The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-09

selection, quintet club; address. ]. F.
IEckardt; presentation of Prophet Badge
TO D. W. McNichol, by A. E. Murphy,
P. S, followed by dancing.
About $50 people were present and en-
joyed the social features of the lodge.
The Tribe now has ninety-seven mem
bers and is in a fourishing financial
condition, The address of Mr.. Eckardt
was as follows:
Sachems, brothers and friends: l be-
| lieve it is customary on occasions such
as this for some member of the frater-
nifty whose officers have been installed
| to exhaust the patience of his auditors
with a lengthy disquisition of doubtful
| interest upon the merits, teachings
and benefits of his particular frater-
nifty.
Such, however, is not my purpose on
this OCCASION; but as the designation
of our order, THE Improved Order of
Red Men, is one which appeals to the
uninitiated and those possessing little
or no knowledge of our order as a
strange and bizarre appellation for an
organization existing and tiourishlng
in the midst of our American civiliZa-
ton. 1 deem it expedient TO ailude
briefly to the historical events upon
which our order is founded, from
consideration of which the designation
of our fraternity will be found to be
not only iustifable, but absolutely i'm
perative.
1t is unnecessary to dwell at length
upon the initial overt act in the series
of patriotic and heroic efforts on the
part Of the American colonists to rid
themselves of the unjust and tyran-
nical imposts levied upon the weak and
struggling colonies by the so-called
mother country, which eliminated In
the Revolutionary War and finally
crystallized in the Declaration of indie
pendence.
All within the sound of my voice
who owe their allegiance to this great
republic, before whose magnificent
achievements the grandeur OF Rome
and Carthage fade into insignificance,
are familiar with the historic incident
of the band of patriots, the members
of which, disguised as American Indi-
ans and adopting as a means of COM
munication among themselves the dia-
lect of the Mohawk tribe, in order to
conceal their identity and preserve Sc
crecy, and thus better effectuate their
intentions and purposes, boarded the
good ship Dartmouth in Boston harbor
and threw overheard into the waters of
the harbor the tea with which the ship
was laden, which had been subjected to
the obnoxious tax imposed by Parlia-
ment.
This band of patriots, conducting its
meetings in secret, under the guise and
employing the language of the aborig
ines of the American continent, had
been in existence, as an unorganized
society, for some time prior to the in
cident alluded to, and continued in ex-
istence for a number of years there
after, up to and long after the success
full termination of the American Rev
olution, and was known as the Red
Mems Society of Boston.
While its original inception was for
purely political and patriotic purposes, |
shortly after the close of the Revo-
Iutionary war it evolved into a fraternal
and benevolent society as we'll, and, |
with these characteristics, coupled VITA |
it's original patriotic features, contin- |
ued in existence as an unorganized So |
ciety with more or less activity until |
the War of 1912 when the good accom- |
plished by the society during the Revo- |
lutionary War, and a recognition of its |
political and patriotic utility caused |
its termination, with a large increase |
of membership.
1t was during the continuance of the |
second war between the United States |
and Great Britain, at Fort Miffiin on |
the Delaware, in 1913, that a perma
nent organization of the society was |
under the name of the Red |
Mems Society. The permanent organ
ization then effected was continued for |
a number Of years, the political and !
patriotic features being still retained, !
with the added fraternal and benevo-
lent characteristics.
The retention of the political fea-
ture Of the original society became the
cause Of considerable dissatisfaction
among the members, however, because
Of the perversion of this particular fea-
ture by a large part of the membership
from its original high plane to the do
ing of ward politics and the corruption
Of the society, organized for highly
creditable and worthy objects, into
mere political machine.
The dissatisfaction thus caused final
y resulted in a division of the mem
Oership of the society into two branch
IS, the one branch, retaining the polit-
cal feature alone, subsequently eVolv-
ed into what is now the justly cele-
1rated (perhaps notorious would be the
better term) Tammany Society of New
York, and the other branch, retaining
he patriotic, fraternal and benevolent
evolved into the Improved
Order Of Red Men, the first Great
Council of which was held in 1888.
Such, in brief, is the history of the
origin and foundation of our order {
We are proud of our fraternal ances-
ry, to employ a rather incongruous,
not impossible, term, and glory in
'ur heritage of patriotism, fraternity S
md benevolence, as recalled to our
minds and portrayed in our motto: =
Freedom, friendship and charity"
Ours is the only fraternaI organiza-
ion in existence of purely American
rigin, founded exclusively upon Amer
can historical events, the sub-struct-