The morning call., 1893-09-08
ON HIS DIGNITY.
Grand Master Thompson
Loads a Bomb.
All State Odd Fellow Lodges to Re-
port Their Transactions With
the Grand Secretary.

Grand Master J. II. Thompson of the
Odd Fellows Grand Lodge has tossed a
bomb into the camp of that much-men-
toned parsonage. 1.-The enemy" in con-
nection with the overhauling of affairs in
the Office of the grand secretary. w. B.
Lyon. and his assistant, Cyril T. PidwelI.
1t very seldom happens that grand Off
Ger flies from his long-established orbit
and makes work for himself in the shape
OF an independent investigation. and
Grand Master Thompson is plainly doing
his best TO usher i'll new era" whatever
tn at may be.
When the officers of the Grand Lodge
determined about a..week ago. to examine
accounts and balances in the Office of the
grand secretary, aud to the end that all
things should be done ''in form" turned
the investigation over TO grand trustees
Lunam d. Wadham. E. F. White and Ii.
D. Richardson. the grand master was not
permitted to have anything to say in the
matter. The only favor shown to the
grand master was the acceptance of his
suggestion that an expert should assist the
trustees in their labUr. Blu. all the grace
was taken fro IN this con DceSSion and sting
added by the selection of an expert whom
members of the order say is and always
d
the grand secretary, and Cyril L. Pidwell.
When the grand master was Informed of
the selection, and several independent
thinkers in the order rehearsed to him a
rumor that the grand secretary had said
he thought the expert was proper and
competent person to take up the inter-
rupted labors of Pidwell, as soon as the
investigation was concluded, the grand
master was indignant and promptly ex-
pressed the opinion that there was plainly
embarrassing joE' an the tapis. Said
the grand master:
''How can we have thorough investiga-
tiOn into the grand secretary's affairs if the
expert is promised a $500 job in the grand
secretary's Office? Oh. no, this don't go.
Suppose this thing should die for want of
proper energy, wouldn't l get some il not
considerable blame for it?"
About this time some one told the grand
master that il was currently reported that
there was an unwritten law in California
Odd Fellowship requiring the grand mas
ter to draw all of his inspiration. in both
official duties and "extempOre" oratory,
from the grand secretary. and it was also
told him he would not be popular in the
order if he opposed the wishes of Grand
Secretary Lyon.
That settled it. Then came the crash of
the before-men toned bomb.
Within the coming week, then, every
one of the 335 Odd Fellow lodges in this
State will receive a typewritten circular,
issued and signed only by the grand mas
ter, asking each lodge to forward TO him
an itemlzed statement OF its transactions
with the grand secretary's office since
JaDuary l. 1891. up to September l of this
year.
Plainly, then, the grand master does not
care cent about traditions and custom,
but wishes the order of Odd Fellows in
California to know that healthy bodies
have only one head, and that hereafter
the grand secretary will not act as speech
writer or throbper TO the brain of the
grand master.
In explanation of his action the grand
master says he intends to conduct a little
investigation of his own, and if there be
any "whitewashing" done something will
happen to the man or men who work the
hrush