Contents Philalethes February 1999 PHL-FE99.HTM

This file is copyright (c) 1999 The Philalethes Society and all rights including any redistribution rights are reserved by the copyright holder. Permission to quote from, redistribute or to otherwise use these materials must be obtained from the copyright holder directly by contacting The Philalethes, Nelson King, FPS, Editor, 2 Knockbolt Crescent, Agincourt Ontario Canada, M1S 2P6. Tel: 416-293-8071 Fax: 416-293-8634 or nking@freemasonry.org or nking@onramp.ca

3 President's Corner

by Robert G. Davis, FPS

4 From the Editor's Desk

Reflections From Here Truths: Universal and Otherwise

by Skip Boyer MPS

5 Gran Logia De Costa Rica Celebrates 100th Year

by Ian Menzies Todd

6 Charles Warren Nash - The Long Road To Kenosha

by Joseph E Bennett, FPS

12 General Systems Theory and Lodge Management

by Owen M. McKinney, MPS

15 Fifty Years of "the philalethes" CD

15 Masonic Ideals and Punishment in 1830

by Wallace McLeod, FPS

19 In Memory of Robert V. Osborne, FPS

by Wallace McLeod, FPS

A Tour in a Masonic Garden

Dan Weatherington, MPS

20 An Address by Stuart M. Cowan, MPS

24 Through Masonic Windows

by Kenneth D. Roberts, FPS

ON THE COVER

Brother Joe Bennett, FPS has provided us with

another story and cover painting. This unique

article on Charles Warren Nash and "The Long

Road To Kenosha" depicts the life of this

Mason and his struggles in the auto industry of

the 19th and 20th century. See the story on

page 6.

The

President's Corner

by Robert G. Davis, FPS

I suppose that, regardless of which country you live in, this is the time of year when sports activities are at their peak. In the United States, we have just recently named our national college football champions; in the professional ranks, we have a new world champion. It won't be long until a team claims a basketball title. And winter skiing is now racing with the snow for team dominance on the slopes. It leaves one to muse over what makes greatness in athletic endeavors. What creates championships in team sports? Of course, we all know it helps to have an extraordinarily gifted athlete or two. But there are extraordinary athletes on almost every team. Team expectations may also help. But every good team expects to win each time they take the playing field.

I believe the difference in deciding who wins in the final season standings almost always comes down to which team plays best together; which consistently demonstrates the best overall teamwork.

Now, the point of all this is to suggest that success in lodge comes from very much the same idea. In my experience, lodges that seem to set the best example in their jurisdictions, i.e., the lodges we would all love to emulate, are those who have a great team, and who understand the concept of employing teamwork to meet their goals.

Most of us say we know what a team is and bow teamwork improves our organization, but the truth is that few really understand what true teamwork is and bow to make it the moving force in our organization.

If we did, we would all be growing and getting high on fraternity! We would all be winning at the game of Masonic revitalization! My point here is that we

may be able to learn something from the world of athletics. In athletics, teams that win always share two fundamental characteristics. First, the team itself has a single goal; everyone understands the goal, and every member has his job to do to meet that goal. Second (and more important), each member of the team has a voice and a say in defining the team's goal. Everyone plays as a unit with a team strategy for winning.

So what does this have to do with lodge?

My brethren, in far too many instances, our teams are not really good examples. We do not work with the overall goal of meeting the needs of our members, and we too often fall short in setting our goals high enough to make a difference in how we progress as a lodge.

Sadly enough, we often don't have any lodge goals around which to build a winning team!

There's an old story that makes a point here. A well-groomed businessman was walking to a neighborhood pub for lunch and he paused for a moment to watch a muscular professional mover struggle with a large box. The mover was trying to heave the huge crate through an apartment door, but the box was almost as wide as the doorway. The onlooker asked the mover if he would like some help. "Sure thing," smiled the mover. "Grab hold of the other side of this box." For two minutes the two men, on opposite sides of the box, lifted and pulled and strained. However, the box would not budge an inch. Finally, the young businessman straightened up and shook his head, "I don't think we're ever going to get that box out of this house." "Out!" roared the mover. "Hell, I'm trying to get it in!"

To be successful we first need to make sure that all our members know what the mission really is.

We don't need to be working against each other when all we really want for our lodge is that it provide us a fraternal experience that has value to us on a personal scale.

And that is the "rub."

Our members do not have the same definition of value. They do not have the same needs. It is a rare lodge indeed that can govern its ballot box so tightly that no one can join who does not share the exact interests and goals of all the other lodge members.

From a practical stand point, team building and teamwork around member interests becomes central to the success of any lodge.

This means that if your love is ritual, then your goal should be to put together the best ritual team in your Grand Jurisdiction. If your love is Masonic Education, then your goal should be to provide the most exciting and meaningful education program anywhere. If your love is Masonic charity, then select a team that knows how to raise money and make sure it raises enough charitable funds to be relevant in your community. If your love is community involvement, then your goal should be to make that involvement visible enough in your town to make a difference. And if your goal is to have a strong fraternal experience, then make sure that the duties and obligations of Masonry are practiced at every lodge meeting; and in all relationships between Masons.

My brethren, the bottom line is that every lodge can have many teams. .411 of those teams can make their own contribution toward the overall success of Masonry. Forming teams in your lodge around the diversity of your member interests, and nurturing their success in a brotherly way, is not only doing things right for Masonry, it also is the right thing to do.

From the Editor's Desk P4

Nelson King, FPS

No I did not get rid of the beard. So who was that handsome man, in a Grand Master's Collar, whose picture said he was me? M. W. Bro. Ross Van Ness Bayer, Grand Master of New Jersey, that's who. For some unknown reason the firm that prints our Magazine substituted his picture for mine. I hope that they did not substitute my picture for his!

000

Death Threats. It may come as a shock to you that during the month of January, death threats against all Masons were posted to our E-M@son site. These four threats were traced to the Internet service of University of Salford, Manchester, England. And from there to Ridge Danyers College based in Stockport, Manchester. As of the writing of this column the College has suspended all unsupervised Internet use, and the local authorities are reviewing the College's computer logs and video tapes to determine who the culprit was.

000

Pantagraph Printing & Stationery Company's 1999 List of Lodges will soon be released. This is one book that every Freemason who travels should have. It only costs $7.OOUS if prepaid and can be ordered directly from Pantagraph at P.O. Box 1406 Bloomington, Illinois, USA, 61702-1406

000

The History of Freemasonry in Virginia, written by two non-Masons Richard A. Rutyna and Peter C. Stewart, both Associated Professors of History, Emeritus at Old Dominion University, Norfolk Virginia has just been released. The book is a collaboration between the two historians and the Grand Lodge of Virginia. It is the first history of the Grand Lodge of Virginia since 1939 when Freemasonry in Virginia, by William Moseley Brown was written. The book is available from University Press of America, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland, USA 20706.

000

The Lodge of Research Ars Macionia No. 30 [Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium] has published their annual volume of transactions. For information on how to order this volume contact. Pierre Noel. Acta Macionica. Editor, Rue Wilmotte 55, B-1060 Bruxelles.

000

Firing Glasses, those of you who attend our Annual Assembly, Feast and Forum in Washington will receive a Philalethes Firing Glass. These glasses were made for the Society by Dennis Carter, MPS, 2147 University Ave. W., Suite 207, St Paul, Minnesota, USA, 55114. If you did not get one of these collector's edition Firing Glasses they are available from the Society at a cost of $ 15.00 US each post paid. To order your collector's edition Firing Glass send a check or money order to P.O. Box 70 Highland Springs, Virginia, USA 23075

REFLECTIONS

Otherwise

by Skip Boyer, MPS

Brothers All: The passing of an old friend from my salad days has directed my thoughts down more serious pathways this week. He was not a member of our Craft, but I will always believe that the Cardinal Virtues were safe in the stronghold of his heart. Let me try your patience as I work through the thoughts that occupy my mind at the moment. In reflecting on his passing, some truths, universal and otherwise, seem evident to me. Death is one of those universal truths that we share equally. I'm reminded, however, that, as a rule, universal truths and those who proclaim them loudly frighten me.

Perhaps the problem is one of definition. To me, a universal truth is something that is basic and fundamental for eternity, a truth that helps us understand ourselves and our relationship to others. It is not something that changes with the direction and force of the politically correct winds of the moment. Or that depends for its existence on strength of arms to protect it. It stands as a landmark against which we measure the living of our lives. My friend believed that.

Pseudo-universal truths have slaughtered thousands. They have culminated in genocide and enslaved entire races, conquered nations, subjugated genders and fragmented cultures. In the name of these false truths, we have done unspeakable things. If you study the history of mankind, it's frightening and shameful what we have done to each other in the name of universal truths.

Richard Nilsen, a columnist in the Arizona Republic, recently explored this topic in one of the most thoughtful pieces of newspaper writing I've read in years. He suggests that we are lost, that we have become cynics, that we hide from the truth. There is a certain truth in his evaluation, I think. But he also suggests something that appeals to me. He suggests that we can start from scratch to see if we can't find what has been lost and build on that. I don't know if Mr. Nilsen is a Brother of the Craft. I would not be surprised to discover that he is. There is something very Masonic in his suggestions.

"If we could only find a starting point, a single truth that everyone can agree is universal," he laments. And he suggests that there is one such truth: Death. We all die. It is the one thing the 5.9 billion people on this planet have in common. He continues, 'The raw fact of death, when we are willing to be aware of it, also brightens and colors the gray ordinariness of daily life. If we ignore the fact of death, we can become bored with small things. But if we keep our death in mind, even mud becomes magic."

From the universal truth of death, Nilsen suggests there is a second universal truth-the profound sense of loss that accompanies death. A third truth, he offers, is the basic fact that we love, that we open up beyond self-interest.

"Beginning with one uncomfortable truth and winding up with a complex web of things" is the start of rebuilding the truths that are truly universal, as opposed to those false truths that serve the agendas of powerful individuals or groups.

At this point in his essay, Nilsen moves off into a discussion of the relationships of universal truths and the fine arts. It's an interesting discussion but runs in a different tangent from the direction my own thoughts were marching. When I finished reading his column, I felt as if I was the possessor of a great secret. He is right much of the world has lost its way, forgotten the universal truths of our creation and our lives. But FREEMASONY has not. If we truly have a great secret, perhaps that is it.

We have the Cardinal Virtues as our benchmarks. But beneath them is a deeper truth, I believe. I wish I could claim this as original thinking. I can't. It dawned on me as I was reading The Meaning of Masonry by Brother W.L. Wilmshurst, published originally in 1927.

This learned Brother suggests that the real theme of Masonry is "Paradise Lost" and that the most basic universal truth is not what we have but, rather, what we have lost. His second universal truth, then, is our continuing search for that which was lost, a search that he believes has been delegated to Freemasonry on behalf of humanity.

"Beneath a veil of allegory describing the intention to build a certain temple that could not be finished because of untimely disaster, Masonry implies that Humanity is the real temple whose building became obstructed, and that we, who are both the craftsmen and the building materials of what was intended to be an unparalleled structure, are, owning to a certain unhappy event, living here in this world in conditions where the genuine and full secrets of our nature are, for the time being, lost to us," writes Brother Wilmshurst. Masonry, he says, "holds out the great promise that, with divine assistance and by our own industry, the genuine realities of which we at present possess but the imperfect shadows, shall be restored to us, and that patience and perseverance will eventually entitle every worthy man to a participation in them."

He also concurs with columnist Nilsen. Death is the beginning of universal truth and we can see it reflected clearly in our degree work. "The ceremonies through which the candidate passes are symbolic of the stages of progress that every man may make by way of self-purification and self-building, until he at length lies dead to his present natural self, and is raised out of a state of imperfection and brought once more into perfect union with the Lord of life and glory into whose image he has thus become shaped and conformed."

He concludes his essay with the reminder and admonition that Masonry provides for us "an outline of the great truths that always in the world have been regarded as secret, as sacred, and as vital ... there rests the responsibility attaching to our privilege,.and it must be our aim to endeavor to enter into the full heritage of understanding and practicing the system to which we belong."

Universal truths and those who proclaim them loudly still frighten me. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to the quiet, continuing search for Light that characterizes our Craft. We may not possess the ultimate universal truths, but we-perhaps alone in the world-still seek them in a spirit of brotherhood and harmony.

And now I feel much better.

Grand Logia De Costa Rica P5

Celebrates 100^TH Anniversary

by Ian Menzies Todd

In 1999, The Grand Lodge of Costa Rica will celebrate its 100th Anniversary, and one of the highlights likely to emerge is the close historical link between Costa Rican and British freemasonry.

With a population of 3.3 million and an area of roughly 20,000 square miles, this Central American republic is Latin America's first democracy, a cradle of independent thought. It is so dedicated to the principle of global peace that it abolished its armed forces altogether in 1949.

Its capital city, San Jose is perched high in a lush sub-tropical valley, flanked by towering 11,000-foot volcanic peaks which draw thousands of visitors from its own cosmopolitan society and many more foreign tourists.

About 8% of Costa Rica's territory has been reserved for national parks -highest proportion of parklands than any country in the world.

Though Costa Rica hosted Masonic activity much earlier, the first organized Masonic movement in the country is recorded in 1865, when Presbyter Francisco Calvo and other Catholic Church dignitaries founded Lodge Caridad No. 26, in San Jos6. It was established with Patent Letters from the then called Gran Oriente Neo Granadino, o Colombia.

The Grand Lodge of Costa Rica was constituted on 7 December, 1899. Initially it consisted of four lodges: Regeneracion No. 6, of San Jose; Union Fraternal No. 9, of Puerto Lim6n (a port city on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast); La Luz No. 12, of San Jos6; and La Libertad No. 15, also of San Jose.

First Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica was brother Arthur Gillott, an Englishman born in Kensington, London, in 1868. He was educated at the North London Colleglate School and arrived in Costa Rica at the age of 23, to work as the paymaster of the British-owned Costa Rican Railway Company.

Brother Gillot was initiated in Regeneracion No. 6, in 1893. He founded a splendid Masonic Library which is still available today. He also founded La Luz No. 12 Lodge, later to become La Luz No. 3-an English-language Lodge.

Among the several other British Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica was Alexander Murray, who was born in Scotland. He came to Costa Rica in 1893 and was British honorary vice-consul in San Josi. He was elected Grand Master in 1916 and 1942.

At present the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica incorporates 9 lodges altogether. Total membership has remained pretty much steady during the past few decades, at around 450 altogether, of whom about half are active members.

Costa Rica won its independence from Spain in 1821, without violence, after three centuries of colonial rule. It was mainly an agricultural country (and in many ways it still is), exporting coffee, fruit and, the concept of universal PEACE.

Freemasonry has always enjoyed respect and appreciation in Costa Rica. On 21 occasions the chair of the president of the Republic of Costa Rica was occupied by a Mason. Among the galaxy of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica are distinguished personalities in the fields of art~ literature, medicine, law, education and many other aspects of human endeavor.

In 1997, Brother Jorge Lopez-Vallejo y Garcia Grand Master (1996- 1997) of the Grand Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica, said the thought he wished to impart is about the importance of unity.

"Freemasony is a concept of unity, and unity is the underlying reality of the universe. Science discovers this fact, this truth, every day.

Nothing in the Cosmos is individual, isolated or unhinged--everything is linked together by an endless chain,

From the atom, to the cell, to the organ, to the complete human being, and thereafter successively to include the planet, the universe and the infinite Cosmos-everything demonstrates the unity, the relationship and the links that exist.

And inside our Masonic temples the chain that links us together provides testimony of the symbolic concept which finally unites us to The Great Architect of the Universe.

Our problems arise when we cannot recognize the reality of this unity and relationship, which in effect is the beginning and end of everything.

Persons or institutions which do not include the principles of unity in their directives go against the process of evolutions, and consequently will be antagonistic to progress and growth.

The principles of unity, when they are properly understood, unite us to the universe. Discord is often easier to promote than equilibrium and harmony.

Freemasonry, as a true copy of the Cosmos, cannot be, either today or tomorrow, disunited. Freemasonry has been created to provide substance and reality to the unity among men who enjoy spirituality, universality and love.

Charity, hope and faith are the result of the unity which characterizes Freemasonry, and then teach us that only when we are united can we hope to overcome the problems which affect humanity.

Difficult situations will be easier to endure if by means of true brotherhood we march together shoulder to shoulder in search of solutions, in harmony and unity."

Late in 1998 The Grand Lodge of Costa Rica joined the growing number of Grand Lodges with site on the Internet at http://Freemasoniy.orkcostarica

The present Grand Master, M. W. Bro. Guillermo Uspedes-Castro, states.

"Costa Ricas Freemasonry movement upon joining this new communications system, wishes to convey brotherly greetings to all our Brethren throughout the work and also to all those who have access to Internet.

In this era of computers, it is worthwhile for all of us to reflect awhile on the use we make of computer facilities. The services provided by computers should be useful and beneficial to mankind, they should not be geared to damage it.

The purpose of our Great Masonic Institution is, above all else, to seek and project the perfection of the individual human being. And through the practical example of our own behavior help improve our environment. For this reason, Masons should be careful with their expressions, thus giving an example of prudence and sobriety.

It is with these concepts that we wish to introduce the Freemasonry movement and place ourselves in the service of the whole world, in order to exchange criteria and viewpoints on issues that could help improve our global environment, and at the same time help those in need.

Equality, Brotherhood, Charity These are the foundations upon which we can begin developing discussion themes about our common spiritual enrichment.

We are firmly convinced that we are all equal, and we pledge ourselves to the values of brotherhood and charity among us.

Editor's Notes

The Brethren of Costa Rica are noted for their hospitality and welcome all Regular Masonic visitors.

My personal thanks to R. W. Bro. Ricardo Rojas, PGM his help in procuring this article.

Charles Warren Nash

The Long Road To Kenosba

by Joseph E Bennett FPS

Most of us never take time to ponder the accomplishments of the giants of American Industry. Too many other names in the media compete for our attention. The exciting litany of crime, war, natural disaster, and titillating scandal, obscures the mundane. We seldom realize that were it not for the achievers in our industrial revolution, there would not have been great international stature, Wall Street icons, Silicon Valley, or any of the other trappings of the "Great Society."

In this profile, we focus on an individual who lived the life of a true-to-life Horatio Alger, a legendary rags-to-riches character from childhood literature. Today, Horatio's accomplishments would be labeled antiquated, if considered at all. In this era of the "Information Age," little survives to remind the younger generation of those who really made America great. You will never see our subject's name on the TV screen or hear it in a public school classroom, but he was one who had a major role in starting the heartbeat of American industry. He was Charles Warren Nash, a giant figure in the pioneer development of the American automobile, including the methods conceived to manufacture them at an affordable price. All it took was hard work.

I have a strong sentimental attachment to the Nash automobile marque displayed on some of the finest cars I remember from the 1920's. A few of my boyhood years were spent in a small western Pennsylvania town where my father operated a service garage for the local Nash dealer -the only automobile retail business in town. Completely fascinated with cars, I came to be well acquainted with Nash products. One particular model is still vivid in my memory, a 1929 Nash Special Six phaeton, retailing for $1,250, f,o.b. Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was one of a memorable car line the year the-Great Depression struck.

Little history remains of the early days of the Nash family. Suffice to say it was a bleak and troubled existence, at least for Charles. He was born on a small farm near Demant, DeKalb County, Illinois, on January 28, 1864. What events prompted his parents to move to Michigan are 'unknown, but the family relocated to a farm in Genesee County when the youngster was two years old. By the time the boy was six, the parents split up and went separate ways. Charlie became a ward of the Genesee County court.

Young Nash was bound out to Robert Latham, a farmer near Flushing, Michigan. It was less than a great opportunity for Charlie Nash. He was obliged to work for his room, board, and clothing. In addition, Latham agreed to give his ward $100, three suits of clothes, and his freedom at age 21. The farmer turned out to be a harsh taskmaster. Charlie was ill-fed, clothed in thin, tattered garments, and worked from morning until night. Any complaint generated a sound thrashing. It was an altogether miserable life for a boy not yet in his teens.

In 1876, when Nash was 12, he could tolerate his life with Latham no longer. He ran away while the family was in church. He walked over15 miles before obtaining a job on a farm at Grand Blanc, south of Flint. Charlie was paid $8 a month, a far better proposition than his one with Latham. Three months later, he was offered an even better farm job. He went to work for Alexander McFarlan near Mt. Morris, north of Flint, for $15 a month and board.

Before long Charlie made friends with John Shelben, a neighbor. He learned the carpenter trade from his new friend, and began to earn some additional money. He soon saved enough to buy 10 sheep, which he arranged to have pastured on a neighboring farm. With careful management of his small flock, Charlie increased their number to 80 in five years. The sheep provided the means to purchase half interest in a steam-powered hay baler, and enabled Nash to begin a custom hay-baling business. He began working for farmers in the Genesee County area. It was 1882, and Charlie was 18 years old. His great capacity for hard work, coupled with frugality, and an ability to earn money, were becoming evident in his character. Accumulating a small nest-egg of cash, he began to loan modest sums out at interest. For the first time in his young life, Charlie began enjoying equal status with folks in the community. Nash became acquainted with the daughter of a farmer for whom he was doing some hay baling. She was Jesse Halleck. Following a proper courtship, they were married on April 23, 1884. Jesse was the only girl he ever loved, and the couple were inseparable through 64 years of married life. Charlie always described Jesse as his "sweetheart." In 1885, he landed a job as foreman of a rather large farm belonging to a local judge, a position which paid $300 a year, and provided a small cottage for Charlie and Jesse. During the years working as a farm hand, Nash managed a little public schooling. When he had some income, he began a lifelong habit of buying and reading books. Over the years, he gleaned a fine liberal education from the printed page.

When Jesse became seriously ill in 1890, Charlie turned his back on his farm job and moved to Flint, near the best medical facilities available. He took a job in a Flint hardware store as a clerk. To supplement his meager income, he worked weekends on a farm owned by J. Dallas Dort. He soon became acquainted with William Crapo

"Billy" Durant, Dort's business partner in the Flint Road Cart Company, a thriving manufacturing concern building horse-drawn vehicles. The names of Dort and Durant were destined to become famous on the rolls of the great automotive pioneers. Both would have automobiles bearing their names in the 1920's era. While Charlie was working on the Dort farm, his diligence and outstanding work impressed Billy Durant. He offered Nash a job in the Flint Road Cart Company as a blacksmith.

Working as a blacksmith at the Flint Road Cart Company prompted Nash to make a suggestion. He felt that the labor operation he was performing could be done more quickly and efficiently by a small steam hammer. It was an inexpensive piece of equipment~ and would increase the output dramatically. The firm adopted the steam hammer and promoted Charlie to a job in the trim department, stuffing cushions on a piecework basis. From the start, Nash outperformed all his fellow workers in the trim shop. His efforts were so impressive that within six months he was promoted to plant superintendent. By 1901, Nash was president and general manager of the firm. By that time, it was the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, making the transition into the automobile industry. Nash had many manufacturing innovations to his credit by 1901, but probably none more vital to efficient production than the conveyor belt and the straight-line production assembly concept.

In 1899, Charles Warren Nash became a Freemason in Flint Lodge No. 23. He received his EA Degree on March 15, 1898, his FC Degree on February 23, 1899, and was raised a Master Mason on March 14, 1899. Always a faithful and supportive member, he became a Life Member of his lodge in 1939.

Charlie had his first automobile ride in 1900 while visiting in New York City. It was his first vacation. During the trip he spent a little time with Billy Durant, who was not active in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. Durant was a developer and one who specialized in raising venture capital. He was interested in expanding his business horizons farther into the auto industry. By 1904, Durant, had raised the funding and organized the Buick Motor Company. Buick made a spectacular entry into the auto market, and in 1904, was second only to the Ford Motor Company in total production. However, the firm was $7,800,000 in debt, and only marginally profitable. Durant knew the man to take the helm at Buick and resolve the financial woes. The job of president of the Buick Motor Company went to Charlie Nash in 1910. They built 31,500 units that year.

Nash waded into the new role with his customary energy. He reorganized production, eliminated waste and inefficiency, and culled out the satellite assets draining the company. Within two years, Buick was solidly profitable, and increasing production constantly. In 1911, Nash brought a brilliant young production genius into the Buick fold from the American Locomotive Company at Pittsburgh. He was Walter P. Chrysler, their assistant works manager. Chrysler had made American Locomotive profitable with his production expertise. With Buick, he guided the transition from wooden body construction into metal. With Nash in charge, production increased dramatically and net profits soared to $12,000,000 in 1914.

The eyes of the manufacturing world were focused on Charlie as Europe plunged into World War 1. His dramatic triumph at Buick also impressed the stockholders in Durant's newest corporate venture, molding a family of auto manufacturers into General Motors Corporation. At the GM corporate board meeting on July12, 1912, Nash was elected vice president, while retaining his postal Buick. Charlie had demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction that he could streamline and operate a large manufacturing venture. Immediately, he began to eliminate wasteful practices and nonessential costs. His methods of production were put in place throughout the corporation. Nash possessed a phenomenal amount of common sense, and was capable of detecting a flaw in any production procedure, and correcting it at minimal cost. He was not technically trained, but he was a very quick learner. Nash also had a gift for selecting talented assistants, and he could assemble a production team quickly. In the space of a few short months, Durant convinced the board of GM to elect Charlie president. The board made it official on November 19, 1912. Within the next few months, he was also elected as president of Oakland Motor Car Company (forerunner of Pontiac), Oldsmobile, and GMC Truck. The handful of automobile manufacturing companies under the logo of General Motors was beginning the dramatic rise to become one of the world's largest corporations. No other man contributed more to that lofty accomplishment than Charlie Nash. During his first year as GM president, profits reached $7,500,000. By 1914, they doubled. In 1915 the figure soared to $29,000,000, an astronomical sum at that point in time. It was a success story which eclipsed that of John D. Rockefeller.

During 1912, William C. Durant lost control of General Motors in a stockcontrol acquisition. His grand contribution as founder was to acquire the services of Nash in 1912, a move equal to the acquisition of financing to merge the individual companies. Durant's departure had little impact on Charlie's performance. He continued to guide the day-to-day operation of the young conglomerate to higher and higher accomplishments.

Billy Durant returned to take control of GM again in 1916, through the stock-acquisition process; made up of a consortium of investors to supply capital. Once more, he assumed the dominant role in corporate policy. Nash felt that his own philosophy of business was at odds with that of the swashbuckling Durant. Although, they were fast friends, and would remain so for the rest of their lives, Charlie felt it was time for him to go into business for himself. Resisting Durant's impressive financial offer to remain with GM, Nash began a systematic search for a company he might purchase, one with potential. He planned to take Walter Chrysler along as a partner, in addition to banker James Stockton as a financial partner. Their first choice was Packard Motor Car Company, which was available. Negotiations fell through, and Charlie moved on to another prospect.

He next set his sights on the Thomas B. Jeffery Company of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Jeffery was a pioneer company which entered the automotive age in 1897 with a "horseless carriage" their founder called the "Rambler." Jeffery was an English-born inventor who operated a bicycle shop in Chicago when he built his first Rambler prototype. Locating his plant at Kenosha, he had his fledgling business up and running well in 1902, when he reached a production figure of 1,500 Ramblers. At that time, it was a manufacturing feat of importance. The Jeffery Company was highly-regarded in the industry. When the founder died in 19 10, his son Charles Jeffery assumed the helm. Under his guidance, the firm continued to prosper. His most significant success was in the large number of heavy-duty trucks he manufactured. The U.S. Army was Jeffery's best customer during the years of World War 1. The four-wheel, chain-drive Jeffery Quad became the workhorse of the Allied Expeditionary Force eventually. Jeffery also made impressive advances in sales of his automobile. He dropped the Rambler marque in 1914 in favor of "Jeffery" and produced 10,283 of them.

Charles Jeffery was totally committed to the company and its success before he became a passenger on the ill-fated passenger ship "Lusitania" in 1915. It was sunk by a German submarine off the Irish coast, with a heavy loss of life. Jeffery survived, but he lost interest in the company, or as one author put it, "re-evaluated his priorities." The Jeffery Company was for sale and Charlie Nash was interested. His financial partner in the venture was Lee, Higginson, and Company. They advanced $5,000,000 for working capital - secured by Charlie's 24-carat business reputation. It was enough security for those conservatives.

The first order of business at the new company was to eliminate antiquated production procedures, and implement straight-line, conveyor assembly. Charlie spent a great deal of his time on the production floor working beside his men. By instinct and preference, he was attuned to the pulse of the production force. Always considerate and friendly, he knew many of his men by their first name. He was also "Charlie" to many of them, a rapport he relished. Scrupulous honesty, and affection for his entire work force, were hallmarks of Nash's character. One of his great joys was to pass out $10 bills at Christmas time. In the years before and after World War I, that was an impressive gift. Charlie's astute and kind management of the Nash Motor Company had the enthusiastic support of his beloved wife, Jesse, his lifelong confidant. She shared every triumph and every challenge with her "Charlie."

The former GM president, brought some talented people with him from his former company. Nash's vice president was Walter H. Alford, the GM comptroller; Nils Wahlberg, former chief engineer at Oakland; and H.E. Long. Charlie's former secretary, and closest associate, James T. Wilson, came along to become chief of production within a couple of years. The Nash marque appeared in 1917, the year the United States went to war. There had been no general "house cleaning" at the Jeffery plant, and production was uninterrupted. The Jeffery Quad truck continued to be a major product for the firm as American reverted to war footing. The Jeffery auto continued in production until the supply of parts was exhausted. Behind the scenes, the engineering department worked feverishly to complete the initial Nash design. It was introduced in September 1917, with the designation of Nash "680 Series." It looked and performed like a Buick, not surprising when one remembers that its creators came from that company just a short time before.

With a full selection of bodies in the 680 Series, the Nash was an instant success. In 1918, the firm fine-tuned the line, and concentrated on an efficient operation with a quality product. One spectacular innovation Nash premiered was the first enclosed overhead valve system. It was a fine 6-cylinder power plant, regarded as one of the best in the industry. In 1918, the always-frugal Nash offered a 7-passenger touring sedan in the car line. It was built with the last remnants of the parts stockpile from Jeffery production, and was discontinued when the supply was exhausted.

In 1919, Nash acquired half interest in the prestigious Seaman Body company of Milwaukee. A.D. Seaman had founded it as a furniture manufacturing firm in 1846, but they eventually began building fine car bodies in 1909. They would provide bodies for the entire Nash car line. In 1936, Nash purchased total ownership of the business. During 1919, Nash produced 27,000 cars. Company morale was sky-high under the genial leadership of Charlie Nash. He was a familiar sight in the company cafeteria having lunch with production employees. Important in the history of the firm is that 500 of the employees on the payroll during the years of WW 1 (1917-18), were still with Charlie when the one millionth Nash rolled off the assembly line at Kenosha on April 28, 1934. At that point in his life, Nash's personal fortune was estimated at $70,000,000. Once again, the Nash acumen was demonstrated during a depression of short duration in 1921. A number of prominent auto manufacturers went out of business. Sales fell at Nash Motor Company by 40% that year, but good housekeeping and astute management turned a corporate profit of $2,000,000.

Everyone in my age bracket recalls the great year of 1929. The political theme was "A chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage." Profits were rolling in and the country enjoyed a tremendous business boom. Nash's production reached 138,137 units that year. Across the industry, all the heavy hitters were expanding facilities as fast as possible. Not Charlie Nash. He smelled a business decline, and was quoted, "A day is coming when many companies will not be able to use their normal capacity, much less than the new additions that arc mushrooming up today." How prophetic his words became!

Nash continued to operate in his existing quarters, even though they were bursting at the seams. The 1929 year was a record-breaker from the beginning. Prosperity was at an all-time high, and bootleg gin flowed like the Mississippi. Nash was enjoying a truly memorablc production year, after launching a product line which was handsome, and mechanically impressive. The economy model Ajax, introduced in 1925, had evolved into Nash's famous Light Six, equipped with their "fathead" 6-cylinder engine.

The Nash Car Company acquired LaFayette Motors, an Indianapolis manufacturer, in 1924. LaFayette was organized in 1920, and had elected Charlie Nash president in 1921. The company marketed an expensive car which retailed in the $15,000 range. The venture never lived up to expectations; and in 1924, the firm was purchased outright by Nash, giving Charlie their fine fathead engine and product marque. The engine went into production in the Ajax in 1925, and the power plant remained in Nash's lineup through 1940.

During the late 1920's Nash's corporate profits were outstanding. One reason being that Charlie continuously manufactured 93% of their parts requirements in company-owned shops. They were as self-contained as a manufacturing firm could possibly be. Outsourcing, a universal practice in the industry, was minimal at Nash. During 1922, Charlie retired his original issue of preferred stock, valued at $5,000,000. It was replaced with new certificates worth $22,500,000. The common stockholders benefitted, too. Charlie paid them a total of $16,380,000 in dividends. Small wonder Nash Motor Company always enjoyed a triple-A financial rating. Morale always remained at a high level in the work force. The company was a flagship manufacturer, and the model of the industry. As far as John Q. Public was concerned the 1929 Nash line was a knockout!

As a seven-year-old in my Pennsylvania hometown, I was one of those overwhelmed by the elegance of the 1929 Nash line. The sporty side-mounted spare wheels, gleaming chrome-plated mirrors, cowel-mounted parking lamps, and the stunning body design were the epitome of styling excellence. Hometown folks who bought new Nash cars in 1929 were the envy of their neighbors. I was particularly enthralled with the Special Six Roadster, carrying a price tag of $1,345. For many buyers it was one of the best models in the automobile spectrum, and there were 26 United States manufacturers turning out 47 different brands in 1929. Added to the cosmetic beauty of that classic model, in addition to the 6-cylinder overhead-valve engine, was a brand-new "twin ignition." It provided two spark plugs for each cylinder, designed to produce more efficient. combustion. There was also "Bijur One Shot Lubrication," a pedal-operated system in the passenger compartment which would apply lubricant to 21 chassis points with one stroke. It was standard on the two upper series models, Special Six and Advanced Six. How much opulence could a driver need?

Charlie Nash' prediction of a business downturn came true in October 1929, with the catastrophic market collapse on "Black Tuesday." Business was in a chaotic state immediately, as car sales plummeted 68% by the end of the year. Everyone remembers the plethora of business failures, including those in the auto industry. Nash was alive and well through it all. Through 1932, Nash remained profitable under Charlie's steady hand. During the depths of the Great Depression, Nash operated in red ink from 1933 through 1935, but continued to pay stock dividends without interruption. The corporate cash reserve never dipped below $27,000,000.

In 1934, Charlie decided that Nash should add a new model to their lower price line, but one that would retain the quality owners expected in a Nash product. The new "economy" model was introduced as the "LaFayette," the name previously given to cars built by the defunct Indianapolis firm. The LaFayette was built to provide a model to compete in the price range of Pontiac ,and Dodge. The sales response was more than Nash expected when it accounted for a 56% increase in sales over 1933. The LaFayette marque remained in the product line through 1940, when the name was discontinued and rechristened the 600 Series. The LaFayette model was always equipped with the familiar 6-cylinder flat head.

By 1936, America was beginning to emerge from the Great Depression, and Charles Warren Nash was tired. He was 72 years old, and eager to reduce his day-to-day work load. His corporate profit that year was $1,000,000, and it seemed an ideal time to find a successor. In casting about for a suitable man to follow in his footsteps, Charlie settled on the recommendation of his good friend, Walter P. Chrysler. Walter recommended he hire George W. Mason, the CEO and president of Kelvinator Corporation, a manufacturer of refrigerators and appliances. Mason cnjoyed a wide automotive background and an enviable reputation as a production expert. Charlie decided, after meeting Mason, that he was the man to take over operation of his beloved Nash Motor Company.

Who was this rotund man who was about to fill Charlie's formidable role with Nash? George W. Mason was a native of Valley City, North Dakota, and a graduate of the class of 1913 at the University of Michigan. He began his automotive career in 1913 with Studebaker Corporation in South Bend, Indiana, before going to the Dodge Motor Company in 1914. Mason moved to Chrysler Corporation and was in charge of manufacturing during the years 1921 through 1926. That experience provided the automotive background Chrysler was convinced would satisfy Charlie Nash.

At the end of negotiations, the two corporations merged into the new firm of Nash-Kelvinator, with Charlie as chairman of the board and George Mason as president and general manager.

Not the least of George Mason's attributes was his Masonic affiliation. George, born on March 12, 1891, became a member of Palestine Lodge No. 357 in Detroit, Michigan. He received his EA Degree on January 26, 1915, his FC Degree on February 15, 1915, and was raised on March 12, 1915.

It was a great source of satisfaction for Charlie Nash to be able to relinquish hands-on management of Nash Motor Company with more advance orders for 1937 model cars than ever before in the company's history. Nash was able to retire to his Beverly Hills home with the company emerging from the shadow of the Great Depression, and a future that promised even greater achievements. Jesse and Charlie would have time to enjoy the fruits of his great fortune, and do a little hunting and fishing - his favorite recreational activity. Their marriage had been blessed with three daughters. Two married executives of the Nash Company-, namely C. Haskell Bliss, Nash's vice president of sales; and James T. Wilson, vice president of production. Mrs. Wilson passed away in 1944. The third daughter, Mrs. Mac Brenton, resided with her family in Beverly Hills.

Charlie was inducted into the Automobile Manufacturers Association of America's "Automotive Hall of Fame" in 1946. Nash joined nine other cerebrated pioneers of the industry, a list which included the names of Henry Ford, Billy Durant, and Ransom Olds. The association yearbook for 1946 was titled "Ten Great Men Of Detroit."

Only a year later, a Flint~ Michigan newspaper, dated August 19, 1947, carried the news that Mrs. Jesse Halleck Nash had died at her Beverly Hills home. She was 83 years of age, and 64 of those years had been devoted to the great Charles Warren Nash, her beloved husband.

Charlie survived Jesse less than a year. He passed away at age 84, on June 6, 1948. His funeral was conducted at Forest Lawn Park, in Glendale, California, with entombment in a Forest Lawn mausoleum. The news of his demise was followed immediately with a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and praise from a legion of business leaders throughout the United States, and by scores of automotive workers who had worked side by side with their friend, Charlie. The stipulations of his will and the distribution of benevolent gifts came as no surprise to anybody. Charlie had launched much of that activity years before.

Among Charlie's benevolent contributions were the foundation of the Nash Memorial Trade School in Boystown, Nebraska; almost a half million dollars toward a youth foundation building in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to which he later added an additional half million; a 70-acre site for the Kenosha Boy Scouts of America at Dyer Lake, Wisconsin; and a YMCA lodge constructed at Camp Manitowish, Wisconsin. He did not neglect his California community, making major contributions to the Pasadena Boys' Club, and to the Good Samaritan and Children's Hospitals in Los Angeles. Charlie proved his faith in the future of the younger generation, and shared his wealth to demonstrate his support.

Nash-Kelvinator prospered under the management of George W. Mason, and rendered invaluable service to our country during the days of World War IL Emerging to new marketing challenges after the war, Mason proved equal to the task.* The company became identified with an economy-size car in the postwar marketplace. Charlie Nash had long been convinced there was a huge untapped market in the small-car field, and Mason shared his convictions. There were also troubles in the industry in which Nash-Kelvinator had a role. Studebaker, Packard, and Hudson car companies were in desperate financial straits by the time Charlie passed away in 1948. Stifling competi7 tion from the "big three," General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler, were threatening to drive the "independents" out of the marketplace.

Nash-Kelvinator introduced their long-awaited mini-car in 1954. it was a departure from normal planning and development procedures, and there were numerous design changes before its public debut. During 1954, a merger between Nash-Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Company, on May 1, 1954, was completed prior to the debut of the new mini-car. The name adopted by the two merging automotive manufacturers was American Motors Corporation (AMC). The new model was designated the American Motors Metropolitan. It made a major impact in the economy market, and remained in production until 1962. During those years, as an import, it was second in sales only to the Volkswagen "Beetle." Yes, the Metropolitan was built under contract with the Austin Motor Company, Ltd., of Birmingham, England. It was a far cry from the days when the Nash Motor Company made 93% of their own production parts. It was George W. Mason's last major project as Charlie's successor. He passed away on October 8, 1954. George W. Romney replaced Mason as chairman of the board of AMC. He had been a former executive vice president of Nash-Kelvinator, and was a former governor of Michigan. The original Nash Motor Company was history, along with many of the great traditions established by its founder.

Few men have left a more important legacy to American industry than Charles Warren Nash. In addition to being a self-made superstar of industry, he was one of the most beloved men to head a large, successful corporation. He was truly the Horatio Alger of the automotive giants. Totally devoid of parental nurturing or training, he climbed to the highest rung of the financial and industrial ladder simply through his own initiative. He was a man of the highest moral and ethical fiber, and was never known to compromise those character traits. Without the shadow of a doubt, when Charlie surrendered the reins of Nash Motor Company in 1937, the heart of a great automotive tradition slowly stopped beating. Today, in retrospect, all that remains for us to do is to proudly acknowledge Charlie Nash as a brother!

Reference and Information Source

Inasmuch as there are no published biographies listed on Charles W. Nash, private sources of information were indispensable in the preparation of this article. Sincere appreciation is expressed to the following individuals for their fine contributions:

Editor David W. Brownell of "Special Interest Autos" Magazine, published at Benning, Vermont. Information from issues dated April, 1993; June, 1995; and February, 1997.Mr. Arch Brown, Chico, California, for use of his unpublished paper entitled, "America's Real-Life Horatio Alger: Charles W. Nash".

The Public Library of Flint, Michigan, and the courtesies of Ms Linda Oaklander, Librarian, for making available their extensive historical files.

The archives of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, F. &A.M.

"The Metropolitan Story" by Patrick R. Foster, published by Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin, 1996

"Ten Thousand Famous Freemasons", Volume III, by William R. Denslow, published by the Missouri Lodge of Research, 1959.

General Systems Theory and Lodge Management P12

by Owen M. McKinney, MPS

Freemasonry has been facing many problems in recent years. some of them are prior existing, but possibly at a greater extent, such as loss of membership. Others like computer games, the internet, satellite television, video tapes, etc. are certainly recent creations. These may be new, but they are but a part of a history of competing activities to keep someone from joining a lodge, or participating beyond a cursory effort. The problem with these current activities is not that they exist, but that so many are available all the time!

Freemasonry certainly recognizes that it has problems, and that they must be faced. Most Masters and Grand Masters in recent years have acknowledged this by developing agendas to focus their efforts during their terms to address these problems. What this paper intends to do is suggest an approach to planning generally lacking in comprehensiveness and effectiveness. What this paper intends to do is introduce the reader to the notions of the General Systems Theory and Systems Sciences. The ideas contained in General Systems Theory, Living Systems, and Systems Sciences can aide Freemasonry in weathering these "storms." These ideas have been effectively introduced into various sciences, and even into management and leadership styles.

Ludwig von Bertalariffy developed the basic notions of systems theory, and gave it a name. BertalanfFy developed his ideas over the first half of this century. His ideas were developed bew fore cybernetics, systems engineering, and the internet. Though the word "system," itself, was not emphasized, the history of his concepts include many illustrious names. "As 'natural philosophy,' we may trace it lack to Liebnitz, to Nicholas of Cusa with coincidence of opposites; to the mystic medicine of Paracelsus; the Vico's and ibn-Khaldun's vision of history as a sequence of cultural entities or 'systems, ; to the dialectic of Marx and Hegel, to mention but a few names from a rich panoply of thinkers" (Bertalanffy, 1968, 11). In 1924 Kohler's notions of "physical gestalten" pointed towards a general systems theory, but didn't develop his notions to fully address the generality of it (Kohler, 1924). Three years later, though, Kohler did raise the idea of a systems theory, but it still wasn't fully developed (Kohler, 1927, 112).

It wasn't until A. J. Lotka's classic, Elements of Physical Biology, which was printed in 1925, that the notion of systems theory blossomed into a complete concept. The field of systems sciences is indebted to him for his basic formulations. Lotka did, indeed, originate a general concept of systems. Unfortunately, being a statistician, his interest lied in population problems. His concepts did not fully develop in application.

From this point on, various personalities added to this developing field of study. Whitehead's notion of "organic mechanism" (1925), Canon's work in homeostasis (1929 & 1932), the organismic conception of Claud Bernard, who was a 19th Century French physiologist, and Bertalanflys own developing ideas from as early as the 1920s.

Originally systems theory attempted 99 scientific interpretation and theory where previously there was none, and higher generality than that in the special sciences" (Bertalanffy, 1968, 4). "Classical' system theory aims to state principles which apply to systems in general or defined subclasses (e.g. closed and open systems), to provide techniques for their investigation and description, and to apply these to concrete cases" (Bertalanffy, 1968, 19). General Systems thinking "precedes the disciplinary studies-and sometimes bypasses them, or integrates them" (Weinberg, 1975, x). "General systems theory offers a vocabulary of both terms and concepts applicable to systems of all types, with the terms and concepts drawn from many different ones" (Sutherland, 1973, 19).

Out of this general system developed many subsystems. The International Society for the Systems Sciences, which traces its roots back to Bertalanffy, has many special interest groups within its overall structure to study various subsystems. Some of the areas include Duality Theory, Chaos Theory, Hierarchy Theory, Legal and Political Systems, Systems Theory in Evolution and Emergence, Informatics and Communication Systems, Business/Industrial Systems Application, Systems Studies of Climatic Change, Systems Psychology and Psychiatry, Medical and Health Systems, Systems Design in Education, Systems Approaches to Intelligence, and many more.

There's even a Living Systems Theory, which is the brain-child of James Grier Miller (1978), former president of the University of Louisville. During Miller's tenure, the University of Louisville had a Systems Science Institute for graduate study in the field. Unfortunately, it no longer exists. Many useful studies (theses and dissertations) were forthcoming from this program in a wide range of applications.

Living Systems considers similarities among various levels of systems. Types of living systems have been categorized with the following terms from smallest to largest: the cell, the organ, the organism, the group, the organization, society, and the supra-national system. At each hierarchical level, there are many similarities, and it's within living systems theory that these similarities are identified, and compared. These similarities include ideas of how energy is brought into the system, how waste is removed, feedback, information transmittal and decoding, growth, and many, many more. The basic idea here is that a particular function or process is in the system at each level. For example, at the national level, food is transported to areas where people need it by railroads, boats, and trucks along highways and streets. At the organism level, food is moved through the body by blood being moved through a system of veins and arteries. At each level, there are multiple variables of each of 19 matter-energy and information processing subsystems, normal and pathological states of these variables, and practical indicators for measuring changes in them (Miller, 1978).

Of particular note for this paper is the organization level. This is because both the lodge and the Grand Lodge would be classified as organizations on the hierarchical scale. They are significantly different in size, but their nature is organizational.

Over the past decade, or so, we have been witnessing a similarity in concepts in both business and science. It seems that the lines of demarcation no longer segregate as they once did. Scientist and businessmen are using a surprisingly similar vocabulary to describe events taking place in their fields. New ways of thinking about organizations have been emerging. "This relationship between business and science goes back many years. Although in many ways Newtonian thinking unwittingly inspired organizational design, science was brought deliberately into management theory and credited with giving it more validity in the era of 'scientific management' in the early years of this century. Frederick Taylor, Frank Gilbreth, and hosts of their followers led the efforts to engineer work, creating time-motion studies for efficiencies and breaking work into discrete task that could be done by most untrained workers. Though we may have left behind some of the rigid, fragmented structures creatcd during that time, we have not in any way abandoned science as the source of most of our operating principles. Planning, measurement, motivation theory, organizational design-each of these and more bears the recognizable influence of science" (Wheatley, 1994, 140).

"For many years, the prevailing maxim of management stated: 'Management is getting work done through others.' The important thing was the work; the 'others' were nuisances that needed to be managed into conformity and predictability. Managers have recently been urged to notice that they have people working for them. They have been advised that work gets done by humans like themselves, each with strong desires for recognition and connectedness. The more they (we) feel part of the organization, the more work gets done" (Wheatley, 1994, 144).

Leadership skills have also taken on a relational slant. Leaders are being encouraged to include stakeholders, to evoke fellowship, to empower others. Employees are being given more opportunities to manage themselves, school administrators try to empower teachers to be more effective, teachers try to empower the student to become all that he or she can become, and the list goes on.

In days past, managers focused on the tasks that had to be accomplished. People were considered as problems to be overcome in order to complete the job. Today's leadership is focusing on the relationships. "Leadership is always dependent on the context, but the context is established by the relationships we value. We cannot hope to influence any situations without respect for the complex network of people who contribute to our organizations" (Wheatley, .1994, 144-45).

As Margaret Wheatley (1994, 146) wrote, "everywhere in nature, order is maintained in the midst of change because autonomy exists at local levels. Sub-units absorb change, responding, adapting. What emerges from this constant flux is that wonderful state of global stability. Rather than developing pockets of stability and incrementally building them into a stable organization, nature creates ebbs and flows of movement at all levels. These movements merge into a whole that can resist most of the demands for change at the global level because the system has built into it so much internal motion. The motion of these systems is kept in harmony. by a force we are just beginning to appreciate: the capacity for self-reference. Instead of whirling off in different directions, each part of the system must remain consistent with itself and with all other parts of the system as it changes."

"More than any other science principle I've encountered," wrote Wheatley (1994, 146), self-reference strikes me as the most important. It conjures up such a different view of management and promises solutions to so many of the dilemmas that plaque us: control, motivation, ethics, values, change. Perhaps self-reference is the best tool for leaving behind the clocklike world of Newton. If management practice is ever to be simplified into one unifying principle, I believe it will be found in self-reference."

Banathy (1992) noted several changes that occurs in planning, management, and organization when systems are considered rather than traditional methods. Taylor's scientific method of management was effective when organizations were considered to be closed systems that produced items. Systems thinking allows one to consider the organization as an open system with a multiplicity of relationships in which the goal is managing complexity. "Inspired by the CartesianNewtonian scientific world view, disciplined inquiry during the last three hundred years has sought understanding by taking things apart, seeking the 'ultimate part,' and groping to see or reconstruct the whole by viewing the characteristics of its parts. This reductionist orientation was not able to grasp 'wholeness,' which emerges from the interaction of the parts, where the part gets its meaning from the whole and by its interaction with all other components of the whole. Thus, today we realize that the reductionist method of analysis had to be complemented with synthesis and with expansionism, aimed at understanding larger and larger wholes in which our systems of interest are embedded" (Banathy, 1992, 5). "The unidirectional cause and-effect thinking-a key marker of traditional science-is defeated in the face of our understanding of the S counter-intuitive' nature of complex, dynamic systems. These systems-such as human activity systems-have too many interactive variables to be treated with a single linear causational notion. We know now that in such systems the dynamics of multiple, mutual, and recursive causation operate" (Banathy, 1992,6).

"Both the closed- and open-systems approaches are utilized in modern organization theory and practice. However, in to days dramatically changing environment an open-systems approach is becoming much more relevant and meaningful. The key for viewing organizations as open systems is the recognition of the external environment as a source of significant input. In systems terminology, the boundaries of the organization are permeable to the external environment (social, legal, technical, economic, and political)" (Luthans, 1989, 577).

Masonic management is steeped in tradition from the ritual, and from the long apprenticeship one must serve before becoming a real decision-maker within the lodge. Changes are slow to come about because of the bylaws and constitution, tradition of doing things in a particular way, the ever vocal sideline of Past Masters, a sometimes too evident lack of vision, and lodge politics. The Fellowcraft Degree admonishes us to study the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic) and Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy). Together they make up the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences. It is the premise of this paper that our Masonic leadership should be studying systems, too.

Systems thinking would allow them to consider the whole organization. It would allow them to consider the longrange effects of the lodge's current actions. Likewise, it would allow longrange planning for the good health and survival of the lodge. It would allow the lodge to see its relationship to the community it functions in. It would allow the lodge to understand that the relationship with the community is not one, but many, many different relationships that are ever changing. Systems thinking would allow the lodge to understand that when it does do something, it is similarly not doing something that may be just as important. Systems thinking would allow the lodge leaders to become proactive in planning, rather than reactive. Systems thinking would allow the leaders to prioritize the lodge's objectives from a totality perspective rather than a skewed one. Personal agendas would become hard pressed to exist within a systems thinking lodge. A systems thinking lodge would not forget about its brethren who have gone to that house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Nor would it forget its widows on "family night." It would not forget that special relationship between fathers and sons. It would not forget the sacrifices so many Masons have made in defending this great nation. It would actually be able to develop a real budget for the year, rather than simply reacting to the bills that come before the lodge. The Master of a systems thinking lodge would not dare start his year as Master without a complete, detailed agenda for the entire year. A systems thinking lodge would be aware of its need for good publicity in the community. It would be visiting its members in the hospitals, nursing homes, and those confined at home for various reasons. Even beyond that, it would check on members who haven't been coming regularly. The lodge might be able to help the brother be able to come to lodge. The systems lodge would have an educational program for the year, as well as, a leadership development program for those going through the chairs and those contemplating such a move. It would have a program to thank its members who go above and beyond the call of duty. It would have a communications system (newsletter, telephone calls, etc.) to keep the membership abreast of lodge activities.

It would not be within the purview of a short paper, as this is, to identify all the elements that would make up a systems thinking lodge. Though many examples were provided, they were provided to give a sense of what systems thinking can do for a lodge rather than make a checklist of a complete systems thinking lodge.

None-the-less, if a lodge developed . Systems thinking, it would have ideas of how to become more meaningful and valuable to its members. Membership would not be declining, but increasing! The lodge would be fulfilling needs that would make the membership want to come back each time the lodge had a meeting or activity. The member would value his membership. In fact, the family would value the membership. This would enhance overall membership levels in time because the children of such members would be coming to Masonry and Masonic-related groups for their own memberships. Likewise, membership would be enhanced because the current membership would be so enthusiastic it would begin to truly be a living example of Masonry to its friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

From this paper one might get the impression that systems thinking and systems science are panaceas for all the ills facing Freemasonry today. It can be to the degree that it is implemented and maintained. Systems thinking is not an end to be reached, but an on-going process. It is a premise of this paper that Freemasonry would be enhanced to the degree systems thinking is applied to it. Not only do these ideas apply to the lodge, but they also apply to the Grand Lodge

References

Banathy, B. H. (1992). A Systems view of education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Bertalanffy, L. V. (1968). General system theory. NY. George Braziller.

Cannon, W. B. (1929). "Organization for physiological homeostasis," Physiological Review, 9.

Cannon, W. B. (1932). 7he wisdom of the body. NY. W. W. Norton and Company.

Kohler, W. (1924). Die physischengestalten in ruhe und im stationaren zusfand.

Erlangen.

Kohler, W. (1927). "Zum problem der regulation," Roux's Arch.

Laszlo, E. (Ed.) (1972). 7he relevance of general systems theory. NY: George Braziller.

Lotka, A. J. (1925). Elements of plysical biologv. NY. Dover, 1956.

Luthans, F. (1989). Organizational behavior. NY. McGraw-Hill.

Miller, J. G. (1978). Living systems. NYMcGraw-Hill.

Sutherland, J. W. (1973). A general systems philosophy for the social and behavior at sciences. NY. George Braziller.

Weinberg, G. M. (1975). An introduction to general sytems thinking. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Weiss, P. A. (1971). Hierarchically organized systems in theory and practice. NY- Haftier Publishing Company.

Wheatley, M. J. (1992). Leadership and the new science. San Francisco: BerrettKoehler Publishers, Inc.

Whitehead, A. N. (1925). Science and the modern world NY. Macmillan Company,1953.

From Maine To Canada To Australia: P16

Masonic Ideals and Punishment In 1830

A Paper Presented at the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Philalethes Society, Bangor, Maine, 19 September 1998

by Wallace McLeod, FPS

INTRODUCTION

At the time of the American Revolution, not very many Europeans lived in Ontario. There were a few French traders, three more or less ruined forts at the sites of Kingston, Toronto, and on the American side of the Niagara River, and a small settlement along the Detroit River. Otherwise the whole vast region was trackless forest and wilderness, tenanted only by Indians.

But towards the close of the Revolution, more settlers began to move in. The earliest Masonic record in what is now Ontario is the certificate, dated 1780, of Henry Nelles, a New Yorker who supported the British during the conflict; he was initiated in the Lodge in the King's Own Regiment of Foot. After the war many of those who had been on the losing side migrated north to Canada, so that they could remain under the familiar flag. More than 30,000 of them moved into the Atlantic colonies, 2000 settled in Quebec, and 7500 came to what is now Ontario.

And after this first influx, settlers kept coming in, both from the United States and from Britain. As a result the population increased so much that, in 1791, Ontario was made into a separate colony, with the name of Upper Canada. The first Governor was a veteran of the Revolution, Colonel John Graves Simcoe; he had been made a Mason in Union Lodge, No 307 on the English Register, in Exeter, England, in 1773. The inaugural session of his First Legislature was held in Freemasons' Hall, Niagara, Upper Canada, in 1792. During Simcoe's term, on July 9, 1793, his government passed a law forbidding the importation of slaves the first step towards freeing the African-Americans, seventy years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

But despite this evidence of progress, the traditions of government were very slow to change. There was an elected representative Assembly, but it could be overruled by two appointed bodies, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. By and large the authority tended to remain in the hands of a fairly restricted group. The man who was sent out as Governor in 1835 lacked both military and civil experience, and was, we are told, "entirely unfitted by temperament for dealing with a frontier community or with an Assembly that was demanding self-government."

There was a mildly radical party, who felt that the system was undemocratic, and wanted the government to be made more responsible to the citizens.They were known as the Reformers, and they called the ruling class the "Family Compact," and accused it of administering the country "according to its own good pleasure." (As so often happens in political disputes in democratic states, there were Masons on both sides.) Finally in 1837, things came to a head. There were several unsuccessful rebellions, and the next year there were invasions of "Patriots" who had escaped across the border.

Elijah Crocker Woodman: the First Forty Years (1797-1837)

Let us took at one of these Patriots in more detail. Elijah Crocker Woodman was born in Buxton, in southern Maine, on September 22, 1797. In February of 1819, he married Apphia Elden, of Buxton, and they proceeded to have seven children. He was a farmer and lumberman by occupation. He was initiated into Masonry in Phoenix Lodge, No 24, Belfast, Maine, on September 20, 1820, two days before his twenty-third birthday. He was Passed to the Second Degree three months later, and Raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason after another month. Almost immediately he was made Junior Deacon of the Lodge (1821-22), but there is no record that he progressed any further.

In 1830 Woodman migrated to Upper Canada; whether he originally intended to pass on through and take up residence in the western U.S.A. is not clear. As things happened, he decided to stay in Canada. He settled on Otter Creek, near what is now Tillsonburg, and worked as a1umberman. He established a lumber mill there, and floated his timber down to Port Burwell, on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the creek, fifteen miles away. He brought his family to Canada in 1832, and that year their seventh child was born there.

These were not active days for Freemasonry in Upper Canada. The Provincial Grand Master, Simon McGillivray, was unable to visit his Province after 1825. Then there was the horrible Morgan affair in neighboring New York in 1826. The Masons were accused of abducting and murdering William Morgan, who had threatened to publish the full texts of their rituals. This generated a lot of hostility, gave rise to the Anti Masonic political party in the United States, and caused many lodges to close their doors. Inevitably, the effects of this disaster spilled over into Canada. Actually in May, 1837, the Provincial Grand Master had sent his Deputy out to investigate the situation, and to get things running smoothly. On his return to England, the Deputy submitted a very discouraging report. He had heard of only three lodges in the whole colony that were still active. At all events, there seems to have been no lodge that was working in Woodman's vicinity, so he was not able to maintain his Masonic connections. ,

After a couple of years, an economic depression overtook the colony. Even though Elijah Woodman had thousands of feet of cut timber in his mill and at the out-port, he was unable to sell it, because people simply didn't have the money. In 1836 he went broke, and had to give up his mill. He moved to the village of London, thirty-five miles further west. We don't know how he managed to survive.

There was a Masonic Lodge in London, Mount Moriah, No 20 on the Provincial Register; it did hold two meetings early in 1836, before going into recess for nine years. Woodman's name does not appear in the minutes, but apparently he was a close friend of several of the members, if one may judge from the similarity of names. In September 1837, while he was in Detroit, Woodman was in contact with a Canadian named William Putnam, and in fact he delivered a message from Putnam's brother Joshua, who was still in London District. Joshua Putnam had served as Secretary of Mount Moriah Lodge in 1829, and William Putnam was its Master in 1834. Moreover, in August, 1838, Woodman wrote to his wife, naming two friends whom she should consult for advice if it became necessary for her to leave home, one was Mr. Van Buskirk. H. Vanbuskirk had been Passed to the Second Degree in Mount Moriah Lodge on September 1, 1835. In 1843 Woodman's family was living in a house south of London that belonged to Mr Odell. Joshua S. Odell's home had been the meeting place of the Lodge in 1830, and he served as Tyler in 1836.

Disaster (1837-1839)

A year after Woodman's move to London, the violence broke out. On December 4, 1837, north of Toronto, there was one unsuccessful armed uprising against the government. A few days later, plans were laid for another one near London. But this one was anticipated by the Loyalists, and fifteen of the "Patriots" were captured. Fresh arrests soon followed, and many Reformers, even if they had" played no part in the planned rebellion, found themselves imprisoned. There were of course Masons on the "Patriot" side. The actual leader of the abortive uprising was Dr Charles Duncombe, who had been the first Master of Mount Moriah Lodge, in 1820.

After the Reformer prisoners had been placed in jail in London, Woodman visited them and tried to provide for some of their needs. On June 9, 1838, he too was arrested, on the charge of "furnishing prisoners with knives and files to enable them to break out of their cells." After about ten weeks he was released, but then four days later he was arrested again. "These rascally proceedings made me a rebel," he later wrote, and he decided to leave the province. Actually he went as far as Wisconsin, but came back to Detroit in the fall months of 1838, with the intention of moving his family into the United States.

Woodman was by no means the only Patriot who escaped across the border. There were quite a number of.them. And several times that year they invaded Canada with the assistance of American "Liberators." (This was actually the third time that Canada was invaded from the States - the first two being 1775 and 1813.) As one of the Liberators subsequently wrote, "I entered the Patriot service with the best of intentions, only wishing that our Canadian neighbors might, in the end, enjoy the same civil, religious, and political freedom, with which the citizens of the United States are blessed." In June of 1838 came the Short Hills Raid, an incursion across the Niagara River. The colonel and commissary-general was Bro. Samuel Chandler, of the settlement of St John in the Niagara District. He was the first of the raiders to be captured.

The biggest fiasco of the whole dreary sequence was the invasion from Detroit, and the battle at Windsor in which Elijah Woodman took part. On December 4. 1838, the Patriot army crossed the Detroit River and landed at Windsor. The commander was Major General Lucius Verus Bierce of Akron, Ohio, who on this occasion displayed neither courage nor leadership. (He subsequently became Grand Master of Ohio, in 1853.) The Second-in-Command was Woodman's Masonic friend, Brigadier-General William Putnam, who was killed in the battle. Within 48 hours, Woodman himself was captured, and imprisoned in Sandwich jail. Other Masons in the ill-fated venture included two American Liberators, Chauncey Sheldon of Utica, Michigan, and Samuel Snow of Strongsville, Ohio.

On January 4, 1839 Woodman was transferred to London. On January 18, he and Chauncey Sheldon, the last two prisoners, were brought to trial; they were found guilty of violence against the state, and condemned to death. (Altogether, 43 of these prisoners were condemned to death, and at least five were actually hanged.) But the new Governor of Upper Canada, appointed in March of 1838, was Sir George Arthur, who had arrived from Australia, where he had been governor of Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land) since May 1824. And so, on March 27, the punishment for 18 prisoners was changed from death to transportation.

In fact, 58 prisoners from Lower Canada (now Quebec), and 92 from Upper Canada (now Ontario) were sent to the penal colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. These people included at least four Masons, Chauncey Sheldon, Samuel Snow, Elijah Woodman, and Samuel Chandler (the prisoner from the Short Hills Raid).

From Canada To Tasmania (1839-1847)

From the notes that Woodman kept, we can trace the slow progress of his journey. On April 2, he left London for Toronto. At the end of May, he moved to Kingston. On September 23, he left Kingston for Quebec, and on his arrival, four days later, he was immediately transferred on board FLM.S. Buffalo, which ultimately held 144 prisoners. The ship at once set sail, and on November 12, it crossed the equator. On December 28, it doubled the Cape of Good Hope. And finally, on February 13, 1840, after a voyage of four and a half months, it landed at Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land.

For the next two years Elijah Woodman worked in "road gangs." We have descriptions of what was involved here. There were teams of four to six men; it was their job to pull a cart full of stones, weighing close to a ton, from the quarry to the work-site, a distance that might measure as much as two miles, over rough and unfinished roads. They were expected to draw at least twelve such loads a day. Woodman tells us that he worked like this successively at Sandy Bay, Lovely Banks, Green Ponds Station, and Bridgewater.

Finally, after two years of hard labor and satisfactory behavior, on February 15, 1842, Woodman was given a measure of personal liberty, by being granted what is called a ticket of leave to work elsewhere. This allowed him to get a job on the estate of Hon. William Kermode, of Mona Vale.

During his stay, there are occasional indications of his Masonic attitude, and sporadic mentions of his Masonic colleagues. In a fragment of a journal dated April 3, 1840, he expresses his worry about his family, and adds the words, "All I can do is to pray the Chief Architect to preserve, protect and dircct them." In 1841, we are told, his fellow-Mason Chandler escaped from Hobart by sea, "assisted at various stages by fellow-Masons" whom he had approached. The others lingered on. Finally, early in 1844 Bros. Elijah Woodman, Chauncey Sheldon, and Samuel Snow addressed a joint petition to the Master, Wardens, and members of Tasmanian Operative Lodge, No. 345 under the Irish Constitution, at Hobart, asking for help in finding work. In November of that year Sheldon and Snow were pardoned, and at once they started for home. On September 1, 1845, they got to Honolulu on board the whaling ship Stieglitz. After he reached home, Samuel Snow wrote a thirty-two page pamphlet on his adventures, called The Exile's Return; or a Narrative ofSamuel Snow, wbo was banisbed to Van Diemen's Land, for participating in the Patriot War, in Upper Canada, in 1838. (It was published at Cleveland, in 1846).

Woodman was less fortunate. His pardon did not come through until July 23, 1845. By that time his health was broken, and he could not arrange his passage home. He was ill and destitute. On July 8, 1845, he had "approached the Masonic lodge in Hobart, oudining his connection with the fraternity." Bro. John Shick began to bring him a weekly allowance of four shillings. On one occasion several brethren visited him, and, as he says, "They also examined me, to prove that I was a master mason which I did to their satisfaction."

The Ordeal Ends (1847)

Finally, on February 8, 1847, the Captain of the Young Eagle, a whaling ship, agreed to take Woodman home. When at last he was preparing to go on board, the members of the Tasmanian Operative Lodge set about collecting the warm clothing, the medicines, and the petty comforts he would need for the long voyage. Before departing Woodman wrote a brief note to his Masonic brethren. "I return you my sincere thanks for your charitable kindness toward me in making me comfortable on my passage home. I do not know how to express myself in terms suitable for the occasion. My feeble pen fails and my feelings are better felt then described.... I now leave you, praying God to protect our Institution and to overshadow the brethren with his tender care and protection."

It was on March 1, 1847, that he finally boarded the ship. One may well imagine that he was tempted to echo Samuel Snow's parting words,

Farewell, Van Dieman, ruin's gate,

With joy we leave thy shore:

And fondly hope our wretched fate

Will drive us there no more.

By now Woodman had several severe medical problems, including tuberculosis. His condition deteriorated, and on April 13, he was no longer able to write his diaries, but began to dictate them. By June 6 he was no longer able even to dictate. On June 13 he died, and two days later he was buried at sea. Not long after, the ship was wrecked; by some miracle, the notes he had written managed to survive.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, things had become somewhat better. As a result of the troubles of 1837-38, the British government had sent out a notable Mason, the Earl of Durham, as Governor in 1838; he had been initiated into Masonry in Granby Lodge, No 124, Durham, in 1814. On his return to England from Canada, he presented detailed recommendations as to how the problems should be dealt with. In effect, Lord Durham's Report, we are told, "set the pattern for granting responsible representative government" to the British colonies overseas.

As a matter of fact, in Hobart, Tasmania, there are two historical plaques erected by the Canadian government to commemorate the 92 prisoners from Canada who were exiled for their part in the rebellion and the invasions of 1837 and 1838. 'Their struggle," one of the inscriptions tells us, "was a significant factor in the evolution of responsible government in Canada and Australia." Is that a confession that it was wrong of us to punish these criminals? So here, in Elijah Crocker Woodman, 1837 and 1838. "Their struggle," one of the inscriptions tells us, "was a significant factor in the evalution of responsible government in Canada and Australia." Is that a confession that it was wrong of us to punish these criminals? So here, in Elijah Crocker Woodman, we have a man who felt a certain sympathy for those who protested against what they perceived to be oppressive government excesses, who was driven to violence by the injustices inflicted on him because of this sympathy, who was sentenced to a punishment that seems to us excessive today, who was transported thousands of miles away from his family, who was forced to do physical labor that eventually destroyed his health, but who seems to have preserved his Masonic ideals, and was helped by the Masons in a far-off land. Once again, as so often, we find Masonic lessons in the lives of our predecessors.

NOTES

This talk is somewhat abbreviated from "An Exile from Canada to Van Diemen's Land,"

W. McLeod, The Quest for Light (Melbourne, 1997), pages 184-191. The main source for information about Elijah Woodman is Fred Landon, An Exilefrom Canada to Van Diemen's Land- Being the story of Elyah Woodman transported overseas for participation in the Upper Canada troubles of 1837-38 (Toronto, 1960). The writer is grateful to John E. Anagnostis, Past Grand Master and Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Maine, for providing details about Woodman's Masonic career. He is also indebted to Bros. Murray Yaxley and Jeffery Boyes, of Hobart, Tasmania, for taking him to see the two Canadian memorials to the exiles, at Battery Point and Sandy Bay.

In Memory of P19

Robert V. Osborne, F.P.S.

(1916-1998)

Past President of

The Philalethes Society

Robert Vandervoort Osborne was born on October 16, 1916, in Racine, Wisconsin. After attending the Racine Military Academy, he went on to Northwestern University, where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1937. He began his career as an Engineer at the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation in Illinois. After his return to Racine, he became the Vice President of Lakeside Malleable Castings Company. Then he and his brother Lucien founded the Ridgeway Manufacturing Corporation, and he continued as its President until his death.

He was Raised a Master Mason in Racine Lodge, No 18, and became Grand Master of Wisconsin in 1968. He was extremely active in many of the concordant and appendant Masonic bodies, and presided over -a number of them. In October 1961, he was welcomed as a member of the Philalethes Society, and in February 1968 he attended the meeting in Washington, while he was still serving as Grand Master. He was chosen as Second Vice President early in 1970, following the sudden death of Andrew J. White, Jr (who had been P.G.M. of Ohio). Bro. Osborne rose to be first Vice President in December 1972, and in February 1973 he organized the work -shop at the Washington meeting; he selected five distinguished Masons, who delivered papers suggesting how Freemasons in general, and the Philalethes Society in particular, might participate in the Bicentennial Celebration of the United States of America.

When the President of the Society, Bro. William E. Yeager (P.G.M. of Pennsylvania), died on April 8, 1974, Bro. Osborne became President, and he served until 1976.

His main interests did not lie in the areas of research or writing, but his high profile as a Mason, and his support for our Society provided welcome publicity for it, and helped to recruit new members; one of his friends reported that "he not only carries applications but he also actively urges Wisconsin Masons to join the Society." Largely through his efforts, the total membership increased by 30 per cent during the years 1974-1976, rising to 1918.

He was a lifelong member of St Luke's Episcopal Church in Racine. He passed to the Grand Lodge Above on November 27, 1998, in Racine, at the age of eighty-two. He is survived by his wife of forty-five years, Mary Lois (nee Marcal), and their four children, Consuela (of Corrales, New Mexico), Robert (of Oak Creek, Wisconsin), Beatriz (of San Francisco), and David (of Franksville, Wisconsin). To them we express our sympathy.

Wallace McLeod, FPS

A Tour Guide in a Masonic Garden

by Dan Weatherington, MPS

The Tour Guide of the Recent Past speaks of numbers and how it used to be. He tells how garden overflowed in red and blue and the green of spring. And while he says there was color as far as the eye could see, he never mentions that blooms were found on only about one flower in three. The Tour Guide of Ritual describes in exacting detail how each flower should be. He tells the precise arrangement and how to display of the rose of integrity, the hyacinth of character, and the Lilly of honor. Yet... he never mentions the sun, or the soil, or the rain.

The Tour Guide of History shows us the magnificent flowers of our past. And gives evidence of that the blooms are unequaled. The petals are perfect, the foliage complete. Yet ... the garden is small ... the flowers are few.

The Tour Guide of Reality is the one we most avoid. He doesn't ask us to see how it was, or how it really should be. He points to a few glorious flowers among brambles and thorns and asks that we stoop to cultivate, and dig, and weed.

"There," he says "is found Freemasonry. It's not in history, or numbers, or even fellowship and funnies in honesty, integrity and being someone to call on when things don't go right. It's someone to be there when the fun is over and the buddies are gone. It's not someone to tell you how it used to be or how we can do it again. It's an outstretched hand when you need it, or a phone number to call. It's someone to talk to in a talking time and someone to be quiet within a quiet time. Masonry isn't being a buddy, a chum or a pal who won't be there at the end of the day. It's being a friend never more than a phone call away."

An Address P20

by Stuart M. Cowan, MPS

I last found myself in New Orleans in 1973. It's a pleasure to be back and an honor to address this company at the request of my Pearl Harbor Brother, National Commander Jim Norris. Brother Jim was asked by a Hero of Scottish ancestry if it was okay to attend this function in highland dress. Jim said yes knowing I affect unusual dress at Masonic events but required me to speak to his reports that during our War of Independence, highland regiments fought under General Washington against the Crown, there being rumors of such units in South Carolina and Georgia. I enlisted the aid of the enquiring brother and historians learned in English and American history and did a little research of my own. I'll keep this rudimentary as Scottish history of this era is complicated indeed and besides many of you have seen Brave Heart and Rob Roy so know the intrigues of those days!

Briefly, under Robert the Bruce the Scots rebelled against the crown, soundly defeating the English at Bannockburn in 1314. The Brits began with a vastly superior army but fled the field leaving thirty thousand slain. It's been said that Knights Templar outlawed in 1307 by France's Philip IV were the deciding force on the side of Bruce and the good guys in this battle. Then following three centuries of continuous conflict, the Scots under Bonnie Prince Charlie were defeated by the English under butcher Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. Thereafter arms, kilt, tartan and bagpipes were outlawed by the Highland Clearances Act in force from 1747 to 1782. So how did highland regiments come to the English military.

I soon learned, that at the king's command at his court of St. James on 25 October 1739, one William Yonge put his signature to a document made out to "our right trusty and right well-beloved cousin, John, Earl of Crauford and Lindsay" allowing him to form six existing independent highland companies into a regiment. William then went to his dinner but from that moment, the famed Black Watch regiment came into being, most of its recruits from the three counties of Perth, Angus and Fife. These six highland companies had been formed years earlier to police the highlands and were already known as the "Black Watch"; black because of their somber tartans, contrasting with the red coats of regular British troops; watch because they were a guard rather than a military corps. These companies came from clans loyal to the house of Hanover, three of Campbells and one each of Frasers, Grants and Munros. The Frasers were commanded by their Chief, Lord Lovat. But Lovat was not well trusted. Six years later he was beheaded on Tower Hill for treason, thus having the dubious distinction of being the ignominious last to be so executed.

When constituted at Aberfeldy, the Black Watch donned red coats and blue bonnets with a red, white and green diced border, and later the red hackle. They wore a twelve-yard tartan plaid secured by a four inch wide ox leather belt fastened with a silver buckle and were armed with musket, bayonet and basket hilted broadsword. Some carried pistol, dirk and target. To be honest, I don't know if the Black Watch regiment took part at Culloden or no. But my pipe band plays a popular pipe tune called "All the Blue Bonnets Are Over the Border," though I don't know which border. Following Culloden tartan cloth was forbidden in the highlands, used only as an army recruiting inducement. In 1745, there were two highland regiments. By 1782 there were ten, while nine more had been raised and disbanded during that period. But great demand for tartan cloth had arisen in the new world colonies, where emigrant highlanders could still wear it. So it is highly likely given the many Scots-Irish immigrants through Philadelphia and south through Cumberland Gap and Appalachia in the early 1700's, many highland Scots were on the side of the revolutionaries when our conflict started in 1775. Other than this honored guests, my investigations the past two months have disclosed that there were many Scots kilted regiments engaged in the hostilities of the revolutionary war. But these apparently all wore red coats and fought on the other side. Therefore, as a hero of '76, 1 felt it unseemly to report the skirmishings of the Black Watch and other English regiments, no matter how heroic.

Because all this needs a Masonic design, I recollect to you that the Knights Templar existed publicly from 1197 to 1307. On Black Friday, 13 October 1307, to obtain their power and money, Philip declared them outlaw, confiscating their assets. The tale of their last Grand Master Jacques deMolay needs no retelling here. What is interesting is that neither the Templar treasures nor the Templar fleet has ever been found. But it has been verified that some Templars who received due and timely notice of impending doom, fled to Scotland signing on with Robert the Bruce. These Templars were "the cavalry charging over the hill" to defeat the English. With Templar help Bruce triumphed at Bannockburn in 1314. So early Masons, the Templars, then as now, took part in the preservation of liberty!

Freemasons fought on both sides of our Revolutionary War, from George Washington and Joseph Warren with the colonists, to Howe, Cornwallis and Clinton for the Crown, as they did in the Civil War between the States. And so after 2 10 years, we are all here in this room, together, one brotherhood, one nation. But we need also to address other recent concerns.

Early in December, I received an email message stating that "every so often something appears in my e~mail box that truly deserves dissemination. It is not a joke and if the below is not your cup of tea, use your delete button." [sic] It attached the recent testimony of Admiral Leon Edney, USN Retired, to the House Judiciary Committee. I read Admiral Edney's comments and did not push my delete key, his message being, in my humble judgment, too important to ignore. Commander Norris gave me leave to present portions of his statement here, because Admiral Edney's observations are so pertinent to problems in our country and our military today.

Admiral Edney holds the distinguished leadership chair at the Naval Academy teaching ethics, leadership and integrity development. His courses reflect the relevance and importance of these subjects to those charged with developing leadership in our officer corps. I* have edited his testimony as follows:

"We live in a society transmitting a confused message on the subject of ethics and integrity. When we look at American society today, the picture is discomforting. Approximately I out of 4 babies born is illegitimate and 25% of all children are raised by a single parent. Even in the declining base of traditional two parent families, both parents routinely work full time jobs. TV viewing is up 60% among our children. Scanning the Internet, not reading the classics, is a close second. Those interested in leadership and ethics development must ask this question: what ethical messages do our children get from TV talk shows, prime time violence and comic titillation on TV, and the Internet. You can buy books on how to cheat and succeed in most off-campus book stores. Recent surveys indicate 70% of college students admit cheating at least once. The suicide rate among teens is up 11% in the last 5 years. Crime and drugs are dominant factors in our cities; 50% of crime involves employees stealing from employers. These are the values and lessons of life transmitted to our youth. It is a message that implies: so what if it is wrong, everyone is doing it. This is the background from which come our entry level military.

Faced with this reality, the armed forces believe personnel must be inculcated with the requirement and expectation that military leadership must evolve from a foundation of trust and confidence. The ethics and int