Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-12-22
l. o. G. T,
The Grand Worthy Secretary Rises to
EXolain

|
| Grand Lodge without any necessity or provocation,
| Mr. T. X. Lane favorably introduces and commends
himself to the Good Templars Of the State and the
readers OF the Rescue as its editor and manager
fitting tool Of the new owners Of the paper, George
| B. Katzenstein and Robert Thompson-and perhaps
| the politicians behind them -
| ALBERT D. WOOD.
EDS. RECORD UNION: Will you kindly
allow me the space to reply to or explain
your article published in last Saturdays issue
of your paper, entitled "A Breeze Among
the Temperance Folks?" And at the outset
permit me to frankly disclaim any desire for
| a newspaper controversy or the notoriety
accruing therefrom. While the Examiner mas
been made the "oficisl organ" of the NAL.
| contents, and has shown its willingness TO
| publish abusive articles without reference to
| their truthfulness, | have not thought it
worth while to dignity their statements by a
notice or recognition of the same. But when
my own home journal repeats the idle talk.
| without any attempt at verihcatlon, when
the facts in the case could have been so easily
arrived at and verified, l feel, however re-
| luctsntlJ, constrained to dispel the inten-
tionsl Misrepresentation which have gained
currency.
The change in the management of the Off
cial organ Of the l. o. G.. T. has no "polit-
! ical Significance whatever, as for a matt er
| of fact the new editor, Rev. E. F, Dinsmore,
il as ultra prohbitionist as ever was Albert
! D. Wood.
TIE non-continusnce of Mr.. Wood became
moral as well as a financial necessity, as |
shall endeavor to show, but in doing so l
shall of necessity correct few erroneous
| statements and differences contained in your
article | shall confue myself as closely as
possible to the record, and have ample proof
| for every statement to be made.
Your article reads: The Order Of Good
Tempisrs has attained membership in this
! State of over 10000" Aud also that ut
should be noted that msjority of TIE mem
| bership is composed of women and girls, etc
| TIE journal of proceedings Of the session Of
the Grand Lodge, held in October last, shows
a total membership of Is. S73 divided as fol-
lows: Male members, 10. 2l9 female mem
! bers, S,G54.
am no apologist for evil, but, upon the
contrary, perfectly willing to copcede an
error wherever found. Therefore, while adj
uniting your structures on the manner of con-
Quoting rome Lodges, by what You are
| pleased to term the "sOcisl Good Templar,"
| the statement is considered unfair, in that
such conduct is the exception and not by any
means the rule. The same condition Of
affairs may be found in other "fraternal"
organizations, and moral forces ;" is not at
all conspicuous by its absence at church
sDcials or within soma church organizations.
But these should not be judged by the stand.
| ard of those who perchaucs, misapprehend
! the duties imposed and the obligations rest
| ing upon them.
The kernel OF truth, however, is. perhaps,
unconsciously exposed, after your reference
| to the Endorsement of DR.. Mcdonald as
| candidate for gubsrnatOrial honors, in the
remark, within all this and on a much
lover plane of thought and feeling. personal
! quarrels among the leaders broke out. =
| The lamp that fired Chicago was kicked over
| by COW. and the tempest which now
| threatens Good Templsrism was conjured up
| by the loose tongue or q woman"
The soc allied q" charges" which were made
privately" with q view to infuencit g new
members of the Board of Managers, were re-
peated by the one to whom they were con-
! fded, and when the first party was confront
| ed with the utterancss attributed, the state.
ment was denied and the charges were aeither
pressed nor proven, nor any attempt made in
that direction.
| The two chief actors in the controversy
were, unfortunately, members of the Admin
| istrative Board. or " Executive Committee"
! Personally l considered the quarrel as en ex-
| ceedingly unfortunate affair." ard used my
| best en- leavors to have the matter Bmicsbly
| adjusted But failing il this I refused to
countensnce either side Of the controversy,
| feeling there was enough for me to DO IN the
| legitimate work Of the Order. The attempt
was made to drag the miserable quarrel into
the Grand Lodge to distract ana divide the
! Order, but the Grand Lodge refused to enter
tain the matter, and quietly and ete ;uatlly
threw il out.
Captain Wood espoused the caase of ore
of tie dispu .ants, and attempted 10 force me
into a similar position. My refusal to take
nd sbav 1ulx
construed into opposition, and a private per-
sonal war was insugurated upon me a re-
suit. AS early as last July be sent me an
indicator" by quoting the language of a
third person III reference to myself. a. fol-
lows: - r because y0l1 SALARY was
such a temptation TO the nalcontenys that
they would tear a saint to pieces to get it. "
Words almost prophetic IN the light OF subse-
quent events,
A movement was then inaugura5ed to con-
troll the election Of officers and the action Of
tbs Grand Lodge. | was urged 10 join " our
! (.heir) side" Declining to be dictated to, l
was gwen orders by Captain Wood, in a letter
dated September 27Jb, as follows, being tbs
| third OF q series, each more emphatic than
| the other, and written within one week, and
to neither Of which J. made reply. Said he {:
| "If you will now use your induencs every
where in the openly-declared interest Of the
cause snd the Order, and throw your weight
! to elect -, - and -- names omitted !
to the three highest oil 3es-we could do it
with perfect eass-the troubled waters will
be instantly amoothej, and every true, hon
est, loyal member of the Osd=r will honor
and love you heaceforward and the coyote
element will have their power Of mischief
! cUrtailed. / place this opportunity before
you Tor your choice, etc.
be also came 20 Sacramento to interview
me personally, and l declined to have any
thing to do with the sch me, but predicted
its failure.
Then it was the dogs Of wsr were let
loose upon me. Suddenly it was disc vered
tina. ! was receiving sn enormous % salary,
although it was fixed in previous years by a
unanimous vote of the Grand Lodge. The
opposition resorted to the device known
among printers Of rafting me out, by an
attempt to reduce the salary Of the Secretary
prior to the election Of officers but in this, IS
all else, they failed, as by an almost unsni-
nous vote sgain, after the fullest and freest
discussion, the Grand Lodge, with nearly 500
representatives present from all the Lodges
Of the State, decided that " the salary Of the
Secretary remain during the ensuing year the
game 50 in the past Journal Of proceed
ings. pages 120-12l And in the election
following 10 one was found who would stand
In opposition, and | was reelected. So much
for the salary, the fight - to be made on
which, it will be discovered, wEs plainly fore
soado we'd in the letter referred to above as
having been written in July last. The refer
ence by comparison to the salary Of the Gov
eruor of Ohio is extremely far-fetched,
therefore, and should be more than pleased,
indeed very glad to exchange salaries wish
the Controller Of this State.
As to the revenues of the Order, etc, your
statement, while specifically correct, is,
without qualification, misleading. True, the
receipts Of the Grand Lodge last year were
$40. 600. but that amount included all the re.
eeipts on account of the Good Templars
Home for Orphsns," which aggregated
nearly one.half Of the entire amount. Tbs
actual receipts Of the Order from and for It's
regular work were From taxation-Pei
capita tax, Sl7 500 -, less twenty per cent
of which is also appropriated in support OF
the Home for 0 phans. leaving but $4,000 &c
net. Add to this the sale Of supplies, etc
amounting to So 81 OF, and charter fees &C.
gregsting 81, 265, ana the legitimate receipts