The Builder Magazine 

September 1927 - Volume XIII - Number 9 


Freemasonry and Fascism in Italy 

(Concluded) 

TO weaken the unfavorable impression which the anti-Masonic bill had created 
abroad, Mussolini intimated in an interview with the American journalist, Karl H. von 
Wiegand that Italian Masonry had conspired with French Masonry against Italy. "I 
asked Mussolini," writes Wiegand, "why he was taking action against the Masons." 
The Duce replied: "The law is directed not only against the Masons, but against all 
secret societies that constitute a peril to the peace and tranquility of the state. In 
Germany, in England and in America the Freemasons are a beneficent and 
philanthropic fraternity and union. In Italy they form a secret political organization. 
Worse than that, they depend entirely on the Grand Orient of Paris. I wish that the 
Italian Masons would become what the English and American Masons are, a non- 
political fraternal union for mutual aid." 


Already before the proposed anti-Masonic bill had become a law, official hostilities 
against the Grand Orient were opened. Among other things, the January number of 
the Rivixta Massonica was suppressed. 


The Grand College and the Grand Council of the Grand Orient deliberated in two 
long sessions on Jan. 18, 1925, how to meet the new situation. It was agreed upon to 
observe an attitude of watchful waiting and to confer dictatorial powers on Grand 
Master Torrigiani. 


The President of the Supreme Council, Ettore Ferrari, addressed a circular letter to the 
brethren, exhorting them to stand pat. Similarly Grand Master Torrigiani issued a 
manifesto to all Italian Masons in which he vigorously protested against the proposed 
anti-Masonic bill. 



THE ANTI-MASONIC BILL IS VOTED ON 


After a parliamentary committee had put a few more sharp teeth into the bill, it came 
up for discussion in May, 1925. The discussion was a rather onesided affair, because 
more than two hundred members of the opposition were absent— had been absent, one 
and all, for over a year, recognizing that under the Duce's autocratic methods all 
parliamentary procedure had degenerated into a farce. But even among those present, 
partisans of the administration and "rubber stamps," all of them, there manifested 
itself a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm for the anti-Masonic measure. Hence they had 
to be labored with speeches. After some lesser luminaries had spent their rhetorical 
ammunition, urging the necessity of the proposed measure, the Duce himself brought 
up the heavy artillery. 


He began by characterizing his mode of warfare: "Eirst, I break every bone in the 
body of my adversary, then I take him captive.... I knew what I was doing when I 
introduced the bill. My principle is to be good to my friends and to do all the harm I 
can to my enemies. For that reason I intend to fight Masonry to the limit of my 
resources. 


"This measure," continued the Duce, "proves the consistency of my whole life. 
Already fifteen years ago, when I was a member of the socialistic party, I could trace 
the activities of the Masons. Already then I thought little of democracy, of liberalism 
and of the so-called immortal principles. To the consternation of the socialist leaders I 
advocated the necessity of a general strike and of an armed revolution. That was the 
primitive youthful impulse of Italian socialism. Its armed insurrection after the World 
War was nothing but a piece of megalomania.... During my regency I have 
ascertained that Masonry has its men stationed in every sphere of the national life. It 
is monstrous that the highest officials of the state act as informants for the lodge 
(Masonry) and are dictated to by it. There can be no doubt that the most delicate 
institutions of the government, the judicial and the educational system and the army, 
have been under the influence of Masonry. Such a condition is intolerable and must 
cease. This law will show that Masonry has outlived itself and has no place in our 
country. Since Masonry is antagonistic to us and has attempted to cause a division in 



our ranks, we have a right to defend ourselves and to take the offensive, because an 
attack is the best form of defense. The law will be strictly enforced. Yesterday we 
may still have been drifting with the current, but now we are determined to swim 
against it. All the harm that this proposed measure might do us, it has already done. 
Moreover, Masonry across the Alps and across the sea will not hurt its own interests" 
[i.e., for the sake of the Italian Masons], 


Although the attending members of the parliament —excluding the more than two 
hundred permanent absentees of the opposition— were accustomed to eat out of 
Mussolini's hand, nevertheless the majority of them balked at the severity and glaring 
injustice of the proposed high-handed bill. They voted against it. 


But the Duce was not the man to countenance the defeat. He annulled the vote, 
"because there had not been a sufficient quorum." He resolutely set to work to bring 
pressure on the refractory parliamentarians, threatening them with all imaginable 
punishments. Having whipped them thoroughly into line, a second ballot was taken. 
This time these worthy representatives of a free nation voted unanimously in favor of 
it. 


To become a law, the measure now needed confirmation by the Senate. It was a 
foregone conclusion that its passage by that body would be a repetition of the mock 
performance in the House. 


The Grand Orient did not remain idle. On Sept. 6, 1925, a general meeting was called 
in the Palazzo Giustiani. Over 400 delegates were present, an unusually large 
attendance. Persecutions always have the effect of stimulating loyalty and attachment 
to a cause. Domizio Torrigiani was re-elected Grand Master for another term of six 
years and granted extraordinary powers in view of the precariousness of the situation. 
Giuseppe Meoni was confirmed as his Deputy Grand Master. In his inaugural speech 
Torrigiani declared that Italian Freemasonry would not, for any acts of terrorism, 
cease to protest against an illegal dictatorship that was bound to corrupt the Italian 
nation. With his characteristic promptness, Mussolini accepted the challenge. Two 
days after the meeting, on Sept. 8, he suspended two high government officials, 



Cavaliere Di Francia and Cavaliere Caccioli, from service. He charged them, together 
with a number of Masons who were employes in the Senate and Parliament building, 
with corruption. He did not go to the formality of substantiating these charges by 
proofs, that in his mind being superfluous. 


TWO SUBSEQUENT SENSATIONS 


Already the next day the Duce met with an unpleasant experience. He discovered that 
the disciplined Caccioli was no Mason at all. As early as ten years previously he had 
severed his connections with the Craft. More than that, he had been a staunch Fascist 
all along who had taken part in Mussolini's "march on Rome." In addition, he had 
secretly denounced his colleague, Di Francia, on account of his pro-Masonic stand 
and connived at his dismissal from service. And now he had fallen into the ditch he 
had dug for others. The non-Fascist press took gleefully notice of the tragi-comic 
incident and general hilarity reverberate throughout Italy. 


Another sensation followed. The whip of the Fascist party was its general secretary, 
Signore Farinacci. He was the Duce's faithful lieutenant, or rather willing executioner, 
who shrank from no methods, no matter how brutal. And he was an insatiable Mason 
eater Two days after the disciplining of Di Francia had been announced, an 
opposition journal regaled its readers; with the statement that the arch foe of 
Masonry, Farinacci, was an opportunist who had himself been a Mason at one time 
and had only renounced the lodge when Fascism offered fairer prospects to his 
ambition. 


Farinacci not only denied the imputation but asserted that far from ever having been 
affiliated with Masonry, he had always been a consistent, active opponent of the 
secret Craft. He was proud, he declared, to be the man who had repeatedly engineered 
the burning and demolition of Masonic lodges. He uttered vehement threats against 
his "calumniators." But the "base liars" did not permit themselves to be intimidated. 
To the great surprise of the whole peninsula the Voce Repubblicana published all the 
necessary documents to prove that in 1915 Farinacci had been initiated in the 
Masonic lodge in Cremona. It was also shown that later on, while a railroad 



employee, he did not stand well with his superiors on account of his rebellious 
tendencies. When he saw that the old regime was losing ground, with Fascism in the 
ascendancy, he not only turned his back on Masonry but became its most bitter foe. 


FARINACCI'S REVENGE 


This humiliating exposure poured oil on the flames of Farinacci's hatred. "Those 
twenty-four hours during which I have been a Mason I will expiate by energetic 
action against Freemasonry," he swore. As in reality he had belonged, not only 
twenty-four hours, but several years to the Masonic Order, he carried his threat with a 
correspondingly more intense ferocity into execution. 


A nation-wide persecution was launched against the opposition parties, which 
consisted mostly of Masons and socialists. In a large number of cities bloody riots 
broke out. Masons, and men merely suspected of being Masons, were dragged from 
their offices and places of business and beaten up, their stores were demolished, lodge 
rooms and other property destroyed. 


Particularly serious were these outrages in Florence. From Sept. 25 to 29 regular 
hunting parties against Masons were instituted in that city. Over fifty Masons were 
beaten, stores owned by Masons and socialists were pillaged, city and government 
officials belonging to either organization were removed from office. Scared by the 
wild threats uttered in the Fascist paper Le Battaglie Fasciste, a number of Masons 
left the city. 


In organizing these riots, the Fascist leaders no doubt had a secondary object in view, 
namely, to furnish an excuse for the government to postpone the approaching 
unwelcome Matteotti trial "by reason of the reigning disorders." 



On the evening of Oct. 3, 1925, a signore Luporini, vice-president of the (local) 
Fascist organization of Florence, together with three other Fascists, called on signore 
Brandelli, Worshipful Master of one of the Masonic lodges of Florence, and 
requested him to follow them to Fascist headquarters "to give them information 
concerning the Freemasons." Brandelli refused to accompany them, knowing that he 
would be illtreated. When they attempted to drag him along by force, his friend and 
neighbor, Bacciolini (not a Mason), came to his rescue. In the ensuing melee 
Bacciolini, presumably in self-defense, drew his revolver. A number of shots were 
exchanged with the result that Luporini, the Fascist leader, was killed by Bacciolini. 
The latter fled, but was captured and clubbed to death. Brandelli, the innocent cause 
of the tragedy, escaped. The Fascist assailants now broke into Bacciolini's house and 
set it on fire. An excited crowd gathered. The fire department appeared. Its efforts to 
extinguish the fire that menaced the adjoining buildings were hampered by rowdy 
bands of Fascist militia. The conflagration was the signal for incendiarism and bloody 
excesses all over the city. The police arrested a number of imperiled Masons for 
protective purposes, to detain them in police quarters until the storm had blown over. 
Several of these Masonic prisoners on the way to the stations were pulled from the 
hands of the overpowered policemen by the infuriated mobs and literally torn to 
pieces. Among those also killed were the socialist deputy, Pilati, who, during the war, 
had been decorated for conspicuous bravery, and the lawyer Console. The riots 
continued the following day, a Sunday. Fascist leaders issued a manifesto declaring 
that the day of revenge had arrived and that the members of the opposition should be 
killed. Proscription lists were produced containing the names and addresses of 
prominent Masons and socialists. Under the leadership of Fascist centurions the work 
of murder and destruction on a large scale was fairly on its way when a dispatch from 
Mussolini ordered a cessation of all "reprisals." Reprisals! Eighteen men killed and 
forty mortally wounded was the toll of these "reprisals." 


The Board of Directors of the Florence Fascists was dissolved and General Balbo 
entrusted with the command. He published an appeal to his partisans, warning them 
that such arbitrary, unauthorized "reprisals" were liable to injure the good name of 
Fascism. 


In comparison with Florence, the tumults in Rome, Brindisi and other cities were 
mild, though plenty of blood flowed and heavy damage was done to property. We 
may mention also that Giuseppe Meoni, the recently appointed Deputy Grand Master 
of the Masons, was with his family expelled from Rome. To lessen the tension, and 



the danger his brethren were exposed to, Grand Master Torrigiani issued an order that 
all lodge work be temporarily suspended. 


That was in the beginning of October, 1925. Peace and quiet reigned now for a few 
weeks, when on Nov. 4 the attempt on Mussolini's life by Zaniboni, a temporarily 
unbalanced socialist, caused a new flare-up of anti-Masonic activity. This time it was 
the government which openly and officially instituted the "reprisals." They were of an 
unbloody but nevertheless very tragic nature. The worthy General Luigi Capello, one 
of Italy's popular heroes of the World War, was destined to become their principal 
victim. 


THE PLOT OF ZANIBONI 


Normally, Italian Masonry and Socialism were not on friendly terms. Already before 
the World War the Italian Socialists had voted the Masons out of the party. But 
politics make strange bed fellows. When in the great national upheaval immediately 
following the war, Fascism rose to power and clearly aimed at the establishment of a 
Fascist dictatorship, the Socialists and Masons, being adverse to the plan, became 
allies, united by a community of interests. For that reason the Fascist riots of 
September and early October, 1925, were directed not only against Masons, but also 
against Socialists, as we have seen. 


Nobody took these atrocities more to heart than the ardent Socialist, Zaniboni. His 
disturbed mind conceived a strange plot. He wanted to raise an army of 200,000 anti- 
fascists, march on Rome, storm the Palazzo Chigi, take the Duce captive and place 
the opposition in power. He figured that the sum of 150,000 lire ($3,000) would 
suffice to finance the enterprise. He approached his political ally, Senator Frassati, 
director of the Turin Stampa, for the amount. Of course, he was turned down by the 
journalist who pitied his state of mind. 


Having been refused the loan also by other parties, Zaniboni at last went to Rome to 
try his luck at Masonic headquarters. Grand Master Torrigiani was absent on a trip to 



Switzerland. His friend, General Luigi Capello, was in charge of Masonic affairs 
during his absence, Deputy Grand Master Meoni having been banished from Rome. 
Zaniboni, not a Mason himself, was acquainted with Capello, having served with him 
on an election committee the preceding winter. He explained to him his contemplated 
coup d'etat by means of raising an army of 200,000 men to capture Rome and depose 
Mussolini. He added his request for a loan of 100,000 lire ($2,000) to finance the 
undertaking. The old general, a lifelong conservative who abhorred all revolutionary 
methods, recognized at once that the poor fellow's brain was not functioning 
normally. Needless to say, he flouted the fantastic idea, refused the loan and urged 
him to drop all thought of the silly plan. It may be mentioned here that Capello had 
already five months previously, in May, 1925, retired from active politics by reason 
of his failing health. 


Zaniboni might have accepted the good general's advice to abandon the utterly 
senseless project, had he not been abetted in it by a pretending enthusiastic 
accomplice, a man named Quaglia, who was in reality a spy and agent provocateur of 
the police. This truly classical villain was by profession a lawyer and journalist, 
connected with the Popolo. The European papers, with the exception of the Fascist 
press of Italy, have unanimously voted him to be the very prince of scoundrels. In 
comparison with him, Judas Iscariot was a noble-minded gentleman. This Quaglia 
had been commissioned by the chief of police, Crispo-Moncada-as the trial later 
revealed-to "get the goods" on the leaders of the Italian Masonry, to furnish proof that 
they were plotting against Mussolini to establish a military dictatorship. This worthy 
cheerfully went to work to manufacture "proof." 


He entered into Zaniboni's scheme of overthrowing the Duce with such apparent 
ardor and enthusiasm that the poor dupe even at the trial, after Quaglia had admitted 
his character as a police spy and agent provocateur, refused to believe it: Quaglia now 
called on Capello to obtain a loan for Zaniboni. The general flatly refused, declaring 
that he utterly disapproved of the absurd scheme. He requested Quaglia to try to bring 
Zaniboni back to his senses. Quaglia did not give up so easily. He kept on pestering 
the general for money. Finally on Nov. 2, 1925, Capello gave him, on the Cavour 
bridge, 300 lire ($6.00) as a personal loan to Zaniboni to get rid of him. This transfer 
of money was witnessed by another police spy, Giuseppe Alberto Mascioli, who had 
been conveniently stationed. Capello then took the train to Turin to arrange there for 
the legal disqualification (stultification) of a feebleminded son of his. He thought that 
Zaniboni had at last recognized the futility of his scheme and dropped it. This sum of 



300 lire— Mascioli at the trial raised it to 1,000 lire ($20.00)— was the corpus delicti 
produced by the prosecution at the trial. This was deemed sufficient evidence to prove 
that the honest conservative minded old general, who had seen fifty years of military 
service and had been honored by his king with the highest military decorations for his 
important services during the war, had financed Zaniboni's plot against Mussolini. On 
the strength of this astounding piece of "evidence" the old general was sentenced to 
thirty years' imprisonment. But we are getting ahead of our narrative. 


Realizing his inability to secure any substantial financial support, Zaniboni had 
meanwhile discarded his glorious plan of organizing an armed revolt. He was about to 
give up in despair, when the resourceful Quaglia suggested to him a more feasible 
plan: to assassinate the Duce! What could be more simple! The seething brain of 
Zaniboni eagerly seized upon the idea. It was decided to execute it without delay. The 
fourth of November was selected as the date and the Hotel Dragoni as the place for 
the deed. The handy Quaglia made the necessary arrangements. Under the direction 
of the Chief of Police he bought a rifle, rented rooms in the hotel, carefully measured 
the distance the bullet would have to travel and attended to all other details. When at 
last the critical moment arrived, the police swooped down on the pair. Zaniboni 
readily admitted his murderous designs while Quaglia, the agent provocateur, 
exchanged knowing smiles with the police officials. He now "laid bare" how 
Zaniboni had acted merely as the tool of Freemasonry, which had conceived the plot 
to get Mussolini out of the way, and intended to proclaim a military dictatorship 
headed by General Capello. It was the latter who, while acting chief of the Italian 
Grand Orient, had supplied Zaniboni with the necessary funds for the execution of the 
plot, the police spy asserted. 


OFFICIAL RAID ON THE MASONIC LODGES 


The "discovery of the Masonic conspiracy" to assassinate Mussolini on Nov. 4, 1925, 
furnished the government the desired pretext for summary action against the Craft. 
Orders were immediately issued for the arrest of Capello. It was not difficult to locate 
him, as he had made no secret of his trip to Turin in the affair of his afflicted son. The 
aged, ailing general was cast into prison and kept incarcerated until the trial seventeen 
months later. It was postponed thus long with malicious intent. 



Simultaneously with the arrest of the old general, a raid on the Palazzo Giustiniani, 
the home of the Grand Orient, and on all the Masonic lodges throughout the entire 
peninsula was decreed. The residences of Grand Master Torrigiani and other Masonic 
dignitaries were also raided. All the archives were diligently searched, every 
document and letter was read, every nook and comer was carefully looked into. Never 
in the history of Italy had so extensive and thorough an inquisition been held. It lasted 
for several months. And what was the harvest? Nil ! Nothing incriminating was 
found, no trace of any disloyal activities, nothing that would justify even the shadow 
of a suspicion. 


"The Masons had previously removed and hidden all dangerous documents." Thus the 
disappointed Fascist leaders explained this total absence of any incriminating 
evidence. 


Mussolini, the indefatigable, had meanwhile mshed the anti-Masonic bill through the 
senate. It was now a law. This formality might have been dispensed with in the 
country in which the will of the Duce was the supreme law. L'etat c'est moi, being his 
motto. Once more Grand Master Torrigiani issued a statement to the public. Through 
the press he published the following declaration: 


A Roman paper has accused Freemasonry whose head I am that it has paid directly, 
or through Br. General Capello, 500,000 lire to Zaniboni that he engineer a plot or an 
attempt on the life of Mussolini. 


I shall request the authorities to subject me as soon as possible to an examination that 
this calumny may be placed in the proper light. 


Today I only want to state that Masonry regards every human life as sacred, that this 
high conception is sworn to by every one of our Brethren, and that Masonry abhors 
nothing so strongly as the shedding of human blood. 



This declaration was ignored and events took their course. 


THE TRIAL 


With the three "conspirators," Capello, Zaniboni and the journalistic Ducci, safely 
behind the bars, the Fascist government showed no hurry with the trial. It still hoped 
against hope to find some sort of real evidence, or at least some semblance of real 
evidence, to incriminate Capello and Ducci. At last, more than seventeen months after 
the unearthing of the "plot" against Mussolini's life, preparations were made for the 
trial, a special court was convoked to hear the case. General Sanna was designated to 
preside over it. However, when acquainted with the "evidence" on the strength of 
which Capello had been indicted, the honest old soldier, convinced of Capello's 
innocence, declined the "honor" of presiding over such a court. General Freri was 
now appointed president of this special court. 


On April 11, 1927, the trial was opened. It was interrupted during Easter. It consumed 
altogether seven days. The accusation against Capello, presented by the Attorney 
General, Noseda, was based entirely on the testimony of the treacherous spy, Quaglia. 
He was the star witness for the prosecution. His very appearance, every grin and 
motion denoting the servile sycophant, made a most unfavorable impression on the 
journalists and the spectators present. He maintained that Capello had instigated the 
plot and had agreed to provide the necessary funds. 


The second police spy, Mascioli, was called to the witness stand. He was well posted 
on Masonic activities. He testified that Grand Master Torrigiani himself had promised 
Zaniboni a large amount, but had later withdrawn his offer. Capello then, on Nov. 2, 
1925, gave to Quaglia 1000 lire ($20.00) from his own pocket for Zaniboni to enable 
him to make his "get away" after the assassination. It was in the afternoon, and on the 
Cavour bridge, that the money was handed over. He, Mascioli, had seen it with his 
own eyes. 



CAPELLO EXAMINED 


Capello was now cross-examined. Owing to his feeble health, he had not been placed 
in the defendant's cage with the other prisoners. (In Italy, it seems, the defendant is 
treated like a criminal, or rather, like a wild beast until his innocence is proven.) He 
denied indignantly the charge of complicity in the plot. He gave a brief account of his 
part in national politics. He had been a Fascist, but left the party when its 
incompatibility with Masonry had been officially proclaimed. He joined the 
opposition then, but always kept within the limits of the law. When in January, 1925, 
the opposition parties organized for the coming elections, he attended meetings of the 
political league Italia Libera at which, Zaniboni, the Socialist, was also present. This 
political campaign was conducted in the customary manner, on a strictly lawful basis. 
After May, 1925, he had abstained from all political activity on account of his poor 
health. In October, 1925, he took temporary charge of the Grand Orient during the 
absence of Grand Master Torrigiani. It was then that Zaniboni applied for an 
interview which he, Capello, as substitute Grand Master granted him. Zaniboni then 
asked him for 100,000 lire to concentrate 200,000 men at Rome to overthrow the 
Duce. The ridiculousness of the plan convinced him that Zaniboni's excited mind was 
not properly balanced. He tried to calm him. Afterwards Quaglia called repeatedly on 
him, Capello, to assist Zaniboni financially, for whom he simulated the sincerest 
friendship. He refused to advance any money, urging Quaglia to dissuade Zaniboni 
from his mad project. At last, tired of being pestered, he gave Quaglia 300 lire as a 
personal loan to Zaniboni. He thought that the wild plan had been abandoned. "I 
have," remarked the old general, "never been so crazy as to support such silly plans. 
At present, however, after nearly eighteen months of imprisonment, it may be 
possible that my mind has been somewhat impaired." 


He added that as an old general who had seen fifty years of service he was 
sufficiently experienced to know that the army would not make common cause with 
revolutionaries. Nor had he ever solicited foreign help against his own country, as had 
been charged by the prosecution. At the convention of the Associatioa Masonique 
International at Geneva in 1925, he had by his earnest entreaties prevented the 
adoption of a resolution expressing sympathy for the persecuted Italian brethren. 



Questioned by the Attorney General why he had not reported Zaniboni to the 
authorities, Capello replied that he was under the impression that Zaniboni had given 
up his foolish plan after having been refused the 100,000 lire. He knew nothing of 
Zaniboni's plot to assassinate the Duce. Of that Zaniboni had never breathed a word 
to him. (It was only after the interview with Capello that Zaniboni, inspired by 
Quaglia, made up his mind to assassinate the Duce.) 


ZANIBONI IS QUESTIONED 


He admitted his intention of assassinating Mussolini. He was still convinced that 
Quaglia had the same intention. He denied emphatically that General Capello had any 
knowledge of this plan. 


This statement was contradicted by the spy Quaglia, who insisted that Capello knew 
of the plot and fomented and financed it. "Capello knew," he maintained, "that out of 
the general chaos a military dictatorship would emerge and that he as an old general 
and as one of the leaders of Masonry would seize the government." 


These and other allegations made by Quaglia were indignantly denied both by 
Capello and by Zaniboni. The latter jumped furiously up from his seat in the cage 
and, his hands extended to the court, explained: "By the head of my daughter, the 
only thing that has remained sacred to me in life, I swear that on the morning of the 
fourth of November in the room in the Hotel Dragoni Quaglia requested it as an honor 
to be permitted to fire simultaneously with me at Mussolini!" 


When Quaglia denied this, Zaniboni jumped up again: "If there was a God who 
punishes lies then you would drop dead to the floor now." 



Counsel for the defense, Petroni, asked CrispoMoncada, the Director General of the 
Police, whether he had employed Quaglia as an agent provocateur. The Director 
General dared not deny it. 


THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SUMS UP THE CASE AGAINST CAPELLO 


Though forced to admit that the investigation had not produced the slightest evidence 
of the complicity of Grand Master Torrigiani in the plot, the Attorney General, 
Noseda, nevertheless insisted that Freemasonry had its hand in it. It encouraged 
Capello's aspirations to become military dictator. There could be no doubt about that, 
he averred. It was as the representative of Masonry that Capello conspired with 
Zaniboni and supplied him with funds. The mere fact that Capello, the general, the 
holder of the highest military honors, had anything at all to do with a Socialist like 
Zaniboni, was a proof of his subversive plans. The following points he, Noseda, 
considered as definitely established: 


1 . Capello did not sever his connections with Zaniboni after he had been made 
acquainted with his plans. 


2. Capello contributed financially towards the execution of Zaniboni's plans. 


3. Particularly incriminating is the amount of money Zaniboni received on Nov. 3, the 
eve before the attempt on Mussolini's life. 


4. Finally, it is extremely strange that on the same evening Capello left Rome. From 
all this it was clear that Capello was Zaniboni's accomplice. For that reason he, the 
Attorney General, demanded the same punishment for both of them-thirty years' 
imprisonment. 



SPEECH OF SIGNORE PETRONI, COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE 


When Petroni arose, a hush fell over the crowded courtroom. 


I have accepted the defense of Capello, he commenced, in a sad hour. I have done so, 
because I was fully convinced of the innocence of the General. And I declare today: 
Capello never had any designs on the life of Mussolini. He has never approved nor 
aided Zaniboni's plans for his assassination. He has never intended to establish a 
dictatorship, much less to become dictator himself. Even to consider the mere 
possibility of such a thing in October, 1925, would have been sheer madness. For 
even if the attempt on Mussolini's life had succeeded, it could not have produced any 
change in the political constellation. Capello could not help knowing that at that time 
the people would have taken it as a bloody signal to rise not against Fascism, but 
against the conspirators. What could have been the motive for such an attempt? It has 
been charged that Capello had acted in blind obedience to the orders of Grand Master 
Torrigiani. But that charge has been so thoroughly refuted that even the prosecution 
has dropped it. 


If Capello, as has further been claimed, was a man of selfish ambition who aspired to 
a political career, he would have acted entirely differently when in 1 923 he had the 
choice between Fascism and Freemasonry. For he decided in favor of the latter. He 
had become a Fascist in 1922 because he was then convinced of the necessity of that 
movement to restore order in Italy. When then in the following year the High Fascist 
Council announced that there existed an incompatibility between Fascism and 
Masonry, he turned his back on Fascism, though he had been marked for the highest 
honors. Fascism was then celebrating unprecedented triumphs, Rome was occupied 
and Mussolini the hero and victor. Whoever harbored any personal ambitions, could 
find their fullest gratification in the Fascist camp. But Capello renounced his chance 
of becoming secretary of war, leader of the militia. He preferred to adhere to 
Freemasonry, the cause so sacred to him. That was, if one wants to call it so, the 
crime of Capello. 



It has been asserted that Capello has accepted, a remuneration for joining the 
opposition. That is a contemptible calumny. It is true-and he has never denied it— that 
Capello has been active in the opposition. But even from these activities he had 
already withdrawn in August. As will be remembered, early in 1925 there had been 
talk of spring elections, and Capello took a place in the campaign committee of the 
opposition. But there was absolutely no thought of a conspiracy. Such a thing existed 
only in the imagination of the spy Quaglia, who has played so despicable and sinister 
a part. But what happened between August, 1925, and the 4th of November, the day 
for which the assassination was planned? At the time when the plan for the 
assassination took place in the head of Zaniboni, all political connection between him 
and Capello had already been broken off. That was the reason why Zaniboni tried to 
obtain money from Senator Frassati, director of the Turin "stampa." Like Capello, 
Frassati refused to advance the 150,000 lire wanted by him. No charge has been 
raised against the Senator for having failed to report Zaniboni to the authorities. Then 
no charge should be raised against Capello for having failed to do so. 


In his need of funds, Zaniboni then went into the Friauli district, where he had 
friends. When he failed to obtain anything there, he left Italy. Later on he returned to 
Rome, where on Oct. 2 1 he had the famous interview with Capello in which, it is 
alleged, the assassination was determined upon. Zaniboni made him acquainted with 
his ridiculous scheme of storming the palazzo Chigi and taking Mussolini captive. He 
did not say a word about murdering the Duce. When he then tried to lay before him 
other plans, Capello interrupted him at once and said: "Enough of it ! I do not want to 
hear another word ! If you have debts or need a little money, I will help you out. I can 
loan you 5,000 lire. There can be no thought of the 100,000 lire you ask for." 


In this connection there is one point that deserves our particular attention. Capello has 
spoken about this interview which, the Attorney General now declares, is the decisive 
one [in which the assassination was decided on]. But Quaglia never made mention of 
it in his minute reports to the police, nor did the police mention it in its reports to the 
Minister of the Interior. Quaglia's silence on this point is the proof of the innocence of 
Capello. 


This interview of Oct. 21 is the essential link of the whole case. If here the evidence 
is not produced that Capello knew of the plan of the assassination, then the entire 



accusation collapses. And I declare herewith that the Attorney General has not been 
able to produce the slightest trace of evidence. He has advanced a thesis with nothing 
to support it. 


A few days after that interview Capello sent a letter to Zaniboni who had meanwhile 
gone to Urbignacco. That letter contained an absolute refusal [to have anything to do 
with the plot]. That Zaniboni understood it so, is proven by the fact that he now went 
with Quaglia to Milan to try to obtain money from Senator Albertini. 


Capello now considered the whole matter disposed of. There, on the evening of the 
first of November, a young man knocks at his door: Quaglia! He brought a letter from 
Zaniboni in which he again begged for money. Then came the scene on the Cavour 
bridge that reminds one of a bandit story. There Capello gave Quaglia an envelope 
containing 300 lire ($6.00) for Zaniboni to get rid of him. This transaction was 
witnessed by Mascioli, a second police spy. An attempt has been made to puff up this 
envelope to the size of a huge package. But even Mascioli speaks only of about 1,000 
lire ($20.00). 


There is not a particle of an evidence that would point to the guilt of Capello, all 
depositions prove his innocence. If he is charged with conspiracy, with having 
worked out the strategic plans for a military revolt where in all the world are the men 
who should carry out his plans? Where are the arms? Quaglia has stated that it was 
planned to disarm the Fascist militia and thus to secure the necessary arms. But how 
can anybody credit Capello with so idiotic a design? 


Already in summer 1925 Capello had recognized that in view of the popular 
sentiment it would not be worth while to spend money for an election campaign. And 
then that he should have gone and conceived such a childish plot? No! Never! 


On the evening of Nov. 3 Capello set out from Rome for Turin to have a mentally 
defective son of his placed under legal guardianship. He gave his name when he 



purchased the ticket. He did not go away secretly. He had ample time to cross over to 
Switzerland, if he had wanted to do so, as his passport was perfectly in order. 


Gentlemen of this high tribunal, beware of committing an awful judicial error! You 
are Fascists and men of honor. The Duce has appointed you to let justice prevail. 
Fascism is strong. It is the state. A state is only great when it accords justice also to 
the adversary. 1 demand justice for a man who in war and in peace has always had the 
welfare of his country at heart. I do not ask for clemency, I ask for an acquittal. 


When the counsel for the defense had finished with this appeal, the unexpected 
happened: the public in the galleries, though Fascist, went wild with applause, which 
subsided only when the presiding judge, General Freri, energetically requested 
silence. On him and on his fellow judges these convincing words had, of course, 
made no impression. 


It need not be mentioned that the verdict was waited for with more than ordinary 
suspense. When it was announced, it fell like a thunderbolt on the court room. It 
declared both Zaniboni and Capello guilty of having conspired against Mussolini's 
life. Both were given the same sentence: thirty years in the penitentiary, the first six 
of which were to be served in solitarily confinement! 


Strange, the defendants had expected a different attitude on the part of the court. To 
quote the New Zurich Gazette: 


When they were all led to the defendants' cage, tied to a long chain and guarded by 
ten carabinieri, to hear the sentence of the court, one could notice the air of 
confidence on their faces. Perhaps their lawyers had held out a ray of hope to them. 
That was soon extinguished when the presiding judge, with a hard, chilling 
expression on his face, read the sentence. Only one of the defendants found it difficult 
to suppress the tears. The others accepted their fate in silence, in particular Capello. 
The chances of the old general had seemed decidedly improved after the six hours of 



most eloquent pleadings by his masterful legal counsel. The hopeful smile he had 
exhibited before the reading of the verdict died on his pale lips. 


There being no right of appeal, the sentence took effect at once. 


GRAND MASTER TORRIGIANI IS ARRESTED 


Hardly had this most astounding verdict been published when the Fascist press 
opened a carefully planned campaign of vilification against Grand Master Torrigiani. 
On the day following the announcement of the verdict, at five o'clock in the 
morning— the official record falsely stated that it was in the afternoon —a squad of 
secret service men descended upon the house where Torrigiani had for some time 
been staying with friends. After a thorough search of the premises, the Grand Master 
was taken in an auto to the prison Regina Coeli. Two hours later he was, without any 
court procedure, by an administrative measure, ordered deported to the bleak Liparian 
Isles to remain interned (in confmo) there for a term of five years. This after the 
Fascist Attorney General, Noseda, had admitted in court that the inquest into the 
attempt on Mussolini's life had not produced the slightest evidence that would warrant 
an indictment of Torrigiani ! 


The servile Fascist papers hailed this latest outrage with the utmost satisfaction. 
Sneers one of them, the Popolo d'ltalia: 


Now the Grand Master who has ruled Rome so long goes fettered like a low criminal 
into exile where the scum of the Italian society awaits him. With the arrest of the 
Grand Master a whole world collapses. For the rest, five years is too little for him. 
Torrigiani, this most powerful enemy of Fascist Italy must disappear forever from the 
light of the day! 


FORTY-FIVE MASONS INTERNED 



The "scum of the Italian society" whom, in the language of the Popolo, Torrigiani 
was to join on the dreary Liparian Isles, are forty- four Masons who were deported 
there for "administrative reasons" without even a semblance of a court procedure. 
Their families at home are struggling with bitter poverty. 


PRESS COMMENT ON THE CAPELLO TRIAL 


The Fascist press of Italy was jubilant over the outcome of the trial. Of non-Fascist 
papers there is, thanks to Mussolini's suppressive methods, little left outside of the 
Catholic or clerical papers. Though inveterate foes of Masonry, they do not permit 
their sense of justice to be clouded by blind partisanship. The Osservatore Romano, 
the official mouthpiece of the Vatican, does not hesitate to declare that no proof of the 
guilt of Capello was furnished. In this it concurs with the Unita Catolica. These two 
influential journals take great pains in putting Capello's innocence in the strongest 
light. 


GERMANY 


It would seem that the representatives of non-Italian papers encountered difficulties in 
getting by the censor. So at least the Roman correspondent of the Rhenish 
Westphalian Gazette, Catholic and anti-Masonic, intimates. We quote: 


Fascism has a thousand times declared that it is wholly indifferent as to the opinion of 
the world. Nevertheless, once in a while it feels the need of making a demonstration 
to show that Fascist administration of justice is still functioning and then it conducts a 
trial in Fascist style. That requires a certain amount of preparation, and preparation 
requires time. Hence the Matteotti trial was commenced in Chieti twenty-two months 
after the deed, the trial of the "traitors" of Bozen (Bolzano) fourteen months after, in 
Verona. And so today the trial of Zaniboni and Capello takes place seventeen months 
after the deed before a Fascist special court in the palace of justice in Rome. 



The German reader now expects a report of this trial like a thousand other such 
reports. He wants to be informed about public opinion in Italy and about the comment 
of the Italian press. He wants to know what impression the case, the court and the 
defendants made on the correspondent. I regret to say that I cannot serve with such 
news. Do not ask the reason why. 


Presumably this correspondent was on the Fascist black list for excessive candor in 
the past and had to be on his guard. Significant in this stunted report is the allusion to 
the fact that in Fascist Italy court trials are unusual and are only staged occasionally 
to show to the outside world that there is still such a thing as an administration of 
justice and a court procedure in Italy, if only in name. The usual procedure is 
administrative, that is, a person inconvenient to the Fascist "bosses" is incarcerated 
without the formality of a court procedure and he remains incarcerated as long as it 
pleases these "bosses." Such an administrative procedure saves both time and money. 


The Berlin Geimania, the leading organ of the Center (Catholic) party, is advised by 
its Roman correspondent: 


From what people told each other in the corridors of the palace of justice, the decision 
could no longer surprise anybody. To an outsider Capello's complicity in the plot was 
not sufficiently established to justify a sentence of such severity. But Capello was 
arraigned before the court as the representative of Freemasonry and as Freemasonry 
was to be condemned, he had to be given the same sentence, as Zaniboni who had 
admitted his guilt. 


Of the same opinion is also the Berlin Vossiche Zeitung, a conservative bourgeois 
paper. 


The Berlin Boersen-Courier which, as the name indicates, is the organ of high 
finance, calls the sentence imposed on Capello a "monstrosity" which, it thinks, is the 



more revolting as the Attorney General had admitted at the trial that he had been 
unable to find any evidence against Capello. 


Indignant at the glaring injustice is also the Berlin Vorwaerts, the leading Socialist 
paper of Germany. It exclaims: 


In the trial of General Capello no evidence, positively none whatever, has been 
brought to light except the deposition of an agent provocateur. 


It pronounces the whole Fascist agitation against Italian Masonry with its gruesome, 
revolting details a spectacle particularly "loathsome" by reason of the cowardly 
hypocrisy of the methods employed. 


The conservative Hamburger Fremdenblatt also shakes its head at a verdict of guilty 
based exclusively on the testimony of so despicable a character as the traitor Quaglia 
"which every ordinary court would without fail have declined as inadmissible." 


In the opinion of the Socialist Vienna Arbeiter Zeitung the trial has shown that 
Capello was not implicated in the plot laid by Zaniboni and Quaglia under the eyes of 
the police. The old general was "railroaded" to the penitentiary to serve a thirty years' 
sentence not by a juridical, but by a political process. 


The trial in Rome, it argues, has made it clear beyond all doubt that nobody in Italy 
can today escape his ruin, once that machinery is set in motion against him that has 
crushed the General Capello. Capello is an ailing old man, weighed down by family 
cares, poor at the end of a glorious military career, without ambition. Through chance, 
or probably through private vengeance, he was marked as the banner bearer of anti- 
Fascism to drag him down with the banner. Here is more than the tragedy of an 
individual. This is not a case merely of man sinning against man. Here the highest 
ideal of the state, its noblest symbol. Justice, has been made the tool of special 



interests, And thereby the very crime was committed that, it was pretended, was to be 
punished: the crime against the security of the state. 


FRANCE 


Edouard Peguillian writes in the La France of Nice: 


The trial has nothing in common with Justice, that sacred social institution that stands 
forth as the supreme safeguard of men against oppression by the mighty and against 
the errors of those who govern. There is no longer any justice in Italy. There exists 
only a wild triumphant horde who blindly strike down all who refuse to kneel before 
them, but who, to preserve a facade of respectability, feel occasionally the need of 
staging an odious comedy, a shocking travesty of justice. 


As the trial has shown, the plot was promoted by the Italian police with Italian money 
through the treacherous spy Quaglia who goaded Zaniboni, whose secretary he was, 
into a desperate and insane undertaking.... Through Zaniboni he was, in the person of 
Capello, to reach Freemasonry. This man (Capello) was accused of complicity in 
order to have a pretext to condemn him, and thus to strike at Masonry which 
Mussolini, either through fear or through hatred, wanted to compromise at any cost in 
order to justify his measures against it. . . A high Masonic dignitary was to be 
discredited, the General Capello, who by his character, his civic virtues and his 
popularity stood forth as one of the pillars of Italian democracy. To achieve that, 
Mussolini shrank from nothing. Police, agent provocateurs, everything was resorted 
to. 


The Vatican itself has through its papers, the Osservatore Romano and the Unita 
Catoliea, exposed the lying accusations Fascism has raised against Freemasonry.... 
Fascist Italy has disgraced itself by the condemnation of General Capello whose 
noble personality will enter the annals of history as a martyr. 



ENGLAND 


The Manchester Guardian finds that the speech of the counsel for the defense, 

Petroni, which even the Fascist audience in the galleries felt compelled to applaud, 
would have convinced any English court of the innocence of General Capello. The 
climax of the trial is reached by the arrest and deportation of Grand Master Torrigiani. 
The institution of the confino or internment, to which Mussolini frequently resorts in 
crushing his political adversaries, emphasizes the fact that the present situation in 
Italy is abnormal. The great English daily believes that Fascism would more easily 
gain recognition as a stable form of government, if it ceased to employ such unusual 
measures against its adversaries. In regard to the police spy, Quaglia, the Guardian is 
of the opinion that if the domicile of Quaglia was transferred across the sea, every 
Italian, be he Fascist or not, would welcome it as a hygienic measure. 


With the exception of the Fascist papers of Italy, the whole European press is in 
accord that the murders and other outrages perpetrated by the Italian Fascists against 
the Masons and Socialists and, last but not least, the condemnation of General 
Capello and the deportation of Grand Master Torrigiani, are a slap in the face of 
decency and justice. Few of the papers that comment on the trial fail to express their 
nausea at the mention of the spy, Quaglia. This worthy has immortalized himself as 
one of the classic scoundrels in history. But what are we to think of the Director: 
General of the Roman police, Crispo-Moncada, who hired him and concocted with 
him the plot to entrap Capello? What of Noseda, the Attorney General, who admitted 
his testimony and on the strength of it demanded and secured the condemnation of the 
innocent Capello? What of Mussolini, the Duce, himself who superintended the 
whole performance? Are they less despicable than the scoundrel Quaglia? 


THE TRANSLATOR'S COMMENT 


We are all more or less agreed that in the capture and trial of Christ it was not Judas 
Iscariot who was the most contemptible figure, but the cowardly Pontius Pilate, the 
proud Roman governor who failed to protect the man whom he had publicly declared 
to be innocent. It would seem that in the trial of Capello there is one individual who 



degraded himself deeper than the villain Quaglia and that individual is General Freri 
the man who presided over the special court that condernne Capello. If the entire 
press of Europe is nauseated with the part the civilian Quaglia played in the drama, 
what are we to think of a high military man like General Freri who cooperated with, 
and solemnly crowns that nasty piece of treachery directed at a fellow-officer, a 
fellow-general? Can the despicability of such a person of high military rank be 
expressed in respectable language ? 


It has frequently happened in the past that officers of the American army and navy 
were required at official or social functions to exchange the military salute with 
foreign officers. Such occasions will present themselves again. We may conceive the 
following situation: An American man-of-war calls at an Italian port and is given an 
official reception. Among the reception committee is present in uniform General 
Freri. The officers of the American vessel will be required to exchange the military 
salute with that strange specimen of a general. Will it not be a humiliation for them, 
an injury to their self-respect? The possibility of such a situation ever arising is 
perhaps remote, but it exists. It should be eliminated altogether. We owe that much to 
our officers. The matter ought to be brought to the attention of the American Legion 
and of the staff of the army and navy. Maybe at the next session of Congress some 
Congressman could request our government to notify the Mussolini government that 
if General Freri should ever participate in an official function in which American 
officers are required to participate, it will be interpreted as a deliberate insult to the 
American people. The matter in itself is trivial, but the principle involved is 
important. The self-respect and spirit of honor of our officers must be safeguarded at 
all costs. 


[This suggestion is made entirely on the translator's own responsibility and we insert 
it at his especial request.— Ed.] 


NOTE 


There are, or were, ill Italy two sovereign bodies controlling lodges of the symbolic 
degrees, the Grand Orient of which Bro. Torrigiani was Grand Master, and the 



National Grand Lodge which Bro. Raoul Palermi headed. The latter is also under the 
ban, in spite of attempts that seem to have been made by Bro. Palermi to convince the 
Fascists that none of the accusations made by them against Freemasonry in general 
were true of the Grand Lodge. Bro. Palermi is now in exile in Sicily. 


There were, some time ago, disputes between these two bodies, and the differences 
between them do not seem easy to judge. The Grand Orient seems in reality to be the 
senior body, though the Grand Lodge claims to be, apparently by considering itself 
the successor of previous ruling bodies. The question is complicated by the fact that 
there are also two Supreme Councils, the one in connection with the Grand Lodge 
being regarded as regular and it would seem as if differences in the Scottish Rite has 
led to those in the symbolic lodges. It would not be possible to give any definite 
judgment on such a complicated question in a footnote. Of American Grand Lodges 
we believe some six or eight have recognized the Grand Lodge, and have judged the 
Grand Orient irregular. On the other hand the two Grand Lodges who have perhaps 
gone into the matter of foreign relations most thoroughly, Alabama and New York, 
have decided very strongly in favor of the Grand Orient. This body has also been 
recognized as regular by the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland and 
others. From the European point of view generally, the lodges and brethren in the 
obedience of both bodies, would be regarded as equally regular and entitled to 
recognition. 


— o — 


Belief in God: A Historical Tenet of Freemasonry 


By BRO. GILBERT W. DAYNES, Associate Editor, England 


TODAY, Freemasons, in almost every Grand Lodge, recognize that an abiding belief 
in God— the Great Architect of the Universe— is the solid foundation upon which the 
Masonic edifice rests. These brethren regard all those who own allegiance to the 
isolated Grand Lodges that have broken away from this standpoint as renegade- 



beyond the pale; and rigorously exclude such backsliders from their Lodge Meetings, 
as being unworthy of the name of Freemason. 


This belief in God is no new tenet of the Craft: records demonstrate that it is a 
Landmark in Masonry co-eval with its birth. Let us therefore dig into the past and, by 
means of such documents as have survived to the present day, establish the truth of 
this statement. The connection between Speculative Masonry and Operative Masonry 
of the Middle Ages having been largely verified, it is essential that the documents of 
the Mediaeval Masons should be considered before attempting those relating to 
Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of England, the premier Grand Lodge of the 
world. 


The earliest Masonic document to which we can thus refer is the Regius Poem of 
about A. D. 1390. In this MS. King Athelstan is said to have made "hye templus of 
gret honowre," in order to "worschepe hys God with alle hys mygth." We are also 
told, when dealing with the points to be observed by Masons: 


That whose wol conne thys craft and com to astate, 
He most love wel God, and holy churche algate. 


The second document of importance is the Cooke MS., a document of a somewhat 
later date, but supposed by many Masonic students to be a copy of a MS. even older 
than the Regius Poem. The Cooke MS. commences thus: 


Thonkyd be god our glorious ffadir and founder and former of heuen and of erthe, 
and of alle thyngis that in hym is that he wolde fochesaue of his glorious god hed for 
to make so mony thyngis of diuers vertu for mankynd. 



Also, at line 835, where the points to be observed by Masons are set out, all Masons 
are exhorted to love "god and holy chyrche & alle halowis." 


Throughout these two MSS. there are clear indications that it was the duty of every 
Mason to worship God in accordance with the doctrine of the then established church: 
and it would be difficult to imagine any deviation from this rule when we remember 
that these were the Craftsmen to whom we are indebted for those wonderful sacred 
edifices— those poems in stone -which still are the glory and veneration of the whole 
world. 


The next documents in chronological order are those Masonic title deeds known to 
the brethren of today as the MS. Constitutions, or Old Charges. There are now about 
100 texts in existence, all of them slightly varying, but nevertheless so similar as 
unquestionably to point to a derivation from one common original. These MSS., 
except when following the opening sentence of the Cooke MS., invariably commence 
with an invocation, or prayer, addressed to the Trinity. One of the earliest dated 
copies of the Old Charges is the Grand Lodge, No. 1, MS., of 25th December, 1583. 
In it the Invocation runs as follows: 


The Mighte of the ffather of Heaven and the wysedome of the glorious soonne 
through the grace & the goodnes of the holly ghoste yt been three psons & one god be 
wth vs at or beginning And give vs grace so to gou'ne vs here in or lyving that wee 
maye come to his blisse that neu' shall have ending. Amen. 


That this Invocation originally was, or in the 1 7th century became, the opening Prayer 
of the Lodge is supported by the evidence of the Buchanan MS. (1660 1680), and the 
Atcheson-Haven MS. (1666), in both of which the Invocation commences "O Lord 
God, Father of Heaven." The Aberdeen MS. (1670) goes even further, and this 
Invocation to the Trinity is expressly termed "A Prayer befor the Meeting." In the 
Freemasons' Pocket Companion, published by J. Scott, in 1754, this Invocation is 
given as "A Prayer to be used of Christian Masons at the empointing of a Brother: 
Used in the Reign of Edward IV." We may thus feel assured that the Speculative 
Mason of the 1 8th century had no doubt as to the character of the opening sentence of 



the Old Charges, and the use to which it was put at the making of their Operative 
Ancestors. 


After setting out the Legendary History of the Craft of Masonry in some detail the 
Old Charges recited certain Articles and Points, or Charges, which were binding upon 
all Masons; and also some further Clauses which were binding on the Masters and 
Fellows. In the very forefront of these charges came a Charge concerning belief in 
God as a requisite for all Masons. This Clause, as given in the Grand Lodge, No. 1, 
MS., is as follows: 


The fyrst Chardge ys this That ye shall bee trewe men to god and holly Churche and 
you vse no Errour nor heresye by yor vndrstanding or discreacon but be yee discreet 
men or wyse men in eache thing. 


This Clause, with but trifling alterations, appears in all the copies of the Old Charges. 
It would, with the other Articles and Points, invariably be read to all who were made 
Masons; after which an Oath to observe the Articles, etc., would be administered. 


Again, throughout the Middle Ages, there were in most towns of England and 
Scotland Gilds of Masons, and many of their Ordinances have been preserved. From 
these Rules and Regulations it is clear that the Mason was no Atheist but was 
required to profess the religion of the Established Church. For instance, in the 
Regulations for the Masons Company of the City of London, passed in 1481, 
attendance at Church to hear Mass was compulsory on certain Feast Days. Nor, with 
regard to this Company, must we forget that their Motto was "God is our Guide." 
Although disused for some centuries the substituted one— "In the Lord is all our 
Trust"— does not suggest any departure from the Masons' standard of belief. 


Such was the condition of affairs when the Grand Lodge of England was brought into 
being, in London, in 1717. For how iong after this date the Christian Faith was 
requisite we cannot with certainty state. In 1722 the Roberts Print of the Old Charges 
was published, with its Invocation to the Trinity, and its clause concerning belief in 



God. It was not, however, an authorized production, under the aegis of the Grand 
Lodge of England. Concurrently with the issue of this work Dr. James Anderson was 
completing the first Edition of the Book of Constitutions, and the Grand Lodge was 
widening its portals by dropping the definite and distinctive Christian character of the 
Craft. 


The Book of Constitutions was published in February, 1723, and in it, amongst other 
things, Anderson inserted "The Charges of a Free-Mason, extracted from the ancient 
Records of Lodges." The first is headed "Concerning God and Religion," and reads as 
follows: 


A Mason is oblig'd, by hiS Tenure, to obey the moral Law and if he rightly 
understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. 
But though in ancient Times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the 
Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more 
expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their 
particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of 
Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denomination or Persuasion they may be 
distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of 
conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual 
Distance. 


This Charge might certainly have been worded more clearly, and has led some people 
to believe that even a belief in God had ceased to be obligatory. But it should be 
recollected that the Charge was probably drawn up by Anderson, a Scottish 
Presbyterian Minister, and was approved by, amongst others, the Rev. J.T. 
Desaguliers, a French Protestant Divine. It is inconceivable that either of these 
Clergymen would have acquiesced in the removal of that Landmark-the belief in 
God— from the Constitutions of the Craft; but we must remember that both of them 
would desire to emphasize that the Craft was open to others than those whose religion 
was that of the Established Church of England. Anderson's accuracy in transcription 
has been found at fault on several occasions, and his wording of this Charge need not 
be construed with minute exactness. A careful perusal of contemporary evidence will 
aid in its true construction, and negative the assumption of atheistic principles. The 
correct interpretation seems to be that the phrase "Irreligious Libertine" was intended 



to designate the Freethinker of the present day; and that Anderson, in framing the 
clause, wanted to make it as wide as possible without including the man with no 
belief in God. It was not to admit the Atheist, but to enable brethren with different 
religious opinions to meet together in amity. 


In the Second Edition of the Book of Constitutions Anderson alters the wording of the 
first Charge, and gives it in the following words: 


A Mason is oblig'd by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law, as a true Noachilla; and 
if he rightly understands the Craft, he will never be a Stupid Atheist, nor an 
Irreligious Libertin, nor act against Conscience. In antient Times the Christian 
Masons were charged to comply with the Christian Usages of each Country where 
they travell'd or work'd: But Masonry being found in all Nations, even of divers 
Religions, they are now only charged to adhere to that Religion in which all Men 
agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular Opinions) that is, to be Good Men 
and True, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions or Persuasions 
they may be distinguish'd: For they all agree in the 3 great Articles of Noah, enough 
to preserve the Cement of the Lodge. 


In the Third Edition of the Book of Constitutions, published in 1756, a return was 
made to the wording in the First Edition, irrespective of its precise meaning; but the 
so-called Exposures of that period show that a belief in God was requisite. The 
wording remained thus until after the Union of the premier Grand Lodge and the 
Grand Lodge of the Antients in 1813. 


If we turn to the Grand Lodge of the Antients we find that the First Edition of 
Ahiman Rezon was published in 1756. The Old Charges are given, and the first one 
"Concerning God and Religion" follows the wording in Anderson's Second Edition of 
the Book of Constitutions. But earlier, when dealing with the principles of the Craft, 
Laurence Dermott has no doubt as to the meaning of this First Charge, and states: 



A Mason is obliged by his Tenure to believe firmly in the true Worship of the eternal 
God, as well as in all those sacred Records which the Dignitaries and Fathers of the 
Church have compiled and published for the Use of all good Men: So that no one who 
rightly understands the Art, can possibly tread in the irreligious Paths of the unhappy 
Libertine, or be induced to follow the arrogant Professors of Atheism or Deism; 
neither is he to be stained with the gross Errors of blind Superstition, but may have 
the Liberty of embracing what Faith he shall think proper, provided at all Times he 
pays a due Reverence to his Creator, and by the World deals with Honour and 
Honesty ever making that golden Precept the Standard-Rule of his Actions, which 
engages, To do unto all Man as he would they should do unto him: For the Craft, 
instead of entering into idle and unnecessary Disputes concerning the Different 
Opinions and Persuasions of Men, admits into the Fraternity all that are good and 
true. 


Also, when dealing with the duties of a Mason, Laurence Dermott states: 


At his leisure Hours he is required to study the Arts and Sciences with a diligent 
Mind, that he may not only perform his Duty to his Great Creator, but also to his 
Neighbour and himself: For to walk humbly in the Sight of God, to do Justice, and 
love Mercy, are the certain Characteristics of a Real Free and Accepted Ancient 
Mason. 


With the Union of 1813 came an amalgamation of the Constitutions of the two Grand 
Bodies thus united. An Edition of the Book of Constitutions was published in 1815, 
and the wording of the first Charge, "Concerning God and Religion," assumed its 
present form, as follows: 


A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understand 
the art he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine. He, of all men, 
should best understand that GOD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh at the 
outward appearance, but GOD looketh to the heart. A Mason is, therefore, 
particularly bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience. Let a man's 
religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the order 



provided he believe in the glorious architect of heaven and earth, and practise the 
sacred duties of morality. 


Turning to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for a moment we know that John Pennell 
published The Constitutions of the Free-Masons in Dublin, in 1730. He copied very 
extensively from Anderson's earlier work, including the Charges. There is, however, a 
paragraph by Pennell, which is very illuminating. He says: 


Let all Free Masons so behave themselves, as to be accepted of God, the Grand 
Architect of the Universe, and continue to be, as they have ever been, the Wonder of 
the World: And let the Cement of the Brotherhood be so well preserved that the 
whole Body may remain as a well-built Arch. 


It is also in Pennell's Constitutions that we have the earliest dated Prayer, other than 
the Invocation to the Trinity which commenced the Old Charges. This Prayer is 
entitled "A Prayer to be said at the opening of a Lodge, or making of a Brother," and 
runs thus: 


Most Holy and Glorious Lord God, thou great Architect of Heaven and Earth, who art 
the Giver of all good Gifts and Graces; and hast promis'd that where two or three are 
gathered together in thy Name thou wilt be in the Midst of them; in thy Name we 
assembie and meet together, most humbly beseeching thee to bless us in all our 
Undertakings, to give us thy Holy Spirit, to enlighten our Minds with Wisdom and 
Understanding, that we may know and serve thee aright, that all our Doings may tend 
to thy Glory, and the Salvation of our Souls. 


And we beseech thee, O LORD GOD, to bless this our present Undertaking, and 
grant that this, our new Brother, may dedicate his Life to thy Service, and be a true 
and faithful Brother among us. Endue him with Divine Wisdom, that he may, with the 
Secrets of Masonry, be able to unfold the Mysteries of Godliness and Christianity. 



This we humbly beg in the Name and for the sake of JESUS CHRIST our LORD and 
SAVIOUR. AMEN. 


There is a marginal note, that the second paragraph was "To be added when any man 
is made." This Prayer subsequently appeared in Scott's Pocket Companion for 
Freemasons of 1754. 


Contemporary with the Prayer just quoted there are three others to be found in the 
Rawlinson MSS., at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Two of these are in script, and one 
in type print. These Prayers possess much similarity, and probably point to a common 
origin. The Printed Prayer commences thus: 


O Most Glorious and Eternal God, who art the Chief Architect of the Created 
Universe! Grant unto us, thy Servants, who have already enter'd our selves into this 
most noble, antient, and honourable Fraternity, that we may be solid and thoughtful, 
and always have a Remembrance of those sacred and holy things we have taken on 
us, and endeavour to inform and instruct each other in Secrecy; and that this Person, 
who is now about to be made a Mason, may be a worthy Member; and may all of us 
live as Men, considering the great End for which thy goodness has created us; Etc. 


Other Prayers of a somewhat later date are also preserved: they all refer to the Grand 
Architect of the Universe, and leave no doubt that throughout the whole period a 
belief in God was a prerequisite to entrance into Freemasonry. 


Somewhat analogous to the Prayers -as being Ritualistic in character -the following 
Charge may be cited. It was printed by William Smith in his Freemasons' Pocket 
Companion, published both in Dublin and London, in 1735, and is headed "A Short 
Charge to be given to new admitted Brethren." In it the following occurs: 



The World's great Architect is our Supreme Master, and the unerring Rule, he has 
given us, is that by which we work. Religious Disputes are never suffered in the 
Lodge; for as Masons, we only pursue the universal Religion or the Religion of 
Nature. This is the Cement which unites Men of the most different Principles in one 
sacred Band, and brings together those which were the most distant from one another. 
There are three general Heads of Duty which Masons ought always to inculcate, viz., 
to God, our Neighbours, and ourselves. To God, in never mentioning his Name but 
with that Reverential Awe which becomes a Creature to bear to his Creator, and to 
look upon him always as the Summum Bonum which we came into the World to 
enjoy; and according to that view to regulate all our Pursuits. 


Let us now direct our attention to a further class of evidence, and see what individual 
brethren have to say concerning this fundamental belief in God. Francis Drake, in a 
speech to the Grand Lodge of all England, held at York on the 27th December, 1726, 
in concluding, states: 


Let us so behave ourselves here and elsewhere, that the distinguishing 
Characteristicks of the whole Brotherhood may be to be called good Christians, Loyal 
Subjects, True Britons, as well as Free Masons. 


Another early Freemason, Edward Oakley, in a Speech to the Lodge at The 
Carpenters Arms, Silver street, Golden Square, London, on the 31st December, 1728, 
said: 


I therefore, according to my Duty, forwam you to admit or even to recommend to be 
initiated Masons, such as are Wine-Bibbers or Drunkards, witty Punsters on sacred 
Religion or Politicks, Tale-Bearers, Bablers, or Lyars, litigious, quarrelsome, 
irreligious, or prophane Persons, lew'd Songsters, Persons illitterate and of mean 
Capacities; and especially beware of such who desire Admittance with a selfish View 
of gain to themselves; all which Principles and Practices tend to the Destruction of 
Morality, a Burden to Civil Government, notoriously scandalous, and entirely 
repugnant to the Sacred Order and Constitutions of Free and Accepted Masons. 



Later on in his Speech, when dealing with false brethren, Bro. Oakley remarks that 
these, 


not having the Fear of God before their Eyes, value no sacred Obligations, turn 
Rebels, and endeavour to defame the Craft. 


These brethren have set out in unmistakable language their ideas as to the Character 
of the Craft and its vital tenets. 


There still remains another class of evidence of varying value. I allude to certain early 
MSS., and the many so-called exposures, which have been written and published 
during the first half of the 1 8th century and even later. Some of these undoubtedly 
indicate Masonic customs with more or less truth. In the examination known as the 
Sloane MS. the following occurs: 


Q. From whom do you derive your principall? A. From a greatr than you. Q. Who is 
that on earth that is greatr than a Freemason? A. He yt was caryed to the highest 
pinnicall of the Temple of Jerusalem. 


In the same examination, a little further on, we have: 


Q. How stood your Lodge? A. East and west as all holy Temples stand. 


And yet again there is this Question and Answer: 


Q. What were you sworne by ? A. By god and the square. 



Next in chronological order comes A Mason's Examination, which first appeared in 
print in. 1723. In the course of this examination the following sentence occurs: 


Then one of the Wardens will say— God's greeting be at this Meeting. 


Shortly after this last named Exposure appeared The Grand Mystery of the Free 
Masons Discovered was published. In it we have the following: 


Q. How many make a Lodge? A. God and the Square, with Five or Seven right and 
perfect Masons, on the highest Mountains, or the lowest Valleys in the World. 


A little later comes the following: 


Q. How many Lights? A. Three; a Right East, South, and West. Q. What do they 
represent? A. The Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 


At the close comes "The Free Masons' Oath," which runs thus: 


You must serve God according to the best of your Knowledge and Institution, and be 
a true Liege Man to the King, and he'p and assist any Brother as far as your Ability 
will allow; By the contents of the Sacred Writ you will perform this Oath. So help 
you God. 


There is also reference to God's greeting, and the position of holy temples, to which 
reference has already been made. 



In 1730, two further so-called exposures made their appearance. The later one 
-Masonry Dissected, by Samuel Prichard -contains much that is germane to our 
inquiry. In the Entered Prentice's Part, when dealing with the Furniture of the Lodge, 
the following questions are asked and answered: 


Q. What is the other Furniture of a Lodge? A. A Bible, Compass and Square. Q. Who 
do they properly belong to? A. A Bible to God, Compass to the Master, and Square to 
the Fellow Craft. 


Then, in the Fellow-Craft's Degree, referring to the letter G, the under-mentioned 
questions and answers are given: 


Q. What did that G denote7 A. One that's greater than you. Q. Who's greater than I, 
that am a Free and Accepted Mason, the Master of a Lodge? A. The Grand Architect 
and Contriver of the Universe, or he that was taken up to the Top of the Pinnacle of 
the Holy Temple. 


Also, in the same Degree, reference is made to "God's good Greeting be to this our 
happy Meeting." Lastly, in the Master's Degree, there is the following: 


Q. How came you to be passed Master? A. By the help of God, the Square, and my 
own Industry. 


In many of the subsequent so-called Exposures we have still further proof of the 
necessity of a belief in God in every Mason. Thus we find, that the Lodge is opened 
"in the name of God"; the brethren pray "O Lord God, thou great and Universal 
Mason of the world, and first builder of man, as it were a temple"; the Initiate is 
required to put his trust "in God"; and the Bible is explained as one of the three great 



lights in Masonry "to rule and govern our faith." These references are by no means 
exhaustive, but they will suffice clearly to demonstrate that a Belief in God was 
recognized as a Masonic essential. 


In conclusion, I think it may safely be affirmed that, although there was undoubtedly 
some ambiguity in the wording of the Charge "concerning God and Religion" in the 
First Edition of Anderson's Constitutions, yet the mass of contemporary evidence 
available indicates an adherence at all times, by the Craft in the British Isles and 
elsewhere, to a Belief in God as one of its inflexible, unquestionable and unalterable 
tenets. The redrafting of this Charge in the Constitutions of 1815 removed such 
ambiguity as may then have existed, and a faithful belief in God was once more 
clearly shown to be a fundamental, or Landmark, in English Craft Masonry. May it 
ever so continue. 


— o — 


Beyond the Limit 


By BRO. JOSE D'ARIMATHEA, Mexico 


THE theme of this article has been studied by Masonic writers from divers points of 
view; none of them, however, have arrived at definite conclusions that might guide 
our brothers to correctly discriminate the enormous, mass of contradictory opinions, 
ideas and interpretations that are prevalent in Masonic writings. The fear of hurting 
the religious feelings of most of our Anglo-Saxon brothers; the ideological chaos that 
exists in Masonry that has rendered it almost impossible to know what is what in 
Masonry; the lack of adequate scientific training of some writers who, it seems, 
believe that Masonry is a subject that can be treated calamo currente, and finally too 
much living in the dead past, have prevented the clarification of various questions that 
daily arise in the minds of Masons who earnestly endeavor to penetrate into the 
secrets of Freemasonry. 



The misunderstanding and confusion have reached such proportions like these: a 
great majority of Anglo-Saxon Masons firmly believe that Freemasonry is a religion; 
others maintain that Freemasonry is a splendid preparation for religion, and others, 
the indifferents, think that religion blends perfectly well with the principles of 
Freemasonry, while our Latin brothers believe that Freemasonry is purposely and 
specifically directed against religion. Dangerous extremes that go beyond the limit of 
the jurisdiction of Freemasonry. 


A free mind, not constrained by fear, prejudices or any other consideration, is 
necessary to study Masonry because it is founded on scientific principles and it is not, 
as it is generally believed, merely a literary subject. I believe that I possess such a 
mind, and I feel that I can think and write freely under my own inspiration, using 
clarity and precision of expression to the best of my ability, without sugar-coated 
words that are entirely out of place in the process of ratiocination. 


THE TOLERANCE OF FREEMASONRY 


Freemasonry has no point of contact with religion, politics and racial prejudices; had 
not the Old Charges, Landmarks and Masonic Constitutions said anything about these 
limitations of Masonic activities, they would nevertheless be natural limitations, 
considering the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry of being an all-inclusive 
institution within which all men can get together without friction, no matter what their 
beliefs, opinions and ideas may be, and no matter to what race they may belong. If 
this assumption of inclusiveness and universality is generally accepted by all Masons 
as something fundamental of Freemasonry, as I believe it is, then it is a logical 
consequence to keep Freemasonry from any contact with those matters that divide 
men into groups of enemies. Religion, politics and racial prejudices are the three most 
efficient agents for promoting discord, bitterness and unhappiness in mankind. Just 
try to contradict your best and closest friend on any of those subjects and instantly he 
will take the shape and appearance of an enraged gorilla. 



Notwithstanding any interpretation that might be given to the Old Charges, 
Landmarks and Masonic Constitutions in reference to religion, politics and racial 
prejudices, these emotional negative aspects of human life have no place within the 
great constructive conception of Freemasonry. They are emotional negative attitudes 
in relation to Universal Brotherhood; they constitute our inheritance from our 
primitive ancestors and they are a serious obstacle to the progress of mankind. 


It does not make any difference what is your conception of the brotherhood of man; it 
may be a Utopian conception or just a dream; it may be so only in our historic 
moment, or it may be a reality now or in the future; the point of view of the observer 
does not matter in the least. The important thing is the inner knowledge that Universal 
Brotherhood, be it considered just as a Masonic dream or as a Masonic idea without 
contact with reality, is an ally of progress because, being as it is, a cardinal emotion 
that attracts and builds up, it is a process of elevation and of harmony and through 
this process humanity evolved from the cave man. As religion, politics and racial 
prejudices, three capital enemies of the unity of mankind, are opposed to the cardinal 
emotion of brotherhood of man, hence the necessity of placing religion, politics and 
the race beyond the limit of Freemasonry. 


PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTION 


The intolerant maxim, "He who is not with me is against me," is exactly applicable to 
religion as well as to politics and racial matters; it is a satanic anti-social maxim that 
engenders hatred and, therefore, it is contrary to brotherhood of man. It is not possible 
to uproot by a stroke of force religion, politics and racial prejudices from the soul and 
the mentality of mankind; should Freemasonry engage in this task it would mean war 
on humanity at large and the end of brotherhood of man. You cannot change the 
mental attitude of man, nor wipe out of his subconscious mind by violence, the stored 
impressions and superstitions of past experiences; on the contrary, you vigorize them 
in proportion to the intensity of the violence. For these reasons Freemasonry must be 
absolutely neutral on these matters; it does not either attack or defend the crumbling 
institutions of religion, politics and the race; it only attacks in self-defense by virtue 
of the law of self-preservation, when its fundamental principles are violated by any 
man, group of men or institution of any kind, and even in this case, it does not go 
beyond the limit, it does not invade prohibited ground; it stands within its own 



boundaries. The emotions capable of producing tremendous conflicts and horrible 
massacres like those produced by religion, politics and racial prejudices, have not, 
cannot, nor ought to have any point of contact with the soul of Freemasonry, which 
essentially is a force of attraction and union. When we succeed in uprooting from the 
subconscious mind the roots of religion, which are ignorance and fear, and the soul be 
free by the light of knowledge, transforming into a science what is still today an 
emotion of primitive man; when politics is no longer the instrument of oppression to 
satisfy personal ambitions and is transformed into the science of government; when 
the racial prejudices be blotted out from the conscience by means of brotherhood of 
man; when these three capital enemies be controlled and transformed by science into 
allies of progress, then, and only then, Freemasonry will extend its jurisdiction 
beyond the actual limit. 


Science has never divided men into antagonistic groups for mutual destruction; 
science is the only means to conquer liberty; science is the liberation from ignorance, 
from prejudice, from the past, from fear. Science, united with the virtue of fraternal 
sentiment, Scientia et virtus, is the instrument of Freemasonry for the 
accomplishment of universal brotherhood of man; Utopia, dream or reality, 
Freemasonry lives only for this ideal; it is its life and its object and it shall continue to 
live powerful and fruitful only for the brotherhood of man. "Man standing by man, 
never man against man" is the motto of Freemasonry that elevates it to a higher plane 
than those of religion, politics and the race. Religion, politics and racial questions 
have plunged humanity into a fratricidal war since fear, engendered by ignorance, 
grasped the soul of man. You cannot dissipate ignorance by violence, therefore you 
cannot liberate man from fear by violence; the only means is knowledge, and 
knowledge cannot be acquired without the assistance of science, and science cannot 
help humanity without virtue. This is the great constructive task of Freemasonry. 


THE FRATERNITY IDEAL. 


It should be recognized by all means that it is an organic necessity of Freemasonry to 
safeguard this ideal of brotherhood of man in its purity and integrity, therefore, it is 
imperative to completely and absolutely separate the Masonic field from those of 
religion, politics and racial prejudices. 



I say emphatically organic necessity, because I intend to convey the idea that 
brotherhood is the medulla of Freemasonry, therefore, Freemasonry can never 
perform any functions contrary to its very existence, and if it does, it commits suicide, 
its medulla becomes dead matter. 


It does not matter what was the efficient cause of Masonry; it does not make any 
difference what is the Masonic tradition from 1 7 1 7 up to these very days; it does not 
matter what is the historic interpretation of Masonic evolution; it has no bearing in the 
case whether or not Masonry was religious in certain stages of its evolution; at all 
events, it seems quite evident that it is not possible to use now the criterion of 1717 to 
appraise the values of ideas and things of 1927, nor is it possible to trace through the 
Masonic tradition what is the essential element, the true spirit of Freemasonry. We 
have created, developed and sublimated the sentiment of brotherhood and we have 
arrived at the corresponding mental conception by evolution; the sentiment and the 
conception of brotherhood today are not the sentiment and the conception of 1 7 1 7 ; 
we find ourselves at an enormous distance from the starting point in that which relates 
to this sentiment and this conception; in other words, there is no relation whatsoever 
between the efficient cause and the teleological one, so that it is not necessary to 
know the efficient cause in order to determine the nature and the modus operandi of 
the teleological cause. Freemasonry knows now with scientific knowledge that which 
it did not know in 1717, that, by means of psychology, it has the power to develop 
within man the germ of brotherhood to the point of blossoming and fructification, and 
it even has the power to sow the seed to cause it to germinate in case man does not 
carry it within. Through this knowledge, Freemasonry has directed its life toward 
universal confraternity as the object of its existence. 


Freemasonry is primarily interested in man individually as a spiritual unit to make 
him free in order to live the true life; secondly, it is interested in man as a social unit, 
to teach him how to live without conflicts within the social conglomeration of human 
beings. Freemasonry is not interested in man as a cosmic unit in his relations to 
Divinity, therefore, it does not intend to teach him the nature of Deity, nor the laws 
governing cosmic relationship. It is quite comprehensible why, in 1717, Masonry was 
interested in the cosmic tie that, it was supposed, united man to Divinity, for it was 
life in the eternal Orient that absorbed the whole interest of man, consequently, it was 
considered important and fundamental that a Mason should believe in the unique 



living anthropomorphic God that dwelled in the consciousness of man in those 
nefarious epochs; but it is inconceivable that in 1927, when the dynamic of liberty has 
transformed primitive Masonry into Freemasonry, Freemasonry should breath the 
spirit of religious intolerance that characterized the Middle Ages, endeavoring to 
impose upon its adepts the belief in a personal God that nobody has been able to 
define and the adoration of a book that a great many, especially the Latin brothers, do 
not know even by its binding. 


The "Great Architect of the Universe" is a scientific formula discovered by a 
profound thinker as a conciliatory means of transition from the personal god of the 
dark ages to the various gods formed by the fear and the imagination of man; it is not 
a religious formula, it is strictly a scientific postulate of a philosophy that 
comprehends all and every conceivable forms of god that mankind can possibly 
imagine, thus enabling man to meet his brother on the level under a universal formula 
of brotherhood. 


THE QUESTION OF RELIGION 


There is no religious element in Freemasonry; there might have been some in 
primitive Masonry. (In making this emphatic statement I am perfectly aware of the 
protests and disapproval of my brethren, e pur si muove. When a Mason or group of 
Masons introduce this element in Masonic matters, liberty disappears, harmony 
ceases, passional disputes arise and the sect surges with all the characteristic of 
intolerance and ferocity of the primitive man. Precisely, in order to avoid the cruel 
reminiscences of the savage man, the formula of the "Great Architect of the 
Universe," which by itself defines nothing and explains nothing, thus leaving 
everybody free to find out the incognita, was wisely created. 


It is true that the formula, "Great Architect of the Universe," seems to strongly appeal 
to the soul of men that suffer from the "fear of God complex" (timor Dei complexus); 
but it is equally true that the same formula appeals to the liberal mind of the free 
thinker as an expression of a broadminded philosophy that includes every possible 
conception of God; therefore, there is no compulsory meaning attached to the 



formula, on the contrary, it means absolute freedom of conscience in regard to the 
conception of Deity, be it religious, philosophical, purely scientific or otherwise. 


We know that this broadmindedness of criterion is not acceptable to religious men 
who profess to be Freemasons; but we also know that broadmindedness and 
Freemasonry are synonymous, consequently, the man that cannot detach himself from 
the religious complex in regard to Masonic matters cannot be a Freemason; he may be 
a Mason of 1717, but never a Freemason. A true Freemason looks toward universal 
brotherhood unprejudiced and unhandicapped by the narrowness of the religious 
complex, no matter what it costs; to the Freemason no price is too high, even the 
sacrifice of life, to crystallize into a reality the highest ideal that a man can cherish in 
his heart, "Man standing by man, never man against man." 


As an illustration of the consequences of the religious mental attitude applied to 
Masonic matters, I refer the reader to the articles, "The Basis of Masonic Unity," 
published by THE BUILDER June, 1924, and "Why the Grand Lodge of New York 
withdrew from the Masonic International Association," March, 1925. 


In conclusion: Freemasonry is not a church, nor a political club, nor an organization 
for promoting racial hatred, nor something relating to or representing "VIOLENCE." 
Freemasonry is an institution where man tastes the flavor of liberty and once tasted he 
becomes a unit of the "Universal Society of Freemasons," notwithstanding any 
religious, political and racial prejudices. Free-masons means "free from the slavery of 
all kinds of prejudices, religious, political, racial or otherwise." 


MAN STANDING BY MAN, NEVER MAN AGAINST MAN ! 


— o — 


MASONIC CONSTITUTIONS 



It has been found necessary and expedient for the preservation and good government 
of the Masonic family, in all countries where Masonry has existed, to form a 
Constitution and to frame laws and regulations, for the promotion of peace and 
harmony among the Fraternity to bind the several members, whether as individuals or 
lodges, in one bond of fellowship and to produce a concentration of all their exertions 
in one general endeavor to spread the divine principles of Masonry throughout their 
own native country, and throughout the world; for Masonic charity and benevolence 
are not confined within the narrow boundaries that limit Nations, Kingdoms or states, 
but rejoices in that universal philanthropy, which, spreading its broad pinions, soars 
over and around the terrestial globe, and: with a confiding eye, looks up to the 
celestial abodes for the consummation of all its hopes— the happiness of fellow-man. 
—Freemason's Magazine, December, 1841. 


— o — 


The Labyrinth and Its Legend 


IN the Study Club article for July last year, a passing reference was made to mazes 
and labyrinths; since then we have received photographs of a very interesting 
labyrinth figure discovered at the Casa Grande National Monument in Arizona. For 
this (as for the photograph of the supposed "square and compass" ornament discussed 
in THE BUILDER two months ago) we are indebted to the kindness of Bro. Frank 
Pinckley, the Superintendent of Monuments in the Southwest, and Bro. George L. 
Boundey, Assistant Custodian, who actually took the photographs. Bro. Boundey, 
too, was the discoverer of the shell ornament, a fact that we inadvertently omitted to 
mention in the July number. 


Bro. Pinckley informs us that this engraving is "on the north wall of the center room 
in the Casa Grande or Great House." The groove below it shows "that the design is a 
foot or more above the line of a floor which was destroyed some five hundred years 
or more ago." The suggestion of date is important in considering the origin of the 
figure. Bro. Pinckley has not given any of the evidence by which the age of the design 



is to be judged, but if it be anything like as old as the building, then it was there 
before the discovery of America by Columbus. 


The third photograph was of a basket pattern showing a conventionalized form of the 
maze with straight spoke-like divisions but which nevertheless reproduces all the 
turns and meanders of the older design. This is also important by reason of the 
insertion of the human figure apparently approaching the entrance; which seems to 
imply some traditional memory of labyrinths large enough to be used. This basket 
pattern is also curiously reminiscent of a spider web, and if we may accept; the theory 
of compounding or amalgamating symbols advanced by the late eminent scholar, 
statesman and Freemason, Count Goblet d'Alviella of Belgium, there may be here a 
mingling of two things. The spider is a very important personage in the creation 
myths of the Southwest, and is represented as leading the first tribe of men from a 
dark underworld upto the light of day. This again may not be without significance. 


THE LEGENDS OF THE LABYRINTH 


Most people have at least heard of the Labyrinth of Crete and the Minotaur, and of 
Theseus the great hero of Athens, but in these days when the classics are little read it 
may be well to briefly relate the salient points of the story, or rather of the stories, for 
there are several. The first deals entirely with Crete, and King Minos, Queen Pasiphae 
and Daedalus, the great and cunning artificer. The latter, by the way, in one story is 
said to have killed his nephew and apprentice because he was jealous of his having 
invented the compass. The late version of the tale relates that Pasiphae was 
enamoured of a magnificent white bull that was the pride of the king's herds. Through 
the device of Daedalus she had a child that was half man and half bull. This monster 
(very naturally) so upset the king that he had Daedalus construct the Labyrinth in 
which it was shut up, and in order to feed it the city of Athens had to send every year 
a number of youths and maidens who were one by one sent into the Labyrinth, where 
after wandering round the Minotaur finally found them and killed and ate them. 

Which is all, in spite of its classical dress, a peculiarly savage tale. The Greeks 
themselves, however, knew that Pasiphae was the moon and the white bull the sun, 
but as to this more will be said later. Let us turn to the story of Theseus. He was the 
son of Aegeus, King of Athens, but was born at Troezen, the home of his mother 
Aethra. Just as in the case of some other heroes his father left his sword to be given to 



his unborn son. When he had grown to be a youth his mother sent him to Athens, and 
on the way he had a number of adventures, killing a number of unpleasant people, 
Periphetes the Clubman, Sinis the Pine Bender, Sciron, who liked to kick people over 
the cliffs, and Procrustes of the famous bed. When he got to Athens some masons 
repairing the temple of Apollo laughed at his effeminate appearance, as he is said to 
have had long hair and a robe reaching to his feet. They asked why such a pretty girl 
was allowed out alone. Theseus was angry and as the masons were out of reach, took 
the bullocks out of their cart and flung them over the temple roof. Here we have 
another curious allusion to bulls. Aegeus recognized his son by the sword, though his 
wife Medea in jealousy tried to have her step-son poisoned. Theseus' next adventure 
was to capture the fire-breathing bull of Marathon, which also killed people. This he 
brought to Athens and sacrificed to Apollo. 


When the time came to send the next shipload of youths and maidens to Crete, 
Theseus insisted on going with them. Arrived at their destination Ariadne, the 
daughter of Minos, promptly fell in love with him (Ariadne is supposed to be the 
personification of Spring). She gave him a clue, or ball of thread that she had spun 
and also a sword. By fastening one end of the thread at the entrance he was able to 
find his way out again, after he had found the center, where he apparently dispatched 
the Minotaur with ease. The monster being dead, Theseus and the other young people, 
with Ariadne, started back for Athens. At the Island of Naxos, Ariadne was deserted 
while asleep. Dionysus found her there later and married her. Meanwhile the 
ungrateful Theseus sailed on to Delos, where they all landed again and "danced the 
crane dance" which is explicitly said to have represented the turnings and windings of 
the Labyrinth. Then they set sail for Athens, and with the characteristic 
inconsequence of heroes Theseus forgot all about a signal arranged with his father. 
Plutarch tells the story thus: 


When their course brought them near to Attica both Theseus and the pilot were so 
overjoyed that they forgot to hoist the [white] sail which was to be the signal to 
Aegeus of their safe return [the sacrificial ship carried black sails], and he despairing 
of it threw himself from the rock and was killed. But Theseus, on landing, himself 
performed the sacrifices he had vowed to the gods at Phaleron when he set sail, and 
meantime dispatched a messenger to the city with news of his safe return. The 
messenger met with many who were lamenting the death of the king [Aegeus] and 
others who rejoiced as was meet and were ready to receive him with kindness and to 
crown him on his safe return. He received the crowns [garlands or wreaths] and 



wound them round his caduceus [herald's staff] and coming back to the shore, as 
Theseus had not yet finished his libations he stopped outside, being unwilling to 
disturb the sacrifice. When the libations were accomplished he announced the end of 
Aegeus, and they with weeping and lamentation hastened up to the city. 


Now the details of this story were regarded as important by Plutarch (and probably 
long before his time, too), because they were supposed to account for the origin of the 
ritual of the Oschophoria, the harvest festival of Athens. Among other things the 
mingling of rejoicing and lamentation. Lamentation for the old king or hero, dead, 
rejoicing for the young one safely arrived. 


Theseus is a hero of the same type as Hercules, and Rustam in Persia, and some 
others, who pass through a series of adventures which seem to be the basis of ritual, 
but are more likely based on ritual. If not connected with initiatory rites they are 
closely parallel to legends that were, and possibly they all spring from the same 
origin. 


THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY 


It must be remembered that the story of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth as it has come 
down to us is not a primitive version, it is late and thoroughly edited. That is, it is 
apparently composed of various legends from different localities put together in a 
more or less connected and coherent whole, though the duplications betray the 
process. First may be remarked the number of times a bull comes into the tale. There 
are the bullocks thrown over the temple. They were yoked to a cart— and the temple 
belonged to Apollo, who in Plutarch's time was equated with the sun god. In several 
creation myths the sun is said to have been thrown into the sky, and the sun was also 
regarded as a wheel, which makes a connection with the wagon or chariot. Then there 
is the Bull of Marathon, a beast that snorted flame and fire, and is sacrificed to 
Apollo. And finally the great bull of Minos (1), which equated with the sun is 
naturally the consort of the horned moon, Pasiphae. While their supposed monstrous 
offspring the bull-headed Minotaur seems to be a hypostasis of the chief character in 
a ritual dance, who was disguised in a bull-headed mask and perhaps a bull-hide for 



cloak. That a ritual dance there was is revealed by Plutarch himself, who distinctly 
implies its existence at Delos, and that it was in some way like or connected with the 
Labyrinth tale. Besides this we are definitely told elsewhere that after Theseus had 
slain the monster Daedalus made a dancing ground for Ariadne, and showed the 
young people who had come from Athens in the sacred Ship how to dance, "crowned 
with flowers," and that this dance also represented the turns and windings of the 
Labyrinth (2). 


We do not have very much primitive Cretan evidence on the subject. It is taken for 
granted by most writers that the origin must be found in the early Cretan civilization, 
sometimes called Minoan, which preceded that of the Greeks and was 
contemporaneous with early Egyptian dynasties. This does not necessarily follow. 

The Greeks or Hellenes were immigrants from the north, and they might have brought 
the Labyrinth myth and maze dances with them, and later localized them in Crete. 

The fact that the maze (as we shall see) seems to have been indigenous in the north 
would be in favor of this. On the other hand the bull evidently played a great part in 
Minoan cult and ritual, and, so we may judge, in their myths also. And in their wall 
paintings the meander or key pattern, sometimes also called Greek fret, is common, 
some varieties being based on the Swastika. The two were closely connected. 


THE LABYRINTH AND THE SWASTIKA 


Mr. A. B. Cook in his great work Zeus, says that about 600 B. C. the swastika was 
taken to represent the Labyrinth. But there is also no doubt that in the Mediterranean 
countries of about the same age it also represented the sun, whatever it may have 
meant elsewhere. This simple swastika was elaborated alony, two lines, one towards 
patterns of the meander type, and the other into a formal Labyrinth consisting of a 
single involved path leading to the center. It will be noticed that in this typical form 
of Labyrinth the basic lines form a swastika-like figure, which though not regular is 
yet sometimes found as a variant form of this symbol, while many forms of the key 
pattern are obviously based on the repeated swastika. The form of the swastika is 
frequently elaborated as in Fig. 4, which is held specially sacred by the Buddhists (3) 



There is a long series of coins struck in the Island of Crete through the late Greek 
period and the Roman Empire which show the Labyrinth in its typical form as an 
important part of the design, in many cases filling the whole space. In Fig. 5 five of 
these are illustrated. The three at the top shows the development of the swastika into a 
key pattern enclosing a square. In one of them a star (or possibly the sun) is placed, 
and in another a crescent moon. This square center tended to get larger and the arms 
of the cross to get smaller until at last it became merely a square surrounded by a 
meander border. In the space might appear the head of a deity, or the head or skull of 
a bull, or other devices. 


The other line of development was into the Labyrinth proper, first square and later 
circular. In the square one shown is a spear head and a thunder bolt on each side. In 
another an owl perches on an amphora or vase laid down on its side while to the right 
a small Labyrinth appears. But a great many have the Labyrinth alone, with an 
inscription perhaps, as the KNO in the last example here given, which is a recognized 
abbreviation for Knossos. 


MOSAIC LABYRINTHS 


During the Roman period it seems almost to have become a fashionable motif for the 
ornamentation or mosaic floors, a bare list of the number of examples that have been 
found, many still in existence, would take considerable space. It may have become a 
stock design for mosaic workers and decorators, just as in the Renaissance period no 
garden in England or France was complete without its maze. Many mosaic examples 
also include incidents of the story pictorially represented. In the one reproduced, Fig. 
6, which was found in a Roman tomb discovered in Tunis, the ship bearing Theseus 
and his companions is shown headed for the entrance of the Labyrinth which is closed 
by double doors. This is a very elaborate and intricate form. The fret or key pattern at 
each end is also to be noted. Some form of this frequently appears as a border to the 
Labyrinth itself. The other Roman example here reproduced, Fig. 7, is a graffito or 
scribbled inscription found on a wall at Pompeii. The words are Labyrinthus hie 
habitat Minotaurus; that is, "The Labyrinth, here dwells the Minotaur." Whether this 
was the effort of a schoolboy anxious to air his newly-acquired knowledge of Greek 
fable, or whether it was a sly hit at the owner of the house can only be guessed people 
in the locality as "Troy," "Troy-town" or "Walls at. It is proof of the familiarity with 



the Labyrinth of Troy," while the stone labyrinths in Denmark and and the story of 
Theseus. 


But the Labyrinth seems not only to have been connected with Crete, but also with 
Troy, and this is very puzzling. Fig. 8 is from an Etruscan vase, which shows a 
procesision of armed men, some mounted and some on foot, and with them a crudely 
drawn maze of typical form, in the outer ring of which is the word Truia in archaic 
letters— the word is spelled from right to left as in early writing there was no rule 
about this. There is another reference, which though not very explicit may be 
pertinent. Virgil in his great epic tells the story of Aeneas, who according to Roman 
legend escaped from Ilium when it was taken by the Hellenes and sailing westward 
settled in Italy, where his descendants later on founded Rome. Virgil pictures Aeneas 
leaving Troy burning behind him, carrying his aged father Anchises on his shoulders 
and leading his little son lulus by the hand. In the fifth book of the poem lulus is 
described as engaging with his companions in a "game of Troy," Ludus Troiae. 


In this Virgil must not be supposed to have made any archeological researches as a 
basis for his description, he was doubtless picturing lulus and his friends playing a 
game that was well known in his own time. Other writers also refer to it. It seems to 
have been more of a ritual than a game properly so-called, and was confined to boys 
or youths of patrician blood. The extraordinary thing is that the turf mazes in England 
are in many places traditionally known by the country people in the locality as 
"Troy," "Troy-town" or "Walls of Troy," while the stone labyrinths in Denmark and 
Scandinavia are known as "Troja," "Trojeborg" or "Troborg," which is the same 
thing; in Wales it is Caerdroia, which again is Troy- town. It is certainly very curious, 
especially when we remember that there is the town of Troyes in France, and 
Troytown in Cornwall. The name seems really to be a genuine Celtic one, but if so, 
how came the Latins and Etruscans to have a Troy festival or dance? While it might 
seem possible that the references in Virgil, Tacitus and others could have introduced 
the name into Western Europe in later times it must be remembered that the 
description is in no case definite enough to have led by itself to identifying it with 
"treading a maze," while the Etruscan vase, which links the Roman references 
together and explains them is of too recent discovery to have produced such a 
widespread effect. 



NOTES 


(1) Daedalus is said to have killed his nephew at Athens by pushing him over the 
precipice of the Acropolis. This nephew, Talos, is credited with the invention of the 
compasses, the potter's wheel and the saw. He also is connected with Crete in other 
stories, and was said to have been a brazen man who ran round the Island three times 
a day and was killed by Jason and the other heroes of the Argonaut's crew. He is also 
said to have been transformed into a partridge and thereafter named Perdix. 


In the former version, Daedalus after killing him fled to Crete seeking the protection 
of Minos. After the birth of the Minotaur the white bull (which came out of the sea, as 
a gift from Poseidon, equated with the Latin Neptune) is said to have gone mad and 
after doing much damage swam across the sea to Attica where it ran wild in 
Marathan. All these stories are obviously attempts to connect the myths of different 
localities connected with the sun regarded as a bull. The bronze man running from 
Crete also seems a variant of the bull-headed man in the Labyrinth. 


(2)This is also mentioned by Homer in the Iliad. 


(3) According to Burnouf, Lotus de la Bonne Loi, this symbol has many 
significations. It represents, a temple or other sacred edifice, a "species of labyrinth," a 
"garden of diamonds," a chain and a waist or shoulder belt of gold. 


Curiously Weisse in The Obelisk and freemasonry gives almost the same figure 
which he says he took from Lord Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico. It has not 
been possible to verify this, and it may be that it was not Mexican, although the 
passage in which Weisse speaks of it (page 162) this certainly seems to be implied. 


(To be continued) 



o 


Church and Schools in Quebec 


By BRO. M. W. JOHNSTON, Canada 


IT is probable that in this second decade of the twentieth century there is no part of 
the world where the Roman Church is in a position of greater power and influence 
than in the Province of Quebec, not even excepting the Irish Free state. The nominally 
Roman Catholic countries everywhere put restrictions on the Church to an extent 
scarcely realized in Protestant countries. It would seem that they have "had enough." 
The same process seems to be under way in Ireland, too, now that that distressful 
country possesses a government of its own, republican in everything but name and 
external form, and is discovering to its astonishment that many of the ills incident to a 
government were not due to heartless English tyranny. Thus it is that in Quebec the 
result of Church domination can be seen at its best, or as that word is ambiguous in 
this connection, in its completest development. 


In order that the present position of affairs may be made clear to American readers of 
THE BUILDER a few words need to be said as to the history of the Province. In 1763 
Canada was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris, being already in its 
possession through the capture of Quebec in 1759 by Wolfe, and the surrender of 
Montreal in the following year. Before peace was signed, the British by Royal 
Proclamation had assured to the French colonists their law, religion and property 
rights. And all this was formally reaffirmed when peace was made. Contemporary 
documents prove the deep gratitude of the Canadians— then of course entirely French 
Canadians— for this generosity, which their leaders both clerical and lay repeatedly 
affirmed to be as great as it was, to them, unexpected. In fact, until after the War of 
Independence the change of ownership made no difference at all to the people; the 
only change was that the Governor was an Englishman instead of a Frenchman, and 
that the new governors were less autocratic than those sent out from France. 



As a result of the War of Independence and the formation of the United States out of 
the old British Colonies there was a considerable immigration into Canada from south 
of the borderland. A very large number of families and individuals, known as Tories 
in American history books, but who are honored in Canada under the name of United 
Empire Loyalists, left their old homes and, in most cases with little but such 
belongings as they could bring with them, trekked into the unsettled wilderness of 
Canada to carve out new homes for themselves. Most of them settled in Upper 
Canada, now the Province of Ontario, but a considerable number came up through 
New Hampshire and Vermont, and crossed the border into the district known as the 
Eastern Townships in Quebec. They were followed by other immigrants from the 
Eastern states, largely from New Hampshire, so that this part of Canada, up until 
about twenty-five years ago, was almost as American as the Americans themselves, in 
everything but allegiance. Their customs, habits, manners, speech, methods of 
farming, houses and barns were practically identical. This community formed the 
only compact English speaking and Protestant group of the population of Quebec, of 
which more than 80 per cent is French. The local government of this community was 
from the very first different from that of the rest of the Province. The French had 
introduced the feudal system into Canada. The seigneurs and the Church both had 
rights and privileges, which the latter to all intents and purposes still retains. The new 
English speaking communities naturally improvised a government for themselves as 
it was required, on the basis of their past habits and customs, and this gradually 
became officially recognized, with on the whole remarkably little friction. One of the 
very first things done was to arrange for schools, at first on what might almost be 
called the subscription plan. A log cabin would be built by a "bee" for a schoolhouse, 
a teacher would be hired, every household chipping in to pay the bargained salary, 
and taking turns to board the teacher. It was a makeshift method, but not so inefficient 
as might be supposed. The teachers were generally young men, aiming to become 
either ministers, lawyers or physicians. Though the average scholar learned little more 
than to read and write and "cipher," yet those with more in them had sufficient 
opportunity to forge ahead, and go later on to some other town where there was an 
academy, and from there perhaps to college. 


So far as the Townships near the border line were concerned it was quite usual for 
young men to go to one or other of the Colleges in the New England States, as 
communications were more natural and easy to the south. A great part of the people 
had relatives in the United States, which also was a pre-disposing cause for this state 
of affairs. But M'Gill University was founded in 1820 at Montreal, and Academies 



were started in most centers of population almost from the first. These Academies 
frequently had teachers competent to take students as far as what would now be 
second or third year Arts in a University, and often turned out more all-around 
educated graduates than the specialized College courses succeed in doing today in a 
great many cases. 


In contrast to the early foundation, comparatively speaking, of a Protestant College in 
Montreal, Laval, the Roman Catholic institution, was not chartered until 1852, just a 
year before the foundation of a second Protestant University, this time in the Eastern 
Townships. But though the Roman Catholics had no university of their own until this 
time it must not be supposed that they had no educational arrangements at all. Just 
what, if anything, was done for the country people, the habitants, who then formed (as 
they still do) by far the larger part of the French population, is not easy-to discover. 
There was no system. Schools existed here and there where some exceptional cure or 
parish priest was interested; but judging by such indications as are available it is 
probable that a very large proportion of these people had no school education at all. 
Even today a very large proportion of them can neither read nor write. It simply was 
not considered necessary or advisable that they should be literate. They were born to 
cultivate the soil, pay tithes and taxes to the Church and service to their seigneurs, 
and produce another generation to take their place. The seignorial rights did not 
endure very long under British rule except for some annoying "servitudes," to use the 
legal phrase, attached to the land in many places in the "French country," such as 
liability to clear watercourses or repair roads, or pay a sort of tax or quit rent in lieu of 
such service. But the Roman Church has never let go anything she held under the old 
regime. Or rather she has let go with one hand while taking a firmer grasp with 
another. Though not in form established by law, she is so in effect so far as her own 
people are concerned, and even if one of them should become Protestant, as 
occasionally happens, he finds it most difficult to break out of the legal network that 
compels him to go on paying Church dues. This of course applies only to the habitant. 
The other classes, not being tied to the land, are not so much at the mercy of the 
ecclesiastical organization. 


The professional and ruling classes up to the middle of the last century were 
edulcated in convents and monasteries. Girls of the same classes still go to Convent 
schools as a matter of course, and receive an excellent education. Perhaps rather old- 
fashioned now-adays, more calculated to make refined ladies capable of intelligent 
interest in many different things rather than young women able to make a living for 



themselves. But their schools are good, and many Protestant girls are sent to them. 

The proportion of such pupils who become Roman Catholics is negligible and there 
seems to be no attempt made to proselytize. For boys there are many similar schools 
conducted by various brotherhoods, and these, too, are excellent. Not infrequently 
unmanageable Protestant boys are sent to them for the sake of the discipline which is 
exceedingly strict; too much so to be of lasting benefit, in fact, if such cases as have 
come under the writer's notice are any criterion. Most French Canadian professional 
men are educated at Laval, which has splendid medical and legal schools. Engineers, 
however, frequently go to M'Gill, after taking an Arts course or its equivalent at Laval 
or one of the Brotherhood schools or colleges. While conversely many Protestant law 
students go to the French colleges, partly to perfect themselves in speaking French, 
which is absolutely necessary for a lawyer practicing in the Province of Quebec. 


But of course higher education is always arranged for in every country under all types 
of government. When it comes to popular elementary instruction it is quite another 
thing. In a brief article it is impossible to give any account of the development of the 
present state of affairs, but the school question has always been a bone of contention 
in Canada. The trouble arises inevitably from the opposing ideals of two races 
intensified by religious questions. It is doing the Roman Church no injustice to say 
that it is only interested ill education as a means of attaching its children to the 
system. Looked at fairly it is impossible to condemn this. Every Church wants to do 
the same. But the Roman Church seems to prefer, or if that is too sweeping, is at least 
very willing to acquiesce in having the great majority of children left uneducated 
except so far as teaching them "their religion" is concerned. Literary education for the 
ruling and professional classes, for the rest no more is necessary than to leam to do 
their work in the station and class into which they are born. They are thus docile, 
submissive and content, and as the Church claims, far happier. There may be some 
truth in this, too. But it is a totally different ideal from that of the English Protestant 
people, and conflict is bound to arise until by some compromise a modus vivendi is 
arrived at. 


There was first a school question in Ontario. The Roman Church won that round. 
Ontario and Quebec together were originally Canada; on that ground the claims that 
the French had by the original Royal Proclamations at the conquest and later 
embodied in the Treaty of Paris, were adjudged to hold for the whole of the original 
Canada; it did not affect the maritime Provinces which were British long before, nor 
Prince Rupert's Land, long known as Hudson Bay or Northwest Territories. So 



Ontario much against her will was saddled with separate schools. The battle then 
shifted to Manitoba, erected into a Province about 1870. After much political 
bickering and appeals to the courts, which were eventually taken to the final judicial 
authority of the Empire, the Privy Council, it was decided that Manitoba did not come 
under this rule. So round number two went to the Protestants. But the Church learned 
a lesson, and when in 1 905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were made into Provinces the 
Dominion Government, then dominated by the French Liberals of Quebec and led by 
the devout Laurier, saw to it that the Constitutions of the new Provinces contained 
clauses requiring separate schools. These two Provinces would now like to have it 
otherwise, but it seems that this last bout also goes to the Church. 


The question is not wholly religious, it is in large part political and racial. The Roman 
Church (quite naturally) would like to keep the French separate, a racial block with 
another language as well as another religion. By doing this they hope to eventually 
get control of the whole Dominion. The Western Provinces wish to break up this 
racial exclusiveness and make English speech and English traditions prevail. They are 
otherwise not specially interested in the purely religious side of the matter. This is 
how the matter stands generally, and though this has been something of a digression, 
it will help to make it easier to understand the position in Quebec. And that may be 
taken as an object lesson, an actual example of a Church controlled state. It is a little 
hard to say if the situation would remain so favorable to Protestants if Quebec were 
an independent Republic, as some French groups pretend to desire. Although perhaps 
the chief check on any open discrimination lies in the fact that in Ontario a very 
considerable French population is similarly at the mercy of a strong Protestant 
majority. Thus each dominating group has a hostage in the hands of the other, and it 
may be that the possibility of reprisals has helped to keep things fairly adjusted- 
possibly on both sides. 


The organization of education in the Province is dual; that follows from the separate 
school system. There is a Provincial Council of Public Instruction which is divided 
into two permanent committees, really separate Boards, one Roman Catholic, the 
other Protestant. The Roman Bishops of the Province have a seat on their Board ex 
officio. But the powers of the two sides of this Council are really not very great. 
There is no compulsory education act, and the local School Commissioners or 
Trustees can do pretty much as they like. The Council suggests textbooks, curricula 
and is ready to advise. They also have inspectors, who, however, can do little more 
than advise and report. In certain cases the government by the advice of the Council 



will make grants in aid for new school buildings, but there does not seem to be much 
of the Provincial revenue allotted for this purpose. The real working part of the 
system is the machinery of the local School Commissioners. There is a difference 
hetween Commissioners and Trustees, though in function they are about the same 
thing. 


In an unmixed community, all French or all English, a School Board is elected by the 
tax payers, that is the owners of real estate. The board consists of six members elected 
for a three-year period, two retiring every year. They have full power over the schools 
in the Township or Municipality. They decide on the school districts, the school year, 
where the buildings are to be, engaging teachers and paying them. For these purposes 
they have power to levy a tax on all real property. If, however, there is a dissenting 
group of families who want a separate school, a new machine is set up. The dissenters 
are empowered to elect a Board of Trustees instead of Commissioners, but their 
powers are the same, except that they are not empowered to collect their tax. This 
must be done by the Secretary Treasurer of the School Commissioners, who has to 
transfer it to the Treasurer of the Board. This, however, is a mere formality. Each 
body taxes its own people and sets its own rate. The taxes on neutral property, that 
belonging to corporations, railways and so on, are divided pro-rata, but the tax rate on 
such property is that set by the Commissioners. 


In the description this sounds rather complicated, but it works very smoothly, and 
though of course there is often some friction when a new separation is made it is 
chiefly due to lack of knowledge of the respective rights and duties on each side. 
When got into running order it goes as smoothly as any such machinery can be 
expected to. The two groups are really independent and have only themselves to 
blame if things go wrong. 


During the last ten or twelve years there have been many new separations in the 
district spoken of above, the Eastern Townships. During the war farmers were 
exempted from service. The French Canadians were very generally influenced by 
their priests against the idea.of participation in the conflict. Some of them said, even 
in the pulpit, that godless France deserved to be destroyed, and that the thing to do 
was to let the English go and fight the Germans and get killed and the French could 
take possession of Canada. This is not at all exaggerated, though it was all unofficial. 



However, the English speaking young men did go, while the young French 
Canadians, or their fathers for them, bought the homesteads of the English farmers so 
as to gain exemption. Prices went up, of course, to even three times normal value. 
However, there seems to be some way of financing this sort of thing, and the result 
was that French Canadians were moving in to districts where there had been very few 
before. The process, however, was not new, though the war accelerated it. The young 
English speaking Canadians are greatly drawn to the west, and thus leave the east for 
the French, who are always ready to buy them out. But until comparatively recently 
such French as were living in Protestant districts were content to send their children 
to the schools already in existence. Feft to themselves they would have continued to 
do so, but so soon as there are enough to make it at all possible the priests insist on a 
separate school. The result is, of course, in a rural community, to diminish the 
efficiency all around. The Protestants are meeting this by amalgamated schools, and 
hiring transportation of the children. This being usually done by contract for the 
school year. By this means Protestant education is being definitely improved in the 
country, for the amalgamated schools are graded, better furnished, and have usually a 
college graduate as principal. 


Perhaps an account of an actual case will serve as a useful example. It is a typical 
history, though of course the details vary in different places. During the war the influx 
of French families into this village was considerable, indeed in 1919 they 
outnumbered the Protestants by a hundred or more; but the Protestants still held three- 
quarters approximately of real estate. However, the Cure insisted on a separate 
school, and the various formalities were gone through and the dissenting Board of 
Trustees set up. The School Commissioners had united some years before with 
another village and had a combination school of very high quality. To this school the 
better class French people had been sending their children, the others went nowhere, 
though they might have gone to this school had their parents sent them. After the 
separate school was started, most of these better class children continued to go to the 
Protestant school, though their parents had to pay scholar fees. Some could not afford 
it. One man held out and refused to dissent as he had three children going to school. 
Pressure was put on him, however, with the result that he agreed to pay double taxes, 
which came cheaper than the scholar fees. 


The Board of Trustees elected by the Roman Catholic dissentients had three members 
who could not sign their own names; their Secretary-Treasurer could scarcely write 
and had to get assistance from the Cure with his books. They appointed as teacher a 



girl of seventeen who had only an elementary school education -but she knew the 
Catechism by heart. She was a daughter of one of the Trustees and niece of another. 
This was the provision for a number of children considerably larger than the 
Protestants. The tax rate for the French is three times that of the English, but of course 
it is paid on a smaller valuation and so does not bring in as large a revenue. Still the 
Protestants sometimes wonder what is done with the money, as the girl teacher is paid 
very little -even though more than she is worth from an educational point of view. 
From the point of view of the Cure, and one must suppose of the Church, it is all 
right. The children are taught in French, and they are taught the Catechism, and they 
go to church on every Saint's day, and possibly the brighter ones may leam to read 
and write a little. 


It is very curious, though. The Protestant children are taught French in school (every 
child should leam to speak another language) but they rarely learn French. The 
French children are not taught English, but in mixed communities they invariably 
learn it and most of them speak it among themselves by preference, in spite of all the 
efforts of the priest and sometimes of their parents. 


Thus it is clear that there are two conflicting ideals, and it may be seen why 
Protestants view the situation with some concern. Not with alarm for the problem is 
an old one and they have grown up with it. But they are determined their own 
children shall be educated as well as possible, and the result is, that in spite of being 
such a small fraction of the total population, the Protestants hold a preponderance of 
wealth, and far more than their own share, numerically judged, of influence both 
social and political -though they have to work for it. But they naturally often wish that 
there could be a single system of education. However, under present conditions the 
separate school is really their safeguard. Without it they would either sink to the 
lower level or be forced to send their children to private schools and thus pay twice 
over for their education. 


— o — 


EDITORIAL 



R.J. MEEKREN, Editor in Charge 
E.E. Thiemeyer, Research Editor 


BOARD OF EDITORS 

LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa 
ROBERT I. CLEGG, Illinois 
GILBERT W. DAYNES, England 
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri 
GEORGE H. DERN, Utah 
N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada 
R.V. HARRIS, Canada 
C. C. HUNT, Iowa 
CHARLES F. IRWIN, Pennsylvania 
A. L. KRESS, Pennsylvania 
F. H. LITTLEFIELD, Missouri 
JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California 
ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York 
J. HUGO TATSCH, Iowa 
JESSE M. WHITED, California 
DAVID E. W WILLIAMSON Nevada 



THE INVITED GUESTS 


THE pages in THE BUILDER devoted to the Tuberculosis Campaign are not exactly 
exciting reading at any time; lately they have been very depressing. Still in spite of its 
being a duty rather than a pleasure we trust that all our members did read it last 
month, or so much of it at least as dealt with the inauguration of a Roman Catholic 
Sanatorium in El Paso. 


This set of buildings, newly repaired, and ready furnished, a going concern, could 
have been purchased by the Masonic Fraternity for the same price as was paid for it 
by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The opportunity presented itself shortly after the general 
meeting of the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatorium Association in Chicago 
last November, where so much interest and enthusiasm was aroused. At the meeting 
were present influential representatives of a large number of the strongest and 
wealthiest Grand Lodges in the country. The executives of the Association were 
directed to initiate plans for the erection of a Sanatorium, and had every reason to 
suppose that they would receive adequate support. When soon after the opportunity 
came to buy a Sanatorium already in existence, that was to be sold to liquidate the 
estate of its late owner, it seemed quite providential. It was a wonderful opportunity 
to take the initial experimental step at a cost far below any possible estimate of 
erecting new buildings. It seemed as if the problem was well on the way to solution, 
the seed had been sown and had sprung up, the buds were ready to burst and a fruitful 
harvest seemed assured. Then came a sudden chill; a killing frost, in fact. There is 
truly much mystery about what happened. Some things we know, other things we 
suspect, but the result was like that in the Parable of the Wedding Supper, those 
invited 44 with one accora began to make excuse." The excuses were good enough in 
themselves, it was the unanimity with which all excused themselves that was so 
noticeable. There was in the parable a sequel, however; after guests had been gathered 
in from the highways and byways the king sent his armies and destroyed those who 
had been invited and burned their city. The invitation in the present case is not from 
the Tuberculosis Association - that is only an agent, a messenger. The word comes 
not from them, not even from the Craft as a whole, but from the G.A.O.T.U. himself - 
for so we must hold if we are not to stultify all the teaching that is given in the lodge. 



Let us consider it. This Sanatorium could have been purchased by the Craft for the 
same price as the Roman Sisterhood paid - we had the first offer. As much more was 
needed to run it for the first year; $150,000 in all. In round figures $3,000 was all that 
was needed from each of the forty-nine Grand Lodges of the country. Three thousand 
dollars! We venture to say that at least ten Masons could be found in every one of 
them who could have given that much out of his own pocket and never missed it. We 
are sure that in every one of those jurisdictions there are temples and halls being 
erected that will cost all told much more than $150,000. We know that in many states 
individual lodges are building temples or halls of their own that will cost more; it is 
not much of a building that can be put up for that sum now-a-days. What is the matter 
with Masonry? 


Nothing so far as the Craft at large is concerned. It may be we have too many 
members who have gained an entrance inspired by mercenary and other unworthy 
motives, but the great majority of the brethren are Masons at heart. We know that the 
great majority would be ready to help if the matter was only set fairly before them; 
not ready only but anxious to help. It is the organization that is at fault. The bitter 
truth is forced upon us that Freemasonry in America is not organized to carry out its 
primal and essential functions, the exercise of brotherly love, relief and truth. It is 
organized for almost anything else but that. 


* * * 


THE PERSECUTION IN ITALY 


MANY American Masons are wondering to what extent it may be proper and 
legitimate for them to sympathize with the persecuted Masons of Italy. The 
newspapers generally have not had very much to say on the subject. They have told 
us, in the words of press cables, the accusations made against them, and still more 
briefly the denials of the accused. But they have neither given any account of the 
evidence and arguments for or against, or any expression of opinion or judgment 
upon it, such as might be made by an impartial observer informed concerning this 
evidence. 



On the top of this is an uncertainty as to the status of Italian Masonry, and whether it 
is recognized or recognizable, and this uncertainty is added to by statements that 
Italian Masonry "like that of France" is merely a political organization. Which being 
so, it would seem to the puzzled inquirer that perhaps the Italian government is 
justified in its severe measures. A typical example of the kind of thing referred to is a 
comment recently made by the London Freemason on an account of the situation in 
an English newspaper written by a correspondent in Italy. The Freemason remarks, 
justly, that this correspondent not being a Mason, is dependent entirely on external 
sources and that he was relating what had been told him by others - apparently by 
those hostile to the Italian Craft. So far, so good, but then curiously, and it would 
seem irrelevantly, The Freemason goes on to say, that assuming these accusations are 
true, it can be stated without reserve that such a condition does not exist in the British 
Isles, nor the British Empire, or Anglo-Saxon Masonry generally. But why say this? 
English speaking Masonry was not in the dock with the accused. 


Unsympathetic outsiders might say that those who excuse themselves do, according 
to the proverb, also accuse themselves. What was the connection, the association, that 
led to this uncalled for disclaimer? It seems that in Italy, as in England, and also in 
America, many government officials, civil servants, professional men, and other 
influential people were also Masons. It is argued in Italy that this is proof that 
Freemasonry was in politics, that through these officials, who were also Masons, the 
Masonic authorities were informed of all government secrets, and also conversely 
exerted influence on government policy. It is obvious that on the same evidence the 
same accusation could be made against American Freemasonry. It actually was made 
a hundred years ago, and American Masonry suffered a similar persecution as that in 
Italy, and upon just as good grounds so far as any trustworthy information has come 
to our knowledge. So perhaps the London Freemason is right, and we should look to 
our own defense. If this sort of thing is sufficient for the condemnation of Italian 
Masonry it would or might be equally efficacious elsewhere. 


There is much prejudice in our minds against all Latin Masonry. There is also much 
ignorance. As a rule those who speak most positively know least about it. One good 
brother, for example, got hold of a ritual of the Grand Orient of France, and in it he 
found that the candidate was asked a number of strange questions, such as what his 
idea might be of the marriage relationship, of the rights of parents over their children, 



of birth control, of suicide, or war, and a whole series covering the entire field of 
social relationship and duties. This brother was horrified, and the ground of his horror 
seemed to be that he assumed that these questions had to be answered yes or no, as 
the brief inquiries put to our candidates are, and that the answers required were that 
the would - be Mason believed in free love and abortion, and the duel and suicide and 
socialism, and so on, and that otherwise he would be rejected. It seems hardly 
necessary to say he was inconceivably mistaken. These questions are in a graduated 
series, and are intended to bring out what the candidate has thought about social 
duties, to bring out first of all that he has thought enough about them to have some 
opinion. In other words, to demonstrate that be is a sincere seeker for knowledge and 
is desirous of serving his fellowmen. After all very similar questions are asked in 
effect by every committee of investigation that performs its duty, not formally or of 
the applicant direct, but in substance and from such sources as are available. 


Let us state at once, little as those who have dreams of universal Masonry may like it, 
that Latin Masonry as a whole, and English-speaking Masonry are quite 
incompatible. We may go further still if we like, in spite of certain logical difficulties 
it will raise, and deny them the name of Mason - in our sense of the term. The 
institution has followed divergent paths so far in the two groups that there seems no 
possible ground for any reconciliation. But all this being allowed and postulated, is it 
any reason why we should heap abuse upon them and eagerly believe every scrap of 
slander their enemies raise against them? Should not the elementary policy of self- 
defense, if nothing else give us pause? Their enemies are our enemies, the evidence 
against them is the evidence against us. That we know, as applied to ourselves, it is 
absolutely ridiculous does not in the least prevent its being devoutly believed in many 
quarters; why then should we believe it of others whom we refuse to hear in their own 
defense? 


The essential difference between these two developments of Masonry seems to be 
that the Latin form takes itself very seriously indeed, and the English-speaking 
branches only play at being serious. This generalization is naturally only 
approximately and relatively true, but it indicates a real distinction. And the 
difference is without doubt due to difference in circumstances. We must bear in mind 
that so far as Freemasonry is more than a sort of social club plus an elaborate game 
played in solemn make-believe grown-up boys it is a serious institution; and many us 
take it and our obligations as seriously as we can. And we at least should be able to 
realize that Freemasonry and any kind of despotism or tyranny are as incompatible as 



the wolf and the lamb in Esop's fable. Unless the lamb can run away, or develop teeth 
and claws, or put on some kind of jacket full of projecting spikes like the protective 
collars sometimes worn by fighting dogs, there is just one fate in store for it, no 
matter what arguments it may offer in defense of its innocence, and without regard to 
their cogency a truth. Wolves act after their kind, and dictators and other despots are 
quite justified in seeking to extirpate Freemasonry wherever they find it; for 
Freemasonry is as incompatible with despotism (however it may strive to avoid 
giving offense) as Christianity was paganism. The Roman Emperors from their point 
of view were doing the right thing in seeking to extirpate the new religion, for they 
saw, and the event proved them right, that it would dissolve and overturn society as it 
was then organized. We do not compare Christianity with Freemasonry, which is a far 
lesser thing, but small and great the same law applies in this respect. Therefore we 
must admit, looking at all the facts dispassionately, that Mussolini is justified from 
his position as dictator in stamping out Italian Masonry, and self-preservation being 
nature's first law, he is (from his unenviable position) justified in using the most 
unjust and cruel means to do so. So also is the Roman Church right in opposing the 
Craft everywhere and combatting it with every weapon, open and secret, that it can 
employ. Much as we may regret it, so it is. There is no need for rancor or hate in 
recognizing it - we do not hate a tiger because we know it would kill and devour us if 
it could - but we either put it in a cage or keep out of its way, or otherwise defend 
ourselves in case of need. And whatever happens we should not let the accusations of 
enemies dull our sympathies for men who are enduring one of the crudest and 
bitterest persecutions of modem times, almost one might say of any time. That such 
things should be possible in a civilized world in this year of grace, 1927, is food for 
very serious thought. 


* * * 


PUTTING UP THE BARS 


THE curious thing about the official attitude of the sovereign and independent 
organizations of Freemasonry in this country, with some notable exceptions, towards 
the tuberculosis problem is that it is not indifference, or neglect, either of which 
would be at least comprehensible, but an attitude of opposition, almost even of 
hostility. It is not open opposition, if it were the ordinary brother, who in spite of the 



democratic theory of the machine has very little to say in its operation, would know 
where his rulers and masters stood, and where he was being led, but actions speak 
louder than words. 


Of words there have been enough; while such action as there has been, has on the 
whole been not only inconsistent with, but opposed to the professions made. One 
great jurisdiction offers as an objection to taking part in the work of the N.M.T.S.A. 
that it is not a Masonic organization. This sounds well. Technically it is not; but what 
of that? The question really involved is whether there is a Masonic obligation to be 
met. Another objection, which seems to be rather a favorite, is that the funds 
contributed by any particular Grand Lodge will be out of its control. Again what of 
that? Is it a Masonic function to control funds as an end in itself? In fact the 
objections that are voiced are well worth close examination, and we hope our readers 
will analyze them for themselves and see what they really amount to. 


But not only do our rulers refuse to do anything themselves, they also go further and 
refuse to allow any direct approach to lodges in their jurisdictions. One Grand Master 
even seemed to think that he could forbid individual Masons from communicating 
with those active in the campaign, and passing on the information received to their 
brethren. This seems an amazing stretch of the powers of Grand Masters. If such a 
development should continue and be confirmed we would have to call them Grand 
Dictators. However, this seemed to be either ignorance on the part of this particular 
official, or else an attempt to trade on the presumed ignorance of the individual 
brother. But why such an attitude? Is the N.M.T.S.A. a conspiracy, a subversive, 
seditious movement? If so why not make charges openly? But then that would need 
the production of proof. The point of the situation, however is this, that by this formal 
red-tape attitude it is made impossible to effectively appeal to Masons as individuals. 
If the N.M.T.S.A. could have freely circularized lodges it is probable it would have 
had no difficulty in raising the sum required to purchase the El Paso Sanatorium 
through individual contributions. We seem to hear the echo of something said to the 
Pharisees long ago: "Ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye 
yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." 


In some jurisdictions we gather that some effort has been made, not to get the facts of 
the existing need in the Southwest, but to find out how many members of their own 



lodges are in the Southwest suffering from tuberculosis. The reports have naturally 
been that the number was negligible. Naturally, because the investigations (so we 
judge) have been made in the usual official way. A committee appointed, 
questionnaires sent to the lodges, a certain number of which were sent back answered 
more or less off-hand by secretaries, and a report compiled based on these replies. 
Anyone familiar with the working of our large institutionalized lodges is aware how 
much, or rather how little, the officials know of the whereabouts and circumstances of 
absent members, and will not be inclined to lean very heavily on information thus 
collected. 


Another thing that strikes the discerning eye is that most of the Grand Lodges who 
refuse to take action stress the point that none of their members are in the Southwest, 
or if none, so few that nothing need be done about it. But if this is to be the law and 
gospel of Masonry it applies equally to all Grand Lodges and all lodges. None of 
them will have any responsibility for anyone else. It might seem that the 
Southwestern Jurisdictions are beginning to "catch on." They have been rather slow 
and old-fashioned, many of them are still under the delusion that the old fallacy holds 
good, that every Mason has a claim on their help and sympathy when sick and in 
need. But they are learning. Texas has shown the way. A brother in New Mexico, 
speaking of the recommendation presented to the lodges in Texas, published in THE 
BUILDER last month, writes as follows: 


They . . . recommend that Texas take care of its own. They are willing for us [the 
Masons of New Mexico] to take care of sojourners. It appears to us that they will 
profit by our experience. Seeing the Masons of the North and East are apparently little 
concerned about the fate of their sick brethren who wander to the Southwest and are 
unwilling to help care for them, Texas, although it also has the migratory T.B. 
problem in the country west of and including San Antonio, has decided to limit its 
activity to those of its own household and leave the sojourning brother within its 
boundaries to his own devices. In view of the lack in interest displayed in the problem 
by the North and East this apparently cold-blooded decision is justified and we do not 
criticize Texas. New Mexico and the other Southwestern States may be forced to take 
the same action. 



Freemasonry we are solemnly told is not organized as a benevolent association, nor as 
a charitable society, and even calling it a fraternity has been deprecated in certain 
quarters. What then is it? And for what is it organized? Is it merely to see the wheels 
go round ? 


— o — 

THE NORTHEAST CORNER 

Bulletin of the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association 

Incorporated by Authority of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, A.F.&A.M. 
MASONIC TEMPLE, ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF GOVERNORS 

HERBERT B. HOLT, Past Grand Master, President 
RICHARD H. HANNA, Vice-President 
JAFFA MILLER, Vice-President 
FRANCIS E. LESTER, Vice-President 
WILBUR L. ELSER, Executive Secretary 
ALPHEUS A. KEEN, Secretary 
JOHN W. BOWMAN, Treasurer 



ROBERT J. NEWTON, Editor, Manager N.M.T.S.A.. Las Cruces, New Mexico 


The Tale of Proceedings 


There is a great deal of importance and much of interest in the Proceedings of the 
various Grand Lodges of the U. S. A. Unfortunately comparatively few brethren are 
in a position to see copies of any but their own jurisdiction. It is true that the 
correspondence reports go a considerable distance in providing a general survey of 
what is being done elsewhere, but in the nature of the case these brief reviews cannot 
tell very much, and depend a great deal on the special interest of the reviewer. It will 
be instructive to read these extracts from the Proceedings of a considerable number of 
our Grand Lodges covering the past two or three years, dealing with the tuberculosis 
situation: 


District of Columbia 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1924. 


"Many of us are well aware of the growing desire on the part of the members of our 
Fraternity in all its branches to be engaged in real constructive work, something that 
will last, and to me the important problem for those charged with the direction of the 
affairs of Masonry today is not how they may increase its already large membership, 
but how they may direct into the proper channels and toward definite worthy ends its 
great latent power which up to this time has been so little utilized. 


"There has been much accomplished along these lines. The call for it has been so 
urgent that it has everywhere been felt and it must be heeded. Some of its outlets have 
been along the lines of the Masonic Service Association, others along the lines of 
educational work, and in many instances it has been expressed by the erection of 
costly and magnificent temples, but with all that has been done, it is evident that only 



a beginning has been made and that our Fraternity is still like a sleeping giant, 
capable of great things, but through indolence, indifference or lack of competent 
guidance, accomplishing but a small part of what it should be doing. 


"Times change and men change with them. Grand Masters come and go, with varying 
ideas of the relative values of matters in which our Fraternity is concerned. What 
appears important to me may not be so regarded by my successor, but we have the 
comforting assurance that the policies, principles and ultimate purposes of 
Freemasonry are fixed and that necessarily the efforts of all are directed towards the 
same worthy end. Under such conditions energetic cooperation in the larger things 
will always produce the desired results and, if we couple with fraternal unity of action 
a respect for a broad tolerance of the views of others, we shall reap the reward that 
follows upon conscientious effort." 


Report of Committee on N.M.T.S.A.; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1926. 


"This association was incorporated at the instance and instigation of the Grand Lodge 
of New Mexico, under the laws of that state. It is not under the control and direction 
of that Grand Lodge; but is to be controlled and directed by a Board of Governors 
consisting of members, one of whom is to be selected by, or be the Grand Master of 
each of the Masonic Grand Jurisdictions of the United States, and also a member 
selected by the governing head or body of each organization in the United States 
composed of Master Masons, and a member named by the Order of the Eastern Star." 


The articles of incorporation are then recited in part to show the purpose of the 
N.M.T.S.A. and the means proposed carry it out. 


"The immediate object of the promoters of this association appears to be the erection 
of sanatoria or hospitals for the treatment and cure of tuberculosis, and the president 
of the corporation has, in relation to the probable cost of such institutions, published 
the following statement: 



" 'It is estimated that tuberculosis sanatoria can be built at an average cost of $2,500 
per bed. Wherefore a 500-bed hospital would cost $1,250,000. 


"'Six months to a year is required for "arrest" of early cases of tuberculosis, and a 
longer time for the more advanced. From $500 to $1,000 for the majority of cases, 
and more for a limited number of others.' 


"After full investigation and careful consideration your committee has reached the 
conclusion that under all the conditions and circumstances it would be unwise for this 
Grand Lodge to become a member of, or in any manner obligate itself to contribute to 
the support and maintenance of this association, and it is therefore recommended that 
no action looking to that end be taken by it." 


Louisiana 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings 1927. 


"I was strongly urged to become a member of this association [N.M.T.S.A.] or to 
appoint a representative to the official board. I declined to do either in the face of the 
report of our Committee on Audit and Accounts at the last session, which 
recommended that we do not participate in the affairs of the association until we were 
in a position to carry our share of the financial burden. 


"I am since informed by your representatives to the meeting of the Masonic Service 
Association that the incorporation of the Sanatoria Association into a national body 
and the assessment which was laid by it for the erection of suitable buildings, was 
done through a misapprehension of the authority placed with them. 



"In all cases of great disaster, such a call should have emanated from the Masonic 
Service Association itself, therefore that body refused to consider the proposed 
institution as a national body or to have the Grand Lodges assessed at the stated rate 
and decided that it must stand as a distinctly New Mexico measure supported by such 
subscriptions as were voluntarily made." 


[The Grand Master was under an extraordinary misapprehension himself, and his 
informants too. The only meaning that can be read into his statement is that the 
N.M.T.S.A. was organized under the authority of some other body. This of course is 
simply grotesque. The Masons of the Southwest waited patiently for years hoping that 
existing organizations would at last cease to talk and begin to act, until in despair of 
this they, on their own motion and by their own authority, formed an association 
organized for this purpose, and for this purpose only.] 


Massachusetts 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1924. 


"I dream of Masonry making the other decision to try the adventure of greater service, 
because of the need of the time is more pressing. I vision a tomorrow that shares a 
Masonic understanding possessed by every man who bears the Masonic title. . . . My 
thoughts lead me to a tomorrow whose glory is our ability to care fully for all whose 
hands have grown palsied with age or sickness and who, amid the competitions of 
life, have no refuge except within the fortress of real Masonic benevolence. The 
dream will come true if you brethren say it shall." 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1925. 



"Among the matters brought before the Masonic Service Association was a report by 
M. W. Bro. F. E. Lester, Past Grand Master of New Mexico, on the situation in the 
Southwest involving Masons who are suffering with tuberculosis. This report 
contained a careful survey that was so startling in some of its revelations and 
conclusions that it should receive the attention of every Grand jurisdiction in the land. 
The situation among Masonic tuberculars has so developed that no longer is the 
question one to be handled by the jurisdictions in which it exists. These tubercular 
Masons come from all over the United States and therefore it is a national problem 
not only in its requirements of attention and assistance, but also by the nature of the 
disease, in its possibilities of danger. Very shortly this report of M. W. Bro. Lester's 
will be in the hands of our Masters here in Massachusetts. Study its conclusions and 
its implications. It is well worthy of your attention. For some time, I do not know just 
when, Massachusetts is going to be invited to assist with other jurisdictions in dealing 
with this menace as it affects our brethren, and when that time comes I want our 
assistance to be adequate and readily given." 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1926. 


"In November, 1922, at the fourth annual meeting of the Masonic Service Association 
of the United States, there was brought to the attention of the association the question 
of needed relief for those of our Fraternity afflicted with tuberculosis. The subject 
was referred to the Relief Committee of the association, which committee instructed 
the Executive Committee to make an investigation and survey the situation. Similar 
action was taken at the annual meetings of the association held in 1923 and 1924. At 
the annual meeting of 1925, a report was submitted. A copy of that report, which 
deals exhaustively with the situation, has been forwarded to me by the Masonic 
Service Association as a basis of its appeal to this Grand Lodge for its moral support 
and financial assistance to the Masonic Tubercular Relief Association. I do not deem 
it proper to extend this message by incorporating this report in it, but much of the data 
and information contained in the report will be presented to you when the matter 
comes before you for action. The conditions presented by the report make .q 
compelling appeal to our sympathies and command our admiration for the 
magnificent spirit and courage of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in undertaking 
this work of applied Masonry. 



"The Masonic Service Association has requested us to present its appeal for our help, 
and I heartily recommend that we extend our support. I recommend that the sum of 
one thousand dollars be appropriated to be paid on the order of the Grand Master to 
the Masonic Service Association of the United States for the use of the Masonic 
Tubercular Relief Association." 


(This recommendation also seems to have been made under a misapprehension that 
the N.M.T.S.A. was in some way a body subordinate to another organization.] 


Mississippi 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1926. 


"Out of the Southwest there comes a cry to this Grand Lodge. In a sense it is more 
than a Macedonian cry, for some of our own Mississippi brethren are among those 
who lift up their voices in a desperate plea, 'Come over and help us.' The more 
responsive our natures to the spirit of brotherhood, the more attuned are our hearts to 
this piteous plea. The heart-gripping wail of the infant, so soon to become an orphan; 
the muffled sobs of the wife, so soon to become a widow - unless help comes - lend 
emphasis to the cry that is borne to our ears, 'Come over and help us.' It is not enough 
to say that our stricken brethren should have remained at home where under more 
favorable conditions they could have battled with this dread white plague - which in 
many cases would have been true. True, we point with pride to Mississippi Masonry's 
material contribution to the battle against this dread disease that last year claimed 
forty-seven of our brethren. The fact remains that many of our brethren, nursing 
desperate hopes, have gone to the Southwest - some sent by lodges and other friends, 
some going by means of their last financial assets in the hope of securing 
employment, but almost invariably becoming a care upon our Southwestern brethren 
who for years have responded nobly to the ever-increasing calls. Statistics show an 
alarming increase of this migration each year. Realizing that something must be done, 
the Grand Lodge of New Mexico has created and chartered the National Masonic 
Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association to act as trustee of funds received from various 



Grand jurisdictions of America, in hospitalization, in supplying other needs of our 
stricken brethren." 


Missouri 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1924. 


"What do we care about the antiquity of our Fraternity? What does it matter whether 
our ancestors did nor did not participate in the building of King Solomon's Temple? 
Neither pedigree nor ancestry can make any institution or individual great. Not what 
Freemasonry was yesterday, or a thousand years ago, but what it is today and what it 
shall be tomorrow, and likewise what is each of us today and what we shall be 
tomorrow, these are the all-important questions to the good Freemason and the true 
man everywhere. 


"The tree is cut down when it ceases to bear good fruit, and so it will be with 
Freemasonry and all other human agencies. Progress, therefore, must be the guiding 
star of Freemasonry. Science tells us gold may be made from mercury, sugar from 
linen, and that shortly the rays of the sun will be transformed directly into sugar 
without going through the beet at all. Thus the world moves and so it must be with 
our brotherhood. While we must hold fast to the fundamentals of our Fraternity and 
never surrender the ideal for the material, yet to be a living, growing force in the 
world, we must make our ideals practicable and must teach and live, both within and 
without the lodge room, at home, in business, those eternal truths which constitute the 
bulwark of Freemasonry." 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1926. 


"Some one has said that if you give the Masons of America a really big program they 
will adopt it. This is fully demonstrated in the George Washington Memorial and 



Shrine Hospitals for Crippled Children. Where could we find a bigger program or one 
more worthy of our attention than taking care of our brethren who are afflicted with 
tuberculosis? A study made of six western cities which have long been Meccas for the 
tubercular, shows that Missouri contributes more migrants than any ether state, except 
Illinois and New York. It is estimated that over one hundred and fifty of our brethren 
die annually from this disease and perhaps fourteen hundred more are suffering from 
the disease. In the language of President Wilson: 


"'No repetition of figures, no emphasis of speech, nor words of warning can add to the 
horror and terror and responsibility which, in the public mind, attach to the gruesome 
devastation of this disease. People, public and private, who do not perform every act 
within their power to check this scourge, are almost guilty of negative murder.' 


"I believe the Freemasons in America will unite in an effort to meet this vital, tragic 
problem and will provide sanatoria for the sick. 


"The Modern Woodmen have already established a camp at Colorado Springs that is 
doing a great work and we can't afford to be behind in any great charitable movement. 


"This country isn't half as much interested in our doctrines as it is in our deeds. I find 
that a great many Freemasons are greatly disturbed about the activities of certain 
national organizations. I am not afraid, however, of the standing of Freemasonry in 
the world or of the opposition of any organizations, religious or fraternal, so long as 
our Fraternity excels them in doing good. It would be a great help to the cause, if 
Missouri would take the lead in this movement and adopt a definite program at this 
time. I feel that this Grand Lodge is ready to act, because Freemasons from all 
sections of our Grand jurisdiction have called my attention to this movement and 
urged me to make a recommendation at this session of the Grand Lodge. 


"The channel through which we can function has already been provided by the Grand 
Lodge of New Mexico." 



North Carolina 


From the Grand Master's Address; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1925. 


"I am convinced some of our lodges spend too much for entertainment and pleasure 
and too little for charity, thereby creating the thoughts in the minds of the profane that 
a Masonic lodge is simply a place for amusement. It is wrong, a grievous wrong, my 
brethren, that will work untold harm if we permit it to continue. One of the 
fundamental principles of our great Fraternity is charity, to help the needy and 
distressed. We should practice what we teach, for the greatest good that we can do in 
this world is the service we render to suffering humanity." 


From an address given by the Executive Secretary of the M. S. A. to the Grand 
Lodge; Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1926. 


"There is one thing I want to touch upon, to show you that the Masonic Service 
Association, which you have so ably supported since its organization, is reaching out 
on the basis of service. Heretofore, while we have been organized for relief we have 
never done anything along the line of relief except when we stepped out and helped 
our brethren at Tokio re-establish the American School for education there. There has 
been no particular occasion as far as calamity is concerned, for the association to 
function for relief. However, conditions have arisen, in fact, they have existed for 
some time, and now, under the leadership of this Association, the Craft at large will 
be given an opportunity to perform an obligation, to perform a duty, that should have 
been done years ago, the lack of provision for which has been a shame. I am sending 
out a bulletin on the subject which will give you all the facts. Doctor Braswell will 
probably also give you some of the facts during this session of the Grand Lodge. You 
have heard it referred to by Doctor Wicker. It would amaze you to know how many 
thousands of members of the Craft all over the United States are suffering from 
tuberculosis. It may amaze you to know that we lose 5000 members a year from death 
by tuberculosis. It may amaze you to know that all over the Southwestern part of the 
country where the climate is particularly suited for the cure of tuberculosis, there are 



thousands and thousands of the Craft who are practically helpless, who go down there 
with no means of support, or slight means of support, in the hope that they may be 
able to get a firmer grasp on life and come back into health and strength. The Masons 
there have found the situation and have surveyed it and we have gotten the facts 
together, using the Tuberculosis Association and every source of information. Now 
your Masonic Service Association is bringing to the attention of the Craft everywhere 
that situation, and we are developing a plan to report to the next meeting whereby 
there will be definite relief for the tubercular Masons all over the country. We are 
organized for two purposes, one for education and one for relief. I don't know which 
is more important but, generally, education I think is more important. However, in 
this particular instance, with a condition like this in the Southwest, that is more 
important for immediate action. In any event we are now reaching our stride and 
settling into the two phases of our work for which you organized us. We raised 
$20,000.00 from the Grand Lodges in the jurisdiction this year for relief in that part of 
the country, and we will develop a permanent plan of relief to take care of the 
situation, and I believe it will bring the Masonic Fraternity to an eminence it has not 
yet reached in its own estimation and in the mind of the people generally." [The 
italics are ours. We have no information how or through what channels this sum was 
expended.] 


— o — 


The LIBRARY 


The books reviewed in these pages can be procured through the Book Department of 
the N.M.R.S. at the prices given, which always include postage. These prices are 
subject (as a matter of precaution) to change without notice; though occasion for this 
will very seldom arise. Occasionally it may happen where books are privately printed, 
that there is no supply available, but some indication of this will be given in the 
review. The Book Department is equipped to procure any books in print on any 
subject, and will make inquiries for second-hand works and books out of print. 


THE HARVEST OF THE YEARS. By Burbank and Hall. Published by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., Boston. Cloth, illustrated, 296 pages. Price, $4.25. 



THIS last work of the man who was styled the "plant wizard," must be read to be 
appreciated. Burbank as a man had a place in the heart of America occupied by few 
others, perhaps it was almost unique. He was an unusual type of man, and because he 
was different from the ordinary human being be found himself in a distinctive 
position. 


The Harvest of the Years is hardly a biography, though it is one in a sense. He tells 
about his life, his work and his thoughts in a way that is thoroughly enjoyable. It is a 
book that commends itself; it should be read and then re-read. 


* * * 


THE HUNG SOCIETY, VOL. 1. By J. S. M. Ward and W. G. Stirling. Published by 
the Baskerville Press, London. Cloth, table of contents, illustrated, colored plates, 
appendices, 179 pages. Price, $16.00. 


RESIDENTS in the Orient, missionaries, merchants and government officials, have 
long been aware of the existence of secret societies among the Chinese, not only in 
China, but wherever they migrated in numbers sufficient to form a community. 
Various accounts of these have been published at different times, but these accounts, 
owing to the character of the subject and the great difficulty in checking information, 
were all of a very partial and sketchy nature. In China itself, apparently, opposed to 
the government, they became in the East Indies organizations for the protection of 
those who sought wealth by criminal and other forbidden means. Generally the 
governors of European possessions in the East forbade their existence equally with 
the rulers of China, and with as much, or as little, success. 


There has only been one previous work that has dealt with the Hung League at all 
exhaustively and that was published at Batavia in the Island of Java in 1866 by 
Gustave Schlegel. Like the present authors his information was derived from rituals 



seized by the police in raids on meetings of the Society. He was under the 
disadvantage of not having any other material to assist him in his task, whereas, 
owing to the fact that the Society was permitted for a time by the authorities in 
Singapore, it has been possible to get more accurate and detailed information. Bro. 
Stirling's predecessor in the office of Protector of Chinese, Mr. W. A. Pickering, had 
been received as a member of the Ghee Hin, and left, we are told, very careful notes 
of the ceremonies in the archives of his office. Bro. Stirling has also interrupted 
meetings during raids conducted by him, so that he has himself seen cross sections of 
the proceedings. 


Bro. Ward in his preface gives the impression that in their opinion Schlegel's account 
left much to be desired owing to this lack of first hand knowledge. Unfortunately it 
has not been possible to compare the two versions; but from memory there does not 
seem to be any greater difference between the Java ritual in 1866 and the Singapore 
ritual in 1920 than exists between the rituals used in different Masonic jurisdictions. 
As Schlegel did not publish his text it would be hard to say whether differences were 
due to his misunderstanding the meaning of obscure words, or to variations in the 
ritual used. 


One difficulty in dealing with the subject has always been the doubt whether one was 
dealing with one society with many ramifications, or many societies with strong 
resemblances. Indeed it May be most probable that it was both, that there have been 
similar societies each with many disguises. The present work does not help us very 
much to remove the uncertainty, though we are far from blaming the authors for this. 


The Society described as the Hung League, or Heaven- and-Earth Society, or the Triad 
Society, may also be the same as the White Lily or the Golden Orchid. It may be that 
the Boxers of our own day belonged to it; the name ineptly, if conveniently, translated 
Boxer being literally "the hand (or fist) of righteous harmony," or it may have been 
the "Big Sword Society" that has also caused trouble. 


The question of name indeed is not very clearly treated. The present designation, in 
British possessions at least, seems to be the Ghee Hin or the San Ghee Hin. Ghee Hin 



means Justice and Prosperity; San Ghee Hin means the New Justice and Prosperity 
Society. The older name is Thian Ti Hwui, or as the authors transliterate the Chinese 
words, T'in Tei Hui, which means Heaven and Earth Society. T'in also means man 
and Tei, woman; heaven and earth in Chinese mythology, as elsewhere, being 
regarded as husband and wife. In the ritual the candidates are told that the true name 
is the Hung Ha or Family of Hung. The name of the Society does not seem to enter 
into the ritual though the word Hung is very frequently brought in. But there is no 
difficulty really in this question of names. Freemasons speak of their Fraternity by a 
number of terms, which might puzzle an enquirer on the outside were Freemasonry 
still as secret as it used to be. On the other hand, some of these names of the Hung 
Feague are deliberate disguises, as the name Ghee Hin above mentioned. And where 
an organization goes under disguise it is hard to determine whether any given 
manifestation is or is not part of it. In an appendix there is a brief account of a thieves 
society, the admission ceremonies of which seem to be based on those of the Hung 
Feague. 


Another point that might have been dealt with more fully in the introductory chapters 
is that of the history of the Society. Here again a legitimate analogy may be made to 
Freemasonry. We cannot possibly estimate fully the early history of the Craft unless 
we have some knowledge of the general history of the period. Ostensibly and by its 
own tradition the Hung Feague was formed after the downfall of the last Ming 
emperor and the advent of the Manchu conquerors. Bro. Ward thinks it is much older; 
that may be, but as Freemasonry emerges quite definitely into a historical period in 
1717, so the Hung Feague emerges in Chinese history about 1670 or 1680. What is 
said in the first chapter, which deals with this subject, leaves us rather confused, 
although again this may be due to the difficulty of the subject itself. The last Ming 
ascended the imperial throne about 1 640, but there were other claimants in the field. 
Defeated, or deserted, the emperor fled and in despair drowned himself. However, in 
the south, loyalists, who now became rebels, continued to fight against the Manchu 
interloper, notably the "pirate" whose name was Europeanized into Coxinga. He 
probably was no more piratical than the Dutch, English and French traders of the 
time. Anyway, finding China unhealthy he descended on Formosa (apparently with 
considerable forces) and drove the Dutch out and established himself there. The first 
Ta Ts'ing (or Manchu) Emperor died in 1661 and his son K'ang Hi took his place. 
According to what seems to be the predominant Hung legend it was in his reign the 
Society was started, but according to a variant version it was in his father's reign. 



Bro. Ward, however, is not satisfied to take this legend or traditional history at its 
face value, but is inclined to believe that the Society is much older. Let us draw 
another illustration from Masonry. The Craft tradition of its origin takes us back to 
the building of King Solomon. The MS. Constitutions go further back still, almost to 
the garden of Eden. Conversely they bring us down by very long steps to the Anglo- 
Saxon period in England. Supposing instead of this we had an official legend basing 
the origin of the Fraternity in the exile of the Stuarts - we would then have almost an 
exact parallel. In such case, the period being so comparatively recent, it would be 
very hard to demonstrate a higher antiquity. Nevertheless, in spite of the force of the 
supposition that members of the Society in giving it such a comparatively recent 
origin should be supposed to know most about it Bro. Ward believes that 


A careful study of the ritual shows quite clearly that it could not have originated "de 
novo" at that period, or solely for political purposes. Large portions of it have nothing 
to do with politics, on the contrary they are mystical and also appear to deal with 
what happens to a man after he is dead 


There is force in the argument, but it is a point that it may be better to leave till the 
other volumes appear in which we gather it will be discussed at length. But a good 
deal depends on what is to be understood by "de novo" in considering origins. When 
a society is definitely and deliberately organized by a group of people for a given 
purpose it is certain that they will adopt and borrow, consciously or unconsciously, 
from any quarter where materials may be found. A new society in the United States, 
hardly thirty years old, has references to mythical heroes of ancient Greece. The 
legend is old, the society new. The existence of old material is never by itself proof 
positive of antiquity. 


There is another thing with which we quarrel, and that is the apparent tendency in the 
translation to use words and phrases that give a Masonic flavor to the ritual. The two 
chief officials in the initiation are called the Master and the Vanguard. Now the 
Society is professedly an army, an army being raised and organized to attack and 
destroy the hated Ts'ing or Manchu dynasty. The Vanguard is the leader or 
commander of the front ranks, or advance parties, and also a recruiting officer. We 
are told in parenthesis that the Vanguard or Conductor is a Deacon. Now while it is 
well enough to draw the attention of the Masonic reader to the fact (obvious as it 



would be to him) that the Vanguard's function as a Conductor of the Candidates is 
analogous to the duties of the Senior Deacon in present day Masonry the two offices 
have otherwise almost nothing in common: The title of the other prominent officer is 
translated as Master. It may be that this is the nearest English equivalent, but we find 
there is also a President, whose title literally means Big Brother, and two Vice- 
Presidents or Second Brothers. Are they subordinate to or superior to the Masters? 
Grand Masters are also spoken of - are they really Masters or Elder Brothers or some 
such title? And is there really anything analogous to a Masonic Grand Lodge? It is 
described in such a way as to give that impression and yet on closer attention it is not 
at all clear. While seeking analogies to Masonry, the Instructor, whose real title seems 
to be "White Fan," might have been equated with that important officer in European 
Masonry, the Orator. 


It would have been much more satisfactory if the Chinese titles could have been 
given, and their literal translation, and any analogy or resemblance to the officers of a 
Masonic Lodge left to the perspicacity of the instructed reader; or at most put in an 
explanatory parenthesis or note. But instead there seems a constant tendency to 
substitute Masonic terms for the Chinese ones. In one place the five provinces or 
executive divisions of the Society are called Provincial Grand Lodges. Why? It 
implies a supreme Grand Lodge - and why the term Grand Lodge anyway? Does it 
really correspond to or represent the Chinese terms? One or two such instances would 
have passed unnoticed, but they are too frequent not to cause some doubt. And as we 
have no text the matter cannot be determined by reference to the original. 


Bro. Ward is such an enthusiast for his theory that Freemasonry is a modern 
representative of a primeval mystery religion, which has descended in some form or 
other in every continent and among every race, that his critical faculties are dulled. 

He knows, for in places he says so, that Freemasonry as it is today is widely different 
from that of two hundred years ago, that there is much in present day rituals that is 
without any claim to antiquity, yet he seizes on the slightest resemblance between the 
present ritual and any religious ceremony or folk custom from anywhere in the world. 
The method is not convincing for it is radically unsound. 


It is a great pity, too, for this importation of the Masonic element injures the value of 
the work for the general student, and that value is very great. There is no doubt that 



from the anthropological point of view the facts about this society should be put on 
record and made accessible. It is, we must revert to it, a very great pity that the 
translation was not accompanied by the text. It is true that not many read Chinese, but 
the publication of the text is always both a guarantee of the translation and the 
permanent means of correcting or improving it. Is it too late to publish it? We suggest 
to the authors and publishers that a fourth volume with the texts would enormously 
increase the value of the work. 


In spite of the things that we have reluctantly felt bound to criticize we must 
commend both the authors and the publishers for this venture. It was called for. 
Schlegel's work is scarce and inaccessible, at least so we have found. Doubtless there 
are some copies in this country, but we have been unable to hear of one. The cost of 
the production must have been very heavy. The paper, printing and illustrations 
deserve the highest praise, and though the price will inevitably limit the sale we 
believe that libraries at least should secure a copy while it is possible; public libraries 
as well as Masonic ones. There is little likelihood of a new edition for many years to 
come, and the present issue runs only to fifteen hundred copies. One might say it is 
worth buying as an investment alone. 


* * * 


A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. By H. L. Haywood and James E. Craig. 
Published by The John Day Company, New York. Cloth, table of contents, index, 
bibliography, 326 pages. Price, $3.20. 


WHEN Bro. Robert Freke Gould published his monumental History of Freemasonry 
some thirty years ago, he gave to the Craft a work which contained the fruits of a 
lifetime spent in Masonic research. Of course, Bro. Gould was preceded in his work 
by the eminent American scholar, Dr. Albert G. Mackey, but where Bro. Mackey was 
a pioneer in the field of sound Masonic scholarship, Bro. Gould was what might be 
termed a finished product. Mackey did not have access to much information that was 
brought to light after his time and which Gould used to make his work more accurate. 
The time has arrived when we can safely say that much evidence has been unearthed 



which would change some of the conclusions reached by the English historian. In a 
field where conceptions are changed, and where new facts come to light with such 
rapidity as is the case in Masonic History, it seems that the time has come when 
another detailed history of the Craft such as those written by Mackey and Gould is 
needed. 


But an even more urgent need of the Craft has been a short elementary history of the 
Fraternity which would be readable, accurate, and at the same time sufficiently 
interesting to appeal to the average Mason. The first such work given to Craft 
literature was doubtless Bro. Gould's Concise History of Freemasonry. This work was 
an outgrowth of the larger effort that preceded it, and has been, since its publication, 
the best short history of Freemasonry extant. There are many faults that could be 
found with Bro. Gould's work, few, if any, of which have to do with the accuracy of 
his statements, though it must be said that more recent research has done something 
to change some of the views he expressed. Many of these faults are eliminated by the 
present volume of Bros. Haywood and Craig, though in other respects their work does 
not compare with that of their eminent predecessor. 


The style of Bro. Gould makes all of his writings rather difficult reading. He is not as 
lucid as is desirable when the elementary student or average Mason is taken into 
consideration, but even more unfortunate is the faculty he has of saying everything 
that bears on any particular point in more than one place. I do not mean by this that he 
repeats himself, but the arrangement of his material is faulty. This difficulty is 
overcome in the present work by the simple expedient of cross reference. Where it 
happens that specific material has more than one place in the development of 
Masonic history it is, generally speaking, included in the earliest chronological 
development of the subject and later events upon which such material has some 
bearing refer to it. Following such a plan makes it simple to complete the picture as 
the reading progresses and is a great help to the student as well. Each chapter of the 
book deals with a certain phase of Masonic history and everything that can be 
included is mentioned in that chapter. The subdivisions would almost make separate 
papers though there is a unity running through the work which hinds it into a 
harmonious whole. 



In the eyes of the present writer there is at least one fault to be found with the work. 
The authors have devoted almost half of their scant space to a discussion of theories 
relating to the Comacines, Roman Collegia, and other possible sources of 
Freemasonry. Granted that the space given to these discussions is all too meagre, it 
does seem that the historical period of Masonry, meaning by this the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, should warrant more than ninety-five pages of letter press. This 
is the period about which we know most; it is also the period in which Craft customs 
are most clearly defined. For this reason it seems that a more detailed discussion of 
the period immediately preceding the formation of the Grand Lodge should be 
included in the work. If we take as a basis for calculation the amount of space given 
to the origins of Freemasonry, the book to be properly balanced should run to at least 
five, and possibly six hundred, pages. 


There are one or two typographical errors in the work which seem to have escaped the 
proof readers. One of them is of little consequence, being merely the printing of 1919 
in place of 1719 on page 224. The context would make it apparent to the most casual 
reader. Another is of more importance, and is one of those errors which is likely to be 
particularly misleading. The text on page 251 reads "Later the English and Irish 
bodies rescinded these actions and assumed a neutral attitude toward the contending 
English factions." It is evident that the first use of the term English is incorrect, but it 
would be somewhat difficult for an elementary student to make out precisely what 
was meant; of course, it is Scottish that is intended. 


The work is written in a lucid and easily read style, which is a great advantage in any 
work intended primarily for beginners in the study of Masonic history, but it has 
another feature which recommends it even more highly. A thing too frequently 
missing from Masonic literature is accuracy; either facts are misinterpreted, undue 
weight is given to part of the evidence, or there is some other fault which makes it 
necessary to say that a certain work should be read with caution. There is no need for 
such statements in connection with the present work, though there are a few points 
where some questionable statements have been made. Only one of the inaccuracies, 
however, is of any great importance, and it is only because honest criticism is the 
sincerest form of flattery that mention is made of them. 



The most important of the mistakes occurs on page 259, where the authors state that 
the Antients had a system of four degrees, of which the Royal Arch was the fourth. 
But it has always been supposed they worked seven. It is certain at least they laid 
great stress on the Past Master Degree, which with the Royal Arch makes at least 
five. The point to be criticised is that the authors make a positive statement that there 
were no more than four degrees where the evidence makes such a conclusion a bit 
uncertain to say the least. It seems likely also that the Ancients were responsible for 
the development of the Most Excellent Degree. While there is considerable doubt as 
to just what degrees were worked in Ancient Lodges besides the three Craft Degrees 
and the Royal Arch, there certainly were more than four. 


The authors of the present work have accepted the conclusions of Dr. Mackey and his 
school relative to the Chevalier Ramsay and d'Harnouster. These may be as true as 
any other, but it does seem that some consideration should have been given to the 
opinion of Bro. Gould who held that Ramsay did not have sufficient interest in the 
Fraternity to have invented the degrees which have so frequently been attributed to 
him. It cannot be doubted that he was greatly interested in the Craft at a certain 
period, but that the interest was sufficiently sustained either to have given him the 
opportunity of making such inventions, or to warrant the supposition that he did 
formulate new degrees is very doubtful, and, so far as the present writer knows, no 
one has satisfactorily answered the arguments that Gould brought forward on this 
subject. 


A rather interesting statement is to be found in the following paragraph: 


Declining either to be out-done by the brethren of London or to join them, the Masons 
of York met on Dec. 27, 1725, and proclaimed themselves a Grand Lodge under the 
resounding title of "The Grand Lodge of All England." They themselves appear to 
have given to the London body the title "Grand Lodge of England," understanding by 
the word "all" a subtle distinction. Charles Bathurst was elected Grand Master and a 
full set of Grand Lodge officers was chosen. The new body boasted of itself as "the 
first Grand Lodge ever held in England" and harked back to the legendary assembly 
in Prince Edwin's time in support of that assumption. 



It would seem that there was more than merely the desire to outdo the London 
brethren in the matter of inclusiveness in the title adopted by the York brethren. They 
had a precedent before them in adopting the title of the Grand Lodge of All England 
in that the Archbishop of Canterbury is the Bishop of all England and the Bishop of 
York is the Bishop of England. This situation seems to have come about when the 
North of England actually belonged to the Angles, and consequently was actually 
England. After the union of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms the present 
nomenclature came into being. May not something of the same idea prompting the 
York brethren, who claimed direct descent from the fabled Assembly of 926, have 
bad something to do with the name they adopted? 


It is to be hoped that there will be a second edition of the work in the very near future 
and that the authors will take advantage of the reprinting to amplify certain portions 
of the work, and to eradicate the minor discrepancies that have crept in. The book is 
one that is sorely needed by the Craft, and because of its intentionally elementary 
character it should be as accurate as it is humanly possible to make it. 


E. E. T. 


* * * 


ASK ME, BROTHER! Compiled by Bro. Chas. H. Merz. Published by the Macoy 
Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, New York. Cloth, 165 pages. Price, $1.75. 


THE author's name is well known to that part of the Craft in America which reads 
Masonic literature. He has been a frequent contributor to the Masonic press, and is 
himself the Editor of the Sandusky Masonic Bulletin, a most excellent little magazine. 
He is probably best known by his work advocating the claims of Guild Masonry or 
the Modem Operatives. 



The present work consists of a series of "tests" each made up of twenty-five 
questions, except test number forty, which has twenty-six, thus making in the whole 
series exactly one thousand and one questions. 


The questions are in the first part of the book, the answers at the back. They are 
discursive and thoroughly miscellaneous in character and do for Masonry what the 
similar tests and questionnaires, now so frequently inserted in our newspapers, do for 
the whole field of general knowledge. 


Naturally in such a work there will be deficiencies and errors. We do not know 
whether the author submitted his MSS. to other students for criticism and suggestions, 
but we are inclined to think he did not, which is a pity. Although not intended as a 
work of reference, it may very well be taken as authoritative by such readers who 
have no means of checking the answers from other sources. The danger perhaps is not 
great but there has been, and still is, so much error and mis-statement confidently 
advanced as authentic truth regarding Masonry that it is a moral obligation on every 
Masonic author to take every means possible to avoid strengthening old errors by 
repeating them or giving rise to new ones. 


— o — 


THE QUESTION BOX 
and CORRESPONDENCE 


PRIVILEGE OF THE OLDEST LODGE 


In the regulations for processions in Mackey's "Ritualist" occurs the following 
paragraph: 



When the Grand or Deputy Grand Master is present, the Book of Constitutions will 
be borne before him. The honor of carrying this book belongs of right to the Master of 
the oldest Lodge in the jurisdiction, whenever he is present, in allusion to the fact that 
the Constitutions of the Order were originally vested in that officer, and that on him 
the business of the Grand Lodge devolves, in case of the absence of all the Grand 
officers, and also because it was a custom adopted soon after the reorganization of the 
Grand Lodge of England, for the Master of the oldest Lodge to attend every Grand 
Installation, and taking precedence of all others, the Grand Master only excepted, to 
deliver the Book of Constitutions to the newly installed Grand Master, thereby to 
remind him of his obligation to preserve the ancient landmarks and constitutions 
inviolate. 


This regulation would seem to place the Master of the oldest Lodge in the jurisdiction 
in the position of a virtual officer of the Grand Lodge. 


Can you tell me (a) whether any jurisdiction so recognizes him apart from this 
regulation, (b) whether he is entitled to any rank or title such as "Very Worshipful" 
and (c) whether there is any special regalia provided by any Grand Lodge for him? 


Possibly New York, Massachusetts, Iowa and other leading jurisdictions have some 
practice regarding the matter. 


Reginald V. Harris, Canada. 


* * * 


THE DISTURBANCE IN VIENNA 



The following is an extract from a letter received from an Austrian correspondent. For 
good reasons, both personal and for the sake of the Craft in his country, his name 
cannot be given: 


It is more than likely that the riot which we have just overcome in Vienna will give 
rise to exaggerations from various sides. I believe it to be my duty as a Masonic 
correspondent to report to my friends from a point of view not party bound (in my 
unfortunate country everything and everybody is) and thereby to rectify probable 
wrong views. 


To understand our situation, which I have described to you in some of my former 
communications, I will have to sum up: When the old monarchy was destroyed by the 
so-called treaties of peace, a torso of a state was left, unable to live or to die, either 
economically or politically. A lot of industry was left to us and at the same time we 
were deprived of provinces producing agricultural products and raw material, which 
hitherto had consumed our industrial articles. Unprepared for democracy, 
republicanism was forced upon a population rather retrograde, or at least ultra- 
conservative in the main. The prominent feature in our political constellation was the 
weakness of the bourgeois class. In fact, it is still nearly entirely devoid of political 
influence. 


The result was the population falling asunder into three political parties: Social- 
Democracy, Christian Socialism and Pan-Germanism, fighting desperately with one 
another. Social-Democracy, unfortunately (confronted with the other parties), is the 
representative of progress, while Christian Socialism and Pan-Germanism are 
reactionary. Socialism is represented by the working classes (with the exception of a 
minority organized by the Christian Socialists) and by an influential group of 
intellectuals, among them the rising youth of the country. 


Christian Socialism (which is clearly to be understood as neither Christian nor Social, 
but simply as a descriptive political sign board) allies employers with the peasants 
and their furnishers in the country. This party is allied with the third in strength, Pan- 



Germanism, which draws its forces from the intelligentsia of provincial towns, high 
school teachers and their students. These two retrograde parties have no common 
platform except fighting Socialism and joining in Anti-Semitism; in consequence of 
this latter point of their program the Jews are largely driven into the Socialistic camp, 
where an official anti-Jewish feeling does not exist, nor is admitted. 


The Federal bodies show a majority composed of Christian Socialists and Pan- 
Germans, provincial towns are more or less socialistic, and Vienna especially, with its 
industrial population, forming a Federal State and counting one-third of the whole of 
Austrian inhabitants, is decidedly socialistic. It would lead us too far here to show the 
different means by which these majorities have been obtained, but it is worth 
mentioning that there is not a single political representative body offering a seat to the 
class of industrial or commercial employers - economically speaking - their 
representatives being elected on a political and in no way economical program, and 
thus dispersed among the various political clubs. 


There is no effective power and authority, as no authority can exist without executive 
power. The three parties consequently have formed their own (clandestinely armed) 
forces: The Socialistic "Republikanische Schutzbund" (Union Protecting the 
Republic), the Christian Social "Heimwehr" (Home Defence) and the Pan-German 
"Frontkampferbund" (Union of former front fighters). Of course, their mere 
appearance in uniformed bodies provokes the other parties, and in the country even 
more or less innocent meetings may lead to conflagrations. 


Such was the case a few months ago in Schattendorf, a village in Lower Austria, with 
the sad result of one Socialist and one boy shot by the Front-fighters. Three of these 
were brought before a jury, which, however, acquitted them. Such acquittals, having 
happened already in former cases, and various other apparently unjustified sentences 
(although in non-political cases) that had been pronounced recently by Viennese 
juries, had roused public excitement, especially among the Socialists. They 
demonstrated in masses before the Palace of Justice against what they call "Class- 
Justice." It must be stated that our Socialists as a rule show good discipline on such 
occasions, but they cannot control the irresponsible elements of a radical mob which 
intrude themselves. 



A number of such extremists got the upper hand; they stormed the Palace of Justice, 
threatened the judges and set the edifice on fire; they prevented the fire brigade from 
approaching the fire, although the Socialist Burgomaster himself wanted to guide the 
fire engines through, and the House of Justice was nearly completely burned out. By 
the way, it has nothing to do with Punitive Justice and contained only the Highest 
Judicial Offices, Courts of Appeal, the Register of Landed Property, Commercial 
Courts and such like. 


The police force was in consequence armed with rifles and they discharged volleys 
into the riotous crowd. In the further course of things police stations were attacked 
and a number of policemen were killed and wounded, the streets in various other 
quarters had to be cleared by the same means. The excitement was the greater as more 
than fifty dead and many hundreds of wounded are to be lamented, amongst them 
mere curious onlookers. The riots lasted two days, not generally, but locally; on the 
third day the town was quiet again as far as order in the street goes. 


But of course this has economical and political consequences. Demonstrating against 
the government the Socialists proclaimed a general strike (excepting all business and 
traffic connected with victuals) for forty-eight hours; after that the strike continued 
only with railways, postal, telegraphic and telephone services until further notice. It 
must be noticed that the Socialistic leaders behave with remarkable calmness. They 
publish quieting bulletins and freely state that they abhor civil war with its dreadful 
consequences, openly admitting that they have no majority in the country, that their 
comrades would therefore be exposed to retaliation and that intervention on the part 
of foreign countries (especially intended are Hungary, Italy and Czecho- Slovakia) 
was to be dreaded. 


A Municipal Guard of Security chosen from the ranks of the Republican Protectors 
and under the command of the Socialistic town authorities has been constituted. Calm 
now reigns but serious economical consequences are certain; as in regard to foreign 
visitors, who left Vienna by motor cars and air craft in a panic, and who will not be 
likely to encourage their compatriots to come to see Vienna. 



"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good." If these deplorable events could remind 
the world that Austria, this Austria thrust into disaster by cunning diplomacy and 
political silliness cannot continue to exist as it is now limited, the poor victims of this 
outbreak will not have suffered in vain. 


I cannot yet say anything on the political consequences mentioned above as we have 
to await the result of parliamentary negotiations, the Socialists of course doing their 
best to create difficulties for the other parties. 


* * * 


THE WARDEN'S COLUMNS 


In one of the volumes of the Universal Masonic Library edited and published by Rob 
Morris in the middle of the last century (unfortunately I do not now remember which 
one it was) I read something about the columns or truncheons of the Wardens about 
which the brother from California asks for information in the last number of THE: 
BUILDER. 


From this I understood that in the early existence of the Grand Lodge, there was an 
extra officer in the lodge known as Deputy Master. He had his station on the right of 
the Master in the East. The Senior Deacon's place was on the right of the Senior 
Warden in the West, and the Junior Deacon's place was on the right of the Junior 
Warden in the South. The two Deacons had their emblems on a little column at their 
places or stations, the emblem being a dove. When the office of Deputy Master was 
abolished the Master took the Senior Deacon to him near the East and the Senior 
Warden took the Junior Deacon to him in the West, but the Deacon's emblems 
remained in their old places. In the course of time the emblems were removed from 
the tops of the truncheons, but the truncheons or columns remain in their original 
places, and are therefore distinctly different from the columns at the entrance porch. 



Please do not think that I give this as an authority. I have only jotted it down from 
memory and am not at all certain that my source of information is the best. 


J. A. R., Texas. 


The office of Deputy Master still exists in Scotland. The theory, which we do not 
remember to have seen before .. is interesting. Perhaps some of our members may be 
able to tell us who was originally responsible for it. We fear, however, that there are 
difficulties in the way of accepting it; the chief of which is the fact that the Wardens 
seem to have had columns before the office of Deacon (in our present sense of the 
title) came into being. 


* * * 


THE STUDY CLUB 


You will recall that some time ago I wrote to the National Masonic Research Society 
requesting information to direct us in the organization of a Study Club. It was very 
kind of you to furnish the information desired and you have been of great assistance 
in enabling us to solve some of the difficulties that have arisen in connection with the 
early struggle for existence. Our club is now flourishing and it has occurred to the 
members that possibly our experiences would be of some value to the Craft at large. 


If, before going into detail on this subject, I may trace the development of this idea it 
might be of some assistance to you in deciding the question which is the principal 
object of this letter. Many of us have felt for some time that the Study Club section of 
THE BUILDER would have more effect if it were devoted to assisting in the 
promulgation of Study Clubs rather than in helping clubs already in existence to 



pursue their studies along certain lines. This matter has been discussed in some detail 
and we have often thought of writing to ascertain whether or not such a plan would be 
practicable, but have always felt that it seemed like criticising those who were in a 
better position to judge the needs of Study Clubs than we, until we noticed the 
editorial in the July BUILDER. One of our members offered the suggestion at the last 
meeting that perhaps the re such a plan had not been followed in this department was 
there was not enough material coming in to make it practicable. This gave us an idea, 
and it seemed that if our plan were adopted it might be possible for us to repay in 
some small way the debt we feel we owe the N.M.R.S. 


In accordance with the plan we had in mind, a new office was created and it was 
entitled "The Builder Correspondent." The duties of the office were not defined, and 
it was decided that if our suggestion were not adopted we would discontinue the 
office. I was chosen to occupy the new office and was instructed to write suggesting 
the plan we should like to follow. 


Perhaps, for the time being, it will be necessary to carry out the old scheme for the 
Study Club Department of THE BUILDER until a sufficient number of clubs adopt 
the plan we have in mind to make it possible to fill two or three pages each month 
with reports from club representatives. 


If it were possible to have a sufficient number of letters from correspondents 
reporting on the meetings and the various problems that come up for discussion and 
the way in which they are solved, it seems likely that there would be some tangible 
material brought forth that would be of infinite value to the newly organized group. 
This, I think, is the goal toward which we should work. I can speak for my own group 
in saying that we would be glad to furnish you with a short account of our meeting 
each month for such use as you care to make of it. 


In the event this idea meets with your approval, if you will advise me I shall be glad 
to send you a report of our next meeting. 



B. R. Johnson Arizona. 


Our correspondent raises the precise question that has been under consideration for 
some time past as was intimated in THE BUILDER for July. One of the difficulties 
has been precisely the one suggested in this letter, that of securing sufficient material 
of the kind required. 


We have had quite a good deal of correspondence on the subject and have decided to 
open the Study Club Department in October on new lines, or rather reverting more to 
the original ones. The object will be to make it of use to those who wish to organize 
Study Clubs, and those who have the responsibility of directing them. We will 
welcome letters and brief articles on the subject. 


* * * 


THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA 


I would like to ask a question. What relation, if any, does the Order of Knights of 
Malta, that is operating in the United States that one hears of occasionally in the 
papers, have to the original order spoken of in the review of the Pilgrimage of 1926 in 


THE BUILDER for March? 


F. J. K„ Florida. 


We are not quite certain to which organization you refer. There are three orders in the 
United States at the present time that are known by this name. There is first the 



Masonic Order. Secondly the recently introduced branch of the original order. The 
letter by Bro. Burton E. Bennett in THE BUILDER for March gives practically all the 
information at hand about this. However we presume that officially this will be 
known as the Order of St. John, its proper title. The third is designated Order of the 
Knights of Malta. It claims to be legitimately descended from the original order in 
Scotland, a branch of which was formed in Canada in 1870, from which it was 
introduced into this country. It is a Protestant and fraternal organization. If further 
information be required we suggest that you write to John G. Miles, P.O. Box 356, 
Wilkinsburg, Pa. Mr. Miles is Supreme Organizer of the Order, which we understand 
is engaged in an active campaign to increase its membership all over the country. 


* * * 


GEN. JOHN C. FREMONT 


I would like information concerning Gen. John C. Fremont, who is being claimed by 
the Roman Catholics. Have you any information as to whether be was a Mason, and if 
so, anything concerning his Masonic record? These people are very fond of claiming 
those who made history for our country. I wonder if they will claim Mr. Marshall, of 
New York. 

F. H., New York. 


Have any of our readers any information that would help to answer this question?