The TrestleBoard
by Bro. Paul R. Clark
The Master Mason - May 1926
DR. CHARLES PARKHURST in saying "To call things by their
right names is always a direct contribution to wholesome effects"
should receive credit for enunciating a philosophical gem.
When a manufacturer seeks an economical distribution of his
products, he doesn't call a spade a shovel or "pussyfoot" down
some side alley, timidly and fearfully, trying to develop vital facts,
lest he uncover unpleasant truths which might materially change
his pre-conceived ideas or notions.
Economical merchandising on a national scale is a problem so
complex we can't afford to shrink from the broad highway, lead us
where it may. Merchants willingly spend thousands of dollars in
developing facts to secure a clear picture of conditions as they are,
not as they would like to find them. "A fact is a fact, whether you
like it or not." Unbiased opinions are difficult to get, because "an
opinion changes with what you had for dinner." So, we find
merchants seeking facts. When unpleasant truths stalk into the
conference room, business men welcome them and call them by
their full names, and consider themselves fortunate indeed if they
clearly uncover weaknesses in their products or their
merchandising plan.
Many successful business men are members of long standing in the
Masonic Fraternity. I am persuaded that, if given an opportunity,
they might apply some of their hard-earned experience towards the
solution of our Masonic problems.
I HAVE a close friend, a Mason, who is a large manufacturer of
pianos. He is not lulling himself to sleep with clever slogans or
advertisements in nationally circulated publications, nor with
prettily worded or high sounding phrases when discussing his
problems with his directors or stockholders.
The radio, the automobile, and the moving pictures are great, gaunt
realities which overturn old traditions or customs of the piano trade
and demand recognition. Turning his back on them, "ostrichizing"
them by sticking his head in the sand, or parking his intelligence
outside will not get him to "first base." The changing habits of the
present generation, and the new problems of this wonderful, but
complex, 20th century are introducing conditions which must be
called by their right names.
When pointing out some of the shortcomings of the average Blue
Lodge, I am reminded of the story of the boy, returning from
college, who nervously says to his father, "Dad, after all, the real
thing in college is the social atmosphere. The real values lie in the
social opportunities and - "Dad impatiently interrupts him at this
point with the rather caustic remark, "What did you flunk in this
time?" Nothing can be gained by denying the fact that too large a
percentage of our brothers flunk in Freemasonry, as far as the Blue
Lodge is concerned. A pitifully small percentage of those brothers
who are Masonically insolvent take sufficient interest
constructively to criticize the Craft, let alone discuss and try to find
a solution to many of our Masonic problems. Those who haven't
flunked, like Dad, shouldn't be too severe on the "boys" who might
be justly accused of not studying or taking interest in the Craft.
The boy who flunks in college is not always entirely to blame. The
teachers, the parents, the curriculum, the atmosphere in the home,
and the conditions under which he studies, all are contributing
factors in his failure. If newly made Masons, whom I am calling
"the boys," do not attend lodge and therefore do not take a deep
interest in Freemasonry, the inevitable conclusion must be that the
Fraternity or the atmosphere in the Masonic classrooms may be
partially at fault. Supposing we approach it from this angle, not
that the fault lies entirely with the Craft, but possibly the major
part of the responsibility may lie with our Masonic leaders who do
not recognize that conditions have changed considerably in the last
twenty years.
SOMEONE has said that the difference between a Mack truck and
a 20-mule team is the difference between coordination and
persuasion. Human groups, like mules, to produce the best results,
have to be organized and coordinated, as well as persuaded.
Individual Blue Lodges may be efficiently coordinated fifty years
hence, but I have my grave doubts. It seems to me that it is going
to be a long up-hill pull.
In the Masonic Fraternity we find that the Blue Lodge, maintaining
a separate and distinct identity and organization, to a great extent is
a law unto itself. It is susceptible to coordination, but not subject to
it. The Master may accept suggestions from the Grand Lodge or be
may not, but the line of demarcation between the Grand Lodge and
the individual Blue Lodge is quite rigidly fixed. The Blue Lodge
requires considerable persuasion, with the hope that eventually the
lodges may be coordinated, but it is evident that the latter is not
possible without the desire on the part of the individual Blue
Lodges. The lack of a national Masonic policy is a great weakness,
but the independence of the individual Blue Lodges is a calamity,
if considered from the standpoint of coordinating the Blue Lodges
in any one state of these United States.
Most of us will admit that the average Blue Lodge is without a
safe, sane, and well planned "selling campaign." Further, it is just
as evident that the Master of any individual Blue Lodge, if he has
succeeded in vitalizing the lodge, can leave no authorized
machinery to carry the policy on into the succeeding years. So the
Blue Lodge is like Grandmother's crazy quilt - it is a patchwork of
individual ideas, with no blending or continuity of policies from
year to year. The Master can and often does "carry on," "follow
through," "step on the gas or apply the brakes" at will. This would
discourage one of those wooden Indians that stood outside of cigar
stores when we were boys - let alone a clear thinking executive or
leader who knows that "Rome was not built in a day," and that the
selling of ideas and persuading the Masonic Fraternity is a problem
not of a few months but years.
WE MUST build the foundations now and not be discouraged if
the temple is not completed within our lifetime.
The habits of the crowd, mob psychology, when applied to our
Masonic Institution, are rather mundane phrases - and to the
Masonic idealist a little unpleasant, if not irritating. Many of our
Masonic Daddies are not unlike some parelits, who refrain from
discussing social problems with their children. We have a little
false modesty, and we feel that there is something wrong with
anyone who criticizes an institution as old as the Masonic
Fraternity; but we men of lawful age who are well qualified should
not shrink from "calling things by their right names." If we haven't
the backbone to face an unpleasant truth, we are second cousins to
a moral jellyfish - nor, then, can we expect to enlist the services of
men of recognized leadership and executive ability to guide our
lodges.
Historical review, symbolism, and ritualistic repetition have their
place in every Masonic lodge; but, when these clog the wheels,
even though they are absolutely essential in the initiations of the
first three degrees, it is time to consider the psychological effect
that these have on he "brothers on the right and left." Our Masonic
diet is unbalanced, and we devote too much time to symbolism and
repeating rituals. Some of our lodges would be better off if the
Trestle Board could be misplaced for at least six months of the
year. Many Masons, with whom I have discussed this, do not
hesitate to face the truth and freely acknowledge the fact that a full
Trestle Board is more often a menace than a blessing. "Grinding
out rubber-stamp-Masons" is not unlike letting down the gates at
Ellis Island. We found that an unassimilated immigrant was a real
menace. A brother who has been raised to the Sublime Degree of
Master Mason, unless he absorbs Freemasonry, is far from being a
tangible asset to the Fraternity. Yet, how many times we hear men
in the ante-room and speakers in the Fast talk about the potential
possibilities of these bankrupt Masons? - and we go blithely on
raising Masons and then watching them sink back into Masonic
oblivion. This is the nearest thing to perpetual motion that any man
ever conceived.
A COMMUNITY with five Masonic lodges of 150 members each
is richer and better off Masonically than with one lodge of 750
members. If these five lodges select men because of their social
likes or dislikes and then limit the memberships; I wonder if your
imagination can grasp the possibilities! The personal touch, the
opportunity for developing real Masonic brotherhood in a small
lodge of 150 members, composed of brothers who have similar
hopes and aspirations and who would mix more intimately, opens
up new and unexplored possibilities; nor does this idea in any way
violate the universality of Freemasonry. The Grand Lodge
certainly does not object to forming new lodges; but, when the
Master hugs to his breast the tradition that to be successful the
lodge must be big, and that a full Trestle Board and a long waiting
list are an indication of goodness and virtue, it seems to me that the
Masonic Fraternity is chasing rainbows - and the pitiful part about
this is that so few of us seem to realize it. Can we not see the
futility of striving for volume, for big crowds, for a large, unwieldy
Masonic mass, few of which are able to appreciate what it is all
about?
If we padlocked the doors and put the Trestle Board on the shelf
for a while and then attempted to draw those who profess to be
Master Masons (and who are so technically) back into the lodge,
we would get results that would surprise us.
THIS summer a derby was held in Kentucky, at which 80,000
people were present. At this event there were more airplanes than
there were automobiles twenty years ago. The American people
spend more than $1,000,000 a day on radio equipment and
accessories, yet three years ago the radio was an experimental toy
indulged in by few people. Can the Masonic Fraternity expect to
continue with the same methods that were used successfully by our
fathers, in view of the disturbing influences that are being
recognized by our schools, colleges and churches from one end of
the land to the other?
The average Mason may have a very high code of ethics, but his
Masonic obligation to attend the meetings has been diluted by
these distracting and disintegrating influences - and we are in
competition with some very potent undercurrents which the Blue
Lodge must acknowledge.
If we stop "grinding out Masons on a tonnage basis," which takes
so much of our time, we can devote some attention to the real
worth-while things and bring out the richness and depth of
Freemasonry, which have never been really uncovered to the
Masonic masses. A lodge with a limited membership would at
least have time to develop Masters of Masonry instead of "grinding
out half-baked Masons," who become Masonically insolvent due to
this moth-eaten tradition that seems to grip the average Masters to
strive for bigness and volume continually.
If we limited our Blue Lodge membership and devoted some of the
time now consumed in working the three degrees to selling
Masonic ideas to the brothers on the right and left, those who
profess Freemasonry might practice it more diligently. We need
better Masons, not more Masons. We have every reason to be
proud of our achievements, but we ought to be honest enough with
ourselves to acknowledge our faults and to try to correct them.
Volume production, with no consistent policy to keep our brothers
in Masonic intercourse, is a fault which we do not fully recognize;
and our failure to accomplish results is blamed on general
conditions.
IF THE Blue Lodge's chief function is to graduate Masons to the
so-called "higher degrees," then I would say, "Let's speed up the
machinery, because it is very efficient and is producing results." If,
on the other hand, the attendance in the Blue Lodge is the
barometer of its success, then it is quite evident that we have much
to be concerned about. Limiting the Blue Lodge membership may
not be the only remedy, but isn't it reasonable to state that this
would allow a lodge graciously to do what every Blue Lodge does
to some extent? By following a policy of this kind, it seems
reasonable to suppose that we would have greater opportunities for
increasing the interest of those who have already joined the Craft
and are wondering what it is all about.
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