THE BUILDER APRIL 1917

OPINION ON MASONIC SUBJECTS -- A FRATERNAL FORUM
(Announcing a Monthly Department of Personal Opinion on Present-day Masonic
subjects)

Edited by BRO. GEO. E. FRAZIER, President, The Board of Stewards)

RESULTS speak louder than words. In reviewing the first two years of the
Society, the Board of Stewards have been especially impressed with its loyalty
to its original ideal, the character of
its membership, and the increasing use now being made of its
resources. Mere numbers give no adequate idea of its real
strength, but it is surely significant that the Society has
enlisted the interest of fourteen thousand Masons in two years.
Its members include not only the rank and file of the Craft, but a
large percentage of the leaders and students of Masonry in
America, and not a few representative scholars from abroad. Indeed
a list of the present members of the Society in any state shows a
striking combination of the veteran Masonic leaders and the
progressive young men of the jurisdiction.

Naturally the high character of the membership is making itself
felt month by month in the contents of The Builder, whose leading
articles provoke a wide response both in the Society as well as in
the Masonic press of the country. This response finds expression
in the correspondence column of The Builder, which increases in
interest and value with each issue, and also in answer and comment
direct from individual members. Because of the directness,
vitality and farreaching interest of this response, the editor has
taxed the limits of space devoted to it, often withholding new
articles to make room for letters of reply or elaboration not
infrequently as instructive as the original article. Fortunately
this demand has been met in part by the Correspondence Circle
Bulletin, edited by Brother Clegg, which is now an added and
invaluable monthly feature. The Board of Stewards is in entire
sympathy with the Study-Club movement, and wishes to make all
possible provision to facilitate its growth and advancement.

All of which shows a very real and vital interest in the study of
Masonry, and the development of our work so far reveals the wide
range of Masonic activities--as a glance at the Index of the first
two volumes of The Builder will make plain. We have, then, a
trinity of working tools. First, we have fourteen thousand leading
Masons who are reading The Builder, and the number is rapidly
growing. Second, we have a hearty response from our members not
only in appreciation, but in comment, criticism, and practical
suggestion looking to the application of Masonic study to everyday
life. Third, we have a list of contributors of serious articles
which embraces the names of many of the finest Masonic students at
home and abroad. Surely all this is as much an evidence of the
strength and virility of Masonry as beautiful temples, the perfect
exemplification of the ritual, or large numbers of candidates,
excellent as all these are.

Your Board of Stewards has, therefore, felt the need of adding a
department to The Builder that will bring the experience and
special information of its past and present contributors to bear
on present-day Masonic problems. We have accordingly established a
department of personal opinion, which will appear monthly
commencing with an early issue. This department will be edited by
the President of the Board of Stewards, and he will invite
contributions to the department each month from each writer who
has contributed one or more articles to the magazine. At least
four and not more than six such expressions of personal opinion
will make up the department for each month. In order that opinions
may be compared and opposite viewpoints fully considered the
President will announce a subject for each month in the form of a
query. Some possible subjects are:

a. Shall Masonic lodges encourage the formation of local Masonic
clubs for social purposes ?

b. Shall American Grand Lodges unite in a National Grand Lodge?

c. Shall lodge dues be increased to cover the financial support of
Masonic charitable institutions?

d. Shall Masters and Grand Masters be elected from the floor
without regard to service in subordinate offices ?

e. Shall present Masonic orders favor the promotion of new systems
of Masonic or quasi-Masonic degrees ?

f. Shall Lodge officers be financially interested in the sale of
Masonic supplies ?

g. Shall Masonic lodges appoint committees to investigate the
non-sectarian administration of the public schools ?

You are asked to read over again the typical subjects just given.
Please note that they are subjects actively discussed in the
official correspondence of practically all grand lodges. They are
live topics on which Masons have opinion, and on which Masonic
judgment must be passed. The subjects do not involve the
discussion of politics, religious creeds or personal prejudices.

The subjects given are intended merely to sketch outthe
possibilities of this department. Each member is earnestly invited
to suggest other and better topics. Please remember that the
department is not open to discussion on international policies or
on religious organizations or on sects, cults and theories of
personal application. The department is for the expression of
personal opinion by our own former contributors on subjects that
are alive in the administration of the Masonry of today.

The contributing editors of this department of personal opinion
assume responsibility only for what each writes over his own
signature. Each opinion must be expressed in one paragraph of not
more than six hundred words. All those who have contributed
articles to The Builder are invited to become contributing
editors. The list will grow as all new contributors to The Builder
will also become contributing editors to this department of
personal opinion. Please note carefully that this department
offers the only vehicle in Masonry for comparing the personal
opinions of leading Masonic students as to present-day Masonic
problems. With this in mind one can readily appreciate the
possibilities before us for constructive thinking of a high order.

The Correspondence department of The Builder will be continued and
will afford each member of the Society an opportunity to reply to
any expression of opinion that he finds of especial interest. It
is the hope of the Board of Stewards that this new department may
stimulate many Masons to Masonic inquiry that will in turn lead
them to contribute articles to The Builder, and to join our list
of Contributing Editors

GEO. E. FRAZER,
President of the Board of Stewards.

FOR TO-DAY

Above all, that I may not be a coward! That I may have couragc
courage to be unmoved by the uncertainties of life, and without
dread of loss, whether of friends, of health or of fortune: That I
may come with a firm and tranquil mind to the work of this day,
fearing nothing--ready to meet bravely failure or deprivation.

That I may bring to the day's efforts, good humor and a cheerful
regard for all with whom I may come into contact: That I may not
judge others hastily or with bitterness.

That I may not be grasping, but content with a fair share of this
world's goods, willing to let others have theirs: That I may be
diligent in the performance of duties and cheerful in manner: That
I may be earnest in pursuit of the right.

That I may stand with open mind ready to receive the Truth in
small affairs and in large--whether in learning new and better
methods or in receiving that philosophy necessary to a brave,
tranquil, well-poised, well-harmonized life.
John Brisben Walker
(Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association)

WORDS OF STRENGTH

By Friedrich Schiller, Born Nov. 10, 1759.

There are three lessons I would write,
Three words as with a burning pen,
In tracings of eternal light,
Upon the hearts of men:
Have hope. Though clouds environ now,
And gladness hides her face in scorn,
Put thou the shadow from thy brow,
No night but hath its morn.
Have faith. Where'er thy bark is driven--
The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth--
Know this--God rules the hosts of heaven,
The inhabitants of earth.
Have love. Not love alone for one,
But, man as man thy brother call,
And scatter, like the circling sun,
Thy charities on all.
Thus grave these lessons on thy soul--
Hope, Faith and Love and thou shalt find
Strength when life's surges rudest roll,
Light when thou else wert blind.

