Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-10-03


the jim-jams. And spose il was
them, too"
SECRET ORDERS A BENEFIT TO 30
..' iit. ir. OIETY. !8 fi
We find the following excellent arti-
Gle in late number of the Red Bluff
Sentinel The writer vindicates secret
societies from the charge that they Of
ten screen their members from deserved
punishment for violating the laws of the
land. 7' 'H "L
We would not attempt to allure from
gazing upon the faults of members of
secret orders those whose attention has
been inadvertently called by " Citizen"
by showing in turn the faults of others.
We would not attempt to deny that
there are within the pale of these Orders
turn deaf ear and callous their hearts
to the teachings of these Orders, and
who are recreant to their duties and for
getful of their responsibilities as mem-
bers of Orders that, through many o
change and season, have put forth unre-
mittent effort to relieve distress and to
raise the standard of morality among
men. But Citizen ought certainly to
know that membership is no shield be-
tween wrong and justice, but that those
aw-offending members of whom he
speaks are as amenable to those laws as
are others; that they are neither shielded
nor upheld in their lawlessness, and al
though these institutions are bonds of
union formed for mutual welfare and
for social and moral advancement, yet
they cannot excuse faulty brother;
neither are their laws compulsory, but
persuasive, and their final resort expul-
sion; but achen to expel is a matter
wholly and, unreservedly their own; and
while they do not shield from justice,
are loyal to the laws of the land, ac-
knowledge God and sustain Christianity,
their actions and deliberations are apart
from church or state; they follow the
tenor of their own mode and do not
stand in the way of reformatory friends.
But when Citizen speake of that which
was battling for the right long before
he had place upon the earth, as forfeit
ing the respect of the community, he
cannot fully understand his subject.sI
Examine the prisons and aims houses
of the land; there you will not find one in
twenty who are Masons or Odd Fellows;
indeed they are very rare to find as sub
jects of public charity; they are shielded
from that, though not from the law
thus saving " Citizens their share of
that burden. Go ask the invalid, the
bereft mother or orphaned child what
hold these Orders have upon the respect
of the community; go and enumerats
the figures and ascertain what they are
doing annually in dollars and cents in
relieving distress and supplying the
wants Of the needy, and ask yourself.
good citizen, if not only your community,
but all others, are not gamers by their
presence and therefore deserving of
their respect. Their teachings point
with truth and sublimity to o high
standard Of morality. That their mem
bers do not at all times fully attain to
that standard, that some loiter and fsll
by the way, is true, but sin is abroadi in
all the land; it may be found deep
seated and fostering in the proudast
churches of our country; it may DO
found in every circle, Order, or society
upon the face of the earth, but 10 hong
as that effort put forth by man to arne-
liorate his social and moral condition isa
gain for humanity, relieving distress and
lessening crime; then SO long as pauper-
ism, debauchery and crime is far le6s
within those Orders than without, boh-
denim them not, They who are watch
ing with eagerness to detect error that
they may draw public notice theretQ
and bring disrepute and censure upon
institutions al,cays at work in their own
manner to correct abuse, are necessarily
ignorant of the effort put for il to correct
those errors and to point out to the way
ward better way; they cannot compel
member to obey the laws of the land,
but if he linger in the way of error they
bring the warm sunshine Of their teach-
ings, rather than the storm, to beeF
upon that offending brother until The
Genius Loci DEGREES more austere meas
ure. Although these Institutions re-
pect and labor for the good Of the ooale
munities in which they are placed; they
stand upon their own resources and
upon their own records, independent Of
all cfltlclSm or praise. M &4alnA d
sE: On Sunday morning. says The
Detroit Free Press, there came over the
Great Western road, on its way West :
trunk which made tho hair Of the hag-
gage smashers stand right mp. 4 waa
thirty-four inches long, three feet Wide
and was made Of solid boiler iron. aA
eighth OF an inch thick. The handles
were of iron, riveted on with great b6ltS;s