Omaha daily bee., 1889-09-22
CAPTURING GRAND LODGES.
What Seems to Have Been the De-
sign of sir. Pike.

To the Editor of ThE BEE: Having at
tempted in my letter last week TO show up
Mr. Pike and his methods Of working some
what (they could be extended almost ndefi-
nitely), we come to the present time Mr..
Pike seeing the Cerneau body increasing in
strength and Importance, resolved on last
resort and laid his plans to capture the
grand lodges, grand chapters and grand
communicates of the different states. How
he has succeeded in his designs can be seen
by the edlcts that the grand masters of sew
eral states have issued, and who, in nearly
all cases. are members Of the southern aud
| northern Jurisdictions, or expect to be for
| services rendered, and who must according
| to the secret constitution, obey all orders.
| Now how has this conspiracy against the mas
| ter masons of the United States been carried
| outl Why, by most disgraceful and un-
| masonic method, that of laying plans to put
only their men in as officers of subordinate
| bodies aud then the grand bodies, and this
| they have successfully carried out, until
| at this writing they control nearly every
| grand lodge and grand body in the United
| States. Brethren look TO YOUR grand bodies
aud see if it is not true, what say, that in
| every such body there is little ring, in
| what may be called the "amen corner"
| which rules the destinies of the grand lodge
| 1t is composed of the past grand masters
| nne-tenths of whom are Thlrty.second or
| Thirty-third degree members. And be-
| lieve it to be fact that very few of these
men received the Scottish Rite degrees in a
| lodge after petition ballot and so forth in a
| regular manner, but by having the degrees
| given to them by communication, anywhere
| and everywhere. Two past grand masters
| that know of have been requested to 'come
| up to headquarters and the receiving of
| these degrees will be made easy for you"
| oh, temporal Oh, Moses and yet the Pike
men never peddle degrees. Oh, no. An
| other of their taking ways IS to pick out men
| tnripntD them.
brother Is then notified to come forward and
| take the degrees. Ahem Alas! How is
this, brother master masonss 1t is generally
| understood that when a man joins any soci-
| ETY. that it must be of his own free will and
accord. Now as regards the carrying a
measure through n grand body 1t is only
| of late that master masons have learnted any
| thing about the Scottish Rite and very Few
care to go into the question of legitimacy.
AS brother said to me the other day: 81
think the grand ledge ought to have nothing
to do with any degrees ABOVE that of master
mason. What do master masons know
aeers degrees. AI know know % nothing sN' about @
Scottish Rite degrees and probably care
less" And by the same token this worthy
brother was at one time senior grand war
den, but was dropped before becoming grand
master Whys Was 1t, perchance, because
of his open speaking; he always spoke his
ancient craft masonry. Now the
effect that none but specified
members of other branches of masonry be
| recognized. of course naming the two Pike
bodies of the Scottish Rite. The majority of
the master masons. as l said before, either
not knowing or caring less about the matter,
vote for it without question, considering that
| a resolution offered by master mason suf-
ticient, aud trusting to his honor as such, not
dreaming, OF course, that this was but q part
| of concerted plan.
| NOW assert that a grand lodge and every
| In tlnn
ancient landmarks one of which is that
| there can be no innovation made in the body
Of Masonry. fhe three degrees is another
landmark Now grand lodge which recog-
| niZes any degree, L don't care what 1T IL,
other than the three degrees of r.. A., f. Q.
and NJ. NJ, and possibly part of the Royal
Arch degrees, is guilty of an innovation and
| violates an ancient landmark.
| This Is what the Pike men are doing IN
nearly every state in the union; they have
entered into horrid conspiracy to use the
| grand lodge officers, the grand lodge
interest and the grand lodge funds for au
unworthy and unmasonic purpose, namely,
| that of foistng upon ancient craft masonry
an illegitmate body of the Scottish Rite, and,
| not only that, but 1t is body that is de-
| stroying the peace and harmony of the
brethren in every state where they have, by
| their questionable methods of running for
masonic Office bringing themselves down TO
the level of politicians, and doing what the
| master masons, IL aware OF 1t, would bring
down upon the unworthy heads of the Pike
men the well-merlted contempt of the whcle
| masonic world.
As proof of what have stated, show me
| an instance where the Cerneau members
have created any disturbance. L defy the
Pike members to give me solitary instances;
and, more than this, look at New York to-
day. and some other states, where there are
several Scottish Rite bodies meeting the
members of which are found side by side in
| lodge, chapter and commandery peace ana
harmony ever prevailing. No instance can
be named where disruption of masonic
brotherhood has occurred save where the
inherent rights OF Freemasons have been
trampled upon, and only then in such
states where the pike members
have obtained possession OF the grand grand
method of Mr.. Pixies and his followers is to
flood the country with pamphlets, taking one
grain of truth and covering IL up with a
mass of untruths. To give Instances would
be beyond the limits of this article, but take
the committees report to the grand lodge of
Iowa ut Its last sesslon-page 8 OF the pam
phlet, copies of which were distributed all
over the state of Nebraska, after the grand
lodge OF Iowa met and before the grand
lodge of Nebraska met-who was creating dis
} turbances theni They say: ''We do not ind
any grand lodge of the United States, or
elsewhere, or any grand master, has ever
recognized the Cerneau body of the Scottish
Rite as legitimate or duly constituted, nor do
we find that any such grand lodge or grand
master has taken any action TO prohibit or
|
! degrees by the supreme councils OF either
the southern or northern jurisdiction of the
| United States" Now mark the deception.
; 1t may he true that no grand lodge or grand
, master has ever recognized the Cerneau body
, of the Scottish Rite as such, but on Decem-
ber z, ls0S, the sovereign grand consistory
notified the grand lodge of the state of New
York of its establishment and full organiza-
ton on October 2S, 1907, which notif-
cation was cordially received and or.
r dered on file (see grand lodge of
New York proceedings 1908, page i3l).
There is no such thing as the 'Cerneau
Body as such, so you see how the Pike men
deceive those who have not studied the his.
tory of the Scottish Rite bodies In America.
' and 1t is for this very reason that this articl,
is written. De Witt Clinton was grand mase
ter of the grand lodge of New York, as were
3 also Robert ID. Holmes and Stephkn H.
I johnson. There are three grand masters who
Y were members of the Cerneau Body. And
, it is quite true that we do not find any gran0
lodge or grand master prohibiting the south
ern or northern jurisdictions from comforting
: the Scottish Rite degrees, for very good rea
Q sons. First. because until Pike got contro
of nearly all the grand lodges Daster ma
sons in grand lodge assembled have confined
I themselves to grand lodge business, which