The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-02-26

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display of oratory and reason at the
old Turner Hall in Kansas City, had
been settled, not by the special COM
mission created for that purpose nor
by the high power in n official vest.
ed, but by Brother Vic Walker him.
self. who had made a fair investiga.
ton of the position he had taken in
regard to the financial affairs of his
lodge and was compelled in fairness
to state that he had been in the wrong
and had caused all the trouble over
practically nothing.
The Grand Master used this Incl.
dent as an object lesson to all fault
finding and trouble brewing brothers.
Most of the trouble of this life-in
lodeg and QUITS caused by misunder-
standings. If friends and brethren
would only take the time to be abso.
lutely sure before speaking doubtfully
or critically there would be fewer dis.
appointments and heartaches. Once
let the fire of discord get under way
and though it may be quenched after
much labor and loss, yet the SCARED
and charred forms remain ever to
blight the horizon of a retrospect
which otherwise would have remained
a perpetual joy. Few men realize un
til too late just what it means to re.
nounce friendship and love cultivat.
ed through years of mutations and vi
cissitudes. In fact, such calamities
are seldom the result of any sort of
deliberate action but rather of some
hasty or passionate action born of sus.
picion, distrust or jealousy. This hui
man weakness has not only broken up
Masonic lodges, it has destroyed
homes, wrecked cities and d~issipated
whole empires.
The Grand Master and his deputies
had visited over sixty lodges during
the year and had found conditions en-
c~ouraging. 1t was found, however,
that roo still existed for improve
ment in the Masonic relief operations
1t had been a custom of the officers
when a death occurred in a lodge
which happened to be in arrears to
pay the beneficiaries a certain amount
and require the lodge to make up the
deficit. Now the lodge being already
weakened by the expense of caring
for the deacesed brother, was usually
in such state as to make its settle
ment with the heirs a long drawn out
affair-sometimes becoming a mild
scandal. especially in the smaller
towns and villages. This sometimes
went SO far as to cause distrust among
the members of the lodge and to cen.
ter blame upon the Grand Lodge it.
self.
From time to time members like A.
B. Moore, o. H. Winston and NJ. o.
Ricketts, attempted to persuade the
Grand Lodge to remedy this condition.
but for some reason they made but
little Roadway, the brethren apparent
ly being slow in waking up to the real
seriousness of the condition.
Now the Grand Master comes for.
ward and states the case to the craft
and urges other progressive steps fol
the relief work of the body. His ad-
vice appears to nave been listened to
with respect, but either forgotten oil
neglected.
1t has never been intended that the
benefits o fthis department should full
fill every exigency that the name i'm
plies. The amount of money paid to
beneficiaries could hardly be suffi-
cient to wholly meet the needs of the
bereaved for the reason that the per
capita tax can scarcely be made suffi-
cient to guarantee this end. The
main purpose of the work as carried
on by the Grand Lodge is to simply
exemplify the tent of charity as far
as possible and to show forth in the
relief granted from contributions of
the whole fraternity the real spirit of
brotherly love. If the contributions
to this department were made optional
it is possible that quite a large num-
Der Of the brethren could be found
. who are able to pay a considerable
tax or premium and the returns would
be CORRESPONDENCE larger; but in that
case the ideal of Masonic charity
would be wholly lost for the eason
that the yer zones who most needed
it would be without its advantages.
At the time the Grand Lodge met
in Moberly it may be said that the re-
lief department was in as good work
ing shape as could be expected. 1t
was a new feature in lodge work and
had to grow up along with the ideals
of those who supported 1t rather than
according to the sanguine hopes of
those who managed it.