Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-02-21
ELKS CELEBRATE
GOLDEN JUBILEE
Fiftieth Anniversa y of Birth of
Best People on Earth"
HON. T.SCOTT OFfUTT ORATOR
Towson Lodge Member Delivers Stir
ring Anniversary Address With
Patriotism As Keynote.

ReacnlnS It's nal1-Century mile
stone, the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks throughout the country
celebrated their Golden Jubilee yes
terday
Annapolis Lodge No. go was not the
least of the Elks in Elkdom who OBJ
served the occasion with appropriate
ceremonies. The feature of the pro-
gram at the Elks Home last night was
the Grafton by the Hon T. Scott
Offutt, of Towson Lodge, B. p. o. E,
whose speech was highly patriotic and
stirred his hearers.
Many visiting Elks were present,
one of whom was from Guam, II. l.
Others were from Washington, d. c.;
Baltimore City, Baltimore County and
points on the Eastern Shore.
After the program of music and the
grafton, a social session was held and
supper and refreshments served.
Mr.. T. Scott Offutt, of Towson
Lodge, spoke, in part, as follows:
Fifty years ago when our country
was but emerging from the bloody
travail of long and bitter war, when
there was mourning in all the land,
and the nation was binding up its
wounds and girding itself for the
arduous work of rebuilding and repair
the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks was born.
This order was and is essentially
American, Benevolent and Protective.
In the practice of its precepts it has
never known the limitations of
race, of politics or of religion. 1t has
only asked that its members be true
and loyal Americans, knowing allegi-
ance to no flag but the American flag,
that they practice charity and frater-
nifty, that they remember the virtues
and forget the faults of their brother S.
Tracing the birth of the American
flag, Mr.. Offutt said:
ITO the Elk the American flag is not
only the emblem of his country's
glory, but is symbolizes the great
cardinal virtues which in his mind are
inseparably connected with the prin-
ciples of the great order to which he
belongs, Charity, Justice, Brotherly
Love and Fidelity. And as the Amer
lean flag to the world at large is the
emblem of liberty, so to him it is also
emblematic of the virutes which are
cherished and fostered in the land
which finds protection beneath its
beautiful folds.
with the birth of this flag there
was also born the widest and most
perfect liberty the civilized world has
ever known, a liberty which granted
to all who came under it's protection
an equal opportunity to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. Other
Republics were known, for ages, be-
fore ours saw the light; in other ma
tions than ours there were unselfish
and devoted patriots who were so in
tensely attached to the sacred name of
liberty that they laid down their lives
in its cause, but in no other nation
have the blessings of freedom been so
universally extended to all who lived
within its borders as in ours
Continuing, he said: And now
that flag has come once more to be
unfurled upon the fields of battle, and
even now we can see it with its
blazonry and bright stars and broad
stripes-the dear old red, white and
blue-fioating, floating and flowing
gIoriously, splendidly over the blood
soaked battlefields of France, and
once more our boys are bearing it
| aloft defending it, advancing it, ming
| ling the blood of their bodies with tbs
| red of it's stripes And again it is un-
| furled in the cause of human liberty
and in this cause, Conquer it must fol
its cause it is just
"Brotherly love is part of the very
foundation of the order. By 1t We
| are taught to regard all men al
brothers. in whose joys or sorrows We
| have an interest 1t leads us to hell
the unfortunate, comfort the sorrow
| ing and the stricken, and minister t
those in need. 1t helps us to be t.
their virtues a little kind to thei
fault a little blind It tells us t.
! write their faults upon the shifting
and unstable sands, but their VIRTUES
upon the enduring tablets of love AM
memory. BY practice of this spleen
did virtue the members of the orde
are accustomed to regard all men a
brothers, some more fortunate thar
others, perhaps, some more intelligen
than others, some more generous thai
others, some whom the world delight
to honor, others upon whom
chooses to frown, some with open
honorable and generous natures
others crooked, narrow, sordid an
mean, yet all brothers, all human, al
having souls, and sensibilities diff
fering perhaps in degree but not i
kind. and all alike entitled to sympa
thy, and the help which this virtu
leads those whom it affects TO exten
to those who need it. Without this HI
name and enlightened sentiment
would not have been possible for ii
| many races which go to make up I'll
American Nation to have been welde
into one harmonious and homogeneol
whole.
!, "All honor to this great order whit
/ has built its house upon this gre