The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-08-12
JR. o. u. A. M.
Criticisms Answered by State Coun-
cilor W. r. Wootton.


Answered by State Coun-
ctlor w. T. Wootton.
State Council of North Carolina.
Jr. o. q. A. M.
Office of the State Councillor.
REIDsvILLE, N. c., Aug 2, 1897
To the Editor of TRUTH" Raleigh.
My attention has been called to an
editorial appearing in the July mum
Der of your paper, in which you
speak of the Jr. o. q A M as an
"Oath-bound Secret Society,"" that
"Seeks to fight the Catholic church,
to debar Catholics on account of
their religion FROM political privi-
leges, and to boycott them in various
covert and insidious ways" You
further charge that it is an "Oath-
bound secret political organization"
and that it's existence is in violation
of the laws of State, and that it's
members are sliable to arrest, fines
and imprisonment" You quote the
law referred to at some length, and
assure the members that it will be
"applied." Now, Mr.. Editor, has it
ever occurred to you that a religious
journal calling itself Truth, and pub.
fishing as it's motto, "The truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the
TRUTH" should be careful not to pub
fish anything detrimental to an in
dividual or an organ'z alton unless
the statements made were known to
be absolutely true. You have made
sweeping Indictment of the Jr. O.
q. A. M, and in many instances it
seems that you have made your con-
illusions do duty as facts. l feel that
however pure may have been your
motive, and however sincere may
have been your intention, you have
done the order of which l am the
chief officer in this State an injustice
and an injury, and l ask that you
will give me space in your paper to
answer the charges which you have
made, and to place the order in it's
proper light before your readers
The charge that is calculated to do
the greatest harm to the order is
your statement that it is an "oath-
bound secret political organization"
Now, Mr.. Editor, take it that you
are not a member of the order, and
hence you do not know this state
ment to be q fact. Your own state
ment that it is "secret" and "oath-
bound" tells you in stronger terms
than l can that you could not know
that it was political unless you had
penetrated the inner circle and taken
the degrees and obligations yourself.
l think l have a right to presume
that you have not done this, and
hence when you make this most
damaging charge against the order,
you state a conclusion and not fact
within your own knowledge. But
you say that the Junior American
Mechanic, an official organ of the
order, states that ''in the strictest
sense we are a national political
organization" Now, if this is where
you get your information, and you
wanted to be fair and publish the
whole truth, according to your
motto, why did you not publish the
whole paragraph? Why did you
publish only part of one sentence ?
The part OF the sentence you quote
makes the order appear as some
great political machine; when the
| fact is that it is no such thing, and
the complete sentence disproves any
such idea. The complete sentence,
which is an extract from our declara-
tion of principles, reads as follows:
"In the strictest sense we are q
National Political Organization, but
we oppose with unanimity the slight
| est faint of craftsmanship"
effort to inform yourself as to our
principles that you read only half OF
this sentence and stopped, and
passed Judgment upon the order? Ii
this be SO, perhaps it's only your own
haste and carelessness that has so
| stirred your virtuous soul and not
the principles of the order. 1t is
| evident that you did not read all OF
the declaration of principles or you
would not have said that a part OF
our work was to fight the Catholic
| church, etc when the declaration OF
principles guarantees to every man
the liberty of worshiping God, &C.
cOrdiDg to the dictates OF his own
conscience" and further declares tina
it will "give every assistance to pro.
| tect all in the exercise of this liberty"
Our members worship God as they
| please and vote as they please. The
order is nonpolitical and nonsectar.
ian. 1t has a declaration of princi
Piles. however, which l hope all it's
members love and subscribe to. The
order tries to uphold these principles,
| and if in the exercise of this right any
one gets hit it is not because we
| wanted to hit any particular in
dividual or organization, but simply
because some particular individual
or organization collided with our
~ a. nj oh
church organ SO far as l know has
ever complained of the work that we
are doing ia the State. In fact many
ministers and many papers have
commended our work. You are the
editor of a Catholic gazine, pub
lishe d in the interest of the Catholic
church in this State, and you have
been the first man to hollo. Since
you have o loed the presumption Is
that you have been hit. Now let's
see where we hit you;
We believe in restricted immigra-
ton, and view with alarm the land
ing upon our shores of the ignorant,
vicious and lawless criminals of the
Old World.-Do you object to this
We believe in public schools and
compulsory education; we believe
that the teaching should be in the
English language, to the end that
future generations may be able to
take their places in the ranks of our
country's workers educated in the
history, customs and manners of
Americans.-Doy you object to this?
We are willing that all men shall
worship God according to the die
tates of their own consciences, but
Wa object to the interference of any