in it may first have been carved out a thousand years ago. 
This effect of novelty, this unexpected juxtaposition of what is old and new in it, 
partly explains the charm of our Ritual. The root of it, that which gives coherence and 
vitality to the structure, is a set of ideas that have meant much to men for thousands of 
years. 


The Point Within a Circle possibly may be the old alchemist sign for gold, adapted to 
mystical purposes by Operative Masons; the reference to "certain metallic 
substances" may have been inherited from the astrologists, who attributed to each 
planet a peculiar influence over men, and connected that influence with metals they 



associated with the planets. So with other symbols and allegories. One can observe 
such survivals outside of Freemasonry, as in our daily language; for example, we use 
the word "influenza", which comes from Italy, where originally it was referred to the 
same "influence" of the planets just mentioned. 


Foibles and Fallacies of Science is a history of such symbols and theories by a 
veteran physicist who has devoted a loving study to the rise and development of his 
own science. He tells us how astrology came to be, what theories it rested on, what it 
meant to the people who believed in it; who and what the alchemist were, and what 
they were trying to do; what magic was and why it was practiced; and makes 
references in passing to names more or less familiar to Masons, such as Cagliostro, 
Paracelsus, and Dr. Plot. 


— o — 


THE QUESTION BOX 
AND CORRESPONDENCE 


SCOTTISH RITE RING IN NORTHERN JURISDICTION 


Please tell me on which finger the ring of the 14th Degree should be worn by 
members of the Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction. 


G. T. M., Illinois. 


The Grand Secretary-General, Bro. Robert A. Shirrefs, writes that "the ring shall be 
worn on the third finger of the left hand." 



* * * 


MASONIC MEMBERSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES 


Total membership of the Masonic Fraternity in the United States (2,971,662), from 
data furnished by the Grand Secretaries, June, 1924. 


1 

Alabama 

50,126 

26 

Nebraska 

39,585 

2 

Arizona 

5,444 

27 

Nevada 

2,629 

3 


33,112 

28 


14,773 

4 

California 

100,583 

29 



5 

Colorado 


30 

New Mexico 


6 

Connecticut 

aiHi 

mm 

New York 

MiSIM 

7 

Delaware 

5,715 

mm 

North Carolina 

39,372 

8 

District of Columbia 

3KE1H 

mm 

North Dakota 

15,033 

9 

Florida 



Ohio 

179,788 

10 

Georgia 


mm 

Oklahoma 


11 

Idaho 

9,135 


Oregon 


12 

Illinois 


37 

Pennsylvania 

193,650 

13 

Indiana 

120,973 

38 

Rhode Island 

17,032 

14 

Iowa 

83,871 

mm 

South Carolina 

mm 

15 

Kansas 



South Dakota 

18,965 

16 

Kentucky 


mm 



17 

Louisiana 

33,214 


Texas 

122,879 

18 

Maine 


mm 

Utah 

EBESIgS 

19 


30,993 


Vermont 

18,456 

20 

Massachusetts 

115,585 

mm 

Virginia 


21 


138,974 




22 

Minnesota 

55,910 



31,018 

23 

Mississippi 

33,308 



52,364 

24 

Missouri 

107,041 



6,873 

25 

Montana 

19,433 

50 

Philippine Islands 

6,685 






































































































Compiled by C. C. Hunt, 
Deputy Grand Secretary, Iowa. 


tfotal 


2,971,662 


* * * 


OUR GREATEST OPPORTUNITY FOR CHARITY 


Bro. R. J. Newton, in his article "J'Accuse!" in THE BUILDER, October, 1924, page 
292, has sounded a call in which every Freemason should be vitally and earnestly 
interested. Of all opportunities for Freemasons to practice charity, this is, in my 
opinion, the greatest. Why should the burden of caring for the distressed brethren fall 
upon the lodges of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado ? It should not, even if 
they were financially able to carry it. Let THE Builder herald this cry for the relief of 
our brothers stricken with the White Plague, that it may be taken up by our various 
Grand Lodges for action in the near future. We have nearly three million Freemasons 
in the United States. Who would not gladly assent to $2 per year additional to their 
duties for this worthy cause? None I can assure you. 


Dr. F. H. Knoop, Missouri. 


* * * 


"HIDDEN MYSTERIES OF NATURE AND SCIENCE," Etc. 




In the July issue (page 223) you give information about the Scottish Rite in Canada. 
We have had a Supreme Council in Canada since 1868. Brethren can always secure 
desired information through the office of the Secretary-General, Bro. W. H. Ballard, 
196 George Street, Hamilton, Ont. 


May I be excused for saying a word about the use of the term "Subordinate Lodges" 
in the heading of Bro. Price's article, on page 215 of the same issue? No Grand Lodge 
can come into existence except by united action of a group of lodges, neither can it 
bring a lodge into existence except by united action of its members. So that, in neither 
of its relations to its lodges, is it superior to them, or are they subordinate to it. 
Certainly, when a conflict of interest arises, it has to decide which is the lesser and 
exercise its authority accordingly, but that authority comes - not from within itself - 
but from the powers conferred upon it by its components, and such authority can be 
withdrawn at their decision. Under no conditions can the word "subordinate" connote 
such an influence, and I submit that it is quite out of place in such a relation as is 
referred to here. 


Also I feel compelled to take issue with Bro. A. L. Kress' reply to J. W. N., Sask., 
under the heading, "Date of Death of H. A.," etc., in July, page 222. Even if we do 
owe the phrase, "Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science," to the influence upon 
Preston of writers like Samuel Johnson and others whose works he helped to print, 
still it marked a definite responsibility of the Operative Fellowcraft, and therefore has 
a Speculative and real equivalent for us of today. 


I see in Bro. Kress' attitude one reason why our membership is pouring its energies 
into "Side Degrees," since they join us in the expectation of making progress and find 
that we have, apparently, led them into a cul-de-sac with fine words. 


Men must work, as Kingsley wrote, not alone for physical needs, but as a law of life, 
and if we offer our members words instead of service, then are we only "sounding 
brass and tinkling cymbals." 



From what I heard a returned Past Master say recently at a lodge here, Freemasonry, 
as practiced in Switzerland, where he had lived several months, comes nearer than 
any other jurisdiction in an all-round service that will tax any man's capacity for 
understanding those responsibilities and privileges of a Fellow of the Craft that are 
summed up in the phrase quoted above. 


Their business and other professional men who are members have no need to form 
themselves into Rotarians, or Kiwanis, or Gyros, or Lions in order to find an outlet 
suitable for their energies in good words; and the love of display, natural to younger 
minds, does not exhaust itself in the gaudy fripperies of Side Orders, but finds 
exercise in making the glow of health to appear on the faces of sick children and the 
light of happiness in the eyes of those less fortunate and competent than themselves. 
Their own regalia is of the simplest, but the variety of service they undertake is 
surprising. 


An Unexplained Symbol 


In the photographs of the apron preserved at Brantford and of the large Dutch apron 
from Woodstock, shown on page 302 of the October issue, appears a symbol of a 
hand grasping a curved object, which is closely similar to one that appears near the 
foot of the left column of the Arch, shown in the Halifax summons, illustrated in the 
August issue [Frontispiece], and I stated that I had been unable to find just what it 
represented, but I am now able to supply that detail. 


W. Bro. E. G. Simpson, A. P. M. of Lodge 35, at Saintfield, County Down, Ireland, 
has recently published a history of the antiquities connected with his lodge, and in it 
is an illustration of an old floor-cloth, dating from 1809, whereon this Arch appears 
together with a great variety of K. T., R. A., Craft and other Masonic symbols of 
Degrees which have been worked in this lodge at various times. Amongst them is this 
one of a hand and I wrote to him inquiring as to its meaning. 



He was good enough to reply at considerable length, both as to this and the other 
points of my inquiry, and I abstract the following: “It is a Hand grasping a Pliant Rod, 
and is stated on good authority to be the symbol of 'vengeance'. Modern Masonry 
does not recognize vengeance, but it was formerly found in Templar Masonry, where 
the candidate took a vow of revenge on the murderers of Jacques de Molay and his 
companions." As this little history has been issued at the price of half a crown for the 
benefit of the lodge's Annuity Fund, I would recommend to brethren interested in the 
older Irish Masonry, that they secure its good value for their own libraries by sending 
to Bro. Simpson for copies. 


N. W. J. Hay don, Toronto, Canada. 


* * * 


FREEMASONRY AND THE SICK 


I have read and thought over the article by Bro. Robert j. Newton and your editorial 
entitled "A Sign and a Summons" in the October BUILDER. Your desire to build a 
number of hospitals for Masons afflicted with the white plague is truly laudable, but 
you have a way to travel which is beset with many dangers. This is how I see things: 


Freemasonry is not a benefit society: that is very apparent from the low annual dues 
of practically all Blue Lodges, coupled with the fact that there is no medical 
examination demanded before admittance. Cast your eye around any lodge and you 
will find brethren who cannot obtain life insurance due to the state of their health or 
physical condition. Further, no benefit society would have them as they could not 
pass the necessary medical examination. We have all heard this expression, "Well, if 
anything happens to me, the Masons will take care of my widow.” Well, maybe they 
would, but if the widow is not old and incapacitated from earning a living, she should 
certainly work for her living, and the Masons, you may be sure, will assist her to that 
end; it is being done every day. But if a Mason was not physically fit at the time he 
entered the Order, and he was perfectly well aware that it was not an insurance or 



benefit society, why should it be incumbent on the members of the Order to maintain 
him for an indefinite period? 


I think that Bro. Newton forecasts truly when he says that if these hospitals were 
started that "Masonry would double its strength in the next decade," but not because, 
as he says, "all good men would seek alliance with a body of men who translated their 
ritual into terms of service." We are surely all sufficiently worldly wise enough to 
have to acknowledge that those men who knew or thought they had the beginnings of 
the disease would avail themselves of an opportunity to find shelter when the disease 
manifested itself. 


If we read the physical disabilities for admittance that the ancient landmarks laid 
down, we can see that our ancient brethren took care to guard themselves against the 
liability of caring for brethren in any event, but limited that liability to accidents and 
unlooked-for misfortune. 


So that it comes to this - if we are to live up to our obligation fully, we must, in self 
protection, demand that investigation committees must satisfy themselves that the 
applicant for admission is in a good state of health before acceptance, or else he must 
sign a release from the liability of the lodge and the brethren in the event of ill health; 
and I am not sure that this is feasible. It comes back to the old cry, that we should be 
more careful in whom we admit to our ranks. 


I am quite willing to pay another two dollars a year dues for such a maintenance fund 
as you outline, provided I feel reasonably sure I am not going to be imposed upon. I 
would rather pay such a sum for the maintenance of a hospital which would take in 
anybody, but giving preference to Masons. 


Ernest E. Murray, Montana. 



BUILDER INDEX FOR 1924 


With this issue the tenth volume of THE BUILDER comes to an end. An index 
covering all contributions, subjects, titles, authors, etc., for the year will be off the 
press soon. A copy will be mailed free to each member upon request. Be sure to write 
your name and address as plainly as possible. As in preceding years, this index will 
be suitable to be bound up with the volume, being on same paper as the journal itself. 


— o — 


YE EDITOR'S CORNER 


Now that Yuletide is on its way let us recall the exhortation the gentle Whittier: 


"Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace; 

East, west, north and south, let the long quarrel cease; 
Sing the song of great joy that the angels began, 

Sing the glory to God and of good-will to man." 



Bro. W. L. Cummings, 228 Gordon avenue, Syracuse, N. Y., has the goodness to 
offer gratis to any brother paying postage, a copy of the Proceedings of the Grand 
Lodge of Michigan for 1874. Don't delay, there are only about twenty copies 
available. 


* * * 


A brief notice in this Corner last September that we had for free distribution copies of 
Bro. Arthur C. Parker's Secrets of the Temple met with such a demand that the supply 
was exhausted in a few days. Bros. Parker and George K. Staples have now furnished 
us with a new supply. One copy free upon request. Send a two cent stamp. 


* * * 


Bro. Robert I. Clegg, one of Ye Associate Editors, has returned after many months to 
God's country, after doing much successful research work in England and Scotland. 
Welcome home! 


* * * 


These are the last words to be printed in the tenth volume of THE BUILDER; it is 
fitting that they express a sense of gratitude for the best year we have ever had, and 
for the aid and assistance of so many willing brothers.