The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-09-12
Reported for THE RECORD. ]
1, o, o. F,

Ia Us Os
shall a Liquor Dealer be Grand MASTER
Extracts from an address delivered before Eagle
Lodge, No 1876, of Newark, by Thomas Pole, I. G.
The candidacy of August 6rassman, a
liquor dealer and keeper Of a public bar
room for the office of Grand Master Of the
State, is the natural outcome of perni-
cious and unlawful innovations that have
crept into our Order.
And in this contest the Odd Fellows of
New Jersey are brought face to face with,
and must make answer to, substantially,
the same question that is appealing to the
hearts and conscences OF thousands,
everywhere in the land.
1t is this Shall public welfare, moral
and material, be subservient to the rum
power, or shall the rum power be sub
servient to public good and the will of the
people?
We must not loose sight of the fact that
Odd Fellowship claims to be highly
moral organization, guarding with jealous
care the well-being and truost interests of
its members. We proclaim to the world
that, "We war against vice in all its forms,
seek to improve and elevate the character
of man and lead him to a cultivation Of
the true fraternal relations designed by
the Great Author of his being"
And we are particularly onjoiued to
guard ourselves and our brethren against
intemperance-ou laws considering drunk
enness 'sas the vilest and most pernicious
of vices" The Sovereign Grand Lodge,
with wise forethought, has declared that
--'--N-------- - So IA $50 N--AA
any anniversary, ball or party--in the
name of Odd Fellowship-public or pri-
waite, )" no Intoxicating beverages of any
kind shall be used or offered to members
or guests present, or in connection with
such festival, ball or party
You will notice that the Supreme Grand
Lodge has not been very flattsring to the
liquor traffic in enacting its law of Pro-
hibition i; and | submit to your calm and
manly judgment whether it is creditable
on our part to have this wholesome law
openly and defiantly violated in the pre-
sence of officials who have solemnly
pledged themselves to observe this law.
We, as Odd Fellows, have frequently
been called upon to follow to an untimely
grave, those Of our brethren who have be-
come victims to the intoxicating cup and
have, thereby, wrecked their hopes, their
manhood and their good name.
And need not tell you, my brethren,
how many Odd Fellows homes there are
in this city that are the abodes of misery
and want by reason of those, who should
be the support and mainstay of the house
hold, squandering their earnings in that
which steals away their brain "and lowers
them to the condition of brutes'
The wives and children of Odd Fellows
have been insulted at public entertain
mcnts, given in the name of the Order, by
the disgusting and rude presence ofdrunk-
en- members. The good name of Odd
Fellowship has been lowered in public es-
TEEN, temptations have recklessly been
placed in the way of the young and
thoughtless, often to their ruin. And
with this sad record of shame and dis
grace resting upon US, we have the humili-
ating spectacle presented to the world of
q person seeking the highest post of honor
in our Grand Lodge, who is q rum seller,
engaged day by day, in traffic that has
ministered to the ruin and downfall of
some of our once shining lights.
And the question comes home to your
conscience and mine, whether it win be
wise and fitting, with our lofty claims to
virtue and morality--as an equalization
to go into bar-room to select our Grand
Master. "When we view the desolation
that intemperance has made, it chills the
blood. 1t has stricken down the most
commanding intelligence, disgraced aud
dishonored the names of the living, and
cast reproach upon tho memory of tho
dead it has clothed childhood in rags,
manhood with shame, aud robbed old age
Of that holy respect due to the evening OF
life. 1t has wrung the heart of the patient
wife, has wounded the feelings of the lit
tie ones, has sent many gray headed
parent in sorrow to the tomb. 1t has
stripped wealth of its competence, and
has stolen the poor their ALL"
By the vows yon have taken at the
altar; by the love you bear wife and little
ones, copjure you to so act in this con-
test that, when the end comes, be it VIC
tory or be it defeat, you may have the
rich consolation Of an approving con-
science.