Short Talk Bulletin Vol 08 No 09

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Short Talk Bulletin

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII   September, 1930   No.9 

I VOUCH FOR HIM 

by: Unknown 

To vouch for a Mason is, Masonically, to say to the brother to whom   
you are introducing the one you are vouching for:  “I know that  
Bother J.D. (John Doe) is a Master Mason.” 
By implication it means (1) that the brother doing the vouching has  
sat in open lodge with the brother being vouched for: or (2) that the  
brother vouching has subjected the brother vouched for to a strict  
trial and due examination: or (3) that the brother vouching has  
received an avouchment of another brother he knows to be a Master  
Mason, that the brother now vouched for is known to “Him” as a Master  
Mason. 
In some jurisdictions Grand Lodges have decided that no brother may  
undertake a private examination of any man representing himself as a  
brother without orders from the Worship Master of his lodge, or the  
Grand Master.  In these Jurisdictions it is held that the Worshipful  
Master is solely responsible for the proper purging of his lodge, and  
that, in consequence, he and only he has the right to select the  
committee which shall examine a stranger.  In such Jurisdictions only  
the Master (or the Grand Master) may decide who is competent and who  
is not competent to examine a visitor for entrance into his lodge. 
Some Jurisdictions have ruled that no “second-hand” avouchment is  
permissible - that “A) can vouch for “B” only if he has sat in open  
lodge with him, with the exception, of course, that the members of a  
properly qualified and appointed committee may vouch for the brother  
they have examined if he has proved himself to be a Master Mason. 
Avouchment is a very important matter; much more important than  
appears upon the surface.  It demands, and should receive, the  
earnest thought of all officers of the lodge.  The “good and  
wholesome instruction” which a Master is charged to give, or cause to  
be given to his brethren may be well concerned, occasionally, with  
this vital matter. 
The number of men who have never taken the degrees who try to get  
into  Masonic lodges is very small.  Nevertheless, there have been,  
are, and doubtless will be such men; men without principle or honor;  
“eavesdroppers” who have heard what was not intended for their ears,  
or men who have become “book Masons” by the study of some of the  
exposes of Masonry which may still be found in some libraries, and  
which they deem to set forth the correct ritual. 
However few in number these importers may be, they must be strictly  
guarded against.  No such crook desires to work his way into a  
Masonic lodge for any other purpose than to obtain credit for being a  
Master Mason, and, later, to defraud some of the brethren with whom  
he thus hopes to sit in lodge. 
Far more dangerous than the “eavesdropper” is the “cowan.”  In these  
modern days the “cowan” is the man who has been legally raised but  
who has been dropped N.P.D., or suspended or expelled after a Masonic  
trial; or he is an Entered Apprentice, or Fellowcraft, whose further  
advancement has been stopped for cause. 
If such be evilly disposed he may - and has been known to - forge a  
good standing card to use as credentials.  Or he may find a lost card  
and assume the identity of the name upon it.  Some brethren are so  
unwise as to keep their good standing cards from year to year as an  
interesting collection.  If such a collection be stolen, it may be  
the innocent means of letting loose upon the Fraternity a whole flock  
of designing cowans, since dates upon such cards are changed with  
little difficulty.  It is an excellent Masonic rule to destroy last  
year’s card as soon as you new one arrives.  Loss of a current card  
should be immediately reported to the Grand Secretary, as well as to  
the Master of the Lodge.  The Grand Secretary will probably notify  
all constituent lodges to be on the lookout for any person presenting  
that lost card. 
In many Jurisdictions Masters may not authorize the examination of  
any would-be visitor who cannot produce credentials.  In other  
Jurisdictions it is considered sufficient if some known brother  
vouches for the credibility of the would-be visitor even if he has no  
credentials.  Some Jurisdiction require Masters to assure themselves  
that the lodge from which the visitor purports to come is a “just and  
legally constituted lodge” under some recognized Grand Lodge.   
Particularly, Jurisdictions which are afflicted with clandestine  
Masons are apt to be strict in this regard.  All Jurisdictions should  
be especially strict with putative brethren who hail from  
Jurisdictions where clandestine Masonry is know to flourish. 
Unless forbidden by Grand Lodge, “A” may accept the avouchment of “B”  
that he has sat in lodge with “C”, and therefore knows “C” to be a  
Master Mason.  But “A” is not obliged to accept this avouchment.  “A”  
may have no Masonic confidence in “B”.  He may believe that “B” has  
not been to lodge for a decade and distrusts his memory as to his  
sitting in lodge with “C”.  No Masonic authority has the power to  
compel “A” to vouch for a brother because he has been vouched for to  
him by another.  To vouch or not to vouch is matter of conscience and  
belief.  Neither is under control of any law, secular or Masonic. 
Under no circumstances whatever should “A” ever accept an avouchment  
from “B” as to “C,” unless all three be present together. 
“B” will call up “A” on the telephone: “I’m sending Brother “C”  
around to see you,” he may say.  “I vouch for him as a Master Mason.   
Will you see that he is properly introduced to our Tiler tonight?” 
(A’s) proper answer is: “Not unless you bring him around and  
introduce him to me personally.” 
“A” has no Masonic means of knowing that the man who comes in and  
says: “I’m Brother “B,” is really the “B” for whom “C” has vouched! 
For the same reasons, no avouchment by letter should ever be  
accepted, no matter what the circumstances - nay, not even if the  
letter contains a picture of the man it vouches for!  Letters can be  
lost.  Photographs may be changed.  Even Lodge Seals may be imitated.   
Masonically, there is no such thing as vouching in absence.  Masonic  
avouchment can only be accomplished in the presence of all three; the  
brother vouched for, the bother vouched to, and the brother doing the  
vouching.  Any other is spurious, un-Masonic and should never be  
tolerated or accepted. 
“B” does not receive “lawful Masonic information when “A” says to  
him:  “I have been to the Chapter with “C.” 
It is true that no man may become a Royal Arch Mason unless he is  
first a Master Mason.  A Royal Arch Mason, therefore, may have at  
some time been a Master Mason.  But “A” cannot know how well the  
Chapter in question guards its tiled door.  For all he knows to the  
contrary, “C” held a forged Chapter card, had been expelled from his  
Blue Lodge and yet managed to get, or retain   his Chapter card.   
Doubtful?  Probably!  But possible never the 
What applies to the Chapter, of course, also applies to the  
Commandry, Council, Scottish Rite, Shrine, Grotto and Eastern Star -  
any body of Masonry the members of which must first be  Master  
Masons. 
Especially does it refer to the Masonic Club!  The Masonic Club,  
worthy and valuable organization though it might be, is in no sense a  
Masonic organization.  It is an organization of Masons.  In some  
cities are Interchurch Men’s Clubs, in which male members of all  
churches are welcome as members.  But no one, the Men’s Club least of  
all, would claim that such clubs are Churches!  A Masonic club is  
made up of Master Masons, presumably in good standing, but it is not  
Masonically Tiled, it is not under direct control of a Grand Lodge,  
it is not Masonic, and it is not competent to judge for any Blue  
Lodge the genuineness of Masonic Membership.  Therefore, the fact  
that “A” meets “B” in his Masonic club is not “lawful Masonic  
information” which “A” can pass on to his Tiler, saying:  “I know “B”  
to be a Master Mason.” 
None of these cautions or restrictions can legitimately be considered  
to reflect upon the honesty of either the brother who desires to  
vouch, or the honor of the brother who wishes to be vouched for.  Let  
us draw a parallel case and consider what “Avouchment” is in the  
business world.	 
“A” desires to borrow money from his bank.  The bank knows and trust  
“A”.  But long experience has taught the bank that “one name paper”  
is at times not good paper.  The bank, therefore, requires “A” to  
secure some additional name as an endorsement.  “A” asks “B” to  
endorse his paper.  Now “B” may know “A” as a good neighbor, a fellow  
club member, the owner of an adjoining pew in the church.  “B”  
however, may know absolutely nothing of “A’s” finances or credit  
rating.  If “B” refuses to “vouch for” “A” at the bank, it does not  
mean, and is not taken to mean, that he distrusts “A”, - merely that  
he knows nothing about his financial standing.  Similarly even if “B”  
knows all about “A” and trusts him up to the hilt, the bank may not  
know “B” and therefore may be unwilling to take his “avouchment” -  
his endorsement of “A’s” note.  That does not mean that the bank  
distrusts “B: - merely that the bank has no knowledge of “B”, one way  
or another. 
Let us suppose “A” says to “B:”  “I’m going to bring “C” around to  
see you.  I’ve been to Shrine with him.  I know him well.  He says  
he’s a member of Temple Lodge and I believe him.  I’ll vouch for him,  
although I haven’t sat in lodge with him.” 
When “B” very properly refuses to take this avouchment, neither “A”  
or “C” have any cause to think that “B” feels any personal distrust  
of either.  He simply has not received that “legal Masonic  
Information” which both “A” and “B” know - and “C” should know, if he  
really is a Master Mason - is essential to any proper avouchment. 
From these premises it necessarily follows that any avouchment  
predicated upon an examination other than that in Ancient Craft  
Masonry is of no value as “lawful Masonic information.”  “A” comes to  
the Tiler’s door with “C and asks for a committee to examine him that  
he may visit.  “A” has a little talk with the Master.  “C” is a Mason  
alright!” he assures the Master.  “But he’s rusty.  He never comes to  
Blue Lodge; spends all his time in the Chapter.  Appoint a couple of  
Chapter Members on the committee, will you, Worshipful?  They’ll soon  
be satisfied!” 
The Worshipful Master will do as he pleases, but he is well advised  
if he picks two brethren who are “Not” Chapter Masons.  The brother  
who cannot satisfy a Blue Lodge Committee that has been regularly  
Entered, Passed and Raised in a lodge of Master Masons should not be  
permitted to enter the lodge - not if he is letter perfect in the  
Chapter work and can give all the signs, tokens, and words of the  
Scottish Rite - which are numerous.! 
No avouchment may be accepted from an Entered Apprentice or a  
Fellowcraft.  A brother of the first or second degree may be  
absolutely sure that all those in the lodge in which he took his  
degrees were Master Masons, he cannot posses “lawful Masonic  
information” about Master Masons.  Neither is he competent to vouch  
to a Tiler for any entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft he remembers as  
in lodge with him, as a Mason of the degree in which the lodge was  
then open on.  The right to vouch is strictly a Master Mason’s right’  
no brother of the first or second degree possesses it! 
Vouching for a brother is a solemn undertaking.  Before the lodge and  
the brethren the voucher puts his Masonic credit against the  
credibility of the brother he vouches for.  No squeamishness of  
feeling should ever interfere.  A Master Mason should not vouch for  
his blood brother unless he has sat in lodge with him, tested him for  
himself, or unless his brother has been vouched for to him.  He may  
be morally sure his brother is a Mason but a lodge does not recognize  
such surety as “lawful Masonic information.” 
No brother should ever feel offended because a brother will not vouch  
for him.  “A” may remember having sat in lodge with “B”, yet “B” may  
have forgotten that they sat together in lodge.  If “B” refuses to  
vouch for “A”, “A” should be happy that “B” is so careful a Mason,  
not offended that “B” does not remember or because “he doesn’t trust  
me.” 

The lodge is more important than the brother.  The sanctity of the  
Tiled door is greater than the feelings of the individual.  The  
Masonic honor of the brother doing the vouching should be of far  
greater worth to him than any consideration of expediency. 
The entire law and the prophets may be covered in one small  
commandment:  “Never vouch unless you have lawful Masonic  
information.”