
                            FRATERNAL REVIEW



Editor - Ralph A. Herbold         (2-1-92)                        No. 643

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
This subject keeps coming up in Masonic publications and in the
current issue of our California Freemason Salinas Lodge is given
credit for being the first in California. We recently traveled to
Oregon via 5 going north and 89 on the return. The road is dotted
with Adopt-A-Highwav signs with lots of organizations and companies
listed but noted only one Masonic, near Fresno, the Fresno Valley
Scottish Rite Masons. The Hollywood Lodge No. 355 bulletin says
they have adopted a section of Highway 118. Maybe we will see more
and more of these in the future.

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MASONIC EDUCATlON
A composite message from the East, West and South in the
Cable-Tow, 3rd quarter 1991, of Hawaiian Lodge of Hawaii:

Hawaiian Lodge meets every Wednesday night. The first Wednesday is
for stated meetings. The last Wednesday of each month is "Masonic
Education," where an effort is made to explain our history,
traditions and symholism. These sessions have been our super way of
showing newly initiated, passed and raised Masons the structure of
the Craft as a whole, information not often covered in each degree
and the greatest joy of Freemasonry, that of further study and
knowledge of its sublime teachings. There is no shortage of
candidates and there is always room for more good men.

Could there be a bit more than a coincidence in the first and last
parts of the messages?

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COMPUTER - DATA BASE
In the November 1991 Kena Computer Club bulletin we note that one of our
members, Brother Jim Kornegay, operates Databyte Communication
Service 619-3fi7- 6208 in 29 Palms CA. Jim is running a 9600 modem
and has the entire Masonic directory on line.

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DUES
Always controversial, frequently mentioned, even in my letter of
this same date, so hear this from about as far away as one can get
from California, Australia, quoting "Grand Master's Message - M.W.
Bro. Curnow A. Knuckey," in the Masonic Monthly Bulletin of the
(Grand Lodge of Western Australia, September 1991)

There have been many occasions over recent years when I have
emphasised the importance of high standards in all things, whether
it be the presentation of ceremonials, the appearance and comfort
of the buildings in which we meet, or the quality of festive boards
which includes decor generally and harmony, as well as refreshment.

A major factor in providing quality physical facilities and festive
boards is the availability of funds. We must have quality and
whilst you can all work on busy bees in an endeavor to maintain the
standard of our buildings and we can all bring food to the festive
hoard, there is no real substitute for money.

Although small sums may be raised by various means, by far the
greater part of the monies of most Lodges is from membership fees.
In Lodges in Western Australia fees range from $40 per annum to
$220 per annum. It has often been said that relative to average
wages, fees are ridiculously low when compared with what applied in
earlier years. Today we seek to have our Freemasonry on the cheap
and it is as a result of this attitude that standards have fallen
away and Brethren are losing interest. With some Lodges the
quality of the printing of Summonses and Installation programmes,
for example, leaves a lot to be desired in that they are typed,
often poorly, with copies produced on a duplicator, and we still
see off-white plain paper on tables at festive boards instead of
table cloths or good quality disposable table covers.

The level of membership fees is for each Lodge to decide, but
unless they have a substantial income from other sources (if it is
income from investments that income is subject to income tax) then
it must be well nigh impossible, without reducing standards, to
balance budgets with membership fees at less than $100 per annum.

The statement is sometimes made that if fees are increased members
will resign. Research has shown that the extent to which increases
in fees result in resignations is negligible.

On the next occasion on which budgets or membhership fees are being
discussed in your Lodge, ask yourself if your Lodge is trying to
exist on a shoe-string, with standards falling off as a result. Ask
yourself whether the standards in your Lodge are such that you
could be embarrassed or less than proud to introduce your friends.
If the answer to either question is "yes" then shouldn't your Lodge
be budgeting expenditure at a higher level and correspondingly
setting fees at a higher level to match? I commend these thoughts
to you.

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TUN TAVERN
From The Illinois Lodge of Research Transactions, Vol. 5 No. 5,
page 203

One of the earliest structures built on Philadelphia's Delaware
River shore was a tavern-inn built in 1693 by Samuel Carpenter for
his brother, Joshua Carpenter, a Master Brewer. The tavern had the
sign of a brewer's cask (tun) and was called the Tun Tavern, a
large two-story place for many of Philadelphia's active colonists
to meet. From some of these meetings, came the idea for capable men
to defend the shipping being attacked by pirates on the Delaware.
These defenders of American enterprise were called by the
Continental Congress to be Marines in 1775.

The Tun Tavern, the host Inn for the first Masonic lodge formed in
the United States and the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia,
formed in 1747, was destroyed by fire but is being rebuilt now as
The Tun Taven Marine Museum, birthplace of the United States Marine
Corps. dedication, November 10, 1991.

The museum 's design was recreated from museum paintings by an
historical architect and the newly-huilt structure will appear to
be 300 years old. The lower level will feature an outdoor
courtyard available for use for receptions or weddings. The ground
level floor will contain the museum exhibits, parlour room, dining
room and working hearth kitchen. Above will be a medium sized
banquet room for meetings and catered functions.
