Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

FIG. 11.-Transverse section of the globe, viewed from below, showing the relation of its principal demarcations to the Broached Thurnel. The pole star is, here, the center of the tropical circle of Cancer. A sharp eye will detect, in this diagram, the true significance of Square and Compasses.

Our puny pretension that the world was discovered to be round, by the circumnavigation of a cockle-shell Spanish craft, pales into something like insignifi cance, in the face of evidence as to what was known of the subject, by the builders of Babel and the Pyramids.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

FIG. 12.-Silver coin of evident Masonic inspiration, struck by the Dutch insurgents against Catholic rule, in Groningen, 1681. The "Perimeter" triangle is here shown as a Solar Emblem, while the staves cross at the same angle as the lines CF and GK, 45°.

The move

AUTHOR'S NOTE.-It will be appreciated that the relative distances between Earth, Sun and Pole Star, are not here exhibited, but only their geometrical correspondences. ment of the two former bodies along their respective "Poles" would eventually establish correct distances without the slightest contortion of the cosmic plan.

S

SECRETARY MCADOO'S APPEAL

ECRETARY

of the Treasury, Brother William G. McAdoo, invited the executive heads of the various Secret, Fraternal and Fraternal Insurance organizations of the United States to come to Washington for a conference with him on December 13, for the purpose of enlisting their aid to our government in the present great crisis. About 220 representatives listened intently to his splendid address, telling how the millions of membership in these societies can render extraordinary aid to the Government in financing the war and in other ways. Four avenues of endeavor were especially touched upon by him as offering excellent opportunities for each and every member of the Fraternal Organizations in the United States. They can be summed up, in a few words, as follows:

First.-Purchase of Liberty Bonds whenever the Government's necessities require the placing of them.

Second.-Purchasing War Savings

Stamps.

Third.-Holding on to the purchase of Government Bonds and Savings Stamps, and, not only refusing to sell them, but discouraging the sale of them by others. He condemned in the strongest terms, and very rightly, the purchase of bonds and the immediate sale of them, which had resulted in depressing their value.

Fourth. In organizing War Savings Societies, not only for pushing the work in the above mentioned avenues and helping the Government, but to save in other directions-food, clothing, coal, etc.

The following program was followed, and the discussion brought out many points of interest and showed that nearly all of the organizations were acting more or less in accordance with most of the suggestions of Secretary McAdoo:

[blocks in formation]

weekly, or monthly purchase of certificates and stamps a moral obligation upon the membership of societies. (d) How can the wives and children of members co-operate in War Savings Work.

A resolution was adopted to the effect that the action of the Secretary in calling the various organizations was heartily approved, and that it was the sense of the conference that all should aid in every way possible and that, through their various official publications and in such other manner as possible, urge upon each and every member of the organizations represented the necessity for their cooperation and support.

On the evening of December 13, the Grand Master of Masons of the District of Columbia invited the representatives of the various Grand Lodges who were present to meet with him for an informal conference at at the Masonic Temple. About twenty-five were present and informally discussed the ways and means of carrying out the suggestions of Secretary McAdoo, and also the relationship which our Mason soldiers hold towards the Masons of Europe, more especially France. As many Grand Lodges do not recognize the Grand Lodge of France, the following resolution was adopted, which is self-explanatory:

"Resolved, That we, the Grand Masters of Masons of California, Utah, North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia, in conference assembled, in the City of Washington on December 13, 1917, voting in our own proper persons and through our accredited representatives, send these, our cordial and fraternal greetings, to Beloved and Most Worshipful Brother Lurtin R. Ginn, Past Grand Master of Masons of the District of Columbia, and through him to the Masons of France; and commission him as our

ambassador to express to them our very great regret that conditions are such as to preclude some of our American Grand Lodges from holding full Masonic intercourse with their grand bodies, and we fully empower and urge him to use all proper means within his power to bring about such changes as will permit the closest affiliation and cooperation between the Masons of France and the Masons of the United States.

JAMES W. WITTEN,

Grand Master of Masons of District of Columbia, Chairman of Conference.

Attest:

WALTER L. STOCKWELL,

Past Grand Master of Masons of North Dakota, Secretary.

Colonel Herbert A. White, of the U. S. Army, who had great success with the organization and carrying on of the Masonic Club in the Canal Zone, advocated very strongly the establishing of a Masonic Club in Paris, with large accommodations, where the brethren on their recuperation from the front could live in comfort, and reasonably, and he thought that the club would be practically self-supporting. If the call comes for Brother White to go to France in the spring, he will look into the matter very carefully and, if things look favorable, will proceed to organize the club. His remarks were very favorably received, and, while it might require some money to start the club, the sentiment of those present was that it would be easily raised.

Discussion also developed the fact that some jurisdictions seem to be favorable to raising large sums of money and entering vigorously in the welfare work of the soldiers in the camps and cantonments; others thought that work should be done through the Y. M. C. A., as the cost of a separate organization would be entirely too great and that more efficient and better work can be accomplished through the Y. M. C. A. than otherwise; others thought that if the war lasted any length of time, and the outlook was in that direction, there would be many maimed

HELP WIN THE WAR!

soldier Masons and many soldiers' widows and orphans that would have a great claim upon the fraternity, and that the resources of the Masonic Bodies should be conserved as much as possible in order to look after such brothers or their widows and orphans; that the Bodies could help the Government greatly by the purchase of the Government's securities and holding them and thus accumulate reserve funds with which to do it, at the same time, urging upon individual Masons

35

to do as they have been doing heretofore, contribute most liberally to the Y. M. C. A., for the welfare of the soldiers while in service. The talk developed that some of these ideas were being carried out in some of the various jurisdictions; and as the work and the conditions in each jurisdiction are different, no definite action was taken, but each brother could return, inform his brethren of what he had learned, and then each jurisdiction could work our its own salvation.

HELP WIN THE WAR!

THE BONDS ON STOCK EXCHANGE

The daily quotations of Liberty Loan Bonds on the New York Stock Exchange below par do not represent any real loss for those holders of Liberty Loan Bonds who do not need to sell them. The figures do mean a very small loss for those who find themselves compelled for one reason or another to sell; but those who hold on to their bonds have one of the very best investments in the world-absolutely safe, free to a great extent from taxation, and bringing in an absolutely certain income. The loss to them is purely imaginary, a paper loss, not a real one.

Secretary McAdoo, in a speech before the Liberty Loan conference in Washington, December 10, made the statement that, while sufficient legally competent evidence was not in hand to warrant conviction before a jury, yet enough was known morally to convince a man of understanding that the hand. of the Kaiser was at work in bringing about sales of Liberty Loan Bonds and depressing their price on the exchange. This is added proof that the loss indicated by the difference between par and the stock exchange prices is fictitious and not real.

WAR-SAVINGS CERTIFICATES

A United States War-Savings Certificate, Series of 1918, will be an obligation of the United States when, and only when, one or more United States

War-Savings Stamps, Series of 1918, shall be affixed thereto. Each of such

certificates will have spaces for 20 such stamps, and each of such stamps thereto affixed will have a maturity value of $5 on January 1, 1923, which will accordingly give each such certificate, when bearing its full complement of such stamps, a maturity value of $100 on said date. No certificate will be issued unless at the same time one or more War-Savings Stamps shall be purchased and affixed thereto, but no additional charge will be made for the certificate itself. The name of the owner of each certificate must be written upon such certificate at the time of the issue thereof.

Owners of War-Savings Certificates will be entitled to receive, on January 1, 1923, at the Treasury Department in Washington, or at a money-order post office, upon surrender of such certificates and upon compliance with all other provisions thereof, $5 in respect of each War-Savings Stamp, Series of 1918, then affixed thereto, but no post office shall be required to make any such payment until 10 days after receiving written demand therefor.

Any owner of a War-Savings Certificate, at his option, will be entitled to receive at any time after January 2, 1918, and prior to January 1, 1923, at a money-order post office, upon surrender of his certificate and upon compliance with all other provisions there

of, in respect of each War-Savings Stamp, Series of 1918, then affixed to such certificate, the amount of the face of the stamp or stamps affixed, plus

1 cent per month for each stamp, but no post office shall make any such payment until 10 days after receiving written demand therefor.

THE DUTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL

BY ALFRED H. HENRY, 32°

The following, containing an excellent setting forth of certain doctrines and principles of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, we clip from The Yakima Daily Republic. As the diffusion among men of the aforesaid doctrines and principles is the sole aim of THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE and the only excuse it has for being, we reprint it for the consideration of all the brethren everywhere.—Editor.

B

ECAUSE of prevailing war conditions there has come to each of us a peculiar change in our attitude toward our most personal problems.

Formerly we were pretty much for ourselves, in the ordering of our home life, conduct of our business, indulgence in pleasure and satisfaction of the social instinct. If we responded to "community calls" and performed "public duties," it was with the idea that these were incidental to our real business, secondary in their claim upon us, and that they must await our inclination or convenience.

A man could still be a good citizen, self-respecting and respected, and evade all these calls and duties if he attended strictly to his own business and took no active part and manifested no particular interest in the larger business of the community or nation. Now, however, all this is changed; or rather, changed conditions have removed the hoodwink from our eyes so that, that which had come to seem negligible to us, begins to loom before our vision as of supreme and most vital importance.

In the home the obligation rests upon us to choose our food and regulate our appetite in consideration not only of the needs of this country, but of those of our Allies-other countries across the sea. Not only is America's isolation broken but our own isolation as individual units of a social order has been broken through as well.

In business the same consideration rules in determining what we shall produce from the soil, grow on our stock farms and ranges, or manufacture in

our mills and factories. This consideration is paramount in determining what we shall store and what we shall ship, into what markets our products can go and what price we are at liberty to ask for them, what the consumer is entitled to buy and what the wholesaler and retailer are authorized to keep in stock and to sell. Over all this business of private enterprise which had come to be regarded as independent of public consideration and "a law unto itself" if certain perfunctory and well-defined regulations were observed, there has descended the regulative spirit of a common need so vital and imperative that it can no longer be disregarded.

To attend strictly to one's own business today with no regard for what lies. beyond and above is no longer praiseworthy; it is disloyal.

This changed attitude of men is a distinct gain. It is an upward and forward movement in the evolution of the human consciousness, and can never be reversed without a distinct sense of loss.

In reality, the "common good" has never been merely incidental and of subordinate importance, no matter how it may have seemed to men absorbed in their own affairs. And it can never take that place even in seeming again.

Under the aegis of this new spirit of aroused democracy, civilization will win this war against tyranny and military usurpation and, after the war is won, will take a tremendous stride forward by settling the perplexing and disturbing social and industrial problems of the world in accordance with the principles of justice and right, which are simply the principles of the common good.

« PreviousContinue »