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Short Talk Bulletin Vol 05 No 08
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V August, 1927 No.8
UNITED MASONIC RELIEF
by: Unknown
To relieve the distressed is a duty taught the Freemason as one of
the first lessons of the Ancient Craft. Nothing in Freemasonry is
more touching, more solemn or more beautiful than the Rite of
Destitution; just how closely it nestles in the hearts of all who
experience it, is demonstrated by the reputation which the Masonic
Fraternity has for assisting the needy and being charitable toward
all mankind, more especially a brother Mason.
Masonic relief is practiced by the brother toward the needy, by the
Lodge toward those of its members who have fallen upon evil days, and
often toward the profane as well. Masonic relief by a group of
Lodges to a sister Lodge is commonplace in American Masonic history.
But Masonic relief recently has come to have a new and broader
meaning, and to be administered with a national vision.
The Great War taught American Freemasonry that, no matter how ideal
was its group of forty-nine Grand Lodges, each sovereign in its own
jurisdiction, was the right to make its own rules and laws, decide
for itself what the ancient Landmarks are, and rule its Masonic
principality as it thought wise, it was not a system designed for
united Masonic effort on a National scale. The United States
Government could not treat with forty-nine Grand Lodges, which might
have forty-nine different ideas as to how Masonry might function
overseas for the relief and benefit of the men in khaki. The result
was that, except for a few sporadic and divided efforts, organized
Freemasonry in America played but a very small part in the great
struggle beyond the ocean. The spirit was willing, anxious;
brotherhood was frustrated, not by its lack of heart, but by its lack
of the machinery - or, perhaps it is better said, by its having too
much machinery for such an undertaking.
Out of this trouble - and it was a very real trouble to many earnest
American Freemasons - grew The Masonic Service Association, formed of
a majority of the Grand Lodges of the United States. In this
organization the several Grand Lodges created a servant which could
work for them all, which could do what no one of them could do for
itself. One of the two main objects of the Association is the
collection, distribution and administration of United Masonic Relief;
when fire or flood, or other national disaster makes such relief
imperative, so that Masons can show nationally, as well as
individually, that they have fully learned the lesson of the Rite of
Destitution.
This is a great country. It has not only wonderful natural
resources, but wonderful potentialities for trouble. We are subject
to disastrous fires. We have tornadoes in the Middle West which do
more damage in less time than wind storms in any other part of the
earth. We have the courage to set up Lares and Penates where nature
- and, until we learn, we set them up not always strong enough -
result, a Galveston or a Johnstown Flood. And we have the Father of
the Waters, and the disastrous floods which afflict the lower
Mississippi region.
During the immediate past, Freemasonry has had a chance to test the
instrumentality which the Grand Lodges set up. First came the
terrible storm in Florida, which did such enormous damage, then the
terrific flood in the lower Mississippi Valley, which, even if less
destructive of life than the Florida Hurricane, was definitely
greater in the destruction of property. Ten counties have been
flooded in the State of Mississippi, with a total of seven hundred
and thirty-five thousand acres. Thirty-five counties have suffered a
similar fate in Arkansas, and nearly one-half of Louisiana has been
under water. The total flood damage throughout the entire flood area
is estimated by those familiar with conditions, to be at least one-
half billion dollars.
More than twenty thousand members of the Masonic Fraternity
affiliated with more than two hundred Lodges in the Jurisdictions of
Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are materially affected by the
floods. Many of these members of the Craft have lost everything they
had in the world, while others are able to hold on until a gracious
Providence, a beneficent government, or the Masonic Fraternity shall
render aid.
In both disasters The Masonic Service Association was immediately
upon the scene, to offer its help and cooperation to the Masonic
Authorities in the afflicted area, and to make its appeal, not only
to its constituent members, but to all Masonic Jurisdictions, for
contributions to the relief of worthy poor and distressed Master
Masons, their widows, orphans and dependents.
Let it be roundly stated here and now, lest some critic think the
Association desires credit where no credit is due. Some Masonic
relief would have come to Florida and to the Mississippi Flood
sufferers had their been no Masonic Service Association. The great
heart of Freemasonry does not need an Association to be touched by
want and suffering. But the relief could not have been either so
great, so prompt, or so effectively administered had their been no
central agency to correlate the many appeals, and assist in the
allocation of funds. A movement with no leader, or with too many
leaders, will not progress near as fast as that which has a competent
general at the head. It was in activities of this kind that the
association was of such great value in these two distressing
calamities.
We are a cautious race; we naturally discount a man's own story of
his trouble, until we have investigated. This is sound Masonic
practice. Let an appeal for assistance come to the Lodge, and a
committee is commonly appointed to investigate and report the actual
facts to the Lodge. This, not that the Lodge distrusts the good
faith of the appealing brother, but to get a dispassionate and
impersonal survey of the conditions. In these national disasters,
The Masonic Service Association was able to act as a "Committee" and
to ascertain and report to all the Grand Lodges the actual conditions
and the need.
Non-Masons not infrequently ask? "But isn't the Red Cross for just
such purposes, and do you not duplicate the work of that organization
when you, too, attempt national relief?" The answers are many.
Consider the War. Was the red Cross sufficient overseas? Had the
Y.M.C.A. no function? The Salvation Army? The Red Cross does,
indeed, get promptly on the job in national disasters, but it cannot
do it all. And among the "All" which it cannot do is the individual
rehabilitation work which Masonry is so peculiarly fitted to
accomplish, because of that Mystic tie which binds brother unto
brother, and brother unto the lodge; and, which neither the Red
Cross, nor any other sectarian organization can duplicate or
understand.
The outpouring of relief from the various Masonic bodies over the
United States for both disasters was astonishing only to Non-Masons;
to the brethren, it was the expected thing. But never before have
funds, from Masonry united to relieve the distress been so quickly
administered by one group of Masons; and it was this centralization
of relief authority and means which placed the money contributed
where it did the most good with the absolute minimum of expense. In
Florida, it was less than one cent per dollar - more than 99 cents of
every dollar contributed went to relieve distress; the partial penny
remaining paying for office, postage, printing, advertising, travel,
etc. The figures are not yet in for Mississippi Flood Relief, since
that task is still in the process of doing as these words are being
written. It will be as low in proportion, although the greater area
affected, the destruction of so many of the existing means of
transportation and the consequent difficulties might well raise it to
a higher level, and it will still be low indeed.
The amount of relief in Florida was $114,236.97 from all sources, of
which almost one hundred thousand dollars ($96,649.16) came from
Grand Lodges and other Masonic bodies outside of the State of
Florida. In the Mississippi relief campaign, more than $500,000 has
been contributed at the present writing, and the money is still
coming in. It is of special interest to note that in addition to
Lodges and Grand Lodges, nearly every Supreme Body of Masonry in
North America contributed to the Mississippi relief funds; they did
not stop to ask whether those to whom the relief would go were
Companions or Sir Knights or Nobles or Brothers, or Sisters of the
Eastern Star. Masons and their families were in distress, and
practically all joined with Grand Lodges and individual Lodges
everywhere to contribute to the one relief fund asked for by the
three Grand Lodges, through the Masonic Service Association, for the
relief of Masons, regardless of Rite or Degree. And it is to be
noted that the greatest contribution, except for those from Lodges
and Grand Lodges, came from women of the Eastern Star, who opened
their purses as wide as their hearts.
Both in Florida and the flooded area, the procedure has been of the
same general character; immediately upon receipt of the news of the
disaster the Executive Secretary of The Masonic Service Association
went immediately to the scene, there to meet the Grand Masters whose
jurisdictions were suffering, advise with him or them, assist in
sending forth the appeal, and in creating the machinery necessary for
the proper use of the funds received. It is necessary, in such
sudden disasters, first to create an organization for the use of the
funds; next, to make a survey of the situation and find out just what
is needed most, and where; and finally to see that Masons in distress
know where to come and how to reach the aid which is to be had for
the asking.
In Florida the situation was complicated by the fact that there were
so many sojourning Masons, not members of Florida Lodges. Relatives
and friends all over the United States appealed to the Grand Lodge of
Florida for information concerning their loved ones. It is to be
noted that no questions were raised in giving out of Masonic relief
as to where a brother belonged; as a matter of fact, of the 527
families relieved by Masons in Florida, 228 had men in Florida
Lodges; the remaining 297 possessed affiliates of other Grand
Jurisdictions. In the Mississippi flood area the problem is made
difficulty not only by the fact that three States are effected, but
that the vastness of the devastation, and the utter need of many for
enough help to get started again.
The machinery put in operation was run by the Grand Lodge of Florida,
in Florida; and in the flooded regions by a Board of Control of Grand
Officers from Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas who elected Grand
Master Johnson of Mississippi as Chairman. All the funds received
have gone into a common relief fund; there has been no segregation of
money for this body, or that Rite. The great bulk of the relief has
been a spontaneous outpouring from Masons everywhere, to Masons, - to
be disbursed by kindly, loving brethren of the Mystic Tie.
For the benefit of those who may be interested in figures, a table is
appended to this Bulletin, showing the amount contributed to the
Mississippi Flood Fund by various bodies and States, up to and
including July 15, 1927. Figures for Florida are not given, as that
relief campaign is closed, the Grand Master furnishing a C.P.A. audit
of the work of his committee at the Annual Communication of the Grand
Lodge in April, a copy of which has been sent to all entitled to
receive it.
Mississippi Flood Relief is not yet finished, and cannot be for some
time. But any Mason can well be proud of the relief offered by
Masonry to Masons; and the vast majority of brethren of the United
States can look with pride upon the table published herewith, and
exult that the Rite of Destitution meant something real, something
vital to their Lodges and Grand Lodges, and the allied Supreme Bodies
of other Rites.
It is pleasant to publish the following Resolution, adopted in the
Grand Lodge of Florida at the Annual Communication assembled in
Jacksonville, last April:
RESOLUTION OF THANKS
"Resolved by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Florida, that we
acknowledge with grateful hearts the liberal and substantial aid and
assistance rendered by the Masons of the United States to the
Sojourning and Resident Masons of Florida who were injured and
damaged by the storm that visited a portion of our State during the
month of September, 1926.
"That our especial thanks are due, and hereby ex-pressed, to The
Masonic Service Association of the United States, to its very
efficient Executive Secretary, Brother Andrew L. Randell, P.G.M., and
its other executive officers, and to the Masonic Bodies named below,
for valuable aid and financial assistance rendered in the emergency
which confronted us.
(Here was inserted a list of all contributors)
"Resolved Further: That we express the hope and belief that this
manifestation of humanity and brotherly love may further cement the
bond of Fraternal regard which should exist between real Masons
through the length and breadth of our common country.
"That the Grand Secretary, F. & A.M. of Florida, is hereby directed
to transmit a certified copy of this resolution, under his hand and
the Seal of the Grand Lodge, to each of the bodies and the
individuals mentioned above."
"SO MOTE IT BE"
