Evening journal., 1910-08-08
|. 0. 0. F. LOST!
BROWN WHITES?
HindOO Applicant DraGS His
tory to Prove Eligibility
to Order
HIS SKIN IS OF
SWARTHY HUE

CHICAGO. ILL.,, Aug. s.-The Inde-
pendent Order Of Odd Fellows con
fronts a problem IN ethnology that
has driven the officers of the Supreme
lodge Of Illinois almost to distraction.
Bastanta Bonnarjee. an East Indian
and a Hindoo of the highest caste, has
applied to the Central Park lodge for
admission TO membership in the order,
and when we'll on his way TO the full
fllment of his wish the proceedings
we're suddenly halted by the question
OF his color. II seems that colored
men are not admitted to the !. o. o. f.,
some Of the members Of the lodge
Judged that the swarthiness OF his
complexion was a racial characteristic
rather than the effect Of tropical
sun. and raised the question Of eligi-
bility. II became then a question OF
optical versus anthropological evi-
dence.
Bonnarjee Indignantly resented the
insinuation that he is colored and pro-
claimed his genealogy to prove that he
was white. The mere tinge OF his cpl
dermis. he said, did not count; was
was the race that counted, he said,
and as he is OF the same Aryan race
as the so-called white people Of the
earth he therefore Is white himself
Put Problem Before State Officers.
The problem soon got too big for the
local lodge to solve, and It was put up
to the supreme officers OF the State.
They are now wrestling between the
evidence of their own eyes and the
DEGREES Of the ethnologists. Prof.
| Frederick Starr or any other persons
versed in the anthropological science
could win the neYer-ending gratitude
of the Odd Fellows If they could OFF,
cially answer the question:
Can a man be white when he looks
brown?
Bonnarjee never had any doubt in
his own mind that he could become n
member Of the Odd Fellows order, nor
did any one else seem to have any
objections until he had about passed
through tile first degree. Just. how
the question Of his color was raised
is not revealed, but 1t did arise, and
the ceremony was halted. Mr.. Bonnar-
iee introduced as evidence of his
whiteness decree of the United
States District Court Of New York.
Sight Outweighs Courts.
This decree, however, did not weigh
against the optical evidence Of some
of the members Of the lodge, who, now
that the question of color was raised
could not see anything white about
/ Mr.. Bonnarjee. Mr. Bonnariee In an
impassioned appeal proclaimed his
| Hinduism and his caste as proof that
he was Of the Aryan race, the same
as the other members of the lodge
He pointed to the histories OF the emf
grafton OF the Hindoos, "a pure Aryai
race" which came down into Indi
centuries before Christ and settled i
India.
He read to them how the Hindoc
had "scorned to inter mingle with th
black and yellow mongrel races the
b found inhabiting the country" an
how the high caste Hindoos, the Brat
= iminas, the kshatriyas, and Vaisyai
had religiously refrained from mis-
cegenation. He quoted the Veda {
prove that the purity of the Arya
race had been maintained in, india
but he could not overcome that optica
evidence.
Tells 1t All Over Again.
The supreme lodge listened to al
Bonnarjee's evidence over again
They squinted at the decree of thu
United States District Court and won
dered whether the judge had seer
Bonnarjee. Albert Z. Icely, one Of thu
grand officers, was set to work study
ing ethnology. The more ground the,
covered the more knowledge they OBJ
tanned, the more it looked that Bon
narjee was white.
But every time the solution of the
problem seemed certain, there arose
the swarthy visage of the applicant t'
Offset all the scientific argument anC
book lore.
The supreme lodge has not settled
the question yet, but it has instructed
Mr.. Bonnariee that, If he wants t
become an Odd Fellow, he must submi
to them brief. not only proving hi
claim from the chronological standpoint
but also proving his lineage in thu
Hindoo race.
Mr.. Bonnariee is at work upon th'
brief now and it is said that he hat
sent to India for his family tree. ID
hopes soon to be an Odd Fellow.