The Masonic Charities Of The United States.

THE MASONIC CHARITIES OF THE UNITED STATES .

OUR worthy contemporary the Keystone , of Philadelphia , will , we feel confident , forgive ns if we are at tho pains of pointing out to him that tho article wo took the liberty of quoting a fortnight since from his fraternal columns leaves the point we raised nearly six years ago exactly as it stood then . It will be in the recollection of

our readers that we did not say in the article which has caused so much excitement , nor have wo said on any occasion since that article wns published , that our American brethren were wholly oblivious of the claims of charity . We spoke in general terms as to tho general tendency of

Freemasonry in the United States towards display . We spoke of their great love of Masonic processions in public , as well as of thoir extreme partiality for costly and elaborate Masonic temples . We asked , Where wore the charitable institutions ? not because we wero ignorant of the

existence of some , but because we knew it to be a fact , which all the writing in the world would never disturb , that those institutions which did exist wore but few and far between , when the number of Grand Lodges in working order and the immense array of members which collectively owed

them allegiance were taken into account . Wo have further pointed out that a large portion of the income of each Grand Lodge is spent in mileage allowance , & c , so thailarge funds , which might otherwise be available for assisting indigent brethren , or the distressed families of departed

brethren , in reality found their way back into tho pockets of those who contributed them . And , what we have said we abide by , with all due respect to our contemporary , though—and we take this opportunit y of saying it , with all becoming emphasis—we are quite willing to retract or

modify our statements as soon as our American brethren are in a position to demonstrate that our statements need to be retracted or modified . We see , however , no immediate prospect of this happening . On the contrary , our inquiries have been answered in more than one direction in

a manner which cannot be considered complimentary to American Masons . Bro . Cornelius Moore , for instance , it cannot be denied , is not without some experience of Freemasonry in the United States . He cannot have been editor and proprietor for very many years of one of the

principal Masonic magazines on his side the Atlantic without having learned something of the characteristics , scope , and tendencies of American Masonry . Well , he , in an article which we quoted from his new organ , the " Masonic

Messenger , has full y corroborated our statements , while the Corner Stone , of New York , in an acticle wo likewise quoted not so very Jong ago , drew quite a harrowing- picture of brethren going to the bad and leaving their wives and families in a state of the utmost destitution . We have

never ventured to go so far as these -journals , and yet wc are taken to task by our friend the Keystone , for being so profoundl y ignorant . If " American Freemasons , therefore , and Philadel phia Freemasons especially , together with all brethren who ' read mark , learn , and inwardly digest' the

¦ K EYSTONE , cannot and would not plead ignorance on this subject" of American Charitable Institutions , how come : ' , if that Bro . Moore and the Corner 8 tone have spoken of their fellows a hundred times more disparagingly than we should ever have ventured to speak ?

And what in the article wo last quoted lias the Keyatonr advanced in disproof of our allegation that the tendency of American Freemasonry is in the direction of public show

The Masonic Charities Of The United States.

and grand temples rather than toward- * the practical illustration of that virtne of charity on which Masons aro in tho habit of pluming themselves ? ft has noted four institutions , of which tho oldest is less than thirty years old , and thero are twelve times as many Grand Ijoilgos . Somo

of these latter , wo willingly ; , 'lo \ v , are young , restricted in point of membership , and scattered widely apart . We also allow , and that with infinite pleasure , that a great deal of charitable work is done quietly and unostentatiously by our American brethren in their individual capacities and also

by individual Lodges . Yet of the four Charitn'blclnstitutions which our contemporary , after profound cogitation , and hunting up of statistics , has beer able to enumerate , we can only ask , What are they among so many Grand Lodges ? Let us for a moment suppose that at the Triennial Grand

Encampment of Knights Templars there wore present " 25 , 000 Sir Knights—we have seen that estimate given of tho number who took part in tho display . Lot ns also imagine that each of those 25 , 000 Sir Knights spent onl y five dollars , or the equivalent of an English pound sterling .

Then , by the vulgar arithmetical process known as multiplication , it follows that a sum of 125 , 000 dollars , or £ 25 , 000 were spent—oa what- ? Well , " on nothing but a public parade , and tho silly display of Masonic Kni ght Templar cooked hats , swords , frock coats , and insignia

generally . If the ivlnsons in England should over fall into the mistake of thus publicly parading themselves , in less than a week ' s time they would be laughed and chaffed out of their five senses , and there would be an end of English Masonry . We aro prepared to make , and do make , every

allowance for the difference m tho idiosyncrasies of tho two peoples , but wc cannot shut our eyes to the fact that a large section of the American people is of English extraction . We have heard , too , not a little about the boasted simplicity of American citizens . And yet in Masonry we

are confronted by this astounding anomaly : bo the Americans never so simple and unpretending in private life , those who happen to belong to the Masonic brotherhood arc most proud of themselves when parading through the pnblic streets bedecked with all tho finei'y of all the known

and unknown degrees that have ever been ' palmed off on a simple world as Masonry . Wc aro proudl y told of tho forty-eight Grand Lodges they boast of , and the six hundred thousand subscribing members ; but after over five and a half years of anxious inquiry , we can only obtain something like

authoritative information respecting FOUR or FIVE American Masonic Charitable Institutions . The rest , if they exist at all , must be looked for in nuhihas . Wc think the Keystone would have done better had it taken our fraternal inquiries iu the Ffimo kind sp ' rit in which they wore made . We are certain its defence of American Mas our v has been far less

effective than that of its friendly and fraternal advocate our own English Brother , W . J . Hughan , who long ago said all that could be said in defence of American Freemasonry , and , moreover , said it extremely well .

Electioneering Morality.

ELECTIONEERING MORALITY .

nppIE troubles arid anxieties of another series of School Ji . Elections are over , and the triumphs of those who took au active inieiv-t in Ha- readmit nf sneoessiYd candinatures raiii r now be a-ue : : o ' . '•¦ ¦ ¦ g ras -n tno past-. I ' oday ( hero aie drmbti 'ss many b-0 'hnei velio have buried all memory of the work they u ; "i' - ? e onk on this or that candidate ' s behalf , having long since aal ' siiod themselves