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why this confusion in the temple
Hammers, Axes,
Tools Of Iron
CHAPTER VII
dwight l. smith
Hire press agents to tell the world, like Little Jack Horner,
what great boys we are. Never mind actions; concentrate on words.
FOR MORE THAN seven
years, Solomon's superb model of excellence was under construction on Mount Moriah. From the quarries came blocks of
stone hewn, cut and
squared ready to set in place, and transported with prodigious
effort by the most primitive
means of transportation. Tied together in great floats, majestic
cedars from the forests of
Lebanon came by sea to Joppa and thence slowly and laboriously
overland to the Holy
City. The designs were conceived by the Master Builder of the
age, and from his skillful
hands came masterpieces in gold, silver and brass. A widow's son
he was, from out of
Tyre.
Strange as it may seem, the craftsmen labored without envy,
discord or confusion.
Even the elements cooperated, for the legends of Josephus tell
us there was no rainfall
save at night in order that the work might proceed without
delay. So near perfection was
the finished Temple that it appeared to have been done not by
human hands, but by the
hands of the Great Architect Himself.
And it was all accomplished without the use of hammer, axe or
any tool of iron!
Could it be done today?
Could our modern Speculative Craft engage in even the most
simple of undertakings
without the loud clash and clatter of attention-attracting
devices?
Suppose a great temple is to be erected in mid-Twentieth Century
on some American
Mount Moriah. Can you not hear the discordant din and clamor of
every advertising
technique known to man as present-day craftsmen go forth to
raise the funds ... to
persuade Brethren to donate a cedar tree or a block of stone ...
to obtain publicity in all
the newspapers and TV stations from Dan to Beer-sheba ... to
give King Hiram of Tyre
the "hard sell"?
SOMETIMES I THINK THE
First Book of the Kings may be trying to convey more
in the story of the tools than a mere recital of details of a
building operation. Might it not
contain a bit of allegory, as is true of so many of the episodes
in Holy Writ? Could it be a
gentle exhortation to quietness and modesty? Or perhaps a means
of illustrating how
beautiful the spiritual temple can be, and how much greater the
achievement, when it is
erected without the accompaniment of that which is loud and
harsh and coarse?
Strange words, I daresay, to be coming from one who was trained
as a newspaper man
to use one of the media of mass communication. But remember, I
am speaking now as a
seasoned Freemason. Remember also what I said in the opening
article of this series: that
the prescriptions offered by the Masonic Medicine Men are not
all completely vicious.
Many of them—yes, most of them— have certain elements of merit,
and all of them
appear innocent enough on the surface. Yet each is capable of
setting in motion forces
that could destroy American Freemasonry as we have known it.
NOW AT THE VERY OUTSET
let us get the distinction between Masonic public
relations and an all-out campaign for publicity on the airwaves
or in the public press. The
one we could not escape if we would; the other is a cheap and
unseemly activity far
beneath the dignity of our Fraternity, carried on by those who
think the beginning and the
end of public relations lies in filling the scrap-books.
When we have a story to tell that is newsworthy and in good
taste, there is no reason
why we should not tell it. But the building of favorable public
relations is not measured
by newspaper space. On the contrary, Freemasonry can be placed
in a ridiculous position
before the public by an ill-advised and all-consuming appetite
for attention at any price.
I am one who believes that just such a situation can happen all
too easily. Should we
abandon our historic position of dignity and restraint and throw
open the doors, it
requires but little imagination to visualize what could happen.
To control the quality of
public information about the Fraternity is just as impossible as
to control solicitation of
membership, and the damage can be just as devastating.
WHY DO I VIEW with
alarm? Let's see how the wind is blowing:
—In one Jurisdiction in the United States a Committee on "Public
Relations" was
created a few years ago. It sounded good. But when the committee
made its first report to
Grand Lodge it let the cat out of the bag, for all it had done
in the way of "public
relations" was to prepare canned releases for the press and TV
stations.
—In another Jurisdiction a newly-formed Committee on "Public
Relations" announced
its real objective to Grand Lodge when it said: "We would like
to see the Junior Warden
of every Lodge act as the
publicity agent
for his Lodge during his term of office."
—Then there was the Grand Master whose statement I have repeated
with horror on
many occasions. "Masonry with its associated bodies has not been
getting its proper
share of publicity in
the newspapers," he said.
—Another large American Jurisdiction displays its collection of
newspaper clippings
each year during the annual communication of Grand Lodge.
—The fact that at two of the last three Conferences of Grand
Masters in North
America the subject of more publicity has been discussed.
Regional conferences of
American Grand Lodges also have the bug; they are engaging in
shop talk on how to set
up publicity committees.
—A large American Jurisdiction launched a great humanitarian
movement that was
looked upon with universal admiration, and then spoiled
everything with a report to
Grand Lodge which said that although its benevolent program did
make a "significant
contribution in service to all humanity (and) while many Masonic
dollars had been spent
in this activity,
the publicity value to Masonry was diluted"
because the work had been
done in a number of locations.
—One Grand Master offered this argument for holding the
Conference of Grand
Masters in cities other than Washington, D.C.: "We come to this
Conference ... we do not
get much notice. You may as well toss a pebble down the well for
all it is known in
Washington, D.C., that we have been here . . . But take this
Conference to one of our
midwestern cities and it will have considerable impact upon the
people in that community
. . . The meeting will be publicized in the area."
(Incidentally, the Conference was moved to a midwestern city,
but not one clipping
could be taken home for the scrapbook—and it turned out to be
one of the most fortunate
things that ever happened to American Freemasonry that there was
no news coverage.)
"NEVER MIND WHAT THEY SAY
about me,
just so they say something," a
philosophical American politician is supposed to have remarked.
That seems to have
become the objective of a certain segment of our leadership. It
frightens me to see that
gnawing hunger for publicity that is being advocated openly
today by so many in high
places.
There is a fine line that divides legitimate news from that
trivia known as publicity. It
is when we cross that fine line that we stoop to a position
beneath our dignity. Well-meaning
Brethren who fancy themselves writers and correspondents but who
know little
or nothing about the usages and customs of the Craft can
unwittingly do the Fraternity
irreparable harm.
And where is that fine line? On a newspaper copy desk I learned
what obviously is an
oversimplified, yet often accurate, statement of the difference
between news and
publicity. It goes like this: Publicity is that which is of
little or no interest, but which
individuals seek mightily to get into print; news is that which
is of great interest, but
which individuals seek mightily to keep out of print.
LET ME INTERRUPT at
this point to emphasize again that I am making a
distinction between public relations activities and the craving
for indiscriminate publicity.
Our Craft maintained public relations of a sort for generations
before the current name in
print rage developed. My good friend, M.W. Jack F. Hewson, Past
Grand Master of
Masons in Indiana, said to me in a letter written early in 1962,
"Whether it knows it or
not, whether it likes it or not, the Grand Lodge (of Indiana)
has had public relations since
January 12, 1818. The relations have not always been good, and
for the most part over
the years they certainly have not been planned. But the fact
remains that everything the
public has learned or imagined about Freemasonry has affected
the public's like or dislike
of our order."
He is one hundred per cent right. And incidentally, the
unrestrained use of hammers
and axes in American Freemasonry is just as distasteful to him
as it is to me.
Then how can we guarantee that a Masonic publicity program will
be restrained and in
good taste? Alas, we cannot. An organized program to obtain
Masonic publicity has
small chance of being anything other than unseemly in character.
Certainly it will be so if
the Junior Warden is made
ex-officio
"publicity agent" for his Lodge. It takes more
than a
whispered pass word to make a perfect ashlar out of a rough
ashlar; more than a
communicated sign or grip to instill in a man a sense of the
fitness of things.
THINK FOR A MOMENT on
just three points:
1. One of the characteristics of Freemasonry that has appealed
to men over the
years has been its "peculiarity."
By that I mean the simple fact that Masonry
does
not operate like other
organizations. Men have deemed it an honor to be identified with
an ancient Craft which does not sound the trumpets in an
ostentatious effort to call
attention to itself and what it fancies its "good works." It is
a relief to be free of the clash
of hammers and axes in at least one human experience. The late
Carl H. Claudy, whom I
always like to quote, was saying it this way more than thirty
years ago:1
Take from Freemasonry her reputation, and make of her an
organization striving for
notice, competing for publicity, members, attention, with all
the hundred and one
distractions of modern life, and she becomes just "one of a
crowd." And then —she dies!
Let her be silent, secret, reserved, dignified; keep her what
she has always been, a
mystery, a secret force for good in the world, an Order which
men cannot join save they
be worthy— and her power increases.
2. If we are interested in a favorable "image" for the
Fraternity, then
Little Jack Horner is not the man for the job.
The thought of telling all the world
about our "good works" and moulding public opinion so the
praises of Freemasonry will be sung in one
endless anthem constitutes a tempting apple indeed. But whenever
our Craft adopts the
methods of Little Jack Horner, every man becomes the judge of
what is proper and what
is not. And believe me, I know Brethren by the hundreds whom I
would not want to trust
to publicize the activities of Freemasonry—and some of them are
news writers. Many a
time I have winced over the product of a Masonic press agent. To
embrace 1964-model
publicity methods and clothe them with the garments of
respectability is to turn loose
those who, well-meaning though they may be, are lacking in
responsibility and discrimination.
I remember all too well how, some ten years ago, American Grand
Masters literally
fell over each other to be photographed for the cover page of a
magazine of national
circulation—and I remember the tongue-in-cheek manner in which
the writer of the
feature article dealt with our Craft. That is only one example
to illustrate the wisdom of
our historic position of quiet dignity.
3. And remember, a publicity campaign can backfire.
We think we would
publicize only the so-called "good works," but when we descend
to the level of all other
publicity-hungry groups we must be prepared to pay the penalty
of having public
attention called to the dirt under the rugs within our own
house.
No amount of prepared publicity can repair the damage if a
Freemason or his
dependent is in distress and the Lodge looks the other way.
Little Jack Homer's loud protestations will not be very
convincing if the Masonic
Temple is run down and seedy in appearance.
Reams and reams of mimeographed news releases will be to no
avail if the Lodge
officers whose names appear in the newspaper are not men who can
command respect in
the community.
All the press agents in the business cannot erase the
distasteful image created by an
obnoxious publication claiming to be "Masonic," or a Lodge
trestleboard that is immature
and undignified.
It will take more than newspaper space to wipe out the memory of
a careless and
slipshod funeral service ... or if the Brethren perform their
public ceremonies like
awkward bumpkins ... or go to Lodge in bowling league attire ...
or allow their aprons to
be anything other than white and spotless ... or if the Chaplain
is one whom the community
has reason to know is not on speaking terms with the God to whom
he recites his
prayers.
LlKE ALL OTHER
prescriptions offered by the Masonic Medicine Men,
this is one
we had better think through.
We are conducting our Masonic public relations
program
every hour of every day, as our distinguished Past Grand Master
of Indiana said so very
well. We are going to "get publicity" of a sort, also—and it can
be a publicity that is
ruinous.
Let Freemasonry stay out of the business of "managed news." We
do not belong there;
such activity is repugnant to everything our Craft stands for.
Once we forsake our
traditional gentility we are unleashing forces as capable of
damage as an untrained
layman attempting to perform a surgical operation, or practice
law, or build a bridge, or
teach school.
Legitimate news pertaining to the Fraternity there must and
should be, but the man
who presumes to speak for our Craft should be one who knows that
some things are done
and some things simply
are not done
in Freemasonry. Publicity for the sake of
publicity
should never even be considered. Let Freemasons be the last men
on earth to imitate
Little Jack Horner!
We do not need to
create a favorable "image;" we need
only to use what we have. A
good "image" before the public can be maintained if we have it,
or established if we do
not, and there is but one certain way to do it. That is to do
the work of Freemasonry as it
should be done—all the time— and always in the best of Masonic
traditions.
When we do the work that Freemasons are expected to do and as
they are expected to
do it, we are conducting the best possible public relations
program. If the leaders of our
American Grand Lodges will but forget their scrapbooks and
concentrate on providing
inspired leadership in the true Masonic tradition, our Lodges
will respond and follow, and
the "image" will take care of itself.
1 MSA: "Masonry and Publicity," May 1929.
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