El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-12-17

an average membership of five thou
sand five hundred and eleven. At pre-
cent we have about five hundred
lodges, with but one lodge in any city
and an aggregate mem bership Of fifty
thousand men. These five hundred
lodges have in their treasures today
something over $4,000 in cash, own
| 81 900, 900 worth of property and dur
| ing the last year have distributed to
the suffering humanity OF America
S56, ZOO by q system that guarantees
the proper application of every dollar.
For the last twelve months our grand
exalted ruler has been granting dis
pensations for new lodges to be formed
in cities scattered all over our coun-
| try, at the rate of one in every three
and half days.
FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES.
The broad fraternalism OF our order
recognizes but two RESTRICT Ons upon its
membership. The first requirement. OF
every candidate Is ''He must believe in
the existence of a supreme being. -
and second, he Unjust be a white male
citizen of the United States of Amer
ica." No Elk is allowed to ask his
friends to join the order, applications
for utilization must be signed by three
mem bers in good standing, who vouch
for the candidates good character, and
no member ia allowed to tell after the
ballot is closed. whether he voted for
or against the applicant.
Many of the forms and customs, that
unnecessarily cucumber the ritualistio
work of the older orders, have been
Durposely omitted from ours. Brew
isy, beauty and impress.veness have
been the ends aimed at and attained.
Our ritual contains all the moral
teachings of true religion, but it knows
no creed, no denomination, no polite
al faction, no state or national party.
Hebrew and Christian, Catholic and
protestant, democrats and republican,
coming from all sections of our coun-
try gather around the sacred affairs of
our lodge rooms, bound to each other
hood and sworn to tolerate each others
convictions.
WHAT THE RITUAL TEACHES.
It teaches US that charity knows no
bounds and that her demands upon US
cannot be satisfied by giving aims to
the poor, unless at the same time we
scrupulously avoid the use OF all words
and expressions calculated to wound
the feelings of others; that Justice will
bring speedy retribusion upon him
who Injuries a brother in his person,
property or family relations, that
brotherly love admonishes US to
sympathize with the unfortunate and
to be ever ready to stretch forth a
helping hand to thoee in distress, that
fidelity is a browning virtue, holding
in its fond embrace, charity, justice
and brotherly love, indicating to US the
necessity of right adherence to every
bond placed upon US by our obligations
the most sacred of which is the oath
taken by every member of our order,
wnen he swears at the altar, that he
will never defame ard that he will al
ways protect and defend with his life's,
blood, when the occasion demands it,
the virtue ard good name of the wife,
the mother, the sister, and the daugh-
ter of an Elk.
The only secret Of the order, with
the exception of course of few signs
to very mild initiation to /
which no gentleman need fear to sub
ject himself, Is embodied in the oath |
we all take never to reveal to any one
not an Elk the name OF an unfortunate
brother who applies to the order for
assistance in the hour of his need.
THE "SOCIAL SESSION.
The "Social. Session" handed down
o us by the "Jolly Corks'' is one of
,ur Oldest and brightest institutions,
ne most beautiful feature of which is
he "Eleven O'clock Toast" At this
mystic hour the heart of every Elk in
is brought into q magic
circle and held for q moment in sweet
while we stand and in sill
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