The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-10-31
An Entertaining Account of the Recent Trip Of the
Grand Master and Other Masonic
Dgnitaries to the Far West.
NOTABLE PERSONS AND CITIES VISITED ON THE TOUR
BY DR. M. o. RICKETTS, ST. JOSEPH, MO.
Past Grand Master of Masons.

hand we saw evidences of war. The
expression on the faces of the citi-
zens of this strife torn country was
one of inexpressible sadness, and
when we saw mere children in uni
form and doing pickt duty, and we
saw the women in mourning and the
great gashes which had been torn
into many of the buildings by the
shells of contending forces, we had
no great difficulty in accepting Sher-
mans estimate of war. The people
showed every evidence of poverty,
and many of them looked as though
they had never used water for any
other purpose than for drinking, if
at all. The country is tax ridden to
such an extent that it costs 4 cents
to mail a postal card. We went to
the Juarez postoffice to secure stamps
with which to mail our cards. Hav-
| ing completed our purchase and
mailed our cards, we were making
for the door when heard Baker NUT
anything like this in the postofflce
department of the United States, and
l am surely glad that there is moth
/ ing like that out at Station b."
said: what are you talking
about Baker?"
| "See what?'' 1 asked.
That stamp clerk" he replied
| God might have made something
more beautiful and more charming
than that had he wanted to do so but
l am sure he never wanted to-"
| Just think of that, and he a mar
ried man, too. The Grand Master
had seen the vision and was letting
drop this observation:
Enough to make fat man walk
ten miles in dog days and crawl
through barbed wire fence just to
| look at such loveliness."
George had not finished his work
on the inside, for he had suddenly
decided to write all his cards before
leaving. I was thinking that the man
who would not sit up and take note
in such a presence had a bad case
of leucocythaemia of the polymor-
phonuclear type. When we finally
persuaded George to come with us
we had to run to catch the car, and
am unable to give the benefit Of
his valuable opinion on the subject
They have adopted so many expe-
dents for a medium of exchange that
one can not tell whether his money
will remain good over night. One
of the peculiar customs of the coun-
try is for the women to go barehead-
ed, and it was the rule for them to
wear black Every woman carried
about her shoulder or over her head
a thin VEIL We saw some evidences
of jimcrow cars in the street railway
service in El Paso. Colored people
are required to sit in the rear end
of the cars, and as humiliating as
all this is, it has just one redeeming
feature-they make the other fellow
move and give you a seat. El Paso
is to all intents and purposes Mexi-
can city. The population is largely
Mexican, and all the public work and
much of the private work is being
done by them. There you will find
four negro churches, all sorts of Sc
cret societies. While the MeXicans
furnish as great variety of color
as do the negro race, they are per
mitted to attend the public schools,
while separate schools are main
tanned for colored children and for
their education six negro teachers are
provided We find no negro business
enterprise to speak of. They have
barber shops, restaurants and clubs.
The competition with the labor of the
Mexican poems is hard and from the
negro's viewpoint the outlook is any
thing but cheering. One of our great
troubles is a lack of the pioneer spirit
among the better class of negroes.
The class which believes in clubs
is usually the first to get to a place
and when the other class gets there
it is to find themselves measured by
the class which will not work, and
is on this account looked upon as un
desirable.
At 2 o'clock Friday. afternoon we
boarded the train for run of 217
miles, which separated us from Doug
: las, Ariz., our objective point. We
arrived at s p. m. amid downpouI
of rain. We were met at the station
by ten men from the Ninth cavalry
: and all these men were non-commis
stoned officers except Chaplain Pre-
: liou We were placed in automobiles
and hurried to the splendid home o.
Captain Weatherly, where we found
: good supper awaiting our arrival
The wife Of Captain Weatherly proved
to be a most charming hostess ant
soon made us feel at home. Mrs
Weatherly was exceedingly entertain