The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-27

J I of King Solomon to now, the thought 1 ful men who believe In building, who love fraternity, who desire to live
 justly and uprightly, have been per
 feoting the ritual which you saw car l ried out on this occasion. 1 do not recall that I ever sa before at the l laying ot a corner $ one where the | ritual was employed but have been l deeply impressed and wonderfully I repaid from the joy that I received
 as spectator and participant. Really
 1t Is wonderful thing to be T
 builder. And, if you stop to recall the order was begun by builders, One
 had to be the builder, and the great order has been building in frater-
 nity for centuries, and building al-
 ways to higher and better citizen ! snip among those who subscribe tc | the oaths of the order. l am a little hesitant to know which way to turn
 my face in speaking. tCries This
 way" ''1his way.D But, on the as-
 sumption that l speak to more out side of the order on my right than on
 my left. l want to say to those out side the order there Is not anything in the ritual or the oath of the Ma 1 sonic order that any free, righteous and just American could not be proud to subscribe to, and be the better citizen for doing 1t. Cloud applause) Wrong Impressions
 T think there are some wrong impressions aDout the Masonic or der. l happen to come in contact
 with some of them in my oftieIai
 work. 1 know nothing apout it, in
 single word 1 ever nearo sounded, !, that IS not in consonance with the pest thought and the best asplra-
 uon, and the highest conception of
 american justice l have ever known rom any quarter. tAppiauseJ 1 know l am a better citizen tor being
 a Mason. Sometimes-and there are
 moments of anxiety when one won | ders what the morrow will bring | forth-but l can say it publicly-I | find myself heartened and my cour- | age strengthened and my hopes re-
 freshed because l know there is this
 great fraternity which is every ready | to give of it's all for the maintenance
 of law and order and of our gov
 ernment. tApplause).
 | l do not disparage my countrymen In any other order which teaches the
 same fundamental truths of frater- nity. l believe in fraternity with all my heart. Mankind craves it. Some ACH OOo <AAfhiS hls put IL ln LuC uedTtS
 of all living things to be fraternal
 You find it among the beasts of the
 fields; you find it among the fIocks ot
 the air; you find it among men in | their ordinary pursuits, among the working men in theirs. Man craves
 fellowship and fraternity and the CO., | operation of his fellows. And, be- cause we are a great fraternal re-
 public We are able to preach fra Iternity, and understanding, and a bet | tef order to all the peoples of the
 world, and America is leading toward a great accomplishment in that direc- ton. (Applause.)
 s2 6Ss Fraternity ~ns-s D
 T do not mean to unseemly boast, but l believe with all my heart, my
 fellow Americans, that the day has come when the people of ~Me United States of America can look into the | faces of the people of Europe, and can look into the faces of the people of Asia, and of Africa, and South
 America, and ask themselves the i question: Why not fraternity among
 peoples? Why should we make war Why should we seek that, which be- | longs to the other? Thefe is noth- ing in our own sphere, and in our own I
 est accomplishment in life without in
 any way restricting justice among people believe, my countrymen, just as firmly as l know l stand be- fore you today. that in this new con
 sciousness, Gin this new understand
 ing of the utter futility of conflict and the excessive burdens of arma-
 ments. we are going to accomplish a
 new step forward in the world. (Ap- plause).
 q hope, when the casket of the memorials of today Is opened some
 uay far distant in the future, they
 will find somewhere in the souvenirs
 of this day an expression of the in- ] spiration of our United States o1
 America in 1921, for peace with honor
 and justice for all the world. Nay
 more, I hope and I believe that some-
 where there will be an expression oi | our aspirations for human advance
 ment, which shall be revealed when this stone Is opened, much more no- | table than we see 1t today, as l stand l In the shadow of your first temple
 erected only 15 years ago. when you
 thought 1t was large enough. Yet | in the growth of this fraternal idea
 and in the growth of your community
 and in the strengthened popularity o1
 the fraternalism that Masonry repre- sents, you are building today a tenn
 pie apparently four times the size
 which Is an outward manifestation oi
 this onward movement of just ant
 righteous relationships among men. High Ideals
 | "I hope. sirs, that this occasion will
 be just one more expression of thu
 continued advance of the principles
 and purposes and the higher ideal,
 which are taught--nay. which ar, demanded of the members of the Ma
 sonic order. (Applause).
 May I express one thing more | that out Of the exercises of today wt
 learn thing valuable to us as { nation and people? l do not be l lieve there has been very much diff ference in the methods of corner ston. laying from the days of Solomon down to now. That is because there 1 are certain Fundamentals in life tha
 are never changed; and sometimes think it Is well for us to remember that in government there are certain | fundamentals, in representative pop
 ular government, that are. never | changed. And. I want our republic | to cling fast to these fundamentals
 I want them to appraise properly thu 1 inheritance of the American consti tuition on which we builded, aftc' wiping out the ambiguity in 1t, thu reunited and glorious American re public. (Applause).
 T don't want anything in ther' | surrendered for passing whim Since I have ventured to speak e | our aspiration for world peace an, fraternity. I would like to say in th' same connection that we do not evei intend to surrender any of our ma | tional rights to bring 1t about. (Ap l plause). And we do not think we nees | n dn if We only ask nations t<