Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-26
Eighty First Birthday Of the Order Celebrated With
Fitting Ceremonies.
DELEGATES FROM THE SURROUNDING TOWN.
Street Parade of the Lodges--ExerciseS at Sutton's Theatre.
Speech Of Ex-senator Mante--Pr0gramme of Music--
Grand Ball Tonight.

and their virtues, we on.,e more bring
the tribute of our owe and loyalty and
lay them affectionately upon the altar Of
their memory.
1 read the other day in the published
proceedings of the sovereign grand lodge
tnat at a certain banquet a toast was
proposed to the United States of Amer
lea in the following language:
Here's to the United States, bounded
on the north by the aurora borealis, on
the east by the dawn of day, Oil the
south by the changes in the procession
of the e%quinoxes ana on the west by the
day of Judgment"
The gentleman who proposed this
toast was about the rankest expansion
list l have yet heard of, for ut one stroke
he wrapped the stars and stripes around
the earth, putting the performances of
Thomas Jefferson and other Well known
expansionists completely in the shade.
But while the sentiment expressed in the
toast Is not yet quite true Of the limits
OF our country. it is almost literally true
of the order of Ode Fellows, for as we
are assembled here at this moment, the
principles of our order are being taught
and practiced in every and under the
sun where civilization has erected its
standard. Odd Fellowship has in fact
encircled the civilized globe, and wner-
ever 1t has gone it has carried with it it's
universal message of fraternity, of peace
and good will.
IN ySoIo o6o LOuoy lIC 11uC
pendent Order of American Odd Fellows
was organized in the city of Baltimore,
In he state of Maryland. 1t then had
just five members in all. Since hen
rolled on it's membership. Today more
than a million men n women consti-
tute the active membership In the Unit
ed States, while the worlds membership
Is more than two and a quarter millions.
Since April 26, 1919, more thar $50, 0OO,-
QUO have hQpn QYnan6a6 for rolipf IF tho
sick, burial of the dead and care of Wild
oWs n orphans. Over $685. 0 900 was ex-
pended for these purposes in the United
states last year., while / am informed
$27, 0O0, 900 in an invested fund.
These stupendous facts and figures
speak far more eloquently han can any
feeble words of mine of the marvellous
growth and strength Of Odd Fellowship.
No wonder, in the light of these facts.
that the seed of Oddfellowship, planted
in the warm soil of fraternal brotherhood
81 years ago, has grown to be a mighty
tree. which, watered and nourished by the
grateful tears and prayers of it's innu-
merable b~eneficiaries, is today shedding
it's benedictions upon all who choose to
gather beneath it's protecting branches.
OddfelloWship is essentially democratic
In its tendencies, and of course, 1 use the
term democratic not In it's political, but
In it's best and broadcast sense. The order
demands of it's members only that they
shall be of good moral character and that
they shall hold a sincere belief in the ex-
istence of a Supreme Ruler of the Uni
verse. 1t recognizes no sect, and makes
no distinction of class Or birth or breed
ing. Rich and poor alike may enter it's
portals, but once across it's sacred
threshold all must bow to the rule of
equality which there prevails. 1t stops
not to enquire whether a man shall have
been born in a palace or in a cottage;
whether he comes from the surround
ings of wealth or whetherh he earns his liv-
ing in the sweat of his face, toiling as did
Thomas Wildey, in the glare of the
blacksmith forge, the sturdy blows of his
hammer on the anvil ringing out a glor-
ious anthem to honest labor. Odd Fell
lows believe with Bobbie Burns that
1.-THE gold is but the guniea's stamp;
A mans a man for all that"
But in the very nature of it's organi-
cation and of it's teachings and prac-
tees, the order naturally attracts to its
ranks the toilers and laborers, the work.
ers and producers of the world; the men
of small or moderate means; those who
have not accumulated SO much of this
worlds goods that they imagine they no
longer need the aid and sympathy of
their fellows. For it is unfortunately
true that wealth too often breeds a spirit
of arrogance and false pride, and many
of those who possess it are apt to regard
it as an evidence of superior mental and
moral attributes. Too many of those who
have riches are prone to forget or look
down upon the great toiling mass of hui
mainly. INC few of them ever learn the
vital truth,at least until it is too late, that
there are some things which money alone
cannot buy, and that among them is true
! friendship and genuine heartfelt human
SVmnQthV and that these are nnqifiQC
which must of necessity, spring straight
I, from the fountain of the heart, uncon-
taminated by sordid consideration.
Odd Fellowship is also essentially OPP
timistic. It's gaze is ever upward, it's
| step ever forward. It's ~watchword i 8
| progress. 1t believes the world is better
today h it was yesterday, that it will
be better tomorrow than it is today.
And it is grateful beyond measure that,
/ under Providence. it has been accorded
the glorious privilege of contributing to
the sum total of human happiness, and
that the world is better and brighter for
its existence.
| misery are a part of the common lot, and
that there is no universal panacea for all
tn ellis which afflict humanity. We know
that not even the benehcient teachings of
| our order even If universally practiced,
F., would serve to wholly eradicate evil from
the world, although we believe it would
| reduce it to a minimum. Society is still
imperfect because it's individual mem
bers are imperfect, because the men and
! women who make up society are still i'm
perfect. We realize that the millennium is
yet far off, if it We're here there would be
no necessity for Il organization.
Speaking of perfection. reminds me
that / never heard of but one perfect
human being, and I heard of this one
through a story which is no doubt famil-
lar to most of you.
1t is related that a preacher was adj