MOOSEHEART MAGAZINE
22
innumerable were pledged. Scores of men were waiting in line in the middle aisle to get the ear of the chair.
The same lasted for a couple of hours. Some men pledged that Moose-heart would be remembered in their wills. It was all voluntarily, and the listing of fraternalism had no parallel.
Davis Gives $5,000.
When it was coming to an end James J. Davis, the giant of fraternalism, got the floor. He said that in the onrush he believed that at least $75,000 had been subscribed. He would add his subscription for $5,000.
The subscriptions, as a matter of fact, went far beyond $100,000.
The house broke loose anew.
At this juncture, Mayor Thompson, of Chicago, appeared and a few moments later Gov. Lowden. They saw the end of the wonderful scene. It had its effect on them.
At the end of Mayor Thompson’s speech he subscribed $50 a year for ten years. At the end of Governor Lowden’s speech, Governor Lowden subscribed $100 a year for the rest of his life.
No such patriotism of giving ever occurred in fraternal work before. It means a great new House of God at Mooseheart. It means a new birth for Moosedom.
subscribed $50 a year for 10 years for his Lodge, $50 a year for 10 years for his Legion, and for himself $50 a year for life.
Brother Rhyan, of Terre Haute, subscribed $100 for his Lodge, and for himself $100 a year for life in memory of his deceased wife.
Brother Carmody, of Trenton, N. J., pledged $300 for the nine men of Trenton Lodge who fell in the service of Uncle Sam.
Brother M. M. Garland of Pittsburgh gave $600 cash. The Supreme honors were accorded Brother Garland.
Through Brother Rafter, Toledo Lodge subscribed $1,000 and Brother Rafter said that immediately on his return home a Liberty Bond for that amount would be returned.
Brother Irvine changed the current by pledging $100 a year for life for any purpose the Governors of Moose-heart might desire to use it.
Brother Ford of Ft. Wayne, pledged $1,000 for his Lodge, $500 for his Legion and $50 a year for life for himself.
The tide moved on and on. Chas. A. A. McGee and Rodney H. Brandon subscribed $100 a year each for life. Scores of others did the same. Lodges
Brother Wilford on his $100 a year for ten years proposition and later changed it to life.
Ten men at a time tried to get the chair’s attention. The secretaries were swamped.
Brother Samuel Hart hit a new chord when he subscribed $100 a year for the rest of his life. Brother Giles named the same amount for each of the next ten years.
Col. Rucker gave a hundred dollars a year for the rest of his life. Brother James Geraghty subscribed $150 a year the rest of his life and Brother Walters of Pittsburgh stirred things by subscribing $1,000 outright and $100 a year the rest of his life.
In this article we are mentioning only occasional subscriptions, merely to indicate the drift of the tide that was becoming a flood of generous giving.
Lodges, Legions and most of all individuals were being pledged and cash and checks were flowing to the stage. Secretaries had to become bookkeepers and officers treasurers.
There was never before anything like it, though it started so innocently•
Brother Coulombe, Berlin, N. H.,
The total is $230. I wish to say, brothers, that our Lodges will support us in this donation, and may even come stronger; but if not, we individually, will see that the money reaches the Supreme officers within less than 30 days. I want to say in conclusion, brothers, God bless Moose-heart!”
The Outpouring Begins
Brother Lev had no idea of what would follow. Neither did any one else.
Following him Brother Osman, of Orange, N. J., got the chair’s attention and subscribed $100. Then a brother from Pullman, Wash, raised his Lodge’s subscription by $50.
Through Brother Egan, Newark Lodge raised its subscription for the church of God to $500, and then Col. Rucker led off the supervisors by a subscription of $100.
It was a tide in fraternal giving that was unloosed. The famous convention scenes of history were given another canvas and one that in many respects stood unmatched.
Brother Wilford struck a new note when he subscribed $100 a year for ten years. Brother Gahan of Arizona pledged $1,000 for Arizona Lodges.
Brother Lee Provol matched
Governor Frank O. Lowden Pays Tribute to Moosedom’s Service and to the Inspiration it has Given Him
fighting it when they introduce the spirit of brotherhood into the world, and emphasize that spirit, as no one else is fighting it. Co-operation, fraternity, a closer human relation between the men of earth, those are the things which are the best weapons against anarchy. The members in this organization, are gotten together in no spirit *f class distinction. No inquiry is made when a candidate presents himself but one, and that is, is the candidate a man ? Asking whether he be rich or whether he be poor, asking not what his occupation may be, discriminating against no one upon any ground except lack of character, this Order is doing more to give practical expression to the great fundamental truths of democracy and equality than I am able to say, or that any one, as I believe, would be able to compute. And so, I am coming here today, not so much to help you, as I am coming here to get help from you.
“I know that when I leave this hall I shall be able to face my duties such as they are with finer purposes, with a better optimism, with surer hope, for the future than when I came. I wish I could have been here at your early sessions. I wish I could have seen that spontaneous outburst of generosity on the part of the delegates who are here assembled. I would like to have witnessed that divine rivalry among you as to who should be the first to do something more for the Moose and for Moose-heart. It must have been an inspiration to all. I was not here, but I am a member in good standing of this Order, and I do not intend to be deprived of any of my rights because I was not here at that time. I am sure I have paid my dues down to the present and that I have just as much right as any one else, and I want to say that I would like to be recorded—I think I will not make it for a fixed number of years; I think I will pay for life, because I know I am going to live longer the closer I keep to Mooseheart. I ask that along with some of the other brothers that you record me for $100 a year for the rest of my natural life.”
two things about the problems of peace and readjustment.
“We have won the greatest victory of the world, and upon a score, aye, more, bloody battle fields of Europe white crosses mark the graves in which lie our patriotic brethren who have given their all that our country and our institutions might endure. And yet our institutions, though peace has come, are in jeopardy. There are two classes of tyranny which are equally hateful to the American people. There is the tyranny of the throne and the armed despot. That is the tyranny which our forefathers escaped almost a century and a half ago. That is the tyranny at which the whole world cowered and shuddered during the five awful years that reach their close in November. Th-.t tyranny has always been hateful to the American people. But there is another tyranny which is equally a menace to the present time, and that is this imported brand of tyranny from Russia and from other lands; men, who come to teach us that our fathers were wrong and that our brothers have been wrong, when they have given their lives for our institutions. And they are teaching that a tyranny by soviet, a tyranny of a group of bol-shevists is better than the democracy in which we live, and in which all men, great and small, alike, are equal beneath our country’s flag. That tyranny which I fear has made headway in some of our centers is a tyranny which we must fight with the same devotion and the same patriotism that we fought with this other form of tyranny.
“The American people are against tyranny in any form, and whether it is the tyranny of the crowned monarch, or whether it is the tyranny of the mob, the American people are equally opposed, and will with equal courage and equal sacrifice fight their foe.
“And let me tell you something, this great Order is fighting it more effectively, whether they know it or not, than any other with which I am familiar. They are fighting it when they establish this great institution for the boys and girls of the members of the Order. They are
ago. I remember how new and finer policies of education had been worked out by your officers and your Council. I saw that the very flower of the best thought in the educational world was being given expression in the schools which teach the little boys and girls of Mooseheart.
“I saw at that Convention new ideas taking form which would ultimately influence all the world for better things, and I have always been able to refresh my soul at what I saw and hear. I owe Mooseheart and I owe this Order more than I shall ever be able to tell.
“And then a year ago I was with you. I remember how gloomy those hours were. Our powerful enemy was not far from Paris and our army and our allies’ armies \yere holding as best they could though the line was thin, dangerously thin at places. The sky was filled with gloom. We all wondered whether or not the monstrous doctrine that might is right, the doctrine opposed to every principle of this Order and every principle of our Government, could possibly prevail. We wondered if God would permit humanity to become the slave of brutal, despotic military power. It was a time of gloom, but in this very convention hall in the half unfinished stage though it was, I looked into your faces and got your message. I saw the spirit and the resolve which outlined every figure, and again I refreshed my courage in the presence of this great convention and went out with a new strength and a new ardor to do what I could that this great catastrophe should not engulf the world.
“Oh, my friends, you don’t know how much of courage, how much of hope., how much of benefit, I have received from members of the Moose Order. You are met to celebrate the victory, to celebrate the peace which we hope has come to stay, and I am glead to be with you again. I am glad to discuss with you some of the problems which grew out of the peace, I am not expected to speak long and I am aware that you have the most important events of the day yet to take place, yet I do want to say just one or
Governor Lowden’s address to the Moose Convention evoked the greatest enthusiasm. The Governor was introduced as a likely candidate for the Presidency, and didn’t deny it. He was frequently applauded. He said:
“It is always an event of the year for me when I can come before this great Convention. I am going to make a confession to you today; I want to be able from now on to start out with absolutely a clean conscience so far as this great Order is concerned.
“When. I was invited first to join the Order some years ago I was not particularly interested. I supposed it was like other Orders of which I was a member, and it was really perfunctory on my part when I consented to become a member. A little bit later I was invited to attend a meeting of the Lodge at Rockford. I went with a good deal of reluctance, because it was hard, difficult trip from my place,—the roads were bad,—but I went, and there I met Brother E. J. Henning. I heard him speak upon the purpose and the motives of the Moose. I was under a spell of more than half an hour. I found that every great pulsating emotion and thought which could move the heart to higher things was a part of the creed, and was the underlying spirit of this Order. I do not hesitate to say to you today that the impetus which I received from that meeting was one of the most beneficient influences that have come into my life in recent years. And then, in the Order I was invited to attend this place and see the beginnings of Mooseheart, and I came and spent the day and I went away with a new hope for the future of humanity and the world.
“I want to say to you today that I look upon Mooseheart as one of the great inspirational places upon this continent. I want to say to you today that more men and women are capable of renewing generous thoughts of youth; are more capable of gaining an inspiration for better service to the world at Mooseheart than almost any place I know.
“And then I have been attending your Convention for a number of years. I recall the one three years
Mayor Wm, Hale Thompson of Chicago, Tells the Moose to Continue in the Good Work for Children
days. I would like to have been here from the start to the finish of this Convention. But I am glad of the opportunity to grasp the few hours that I have had to come to you today, and
and drove on down here, so that I could just visit with you. I am sorry that the business of the mayor of Chicago has kept me from you during your deliberations of the past few
“I did not come to you today to attempt to make a speech. I left the city council in meeting assembled at 11:15 over which the mayor must preside, and jumped into my automobile,
The public meeting at two o’clock was addressed at that time by Mayor Thompson of Chicago. The Auditorium was jammed to standing room. Mayor Thompson said: