countries, and on such occasions the differences between Masonic institutions in different countries often become apparent. The Freemasons of England and France are almost at opposite extremes in their views, while their German brothers occupy a middle position; but at present the difficulty is not between the French and the English, but between the Germans and the two extremes of Masonic thought, viz.: the almost atheistic lodges of Latin Italy and France, and the wellnigh dogmatic Christian conception prevalent in Great Britain. At present the situation is not clear, for the connection between the lodges in different countries has been interrupted, and the present war has allowed very little, if anything, in the way of a. friendly approach between the French and German branches of the order! But another voice, from the heart of the German Craft itself, is more hopeful. It is that of Ernst Schultze, who speaks as follows:* The world war confronts Freemasonry with greater tasks than it has ever before attempted. Far around in a bewildering panorama extends the vista, now even greater than before, of the duties and opportunities of our order. And first among these is that which has ever been dear to all Freemasons, viz., good-will and mutual service: True to the fundamental principles of our society, and as members of our circle, we indeed scorn the idea of entering the limelight. So it is impossible to know with certainty what is being accomplished by Freemasons. Unfortunately we have hitherto made the unaccountable mistake of thinking that our consciousness of our own worth and the conviction of our own blamelessness were sufficient to impose the same view on the whole world. In practical social psychology we have still well-nigh everything to learn. If in court we do not think of relying on our own guiltless instead of offering proofs for it, we must admit that in international matters the same principle holds. Indeed it is even more true when we are dealing with nations, for in this case the judges are often prejudiced if they do not belong to the people in question, or are unrelated to or unconnected with them. Thus we have underestimated the psychological influence which our occupation of Belgium has had on all other peoples. That our own conscience suffered under this merciless necessity was indeed clear from the words of our Imperial Chancellor at the memorable session of the Reichstag on the fourth of August. Nevertheless we must not forget at the same time that our enemies scornfully sneer at the honorableness of this explanation, and also that in neutral countries sentiment has for the most part been against us. If fair judgment were a requisite in international relations there would be less talk among neutrals about Louvain and more about Eastern Prussia. But since an ethical demand cannot be enforced, we must, in every future reckoning, take all the details of the given psychological situation into consideration, even when they rest on ignorance or ill-will. If we wish to win our due place in the esteem of nations each German individual· must do his part in the cultivation of the good-will of foreign peoples, while for the per formance of this function for our people as a whole we have institutions to create, departments in the state machinery, which, in the history of nations, are evolved for this purpose. That our diplomacy has not accomplished this, indeed that it has not even taken the trouble to make us understood by others, the war was not the first occasion to bring home to us with terrible distinctness. But we are not going to dwell here on the need of reform in our department of foreign affairs; we wish to speak of the rôle of German Freemasonry in its endeavor to gain the good-will of foreign nations. Are there reasons which render it desirable for us Freemasons to become active in these fields? Three such reasons present themselves. In the first place by its nature and plan our society in an international community which, though it has indeed suffered many a wound by the war, should, nevertheless, exert every effort to heal its wounded members. We cannot here go into the question of a lasting union in spiritual intercourse among the lodges of the present warring countries after the conclusion of peace. In the second place Freemasonry, from the fact that it has neither political nor economic interests of any kind, can exert a peculiarly strong spiritual influence abroad for good in every time of national trial. For this reason its utterances and pleading in many cases carry much more weight than is the case with bodies more or less dependent on the guidance of the German Empire or of certain interested groups. Last, but not least, Freemasonry can and must see to it that in cultivating the good-will of other nations, we do not lose sight of the allimportant thing, viz., the magic power of moral worth. In Freemasonry the problem of internationalism gains a new significance. Are we a so iety whose goal lies in the brotherhood of all humanity-or are we not? The question formerly so often propounded to meet this is now no longer heard, viz., can one reconcile 3Open Court, XXX, 705. 4In the Mitteilungen aus dem V'erien deutscher Freimuarer (Intelligencer of the German Freemasons Union) translated by Percy F. Morley. FREEMASONRY AND WORLD PEACE 253 with a Freemason's duties toward his Fatherland? While this old question has been disposed of, a new one raises its head demanding an answer: Would it not be wiser for the Freemasons of each country to limit themselves to their national boundaries and tɔ drop all relations with their brothers in other lands, or at most to carry them only so far as the community of scientific endeavor or vocation might perchance lead? If we acquiesced in this answer to the question we should sacrifice one of the most treasured principles of our order. We should immediately have to strike from our rites some of the most beautiful words and symbols. No longer could we utter as our desire and our goal: 'That the human race become One united brotherhood, Sharing truth and light and right.' (Dass das menschliche Geschlecht Teilend Wahrheit, Licht und Recht.) We could then speak only of our own people, no longer of mankind. We should have to drop the cherished vessel in which our brothers of the eighteenth century have handed down to us through long generations the deepest and noblest possession o. our order, crashing and scattering its contents or distorting them to a formless mass. Are we justified, because Freemasonry was unable to prevent the war, in robbing it on this account of its ideal of the brotherhood of man? That would be the worst sort of fallacy. Neither in Germany nor in England does Freemasonry possess political power. In Russia it ceased to exist over a century ago. And if it seeks political power in Latin countries its ambitions are confined to home politics and have scarcely anything to do with foreign relations. Freemasonry in these countries directs its aim rather at the social question which, according to the striking presentation of Brother Bischoff, "is not conceived essentially as a problem in good-will but rather as one in justice." Brother Bischoff is also right when he says that French and Belgium Freemasonry developed a thoroughly earnest and well-meant activity for the creation of harmonious international relations. Now we must by all means take into consideration that with the peculiar temperament of the Latin peoples, the inclination to a continuance of these efforts will be very slight in the two above-named countries, in the event of a war ending unfavorably for them. Perhaps years even may elapse before an echo is heard of those friendly relations between German and French Masonry for which Brother Bernardin of Nancy and our own Brother Kraft of Dresden so successfully paved the way in 1911. But even this would as little relieve us of the duty of later undertaking our task anew, as the many miscarriages of foreign Masonry during the war justify us in desisting from it at present. The very differences among the branches of Masonry of different countries makes it all the more clearly evident that the one affects the other. Most indispensable is such a fructification in the case of English Freemasonry, as we know not along from the public utter ance of Ampthill. But if English lodge life has lapsed too much into mere ritual and sociability, that of the Latin countries, and not less that of Germany, need the influence of foreign brothers in order to advance. If we Freemasons understand aright the tasks we shall have after the war, it will be to point mankind to higher guiding stars, striving, in spite of all obstacles, toward an inner union, and combating all barbarity and malevolence. Zschokke, a century ago (1817) expressed the duties of our order in the following magnificent terms: "Conceive for yourself an image of mankind in its coming perfection; all nations, without distinction of color. speech, mental make-up, religion or political relations, fused into one brotherhood: all freed from the prejudices of locality, position and vocation, without national or religious hatred; all united in brotherly equality and love, around the Father of all; all esteeming service and virtue above outward rank or the accident of birth or fortune; all emulating one another in humility, love and truth in the creation of their common happiness; all ministering to one another with unequal gifts; all, though endowed with unequal powers, wishing one another well; tolerant in the presence of differing views and judgments; all mutually honoring one another: nowhere despotism, nowhere servitude." These aims have lost nothing in significance through the war. On the contrary, they have become dearer to us after all the ugly things we have had to experience and which, in this period of highly developed civilization, have pained us the more. Whoever takes the tasks of Freemasonry seriously will not allow himself to become disheartened though the work before us has now become more difficult. Without doubt the bulwarks of humanity are being ravaged by the flood, but we shall work all the more diligently for the restoration of what has been lost. As soon as peace makes an end to the clash of arms and allows us once more to look toward the future, we shall undertake with swelling breast new and greater work to prepare for all future generations a sure foundation for human society. This, we may be sure, is the spirit which will place the Craft on that high piane which its most advanced members have conceived for it, and which will enable it to accomplish its most appropriate and effective work. For what, after all, is a greater evil, or rather accumulation of evils, than war? Or where have its horrors been more graphically depicted than in these words of our great leader, voicing, doubtless in part, his own then recent experience, and as fitting today as when written, nearly a half-century ago? Masonry is not dazzled with all its pomp and circumstance, all its glitter and glory. War comes with its bloody hand into our very dwellings. It takes from ten thousand homes those who lived there in peace and comfort, held by the tender ties of family and kindred. It drags them away, to die untended, of fever or exposure, in infectious climes; or to be hacked, torn, and mangled in the fierce fight; to fall on the gory fields, to rise no more, or to be borne away, in awful agony, to noisome and horrid hospitals. The groans of the battlefield are echoed in sighs or bercavement from thousands of desolated hearths. There is a skeleton in every house, a vacant chair at every table. Returning, the soldier brings worse sorrow to his home, by the in section which he has caught, of camp vices. The country is demoralized. The national mi..d is brought down, from the noble interchange of kind offices with another people, to ath and revenge, and base pride, and the habit of measuring brute strength against brut. strength, in battle. Treasures are expended, that would suffice to build ten thousand churches, hospitals, and universities, or rib and tie together a continent with rails of iron. If that treasure were sunk in the sea, it would be calamity enough, but it is put to worse use; for it is expended in cutting into the veins and arteries of human life, until the earth is deluged with a sea of blood. 5 Is it too much to say that the promotion of peace among nations is Freemasonry's most important mission? THE LOVE OF CHANGE The love of change hath changed the world throughout, New things wax old, old new, all turns about, And all things change except the love of change. Yet I find not that love of change in me, But as I am so will I always be. -Richard Carlton's Madrigals. OUR DAILY NEEDS Bread on the board and raiment to put on; 5 Morals and Dogma, 124, 125. THE SHORTAGE OF FOOD PROBLEM T BY CHAS, MILLHISER, 32° TO ALL FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER SOCIETIES: HE entire world is alarmed over the shortage of food and the high cost of the necessities of life. The farmers have been warned and advised to increase their acreage of foodstuff, and all other persons to cultivate all idle lands, to plant seeds and grow vegetables in their gardens and yards. This is a patriotic call to every citizen to economize at the one end, by conserving our foodstuffs from unnecessary waste, and at the other end, to increase the production of the same. The idea being to have sufficient food that we may live, and by the double process of saving and of increased production to bring the cost of living within the means of people whose earnings are small. The banker tells us that "a penny saved is a penny made," and it is equally true that a pound of meat, a bushel of grain, or anything eatable saved, is just the same, as that much more, of food made or produced. After this long introduction I sincerely and humbly appeal to all Orders, Societies and Associations of every kind throughout this great country from now, and until this cruel war is over, to forgo the giving of all Lodge or Society dinners, suppers, etc. Considering the thousands and thousands of Lodges of all kinds and other societies and organizations of all kinds, who are in the habit of entertaining their members with suppers, etc., it is easy to be seen the enormous wastage annually of millions and millions of pounds of food unnecessarily consured, and amounting to millions and millions of dollars Think again of the great population needing it, this wastage wou feed. Then think of this great wastage, added to the increased production, he much more plentiful-and how much greater, would be the reduction in the cost of all foodstuffs? Then think of these many millions of dollars, saved by the lodges and societies, laid aside in their treasuries to meet the great calls of suffering humanity for assistance, which will come, from all points of the globe. Having been a Mason for forty-six years, I naturally would like to see the Masons of this country initiate this movement, but I think the question so broad and serious that all should agree to co-operate in the best way possible to attain the end here sought. I trust this article will appeal to all societies in this country so that a start may be made, and some action taken through their committees in a general appeal. Will our Masonic Bodies be the first to act or will some others take the initiative? In either case I believe the country would be equally and as sincerely grateful. If the "Four Cardinal Virtues" mean anything, now is the time to practice them. Therefore let us do our duty towards making food so plentiful that none will suffer from the want of it. This is a matter so momentous, that as one of humble station in life, I have hesitated in its publication, but everything must have a beginning-and being beyond the age to render physical service, I offer the next best thing in my power-my sincere and heartfelt advice which I most deeply and devoutly feel if accepted in the same spirit as offered-will be of very great benefit to our country and our fellowman. Under the Double Eagle What does it mean, what stand for? Do they give you new-born purpose Of truth and love and right. Have they increased the stature Shown life a brighter way? Made plainer Christ's deep message Have they the lessons taught you 'Neath such austere disguise; Have they proved that life is full of Wonder and rare delight For the man who lives these lessons These are the things they teach me; -A. B. Leigh, 32°. |