NATIONAL
Four great national organization serve American Freemasonry. In
alphabetical order these are:
The Conference of Grand Masters,
The
George Washington National Memorial Association,
The Masonic Relief
Association of the United States and Canada and
The Masonic Service
Association of the United States.
No single Short Talk Bulletin is large enough adequately to set forth
all the aims, ideals and accomplishments of any one of these national
movements, but a short general outline may be of interest to brethren
not closely in touch with their activities.
THE CONFERENCE OF GRAND MASTERS, as at present organized is of recent
origin, although the need for such annual meetings has been
recognized for many years. Due probably to the rather desultory
methods which prevailed in connection with the early Conferences, no
records of the dates on which they were held, nor minutes of their
proceedings are available.
During the past twenty-five years, a number of Conferences have been
held, beginning with those at Philadelphia and Baltimore in 1909,
followed by gatherings in Indianapolis in 1913, and in St. Louis the
following year. Commencing with 1925, the Conferences have been held
annually, in 1920506 and 1926 in conjunction with the meetings of the
Masonic Service Association of the United States;0, in Chicago, and
from 1927 to the present, in Washington, D.C., immediately preceding
or following the annual meetings of the George Washington National
Memorial Association and the Masonic Service Association.
The organization of each Conference includes a Chairman and
Secretary-Treasurer, elected annually. Since 1927, M.W. J. Claude
Keiper, P.G.M., District of Columbia, has been annually elected
Secretary-Treasurer. The present Chairman is M.W. Richard Priest
Dietzman, P.G.M., Kentucky. With three other members appointed by
the Chairman, these officers constitute the Committee on Agenda.
Each of the appointed members serve for three years, the period of
service ensuring a continuity of program.
Under the present plan of operation, the Committee on Agenda selects
the topics to be considered by the Conference, and assigns the
opening of each discussion to a Grand Master who is regarded as
especially qualified in the topic assigned. To obtain views of
brethren from different parts of the country, in some instances two
or more Grand Masters are given the same assignment.
Subjects cover matters of general interest to the Fraternity, the
problems which everywhere confront it and those questions which
involve interjurisdictional relations and procedure. Examples are:
“Interjurisdictional relief;” what are the best methods of procedure
to secure effective and uniform action in extending such relief:
“Service and Employment;” (a) Masonic Service Bureaus, (b) Masonic
Employment Bureaus: “Educational Programs;” (a) for Lodges or larger
groups, (b) for individuals; “Recognition of Grand Lodges;” are
general standards desirable and can uniformity of such standards be
attained by Grand Lodges?
A general discussion follows the presentation of the formal paper,
delegates asking questions regarding the methods adopted in the
various Jurisdictions, which are answered by those having facts to
offer.
The value of the these Conferences of Grand Masters is now widely
recognized. That the Conferences have won an assured place in the
national activities of the Fraternity is proved by the large
attendance of Grand Masters or their representatives, the number of
Grand Jurisdictions represented varying from 41 to 46 out of 49,
during the past three years. Their educational value to those in
attendance cannot be measured and the broadened vision of the
problems, the activities and the possibilities of the Fraternity,
which are obtained by those who participate, is universally regarded
as worth many times the individual sacrifice of the time required of
those who attend, not to mention the benefit derived by the personal
contacts which cement the ties between Grand Jurisdictions and
promote the unity and universality of Freemasonry.
The GEORGE WASHINGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION had its
inception on February 22, 1910, when the Grand Masters, or their
representatives, from eighteen Grand Jurisdictions met in Alexandria,
Virginia, on the invitation of the Grand Master of that State, to
consider the erection of a fireproof structure in which to house the
Washington relics belonging to Alexandria-Washington Lodge No.22. At
this meeting resolutions approving and endorsing the erection of a
Masonic Memorial to Washington were adopted, and a committee on
permanent organization was appointed.
One year later, pursuant to the agreement adopted in 1910, a second
meeting was held at which a permanent organization, The George
Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, was formed. A
constitution and by-laws were adopted and officers elected; M.W.
Thomas J Shryock, Grand Master of Maryland, being the first
President. Since 1911, the association has met annually, either in
the old Lodge Room of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No.22, or in the
Auditorium of the Washington Masonic Memorial. Grand Master Shryock
served as President until his death in 1917; his successor, elected
in 1918, is R.W. Louis A. Watres, P.G.M., Pennsylvania.
The present organization of the Association provides for a President,
four Vice-Presidents, a Secretary-Treasurer, twenty-one Directors and
an Executive Committee of five chosen from the Board of Directors.
The objects of the Association, as set forth in its Constitution, are
to erect and maintain in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, “A
Suitable Memorial Temple to Geroge Washington, the Mason, one which
shall express in durability and beauty the exalted and undying esteem
of the Freemasons of the United States for him in whose memory it
shall stand through the coming years.” It is also provided that the
Memorial Temple shall furnish accommodations for the safekeeping and
exhibition of the Washington relics and a place where the several
Grand Jurisdictions may place memorials to their distinguished
brethren. Another object is “to create, foster and diffuse a more
intimate fraternal spirit, understanding and intercourse between the
several Grand Jurisdictions and sovereign Grand Bodies throughout the
United States and her Insular possessions.”
Under the constitution, the active members of the Association are the
Grand Lodges of the United States and her Insular Possessions, so
that the ultimate direction of its affairs is vested in the Grand
Lodges.
Believing that every Freemason in the United States should have a
part in the erection of this great Memorial, the plan for raising
funds provided for the payment by each Grand Lodge of an amount equal
to $1.00 per capita of its membership, which amount was later
increased to $1.70. Sustained effort to bring the matter prominently
before the brethren of each Grand Jurisdiction were made. A Chairman
for each State was appointed and efforts met with such success that
many of the Grand Jurisdictions have over subscribed the original
quota, some even exceeding the one later adopted. To date, almost
$4,000,000.00 have been contributed to the erection of the Memorial.
On June 5, 1922, ground was broken for the Memorial on Shooters Hill,
Alexandria, Virginia, and on November 1, 1923, the corner-stone was
laid in the presence of the largest gathering of Masons the country
has ever seen. Since then, with the exception of the last year, when
financial conditions prevented, building operations have been carried
forward continuously. The exterior structure is completed and the
Auditorium finished and furnished. Under the policy early adopted,
no contracts for work are made unless funds to meet them are in the
treasury of the association. While this course has perhaps resulted
in slower construction, but,it has also placed the project in the
enviable position of being absolutely free of debt.
On May 12, 1932, although uncompleted, the Memorial was dedicated, so
that the ceremonies might be held during the year devoted to the
commemoration of the bicentennial of the anniversary of Washington’s
birth. Notwithstanding the inclement weather a great assembly of
brethren participated in the ceremonies, which were attended by the
then President of the United States, the Honorable Herbert Hoover,
and distinguished Masons from the United States and abroad.
With the return of normal financial conditions, it is confidently
expected that contributions to the Memorial funds will be resumed and
that this outstanding Masonic project will be completed. When this
has been accomplished, Freemasons of the United States may well take
pride in their achievement. They will not only have erected a
Memorial to the greatest Mason of his time, but will have built an
enduring monument to Masonry, and to the influence which it has
exerted in so marked a degree in the foundation, maintenance, and
preservation of our free Government.
THE MASONIC RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, a
non-profit making organization operated exclusively for information
and protection against imposition on the Fraternity, and was
organized in 1884. The aims and objectives are: First, the
detection and publication in the Bulletin of unworthy Masons and
impostors preying upon the Fraternity; Second, the coordinating and
correlating of the various forms of Masonic relief throughout the
United States and Canada; third, the promotion of prompt and
effective methods of handling cases of interjurisdictional relief;
fourth, to act as an agency in organizing Masonic relief in times of
National disaster when such services are requested by any Grand Lodge
or group of Grand Lodges; and, fifth, to provide a meeting place for
the discussion of all these varied problems of Masonic relief, which
in these days are so pressing, and bring together those who are
active and interested in Masonic relief of every form and character.
Nine thousand eight hundred and forty-five Masonic crooks and
impostors are recorded in the office of the Association.
The Association’s Conventions are held biannually. It officers are a
President and Chairman of the Executive Board (Present incumbent is
W.M. Lewis E. Smith, P.G.M., Nebraska), First and Second Vice
Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretary (present incumbent is E. Earle
Axtell, 43 Niagara Street, Buffalo, N.Y.) The Executive Board is
composed of all officers and an Advisory Council of five.
THE BULLETIN, official publication of the Association, is published
six times a year, and mailed to all Grand Secretaries in the United
States and Canada; and to the Secretaries of all Lodges, Boards of
Relief, and other active organizations within Grand Jurisdictions
which are supporting members of the Association.
It is the largest organization in the world composed exclusively of
Masons, with membership of approximately two million; while those who
are eligible but not members, aggregate approximately one million
more.
THE MASONIC SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES, was formed as
the result of the distressing need, seen in the Great War, of an
adequate method by which American Freemasonry could function
unitedly, instead of as forty-nine separate units. in relief and aid
for the distressed.
No honest man insures his house against fire with the belief that the
morrow will see it in flames. He pays a little over a term of years,
so that in the unlikely event of conflagration the money value of his
destroyed home will be at his disposal that he may rebuild. The
Masonic Service Association is an insurance policy issued to American
Freemason insuring that, when disaster comes, the Fraternity will not
be bound and helpless to move and give from its great heart to those
who need, as it was in the Great War.
The tool, forged in the fires of bitterness and conflict of war, was
tempered and ready for decisive and successful action when disasters
came. During the Association’s fifteen years, five disasters of
national proportions have tested the ability of American Freemasonry
to act unitedly in”restoring peace to the troubled minds” of those
who suffered by convulsions of nature. These were the Japanese
earthquake of September 1, 1923, the Florida hurricane of September
18, 1926, the Puerto Rico hurricane of September 13, 1928, and the
Florida hurricane of September 16, 1928.
The Masonic Service Association was able to speak for the afflicted
brethren without the excitement and distress under which those who
suffered, necessarily labored. It made an impersonal survey of four
of these five disasters and its duty accredited representatives
advised from first-hand investigations of the extent of the
devastation and the relief imperatively needed. By its suggestions
and its plans it assisted the Grand Jurisdictions involved in setting
up and starting in motion the necessary relief machinery. By acting
as a clearing house for information, a diseminator of appeals and a
central agency through which contributions were sent, it expedited
both the collection of funds and their application where most needed.
That there might be a permanent and concise record of its relief
activities, in 1931 the Association published “United Masonic
Relief,” a fifty-three page bound volume, in which the finances of
all five disasters were set forth in detail; twelve hundred copies
were distributed to Grand Lodges, Grand and Past Grand Officers, the
Masonic Press, and Masonic and Public Libraries.
ALL RELIEF, ALL DISASTERS
Japanese Earthquake Relief, 1923 $15,777.25
Florida Hurricane, 1926 $114,236.97
Mississippi Valley Flood, 1927 $608,291.91
Puerto Rica Hurricane, 1928 $86,316.58
Florida Hurricane, 1928 $107,622.14
Total $932,244.85
ALL EXPENSES, ALL DISASTERS
Japanese Earthquake, 1923 (No Expense)
Florida Hurricane, 1926 $1,130.95
Mississippi Valley Flood, 1927 $7,202.21
Puerto Rico Hurricane, 1928 $3,078.08
Florida Hurricane, 1928 $527.35
Total $11,938.59
Percentage, All Expenses to All Relief 1.28%
Inquiries and offers of help in disasters ranging from floods in New
England, an earthquake in the West, a storm in Mexico and
hurricanes in Central America, have been made whenever damage was of
large proportions; happily, since 1928, no flood, fire, hurricane,
earthquake or other natural calamity has been beyond the power of the
afflicted Grand Lodge to handle alone.
The Association early realized that, vital as is cooperative effort
between Grand Jurisdictions in time of stress, in the merciful
providence of the Great Architect war and disasters come seldom, so
that an Association of Masons devoted to service should also have
peacetime work to do.
That field was found in developing programs of Masonic education,
forming Craft Libraries, issuing a Masonic magazine (“The Master
Mason”) and the publication of modern, well printed, authoritative
and readable Masonic books. The Masonic world is forever the debtor
to the Association for the National Masonic Library and the Little
Masonic Library, thirty-two volumes of primary importance.
In 1928 the delegates from member Grand Lodges decided to enlarge the
educational activities of the association. To that end, and to meet
the criticism of some who thought publishing books (even if sold to
Craftsmen at unusually low prices) a work which secular publishers
might the better do, the Association sold its publishing business and
retired from the book field.
Since then the association has developed a program of investigation
into, and digestion and dissemination of, facts showing national
trends in Freemasonry. No other organization duplicates this work,
the uniqueness and interest of which has won countless expressions of
interest and praise from high Masonic authorities the nation over.
Such Digests as those on Masonic Employment Bureaus, Masonic Funeral
Services, Ancient Landmarks, Masonic Educational Activities, Who May
Confer Degrees, Taxation of Masonic Properties, Masonic Advisory and
Executive Boards, The Bible on the Altar, Light on the N.P.D.
Problem, Masonic Trial Methods, Masonic Finances and Charity, Grand
Lodge Standards of Recognition, Masonic Law Relative to Liquor and
Beer, “What They Think,” American Masonic Petitions, etc. have proved
of inestimable value, not only in spreading knowledge of the laws,
practices and ideas of all Grand Jurisdictions to each of them, but
as permanent contributions to source material for students and
historians of the future.
The Association has not neglected the Masonic educational work for
constituent Lodges; Four Programs” and later, “Three Evenings of
Masonic Inspiration,” a number of Masonic Contests to be held in
Lodge, a one act Masonic Play which requires neither costumes,
accessories or stage, and similar material have won instant acclaim
from the Masonic world.
Frequent broadcasts of interesting Masonic ideas and material are
made, such as z Reconsecration Address of unusual caliber, sent to
all Grand Jurisdictions; a unique system of Lodge accounting, an
Armistice Day Address by Reverend Brother and Doctor Joseph Fort
Newton, Chaplain of the Association, etc.
Beginning in 1923 a monthly Short Talk Bulletin (of which this is the
one hundred and forty third) has been issued. It goes to every Lodge
of Member Grand Jurisdictions. Begun at the suggestion of M.W. W.L.
Eagleton, P.G.M., Oklahoma, of sainted and unforgettable memory, as a
contribution to Lodge interest, it has become a library of Masonic
addresses, a concise and authoritative encyclopedia of facts on
interesting Masonic subjects, a reference collection of value to all
Masonic students. All these Short Talk Bulletins are still in print.
(The catalog both classifies and lists them alphabetically
To catalog all the activities of the Association is impossible in a
short space; in brief, it is a servant of American Grand Lodges, a
patient and tireless investigator into Grand Jurisdiction law,
custom, practices. ideas; which it digests and issues in permanent
form for the benefit of all, an insurance policy against disaster, a
weapon to fight flood, famine, pestilence, kept sharp and ready for
the brotherly hands of all The Ancient Craft.
Its officers are an Executive Commission, elected annually, a
Chairman of the Commission, elected annually by delegates to the
annual meeting; and an Executive Secretary and staff with offices in
Washington, D.C. M.W. George R. Sturgis, P.G.M., Connecticut, is
Chairman, and W. Carl H Claudy, P.M. District of Columbia, is
Executive Secretary.
back to top |
