The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1924-02-01
ALL GREAT CAUSES MEET TRIALS

ALL GREAT CAUs
The Boston Tea Party was hatchsd
in q Masonic hall. Those old boys
were not even thinking of independ-
ence. It was simply their way of
Getting off steam" They figured,
and rightly so, that the home govern
ment has grievously maltreated them
over a period of many years. The
The Party was a result and a cause
at the same time. The result of a
long period of persecution and petty
annoyances. It was a cause Of the
Revolution.
General Washington's path was not
one strewn with American Beauties.
Witness the disgraceful conduct of
Arnold and the traitorous Conway
Cabap wherein an effort was made
to remove Washington and ultimately
wreck the cause of the colonists. The
fact that there was row going on
among the higher-ups did not cause
the aims of the Boys Of '76 to be less
right. The Declaration of Independ-
ence was the outstanding issue of the
Revolution. The weakness or the
cussedness of a few men mattered
little in the final analysis.
From 1888 to 1889 there was a
continual row among the several "In-
dependent States" Each was jeal-
GUS of the other. It required six
years to get them together in "per-
feet Union" and even then two fac
tions emerged, the Federals and the
Republicans, each as far apart as the
poles. The old leaders of the Revo-
luton were at daggers' points. The
Federals desiring a strong central
government and having little faith in
the ability of the common people to
govern. The Republicans took the
opposite viewpoint. Overshadowing
everything was the Constitution.
Had that instrument been less perfect
our government would not have last
ed the century out. 1t withstood the
shock simply because 1T was right
and must live, and in spite of the
fierce row among the higher-ups of
that day and time.
Freemansonry went through its
baptism of fire from 1926 till 1s43,
starting with the "Moran Affair"
The Papal church jumped into the
breach and all but drove Masonry
from the shores of America. There
were assertions from the fraternity
by the thousands. Grand Lodge after
Grand Lodge suspended. The contro-
versy assumed national proportions
and even became a national issue.
The charge was hurled that anyone
taking the oath of a Master Mason
was a traitor to the United States
government. Demand was made that
Masons be disfranchised. Great men
joined with the forces attempting to
destroy Freemasonry. Yet Freema-
sonry survived because Of one fact
only. It was builded upon principles
that are right. The higher-ups were
expanding their strength against a
stone wall. There is a startling SINH
larity tbeween that cry 80 years ago
of "The Masonic Oath is un-Ameri-
can" and that of today, "The Khan
Oath is un-American," and both fos-
tered by the same forces.
Beginning in 1920 with the Mis-
souri, Compromise there was injected
the question of slavery in the politi-
cal life Of this country and for 40
years the storm clouds gathered, to
burst in all their pent-up fury with
the election of Abraham Lincoln, the
foremost American.
AS the past has been, so will the
future bring forth. The principles of
the Khan are right and right will al
ways prevail regardless of any dis
agreement between it's leaders.
Those who are making trouble from
the outside are not in harmony with
the principles of the Khan. The Khan
is right, and wrong cannot affiliate
from a national standpoint, for the
principles of the organization pro-
hibit it.
The middle part of the 10th century
produced many intellectual giants,
among whom were Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster, Calhoun, Douglas,
Greedy, Lincoln and others. No two
of them agreed. The higher-ups were
fighting in all the earnestness of
their souls. The South was in the
saddle. Each succeeding administra-
ton fawned upon the South and slav-
cry. In some mysterious manner
large stores of ammunition and arms
were shipped to the South. Drastic
laws were passed protecting the
rights of the slave owners. A sim
pie affidavit was all that was neces-
sary for a slave owner to recover a
negro in a free state. "Uncle Toms
Cabin" added fuel to the flames.
More stringent laws were demanded
by the overlords of the South. A
sympathetic or spineless administra-