The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-06-13
Anti-MasOnic Conyel

The anti-masonic convention
Capital Hall, Tuesday evening" u
ana proceeded TO carry ont n prod
voted to the unmasking of the ALLEGED
ties OF secret societies in general and oil
in particular, the exposure of the bf
fiuence of such organizations upon "a
and Nation and the re-establishing Of N
| masonic party to reform the evils of which
speakers complained. At the Tuesday evenN
meeting +. d. Bailey Of Worcester, Mass. made
an exposure Of the Secrets of the appren-
tice mason" and Rev. j. l. Barlow of Will
| mantle, Conn, followed with short address
| giving some personal experience in reform
work.
Wednesday morning q permanent organize
tion was effected, and officers elected as fol-
lows; President, Rev. W. k. Laird of St. Johns
bury; yice-president, d. c. Faris OF West Bar
net; secretary and treasurer G. W. Potter Of
brattlebofo; state agent and secretary, o. c.
Bailey. General j. w. Phelps of Bratteboro
addressed the convention on the past anti-ma-
sonic record of Vermont as compared with the
present status. He reviewed the history of the
state under the successive terms of the anti
masonic governor and stated that the strongest
laws then passed forbidding the administering
OF masonic oaths were still on the statute book
so That the present course af the masonic
J louge Is violation of existing laws. His ad-
| dress was a bitter arraignment of the politi-
cans and especially Vermonts delegation in
congress for subserviency to masonry. The Yer
mont legislature come in for its share of the gen
era Remuneration Tor alleged sins of omission
and commission. The state, from the speaker $
standpoint, in all the branches of its govern
ment Is the degenerate tool of the masonic
| lodges. The general is undoubtedly sincere in
his beliefs and honest in his purposes but
candor and charity compel an expression of
the opinion that his mind has become morbid
on this subject. He saw things through a me-
dunn that grossly distorts them. No man of
sound mind and clear understanding will
credit his extravagant statements.
Ia the afternoon Rev. d. c. Fars spoke on
The duty of the church toward secret socie-
ties, ana Rev. f. d. Bailey on 1.-THE secrets
of the odd Fellows" Resolutions were adopted
embodying the convictions of the convention.
Wednesday evening Rev. j. l.. Barlow dis.
cussed the claims of masonry. There was not
he said the sembance of benevolence in the
institution. From first to last it was based on
| selhshneSs. BY quotation from masonic au.
thors, he maintained that they regard the order
as of divine origin. The religion was theism
not Christianity. Christ is excluded from
blue lodge" masonry and even in the Knigh,
Templar degrees he Is accorded no place OF
honor. Rev. E. d. Bailey unveiled The Sc.
crets Of the Master Mason" including the al
legged Hiram Abif tragedy in which the
candidate is said to be killed and raised from
the dead.
| The headquarters OF this movement for New
| England are at Worcester, Mass, where a sec
|
located The lecturer elected for Vermont
Mr.. o. c. Bailey, is expected to travel over the
state lecturing, scattering the literature of the
association and perfecting the organization Of
| towns and counties.
The attendance was very light II the pub
lie necessity for the reform which the orator,
| of the occasion set forth with so many hare
names and with so much extravaganza of Ian
guage is to be gagged by the degree of popular
| interest manifested in the convention there car
| hardly be any occasion for this movement. Per
haps half of their hearers were members OF Sc
cret societies, many of them masons, curious
| to know in what estimation they were held by
anti-masons and anxious to learn by wha
means their humiliation was to be undertaken
Were we a mason. which we are not, and coulC
be aroused by such phlipics as were hurleC
against the brotherhood of the mystic tie in
| this convention to a sufficient degree of antag
| onism to retort, we could ask no more ffectiv
| means to discredit the men who are active il
| this movement, than to publish without com
ment, their irrational and Incorporate speeches