This is the largest loss we who live have seen of those we love passing away
into that silent land from whose bourne no traveler returns. I did not know
all personally but I share the sorrow their lodges and families have felt. I
know all of you shall remember our departed Brethren in your prayers.
I wish to thank the several lodges and many of the brethren who have given
their services assisting our sister jurisdictions that have lost members
residing in our jurisdiction. You have given your service far above monetary
values. We are thankful and proud of your interest and common concern for
all brothers of our Masonic family. We have also thanked our sister
jurisdictions who have assisted in burying our masonic dead.
Proper services will follow my address, by the Committee on Obituaries, for
our beloved dead.
We shall pause here for a moment of solemn silence to their cherished
memory. Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit you. The Lord
bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you
peace both now and evermore. Amen.
STATE OF THE CRAFT
I am thankful to report that peace and harmony is evident throughout our
jurisdiction. Progress has been made in all fields of endeavor. We thank the
Grand Architect for the many blessings granted to us this masonic year. We
are grateful, too, for the efforts and interest shown by these members who
have cooperated so enthusiastically in the culmination of many of our dreams
and aspirations. Without your willing heart our program would have surely
been a dismal failure.
I did not visit all the lodges of our jurisdiction individually this year
because we met many of the worshipful masters, wardens and brothers in our
district meetings. However the combined visits of the Grand Lecturer, R.W.
E.A. Douglas 33°
and myself encompasses every lodge. When individual visits
were requested by lodges we happily complied with the requests. In our
visitations to the lodges this year we have found a healthy interest growing
in the Grand Lodge activities and programming. This interest in programming
has revitalized individual lodge activities. Again this year I cannot stress
adequate programming too strongly. It is essential to a healthy lodge. The
choice in masonry is between strength and weakness. The craft is not in
danger of becoming extinct. It is in danger of becoming impotent. If enough
elevated secondary things to the place of primary importance then masonry
becomes a body without a soul. Organizations held together only by bonds of
sociability tend to disintegrate under stress. Those dedicated to devotion,
to ideas, survive under the pounding of any and all circumstances.
Since the United States Air Base at Gifu, Japan has moved it will be
necessary to keep Cherry Blossom Lodge as a U. D. lodge. We are now in the
process of placing the new location of the lodge now.
Here in the states many new members have been added to our lodges this year
by initiation, restoration and demit. This is very encouraging to us of the
masonic fraternity. It is an indication that other men of high integrity
have been attracted to masonry by the conduct of those who have previously
assured its cause and used its power to create good in their daily actions.
I cannot praise my district deputy grand masters highly enough. For the
harmony and progress which we have been able to maintain this year. Their
earnest efforts in coordinating the activities of the grand lodge and the
subordinate lodges, arranging and organizing district meetings and
practicing the tenets of Freemasonry so that all the pride and pleasure in
the accomplishments of this year would be known by all the community.
Had each of you personally been in communication with the several lodges and
read reports of their activities your reactions would have taxed the
superlatives found in Webster's Dictionary, as mine did. You would have
found it as difficult as I to single out a special event and say this one is
more worthy of congratulations than these others are. However I am sure you
will agree with me that even in the midst of so many glorious achievements
some by their very nature impel us to give connotation.
District No. 1
- For the well-planned St. John's Day service this year and the very fine
attendance and splendid contributions made by the lodges of that district.
District No. 2
- For its fine district meeting. We hope that the innovation which resulted
in the presence of the lovely and gracious wives of these brothers at their
first district banquet will prove that such a social gathering is worthy of
becoming a customary feature in the district meetings.
District No. 3
- The elimination of a clandestine lodge in Pasco and the assimilation of
many of the men of this group into the Prince Hall Fraternity is an
indication of new masonic life in the Tri-City area .
District No. 4
- In assisting in elimination the organization of a clandestine lodge in the
city of Spokane. The impressive banquet held each year in this district at
the Desert Hotel in Spokane was again the focal point of the entire meeting.
The new lodge hall obtained by Perfect Ashler Lodge No. 40 is a source of
civic as well as fraternal pride. For this was not obtained without blood,
sweat and tears but as a result of cooperative action and effort.
District No. 5
- Coordination with Excelsior Lodge of the Grand Jurisdiction of California
in laying the corner stone of the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church,
Portland, Oregon. Articles carried in the daily newspapers were very
complimentary.
District No. 6
- One of the smallest lodges, numerically, of this district and of the
jurisdiction has centered its activity for the year in the entertainment of
the Annual Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge for this year. This is
something that you will all agree is no small feat and the hospitality and
warmth which we have thus far received is indicative of the success of their
endeavor.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION
We have completed the second year of our Scholarship Program. Miss Mona Gaye
Lake has completed her first year at Washington State College. Mr. Isaac
Logart Payne has completed his first year at Portland State College and has
been appointed to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. We are proud
of these, the first two recipients of our scholarship program. The
recipients this second year are Miss Carolyn Purnell, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. James C. Purnell of Seattle, Washington. Both Ill. Purnell, 33° and his
wife, Sister Purnell have contributed much to our masonic life and endeavor.
The second recipient is Mr. Allison Blakely of Portland, Oregon. We offer
both our hearty congratulations. We are looking forward to a greater
participation in the coming years for our scholarships. This scholarship
program can fulfill its aims only if each brother makes it his personal
responsibility to see that word of it is publicized to the greatest extent
and number of applicants. We know our faith in our scholarship program shall
be boundless and our energies in its behalf shall be without limit. District
No. 5 again this year leads the jurisdiction with the number of applicants
for our scholarship.
Brother Gideon, 33°, Deputy, was replaced as one of the judges in the
scholarship department this year and Worshipful Brother Tyree, 32° took his
place. This change was made due to Brother Gideon's having recommended one
of the candidates for scholarship this year whereby disqualifying himself as
one of the judges. Theodore Spearman, 32°, P.G.M., and I, your Grand
Master, completed the Committee on Judging.
GUIDANCE CLINICS:
This, our initial venture in this field, was a decided success. Too much
credit cannot be given R.W. Brother George Jorden, who was chairman of this
department this year for the Grand Lodge and he also was Finance Chairman of
the Vocational Guidance Institute, which was principally held by the Prince
Hall Grand Lodge of Washington and the Seattle Urban League. I shall let his
report give you the full account. We plan to program these clinics this
coming year in Portland and possibly the Tri-City area. We shall strive for
greater recognition in this field of endeavor this year.
Now that the scholarship program and the Guidance Clinic have been
successfully launched we shall begin a detailed study of the Pythagoreans
and endeavor to set up the initial chapter this coming year. We found last
year we were spreading our personnel too thin in the many new programs we
were beginning. Now that qualified and experienced personnel will be
available for this program this year we shall be able to make this phase of
our youth work as successful and as attractive as the other two departments.
The Prince Hall day contributions were a decided improvement over last
years.
However, I am not quite satisfied with the effort we are putting into this
phase of our youth work. I should not make that statement on a
jurisdictional basis as Eureka Lodge in Japan contributed an average of one
dollar per member this year. We within the States and the Province of B. C.
can take a lesson from the standards which our brothers across the ocean
have set. We must take care of our own. We must ever be aware of our
charities for we of the Prince Hall Fraternity have our own community chest.
It is the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Redress Department, the Urban League and our
Scholarship Program. We must build this program until we are contributing
one dollar per member each year toward its welfare on Prince Hall Day.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Legal Research
Department.
Last year I recommended that the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Washington
and its Jurisdiction make a one hundred dollar contribution to this
particular department of the N.A.A.C.P. I was more than happy to see your
interest in the N.A.A.C.P. which resulted in a life membership. However, my
recommendation was changed in the Finance Committee last year and instead of
fulfilling my request for monies for the Legal Redress fund or department
the Finance Committee recommended the life membership, payable at fifty
dollars a year for the next ten years. This was adopted. We must acquaint
ourselves to the call to new responsibilities. We of the Prince Hall family
have a responsibility to all departments of the N.A.A.C.P. but more
especially the Legal Redress Department. The Legal Redress Department is our
baby. It is completely financed by the Prince Hall Grand Lodges and only by
them. It is the department that is initiating a change in the American way
of life for all minority groups. We must take our place and make partial
participation in this charity that is for the useful service of humanity. M.W. Amos T. Hall, President of the Conference of Grand Masters, sent out an
urgent call the first quarter of this year stating that the legal research
department fund did not have sufficient monies in it to operate another
month and assistance must be forth-coming from the Prince Hall Grand Lodges
to save this department and carry on the many cases on the courts agenda
that this department had initiated. The Prince Hall Grand Lodges rose to
this crisis and the department of Thursgood Marshall is continuing to carry
on its very necessary and splendid work. Our Grand Lodge made a contribution
of fifty dollars during this emergency to assist in the work. I shall make
recommendation that fifty dollars be contributed to this N.A.A.C.P. legal
redress fund this year. I know you will support me in this worthwhile
request for this charity of ours. I urge all subordinate lodges to support
this most worthy cause, truly the greatest man conceived force on earth,
dedicated to the proposition, to obtain by legal resources, first class
citizenship for all.
URBAN LEAGUE
You will note a recommendation from my office this year to remove from our
by-laws a restriction to make contributions to the Urban League. We find the
Conference of Grand Masters working and coordinating their activities and
giving financial assistance to the Urban League. The N.A.A.C.P. is working
for first class citizenship for all groups. They go hand in hand. The Urban
League also is assisting all Prince Hall Grand Lodges in coordinating their
youth activities, in particular guidance clinics on a Junior High and High
School level. They have the paid personnel and qualified personnel in all
major cities to assist in this work. It is our duty to participate in their
activities more. They are participating in our activities on a national
level.
Every Prince Hall Grand Master throughout these United States now receive
reports from the Urban League acquainting them with the program at hand and
how to participate and assist in the programs, new opportunities and
industries will be expanding in certain districts and types of jobs which
will be available to urge our groups to participate in. The Urban League is
working to meet the growing, urgent housing needs of the Negro population.
The center of Urban League attention throughout the year, both locally and
nationally, was on problems arising out of the strong and still continuing
migration of colored families from rural and southern into urban and
northern communities. Let us ally our energies with this forceful machine in
American life. Our first step is to remove the legal chains we have placed
upon ourselves in our Code and then we shall continue with the fine first
year implementation they and we shall continue to work together in many
fields of endeavor.
GRAND LODGE BURIAL FUND
There was a recommendation placed before the Grand Lodge at its 53rd Annual
Communication relative to exploring the possibility of increasing our Grand
Lodge Burial Benefit. Especially to ascertain if through an insurance plan
we could increase the benefits to the brethren. All lodges received a
communication from the office of the Grand Secretary in September, 1957, to
forward names, addresses and ages of all members. This data was placed in
the hands of P.G.M. Joseph I. Staton. In P.G.M. Staton's report, after
investigation of several insurance companies, the age bracket average found
was so high in our jurisdiction it would be prohibitive to adopt an
insurance plan due to the increased premiums that would have to be paid by
the membership.
Last year I then went to Robert E. Hall, Deputy Insurance Commissioner of
the Eastern Washington District, representing William A. Sullivan, State
Insurance Commissioner, to obtain information concerning our possibilities
and limitations operating as a fraternal organization. I was informed we
were permitted to pay up to three hundred dollars upon the death of a member
without placing ourselves in the classification of operating an insurance.
The reason for the interest in this field is that we have initiated and
practiced poor business practice in the manner in which we have operated
this department for some number of years. In 1939 we were paying $3.00 per
year per member into this fund as we are doing today. In 1939 we were paying
$100.00 per death. In 1946 we were paying $125.00 and now we are paying
$200.00 death benefit. Under this system we would have to be a member 33 and
1/3 years to pay in $100.00 and 66 and 2/3 years to fulfill the claim of
$200.00 benefit we are now paying.
I was informed by the Commissioner of Insurance, after his study of our
organization, that although we had been averaging under ten deaths per year,
with the increased age bracket of our jurisdiction, we could expect that
number to be doubled or more than doubled in the near future. Even I did not
expect to see the Commissioners predictions begin to show such an accurate
estimate so soon as in one year. Last year, under the system we are using,
we placed approximately $2,400.00 in this fund. With the number of deaths we
have already had, just one more would place this fund decidedly in the red.
Our financial structure cannot stand this deficit spending or incompetent
planning. Last year I stated there was only one thing to do and that was to
begin preparing for an immediate change in policy and place this department
upon a sound financial basis. The Grand Lodge at its sitting in Bremerton
last year recommended we leave it as it was for another year.
I proposed two plans to the Deputy Insurance Commissioner which he took to
Seattle to confer with the State Insurance Commissioner. Both were
acceptable.
I submitted both to this Grand Lodge last year. The Grand Lodge passed a
recommendation the system now in use be retained another year for further
study. The recommendations from the Insurance Commissioner are adequate
study. I also received the naval employees benefit association plan from
Ill. Brother James Purnell, 33°
and Brother Albert Colvin. I wish to thank
these brothers for their interest in our insurance program and forwarding
said plans to my office for study. The plan submitted is an excellent one
but would be very difficult to handle under our Masonic procedure and
usages, due to the assessment at each death and the problem of
non-affiliation if said assessment was not paid. I am submitting again a
plan for your consideration, which has passed the Commissioner of Insurance,
as a temporary plan for two years. By that time we shall be able to see how
acceptable it is and how we wish to implement it. It will in the meantime
place us on a sound financial basis.
PROPOSED PLAN FOR GRAND BURIAL
FUND
Each brother (member) of the Jurisdiction pays into the Grand Burial and
Charity Fund, through their subordinate lodge, five dollars per year. Said
payment shall take the place of the three dollars Grand Charity Fund.
Upon the death of a brother (member) the Grand Lodge will pay to his
subordinate lodge one hundred and twenty five dollars, ($125.00), to assist
the lodge in the charity to his family.
At the end of the masonic year all monies left in this fund shall be divided
by the number of deaths up to the total amount or maximum amount of three
hundred dollars, ($300.00), for each death and be forwarded to the
respective subordinate lodges for distribution of charity to the respective
families of the deceased.
All above this amount of a total of $300.00 per death to the deceased shall
be held in the Grand Charity Fund as a reserve.
A reserve from the General Fund of the Grand Lodge of one thousand dollars
shall be established the first year, if needed in subsequent years, to
complete obligations to this fund until the first quarter returns of the
lodges composing this Grand Lodge of Washington and its Jurisdiction have
deposited monies in this Fund. The one thousand dollars shall then be
returned to the General Fund.
MASONIC CODE
At the beginning of our masonic year I appointed a committee of R.D. Bird,
32°; P.G.M. , Theodore Spearman, 32°, P.G.M. and Phil Reynolds, 32° P. G.
Secretary, to bring our masonic code up to date. I received a communication
from the committee including their work which was forwarded directly to the
Grand Secretary. In the copy forwarded to the Grand Secretary the heading
was mislabeled and read proposed changes to the Code instead of changes
made in the Code and the year or annual communication said changes were
made. These shall be acted upon by the Jurisprudence Committee at this Grand
Lodge.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
I am happy to say that the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of
Washington and its Jurisdiction has a cordial and friendly relationship will
all other Prince Hall Grand Jurisdictions. I met and renewed friendships
with thirty-four of the thirty-seven grand masters at the Conference of
Grand Masters this Spring in Cleveland, Ohio. All are working cooperatively
together to fine unaminity of strength and action to Prince Hall Masonry
everywhere. R.W. S.J. Lake, Junior Grand Warden and C.C.F.C. will give you
a complete picture in his report.
OUR ADOPTIVE RITE
Many years ago our predecessors saw the need for the Order of Eastern Star's
being given official status with Prince Hall Masons. They therefore
accomplished what is know as our adoptive rite.
During this year, as last, the Prince Hall Grand Chapter, Order of Eastern
Star and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington and its
Jurisdiction have exchanged fraternal greetings. The Worthy Grand Matron,
Mytle Pitts, and I, your Grand Master, have worked together in a sincere and
friendly basis, exchanging ideas and working for a better understanding and
coordination of activities. We understand they will begin their first
scholarship program this year. We offer them our wholehearted
congratulations. Again this year we urge all Prince Hall Masons to give
assistance wherever, whenever and for whatever it is needed to our sisters.
I further recommend that we send a personal Greetings to the Grand Officers
of the Grand Order of Eastern Star, who are convening at the same time here
in this beautiful City of Vancouver, B.C.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I recommend that Section 284, Page 129 of our code be further amended by
adding the following phrase, "Provided, however, that the language in this
section shall not apply to the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People or the League."
I recommend the Grand Lodge adopt the Grand Lodge Burial and Charity Fund as
outlined in my address for a basis of two years. In that time we shall be
able to see how acceptable it is and how we wish to implement it.
In the meantime we shall be on a sound financial basis and one that is
acceptable to the Washington State Insurance Commission.
I recommend the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington and its
Jurisdiction deposit monies in the Conference of Grand Masters Prince Hall
Commission on Clandestine Lodge subscribe the amount of seventy-five
dollars, or approximately eight cents per member, to the Department of
Finance of this Commission.
I recommend the Grand Lodge contribute forty dollars to assist in defraying
the expenses of the Conference of Grand Masters.
I recommend the Grand Lodge make a contribution of fifty dollars to the
N.A.A.C.P. Legal Redress Department at this setting of the Grand Lodge and
said monies be forwarded to this department by August 15th of this year.
I recommend that all addresses of principal officers of this M.W. Grand
Lodge be mimeographed in the office of the Grand Secretary and the grand
lodge shall defray said expense, for future annual communications. The Grand
Master shall designate deadline of receiving said addresses each year.
I recommend the Grand Lodge begin making tangible plans to bring the
Conference of Grand Masters to the State of Washington in 1962 and send
official invitation 'o the conference this coming year to acquaint its
planning committee of our contemplated plans.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, my brethren, much time and energy has been consumed by this
office again this year. The official acts have been many and varied. During
the year the office of Grand Master has mailed out four hundred and eighty
parcels of mail. Acting as my own secretary that consumes a tremendous
amount of time.
As I stated last year the work for the year is ended and yet our work, we
realize more than ever, for all of us is just beginning. The progress we are
accomplishing on our programming is very heartening. We have grown in
stature. Our scholarship program is shaping up to the point we are receiving
recognition from the colleges and greater universities of the state, from
civic groups throughout the state and jurisdiction and Negroes, in general,
are pointing to our scholarship with pride. Our initial venture in the field
of guidance was a decided success and commanded respect of all allied groups
and, in addition, our youth are beginning to feel assured that we are
establishing ourselves in community life and human values. I feel assured
that we are establishing ourselves in community life. Your administration,
this year, through militant action, caused a city council, for the first
time in ten years and the first time in an issue of race, to unanimously
reverse a decision made by its planning board, thereby saving a building
purchased by one of our Prince Hall lodges. Your administration, this year,
prevented the clandestine lodge from organizing in one of the larger
communities of the state. Again in this field of endeavor it has eliminated
clandestine masonry from a district where clandestine masons were in a ratio
of ten to one with our Prince Hall family.
It has saved one Prince Hall lodge, both numerically and financially and
shall place it on the rolls as a sound, active body of our fraternity. We
have increased interest in all progressive fields of endeavor throughout the
jurisdiction and have added material aid to the programming of subordinate
bodies. I am heartened to know I have not stood alone during the year in
carrying these many responsibilities and duties of being your Grand Master.
I wish to than the Grand Secretary for the splendid cooperation I have
received from his office. I shall list out other brothers in my special
report. I have been aware of all of your willing aid and best wishes
wherever I traveled. For this sincerity and friendliness I am humbly
grateful. Each one of you has been of the utmost importance for without you
the wheels of our Grand Lodge would have been motionless. Let not any
mistakes of the past year in any way hinder our progress but serve as
stepping stones over which we shall climb toward our masonic goal.
I am returning to you the gavel of authority entrusted to my care. I can
sincerely say, and feel that every grand master before me felt the same
way, that no man can fill the high office of grand master, carry the weight
and duties successfully without an ever present awareness of his own
inadequacies. Your problems were my problems; your mistakes were my
mistakes. It was said, "it is human to err". The errors I have made were not
made intentionally but were made while endeavoring to serve you again this
year, for it is and has been the one desire of my heart, the one purpose of
my life, to promote and preserve the progress and principles of our noble
institution. In using the gavel of authority you again entrusted to my care
this year I trust you will find it has not been used to further selfish
motives and promote personal interest but every act was motivated with the
single desire to serve you, my craft.
Fraternally submitted,
W. Vernon Scott
Grand Master of Masons
