THE BUILDER JULY 1926

A Mason's Duty to the Flag

An Address Given in Furtherance of the Purposes of Flag Week
By BRO. ROBERT FERRARI, New York

BRO. FERRARI, who is Vice-President for the state of New York of
the National League of Masonic Clubs, prepared this address for the
meeting of the Bankers Square Club, of which he is an honorary
member. It was delivered on June 11, last year. It has so well
expressed sentiments that will appeal to every patriotic American
Mason that it seemed worthy of permanent record and a wider
publicity.

BRO. FERRARI said that the work of making the meaning of the Flag
better known to Americans, is a work of prime importance.
Particularly is that work of the highest importance at the present
time because of the large number of foreigners in our midst.

The United States has always been a place into which have flowed
the various racial streams of the world, but during the last
generation especially, the inflow of immigration has been
exceptionally great and the problem of assimilation has become
naturally acute. The problem of assimilation which we have to face
in this country is not entirely new, either to us or to history.
There have been times in the past, in other countries, when the
problem of assimilation, adjustment and adaptation was a burning
problem. We can draw instruction and inspiration from the history
of the past, in order to solve the problem that faces us today in
our own land.

We are all here--members of various races. The question is, what
are we going to do about it ? Instead of strident and discordant
elements, we desire to make these elements concordant and mellow.
For those who are fortunate to have been born here, or whose
ancestors were born here, the problem of assimilation presents
itself as a duty. It is incumbent upon them to help the newer
arrivals to find themselves, to bring about an adjustment, an
adaptation to the life in which these newcomers find themselves. If
this be the duty of the ordinary American it is especially the duty
of a Mason. Masonry teaches us, if it teaches anything, the
principle that we are our brother's keeper. We are, therefore, in
duty bound to lend a helping hand, as we do every day, to those in
need--we are bound, I say, to lend a helping hand to these
struggling, would be Americans, who have come here with glowing
thoughts of a promised land.

This duty of the Mason is also a high privilege of the Mason. He
will benefit not only the individuals concerned; he will benefit
not only the racial group that these individuals belong to; but he
will benefit supremely the land we live in. The Mason desires to
make his contribution to this country's future. And the greatest
contribution the Mason can make at the present time is, the
bringing into contact of the older and the newer stocks in this
country and the bringing about of an adjustment and an adaptation
to American conditions and American institutions, of the new
arrivals. In so doing, the Mason will not only bring about harmony
and concord among the various races in this country, but will also
contribute to the future of this country the elements of variety
and of richness of the composite stock. This country has a glorious
future as well as a glorious past. The Mason can help in bringing
about conditions which will make this country a country of
spiritual wealth.

The Flag is a symbol. In and of itself it is meaningless. It is the
significance of the Flag which makes it a thing of living beauty
and a thing of living force. To Masons it will be futile to
elaborate upon the significance of symbols, when Masonry itself is
a series of symbols. In and of themselves, these symbols are
nothing. It is the meaning, it is the significance of these symbols
that makes Masonry a thing of goodness and a thing of beauty. What,
therefore, does the Flag mean to a Mason? Is there anything
distinctive about our country? Is there any differentia, as the
logicians would put it. Is there anything in this country which was
never before seen on sea or land? We talk of freedom and of
democracy as being the contribution of this country to the world's
thought and the world's experience. But freedom and democracy have
existed in the past, although not in detail in the fashion in which
they have existed in this country.

There is, however, a pioneering, adventuring spirit, which seems to
be the critical and peculiar contribution of this country to modern
times. Consider for one moment that a whole continent has been
explored, traversed and settled. Consider for one moment that
within the last seventy-five years the vast expanse of territory on
the other side of the Mississippi has been opened up to the
migration of the hordes who have crossed from the Eastern frontier.
Not long ago, at the National Geographic Society, I heard a lecture
on the Oregon Trail. The historian, Parkman, has written the
romance of the Oregon Trail. What a wealth of adventure, what a
wealth of pioneering spirit, of courage, of perseverance, of
determination, of decision, of action, is found in the history of
the exploration of the West and of the long and painful tramp over
the Oregon Trail. This Trail is over 3000 miles long and went
through practically uninhabited country, difficult of access and
difficult to traverse, yet the pioneers, taking their courage in
both their hands with a determination never to be baffled, but to
go right on migrating to the Eldorado of the West and planted upon
this continent a new nation. There have been long marches in
history--long marches for the purpose of conquest, as the march of
Hannibal over the Alps to Italy, and the march of Alexander for the
conquest of Asia. But Alexander's line of march was only one-half
as long as the Oregon Trail and not so difficult. And the Oregon
Trail March was a march of soldiers of peace, instead of soldiers
of war--the march of an army in search, not of the triumphs of
destruction --but of the triumphs of peaceful expansion and
settlement.


This in the 19th century is a distinct contribution to the history
of the world. This is a contribution which has never taken place in
the history of the world, especially in so short a time. This is a
contribution which can never more be repeated in the future history
of the world, because the continents have been opened up and there
is no more to conquer. Unless indeed, the future shall see a
universal destruction and man begin all over again his march upward
to perfection.

The Flag is also the symbol of the great men of the country and of
the institutions and of the traditions of the country.

Our ancestors look down upon us and encourage. I say our ancestors-
-because these forerunners who have made the nation belong to all
of us, whether we were born here or have become naturalized;
whether we or our parents recently arrived or whether our line
descends from the Mayflower. They belong to us all. And they belong
most to those who can best understand them. Blood ancestry is good.
But a greater bond is the ancestry of intellect and of spirit. Just
so long as the present generation is loyal to the spirit of the
fathers, this generation is its direct descendant.

The United States has a rich heritage in its great men and it is
the duty of every Mason in honoring the Flag to honor the great men
who have made the Flag what it is. These great men are the living
vital forces that move the present generation to action, that move
the present generation to nobler victories.

The institutions and the traditions of this country, again, are
institutions which any nation may be proud of. The youth, the
strength, the vigor of the land, are still driving forces which
animate us and impel us onward and forward. It behooves the Mason
to study the lives of the great men and the institutions of the
country. They must become saturated with the significance of these
institutions and these lives in order to make the contribution to
the history of the time that the Mason is in duty bound to make.

How can we make the Flag the symbol of all these things and at the
same time make its meaning a driving element in the life of the
American? Knowledge in and of itself, despite some philosophers, is
for the generality of mankind, of no great use. The thing that
makes knowledge worth while is the vital principle which impels to
action and makes it possible for us to apply to our daily lives the
knowledge which we have gained. We need a vital spark in addition
to the fund of information or the knowledge of what the Flag means
in order to bring about reverence and love and desire to spread the
significance of the Flag. Matthew Arnold, in his essay on Marcus
Aurelius--and I make no apology for quoting the son of Dr. Arnold,
the great historian and the great teacher, disciplinarian and
moralist of Rugby, on a question of morals and of religion--Matthew
Arnold says that the difference between morality and religion is
that morality is a system of principles of action and religion is
the divine power that lights the spark of morality. He goes on to
compare various principles of morality with the treatment by the
Bible of these same principles. And he sublimely shows that the
Biblical treatment of morality changes and transforms morality
itself into a higher thing--into religion. This transformation is
brought about because of an emotional ingredient, a spiritual
ingredient which is the special contribution of religion. Without
this emotional and spiritual ingredient action of the highest
character is impossible.

We need, therefore, a religion of the Flag instead of only a
knowledge of and a morality of the Flag.

The vital spark which will light up the conflagration which will
move us to noble effort on behalf of the Flag and on behalf of the
future of the country, is the vital spark of religion and of the
Bible.
