THE NATIVIST ORDERS

ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS

JR. ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS

JR. OUAM / DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA

The OUAM was founded in Philadelphia amidst the anti-alien riots of 1844-45. It originally was called the Union of Workers. It created an agenda specifically aimed at subverting immigrant prosperity in America.  Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor. They were also to patronize only "American" businesses. It was essentially anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.  

In 1853 the Junior OUAM was founded. It achieved a peak membership of about 200,000 (1930-1937) compared to 40,000 for its parent organization. 

The Junior Order United American Mechanics National Orphan’s Home, known as the Jr. Home, was significant in American history as an example of self-contained residential institutions that flourished in latter 19th and early 20th century America. The Jr. Home was a place “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of America’s history.”

  The Jr. Home was maintained by The Junior Order of United American Mechanics, an organization which began as the native American Association, a preeminently American society that had it’s origin in the anti-foreign movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Jr. Order of United American Mechanics was organized in May, 1853, in Philadelphia, PA, and quickly grew into a nationwide brotherhood inspired by the principles of Virtue, Liberty, Patriotism. With a total of 2,950 councils, the Jr. Order in 1930 was given the distinction of being called the leading Patriotic Order of the United States.

  The Jr. Home Orphanage was established in 1896 and closed in 1944.  The orphanage grew from a single farm residence into a self-supporting community, populated by as many as 1,200 residents during its peak years of the 1930-1937 area.   As a self-sufficient community, the complex included a wide range of structures; residence cottages, a chapel, a gymnasium, grade and high schools, a vocational (trade) school, a hospital, a central dining hall, a bank and a post office, a nursery, a library, a laundry, a cannery, a power plant and an administrative building.   All structures were brick with stone or concrete trim, except the cannery, which was stucco covered, the greenhouse, which was glass, and the chapel, which was constructed of gray limestone.

  By 1930, all the major campus buildings had been erected, numbering approximately forty (40) buildings. The residential cottages were planned according to the three (3) distinct architectural designs over a period of thirty (30) years from 1897 – 1925. Each was sponsored by and named for various state councils of The Junior Order of United American Mechanics.  The self-sufficiency aspect of the Junior Home is evident in the construction of the Kentucky Memorial Hospital in 1908. Until 1928, the Junior Home hospital was the only hospital in the area and was opened to serve the local citizens of Tiffin, Ohio and surrounding communities until 1915. The canning factory was constructed in 1913 to can the surplus fruits and vegetables from the ever-expanding farm. The cannery was valuable to the Home, both financially and educationally, as courses in food preservation were offered as part of the Junior Home Vocational program. In 1920, for example, the canning factory packed 995 cans of pears, 15,140 cans of corn, 2,673 cans of beans, as well as large quantities of tomatoes and kraut. Other vocational training consisted of home economics, auto mechanics, art fiber weaving, baking, cement construction, electrical work, farming, dairying, animal husbandry, greenhouse and garden, laundering, motion picture operation, painting, printing, plumbing, practical nursing, stationery secretary, engineering, shoe repair, woodworking, carpentry, newspaper work, proof reading, instrumental music, sewing, store clerking, and cooking.

  When the Tiffin, Ohio Junior Order Home took in more children than its capacity, the Juniors pondered the possibility of building a branch Home.  The idea failed twice during the National Convention, once in 1903, and again in 1921.  The National Convention was only held every two years, and the next time it met in 1923 the Tiffin Home had over 200 children more than its capacity.  The North Carolina Juniors, having the highest Junior Order membership, were eager to have a branch Home in their state.  They offered to fund this project considerably.  It was decided that a branch Home would be built in Lexington, North Carolina. 

The cornerstone laying ceremony was held on August 19, 1925.  On  March 1, 1928, the first 22 children (all from North Carolina) arrived.  The Home in Lexington continued to grow.  More buildings were constructed including the North Carolina Building, South Carolina Building, Pennsylvania Building, powerhouse, barns, superintendent’s residence, and the Sam F. Vance building (1932), which included a large auditorium, high school classrooms, vocational guidance rooms, home economics department, and a large modern gymnasium.

Daily life at the Lexington Home was much like that of the Tiffin Home.  There was the routine of breakfast, farm work and chores, dinner, homework, and bed.  During the summer months the children enjoyed organized recreational activities such as tennis tournaments, basketball, and baseball.  They also had a swimming pool donated in 1933 by the Orphan’s Home League of Louisville, KY. 

Religious services were an important part of the childrens lives.  Since the Home was in a rural location, worship services were held in the Home’s auditorium.  The Junior Home Church had no denominational affiliations, but required the pastor to be a regularly ordained minister of an orthodox, Protestant denomination.

There was a general loss of membership in the Junior Order during the depression.  Members who could not afford to pay their dues had little choice but to withdraw from the Junior Order.  The Social Security Act of 1935 made it possible for mothers to support their children.

The National Council decided at their November 1939 meeting to revert to one Home – in Tiffin, Ohio.  It was decided that the North Carolina Juniors would take the responsibility of keeping the Lexington Home open for North Carolina children only.  Children in the Lexington Home who were from states other than North Carolina traveled by train to Tiffin, and on the return trip the Tiffin orphans from North Carolina were transferred to Lexington. 

In 1944, the National Council announced that the Tiffin Home would be closed, and the remaining 100 children be sent to the Lexington Home.  The Tiffin Home buildings would be leased to the State of Ohio for institutional use.  The Lexington Home continued to operate on a largely self-sufficient basis during World War II.

Despite their declining membership, the Junior Order continued to promote the Home throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s.  The admission requirements were relaxed in the 1940’s to include those whose mothers were deceased, but the father was still living, and children whose fathers were in the Armed forces.  In the 1950’s, the Home admitted children whose uncle, grandfather, or cousin was a member of the Junior Order.  In 1968, the Council amended its By-laws to allow the Council to provide financial support for the Home even if no children of Junior Order members resided there.

Financial difficulties continued to plaque the Home in the 1970’s.  Even though the Board applied for financial assistance for eligible children through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and established an Emergency Repair Fund during the 1970’s, the North Carolina Junior Order raised money for and built a Memorial Chapel at the Home.

The Board of Trustees for the Home actively pursued certification by the Social Service Commission.  The North Carolina Department of Human resources required that the Home and the state Junior Order be incorporated separately.  The Social Service Commission licensed the Home as a child care institution in 1975.  Because of the licensing, the criteria for child care changed greatly after 1975.  In 1979, a financial development officer joined the staff of the Home.  Today, restoration and renovation of the Home’s (now known as the American Children’s Home) buildings continues.

  Information taken from the book The Home Down South: The Junior Order Children’s Home 1925-1985, Sam Leonard Beck, 1994

              During its' (48) years of operation, The Junior Home had been “Home” to over 5,000 children from over twenty-eight states of these United States of America. It is obvious that with 850 acres and (50) buildings, The Jr. Home was, indeed, a unique experience in the annals of human endeavor. “We have written of events rather than of people, portraying what has been built, rather than the architect. Architects there have been – many of them – and they have built, not on the sands of the sea that are soon washed away, but upon the firm rock of human understanding, and that which they have built will long stand as monuments to their endeavors!”

  The Junior Home Alumni Association still operates a website with the goal to keep "HomeKids" in touch with each other.   A past alumni president Melanie Simons would love to hear from those inquiring about the history of the Jr. OUAM.   Melanie can be contacted at: 

lanie1241@yahoo.com

By 1979, the Jr. OUAM had only about 8500 members.  When the National Council Jr. OUAM made the decision to close the Lexington Home in 1939 - 40 the Junior Order members in the state of North Carolina called a special statewide meeting to discuss the closing.  In a unanimous vote, the Junior Order members voted to take over the Home.  The deed to the Home resides in the State Council Office on the campus of the Home. The North Carolina State Council of the Jr. OUAM is the owner of the Home.  Since 1941 the North Carolina State Council of the Junior Order United American Mechanics has operated, and continues to this day, the Home (American Children's Home  see their link at www.ach-nc.org ).  Over time, the Jr. OUAM opened its membership to Jews, blacks, Catholics, and women. The lady’s order of the Jr. OUAM is the Daughters of America.

 Concurrent with these organizations was the founding of a terrorist organization named the Know-Nothing Party.  It also directed its energies against immigrants and may well have been connected with one or both organizations.  It has also been charged that the Jr. OUAM had links to the KKK in the 1920’s. There can be little doubt that it once shared the same philosophy.

Jr. OUAM pieces are much more common than the OUAM pieces (upper left). The OUAM piece shown is cheap stamped tin plate with poor quality enamel. The OUAM was clearly a working class fraternity.

The Jr. OUAM irritated the Masons with their use of the Square and Compass and it said the Masons hauled them into court to try to get them to stop using it.  This was obviously not successful as they are still using it today. 

This book clearly describes the Jr. OUAM and their "No Immigrants Need Apply" policies.

       

History of the Junior Order United American Mechanics

Published - 1896

Part 1. Edited by Edward  S. Deemer 

Part 2.  By George A. Cleveland and Robert E. Campbell

Published in Boston: The Fraternity Publishing Co.

Printed by Norwood Press. Norwood, Mass.

Pages: 114 + 97 + Plates.    12.00 inches x 10.50 inches

This is the history of a secret American fraternal society which was created to assist native-born Americans in combating the "threat" of immigrants and foreigners in America.

This fraternal group was founded in Germantown, near Philadelphia, in the mid 1800s.

The fraternity had 2 goals: "restriction of immigration" and keeping the Bible in schools.  There were 160,000 members throughout the U.S.

Ironically enough, the fraternity's first leader was Daniel Pastorius, a direct descendant of the German immigrant Francis Daniel Pastorius,  the founder of Germantown, who is considered the the Father of Germans in America.

There are two 1896 books bound into one volume.  Book One is a history of the fraternity, with details and statistics  of the state-by-state organizations.

Book Two is a collection of illustrations and descriptions of "our country's patriotic shrines."   Included are:  Plymouth Rock, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Roger Williams, Salem and Witchcraft, Colonial New Hampshire, Historic Homes of Philadelphia, Boston and Liberty, Richmond, Independence Hall, Lexington, Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Bunker Hill, Long Island, West Point, Valley  Forge, Trenton - Princeton - Monmouth, Yorktown, Mount Vernon, Battle of Lake Erie, Andrew Jackson, Harrison and Tippecanoe, The White House, Ft. Sumter and Appomattox, Gettysburg, Arlington Heights, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, etc.

Both parts state the 1896 publication date. Book One has an 1896 copyright date.  Book Two has no copyright date.

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Junior Order of United American Mechanics
First, or Degree of Virtue


1909

Opening
 
Councils will always open and close and transact their regular business in the Third Degree.
The stated hour of meeting having arrived, the Councilor will give one rap, when the officers and members will be seated. He will then rise and say:
C.: Council No. … is about to open. The officers and members will be clothed in proper regalia and come to order.
C.: Bro. I. S., you will secure the inner door and allow no one to retire or enter till so directed from this station.
C.: Brother W., you will advance and give to me the password’ and its explanation.
C.: You will now satisfy yourself that all present are qualified to remain, report to me and resume your station.
After testing the members the Warden will report from the altar and resume his station.
C., giving two raps, the members rising: Sons of a common country, reared under the same flag and influenced by like tradition, we have come here that we may trim and brighten the sacred fires of fraternity and patriotism.
Withdrawn from the tumult, selfishness and striving of every-day life; safe from the inquisitive, the envious and the faultfinding, we find ourselves in a presence where we may deliberate and resolve with that perfect freedom possible only when men come together intent upon high purpose and where a true regard for the opinion of others ever moves to speech and action.
With a just pride in our country’s past and a sublime faith in its future, let us so carry ourselves here as to fill full the measure of our own approval, and so demean ourselves abroad as to bear witness that we hold our citizenship a precious birthright and our exercise of it a privilege beyond price.
C.: Brother Chaplain, upon what is our Order founded?
Chaplain: Upon Virtue.
C.: Brother V. C., by what are we made secure in the practice of Virtue?
V. C.: By Liberty.
C.: Brother Jr. P. C., to what must we look for our inspiration?
Jr. P. C.: To Patriotism.
C.: Brother Chaplain!
The Chaplain will here read a selection from the Bible and then offer the following prayer:
Sublime Master of The Universe! Humbly we bow before Thee and beseech Thee to move us to loving kindness toward each other. Direct us that all our words and thoughts and deeds may ever make for a higher and broader citizenship. Help us, that being clean of heart and true to self, we can be false to none, God of Nations! We offer our thanks that our Country has come to its high place among the peoples of the Earth. Quicken, O Lord, the public conscience and steady the purpose of our people, that our institutions may grow with the Nation’s growth, and that our greater destiny shall continue as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to struggling mankind everywhere. Protect, and grant of Thy wisdom to all, of high and low degree, who may be appointed to administer public business. Ever incline the hearts of the people to respect for and obedience to law. Prosper our Order and its purpose to make of us truer men and better citizens. Amen.
C.: Let us join in singing our opening ode.
Air, “America.” (Key of F.).
God bless our native land;
Firm may it ever stand
Through storm and night.
When the wild tempests rave,
Ruler of wind and wave,
Do Thou our Order save
By Thy great might.
C.: Relying upon a spirit of true brotherhood and invoking a perfect loyalty to our institutions, I now declare this Council duly opened.
Brother I. S., you will retire and so inform the O. S., and admit such as may be qualified to enter.
 
 
Initiation
 
C.: Brother W., you will retire and ascertain if there are any candidates in waiting to be initiated, and report to me.
W.: Brother Councilor, I find … naming the Candidate or Candidates in the anteroom awaiting initiation.
C.: Being informed that there is work to be done in the First Degree, with the aid of the Council I will now proceed to confer the Degree of Virtue upon …, he being a duly chosen candidate for membership in this Order. For this reason I now declare this Council open in the First Degree, and will expect from every officer a careful performance of-the duties of his station, and from every member his thoughtful attention.
C.: Brother W., you will conduct our Jr. P. C. and F. S. to the anteroom, where they will perform the duties of t-heir offices.
Arrived within the anteroom, the Jr. P. C., addressing the Candidate or Candidates, will say:
Jr. P. C.: Please arise, Sir.
You are here seeking membership in an organization composed only of those born within the territorial limits of the United States or under the protection of its flag, and who are banded together for the promotion of Virtue, preservation of Liberty and the exaltation of Patriotism. Before being admitted to our Council room; before undertaking the first stage of a progress that may end in your being received into full fellowship with us, you must needs give certain assurances of the sincerity of your purpose. You will raise your right hand.
Do you promise upon your word of honor that you will true answers make to such questions as I may put to you and that you will forever keep secret all that you have seen and heard or may see and hear during your initiation, advancement and perfection in this Order?
The Candidate having answered in the affirmative, the Jr. P. C. will put to him the following questions:
1.: Where were you born?
2.: What is your age?
3.: Do you believe in one Supreme Being, the maker and ruler of the universe?
4.: Are you suffering or have you ever suffered from any hereditary or constitutional disease?
5.: Are you. so far as you know, in sound health?
6.: Have you ever been a member of this Order? If the answer is in the affirmative, then the following question; if in the negative then omit No. 7.
7.: How did your connection with the Order cease?
8.: Have you ever been rejected by any Council of this Order?
9.: WyptutApsstpitatetrotHBitst.
10.: Wyptdatyctptluosoti, tpatcftOW?
11.: Wyptaisakptfaitaaeosnl?
12.: WyptgtA-htpwtcbdwityaf?
These questions having been properly answered, the pledge book signed by the candidate and the proper fee collected by the F. S., the Jr. P. C. will say:
Jr. P. C.: Bro. W., we will now return to the Council and report. In the meanwhile you will prepare the Candidate for initiation.
Having returned to the Council room and presented themselves at the altar, the Jr. P. C. and the F. S. shall make report as follows:
Jr. P. C.: Bro. Councilor, I find … duly qualified and ready to proceed.
F. S.: Bro. Councilor, the Candidate has paid the initiation fee.
C.: Thank you, my brothers, you may resume your stations,
While the Jr. P. C. and F. S. are in the- anteroom, the Councilor will have designated one of the brothers as Accuser and another as Sponsor. In the appointment of Sponsor the Councilor should select a member coming the nearest filling the role of friend to the candidate. In the meanwhile the W., in the anteroom, will be making a somewhat ostentatious display of laying out and preparing paraphernalia as for initiation.
Accuser: Bro. Councilor, may I retire?
C.: You have my permission.
The Accuser retiring to the anteroom, indicates one of the Candidates and asks the W.:
Is this Mr. …?
Upon being answered in the affirmative, he carefully scrutinizes the Candidate in question and then remarking as if to himself, “That is the man,” returns to the Council room.
Accuser: Bro. Councilor.
C.: Bro. …

Accuser: Bro. Councilor, hearing the name of … read by the Jr. P. C., I suspected that this Candidate was one whom I had known. In order to verify the fact, with your permission. I retired to the anteroom. There my suspicion was confirmed. I, therefore, feel called upon to protest against the initiation of this Candidate, and I now formally present against him the following charge:
Violation of the obligations of citizenship.
C.: This is a weighty charge, and the burden of proof falls upon him who makes it.
Are you, my brother, determined to proceed?
Accuser: I assume the burden and stand upon my rights as a member.
C., addressing the accusing brother: Brother …, since you insist we must proceed in the manner provided by our law. You may be seated.
C., addressing the Council: My brothers, this charge, coming as it does from a brother of the Order, requires immediate investigation and demands our most careful consideration. The Tribunal will assemble for judgment. All other brothers will retire below the altar.
The Tribunal shall consist of the C. presiding; the R. S., F. S., Jr. P. C. and Chaplain. The C., R. S. and F. S. shall occupy their stations. The Jr. P. C. and Chaplain shall take seats immediately in front of the R. S. and F. S., respectively, and shall face each other.
Each member of the Tribunal shall be clothed in a black gown with hood, and each shall be masked in black. All lights shall be extinguished, except that there shall be lighted candles upon the pedestal of the C. and upon the desks of the R. S. and F. S.
C.: Brother I. S., it is my wish that you direct the W., now in the anteroom, that he forthwith deliver to the Conductor, a candidate awaiting initiation. You will admit them without ceremony. And Brother Conductor, as they enter the Council room, you will relieve the W. of his charge and bring him before the Tribunal.
I. S., giving one rap upon the door, will say: Brother
W., it is the wish of the Council that you  forthwith deliver a candidate awaiting initiation to the Conductor. You will enter without ceremony.
The W. shall securely blindfold the Candidate in the anteroom. Upon entering the Council-room the W. and his charge will be met by the Conductor and the latter will say:
C.: Brother W., by direction of the Councilor I am to relieve you of your charge and conduct him before the Tribunal as one accused.
The Conductor will lead the candidate thrice about the room and then removing the hood-wink, leave him standing alone, before the Tribunal. The W. shall seat the other Candidates, if any there be, in the rear of the hall, these not blindfolded. During the progress of the Conductor and the accused, about the Council-room the utmost silence shall be maintained.
C.: Stranger, you came here this evening voluntarily seeking admission into this Order. You have been regularly elected to become one of us. We were about to proceed with your initiation when the work was interrupted by one of the brothers, who recognizing your name and afterwards yourself in person, solemnly protested against your further progress, until such time as you had been confronted with and had satisfactorily met a certain charge accompanying the protest. Embarrassing as this may be to you, it is none the less so to us, and yet there is but one thing to be done. I have summoned to my aid our Tribunal, that it may sit in judgment. Be assured that we are moved only by a spirit of exact justice and that no harm can be done you, not warranted by the facts. Let the accuser advance and confront the accused with his charge.
Accuser: Brother Councilor, I charge this man with having violated the obligations of citizenship.
C.: It falls upon him who accuses to- furnish the proof. Are- you prepared to do so?
Accuser: I am.
C.: If, then, it be the will of my associates, proceed.
The Tribunal, in unison: Proceed.
Just as the Accuser is about to begin the presentation of his proof, the brother, who has been designated as Sponsor, comes up from the rear of the hall, and taking station between the Accuser and the accused, faces the Tribunal and says:
Sponsor:
Brothers of the Tribunal, this man can not be guilty, nor can there be any foundation for this charge. I have known him long and well. We have been friends. I have found him always a true man, faithful: in all things, loyal to every obligation of life.
For him I will stand sponsor. Let the initiation proceed. I make this demand within the law and as a brother: of the Order.
C. to the Sponsor: My brother, think of yourself. Give heed to caution. Weigh well the consequences: should this, your friend, fail you.
Sponsor. I care not for the charges. I know the man. I likewise know the law, and knowing it, I offer my good name—my honor, as surety for the truth and the loyalty of my friend. I ask that this distressing scene be brought to a close.
C.: Since being forewarned, you persist, that which you ask must be granted.

Addressing the Tribunal: Is it not so, my brothers?
The Tribunal, in unison: It is so.
Accuser: Brothers of the Tribunal, I resent this interruption. I am acting under a sacred obligation. If the proof that I offer does not bear out the charge I make, then I am in the wrong, but it is your duty to hear and consider the proof.
C.: Say no more, my brother. It was your duty to offer this proof and you are to be commended. This worthy brother indicating the Sponsor under a seldom used, but most solemn law, has pledged as surety for the character of this Candidate his own honor and standing in our society, and the Tribunal has decided.
You may be seated.
Accuser: With this; brothers of the Tribunal, I am not satisfied. I have rights and responsibilities that cannot be waived aside or thus discharged. I cannot submit—

C.: Submit! You must submit. The Tribunal has decided and I am its voice. Take your seat.
Accuser, not moving: I have rights.
C.: You can have no right that rises above the splendid devotion to friendship just interposed between this Candidate and further trial. I trust that you will do nothing more to mar this occasion. Will you take your seat, or must I enforce our commands?
The Accuser slowly and with reluctance retires to a seat.
C.: Mr: …, you are to be congratulated that at a time of peril to you, you found a friend, willing to put at risk his own good repute that you may be saved, surely annoyance, and, perhaps, disgrace. We rejoice with you.
C.: Brother Conductor, you will reconduct this stranger to the W., that, in due form, he may be returned here for initiation.
Conductor: Brother W., I return to you your charge. With him you will retire to the anteroom and make ready for initiation in due form. W., with his charge and the other Candidates, if any, retires and the officers will resume their stations.
The W. will give one rap upon the door, when the Conductor, having responded with a similar rap, will say:
Conductor: Who comes there?
W.: The W. with a Candidate seeking initiation into this Order.
Conductor: Enter.
Thereupon the W. will enter and deliver the Candidate to the Conductor, who, moving at right angles, will conduct his charge to a position immediately in front of the altar. The Chaplain will leave his station and face the Candidate from the other side of the altar. He will then administer to the Candidate the following obligation:
Chaplain, addressing the Candidate, will say: PyrhutHBywgcattfowIwnp.
IpastIwnrtswowImba dtmi, tapnktmtbam, igs, otO.
Ifpastaaibt J. O. U. A. M. Iwnh cnear, as, wapoaop, ctbamomotO, usmidrbtNC.
Kimtltitd; IsbmtabrfaactoemotO, ktmtbs, wiCoooi atasrfarottlotO, N, SaC.
RmrhulHHW, IcuGtwtmso.
Chaplain: Do you take upon yourself this obligation?
Candidate: I do.
Chaplain: Brother Conductor, you will now lead the Candidate to the V. C. for further instruction in this Degree.
The Conductor, having led the Candidate to a position in front of and facing the V. C. will say:
Conductor: Brother V. C., this Candidate having been duly obligated, I now present him to you for your further instruction. Seats Candidate.
 
 
Lecture
 
V. C.: My friend, you have just witnessed a scene that at the time may have impressed you as an unhappy break in the orderly movement of our work. I must now tell you that it was planned as the lesson of this, the first stage of your progress into our Order.
This Order is founded upon Virtue, and the foundation is laid broad and deep. Yet it lies not within the scope of its purpose to teach or to seek to enforce a code of morals or religious ethics, except as these underlie political virtue—that virtue that must sustain the fabric if free government, else it fall, and which consists of love of the commonwealth. Whilst all will agree, that to be in the highest, a good citizen, a man must be temperate, chaste and honest; the presence of these virtues must, for our purposes, be in large measure taken for granted.
It is, however, with that virtue—love of country—that this Order is most concerned. This quality of the human heart may be resolved into three parts: fidelity, sacrifice and courage. That elemental part of civic virtue that we would especially mark in this Degree is fidelity. Fidelity—faithfulness, cannot be found in the larger relations of life—as that of man to country—unless there be fidelity—faithfulness, in the lesser relations, as that to friend or associations of friends. For this reason we would teach the lesson, that by example as well as precept, we are now trying to fix in your mind.
In all the relations of life there is none so free from a belittling selfishness, so essential to nobility of character, so useful and inspiring, as friendship. In its growth to its best there is none that in a higher degree calls for sublimity of sacrifice, purity of purpose and rightness of action. While its exercise serves our friends, it enriches ourselves.
In order that there may be true friendship as between man and man, there must be mutual respect, unwavering confidence and a certain range of ideas held in common. And, that friendship may broaden into brotherhood, there must ever be present, in a wider, if not in a higher degree, this same respect, confidence and community of interests.
Thus it follows that in an organization like ours, wherein the public welfare is the common purpose, and in order that it be cemented into true fellowship, there must be, as the cornerstone to its temple, friendship.
As there are no limitations upon true friendship, so it cannot be defined. We feel its presence; it warms us when we are cold, cheers us when we are sad and heartens us when we are discouraged. We feel it, but do not know it in the sense that we can submit it to critical analysis—describe it in terms.
Friendship is to the human soul as pure air to the human body—essential to a healthful existence. Says an ancient philosopher, “Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god; ” that is, such an one is either far above or much below an enlightened human nature. Bacon wisely tells us, “that this communicating of a man’s self to his friend works two contrary effects, for it redoubleth joys and cutteth griefs in halfs; for there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more, and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less.”
Akin to friendship is friendliness. The one is close, the other more remote, but without capacity for the former there can be none of the latter. Emerson sweetly says, “the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like fine ether.” This is friendliness. It is of this, as well as of friendship that we would make much. Friendship comes, from personal contact; flowers in association. Friendliness is as wide as humanity. It is not given to all men to be friends, one to another. Circumstances and temperament forbid. But there are no limits to friendliness, which is but another name for that human sympathy, in the exercise of which man finds himself nearest the divine. Where friendship be impossible, let friendliness have full sway.
Brother Conductor, you will conduct our friend to the Councilor for instructions.
 
 
Charge
 
C.: My friend, standing as you do, just across our threshold, I admonish you that an unquestioning faith in and a ready devotion to friendship and brotherhood is not only to be highly esteemed, but is vitally necessary.
I charge you that during the time that may pass between this, your initiation and your further advancement in the Order, you give serious thought to the lesson that we have sought to teach you. I am sure that you will find in it ample food for serious reflection.
 
 
Instructions
 
C.: Mf, uya, ywbetatCwwitfd. IwobntypyttWita, gynatdoyiaishwstyaawc. Ywnbptvoctyhbp. Wweyeaffa, bbtt, wtaosbtbabm, ywctmtootd.
C.: Brother Conductor, you will retire with our friend to the anteroom and then return to your station.
C.: The Council will now resume its work in the Third Degree, and those who have not been perfected will retire.
 
 
Closing
 
C.: Brother F. S. will you kindly name the receipts of the evening.
F. S. states the amount.
Brother F. S., I will thank you to enter the amount upon the records.
Brothers, the business of the evening has been transacted and we are about to retire. Recalling to your minds the precepts that should at all times, whether in or out of Council, govern our conduct as members of this Order, I will ask you to join with me in repeating our three cardinal principles.
Tbtatog, ii, cal.
TgtptaAierolataabotO, iin, wIedsijtmaf.
TglsarottoalotCtSaNCanta, aoctracawtO.
C.: We will now sing our closing ode.
Air, “Auld Lang Syne.” (Key of F.)
We meet in love, we part in peace,
Our Council labors o’er;
We’ll ask, ere life’s best days shall cease,
To meet in time once more.
‘Mid fairest scenes of mem’ry dear,
In change of joy and pain,
We’ll think of friends assembled here,
And hope to meet again.
C.: Brother W., you will return to me our secret work.
C.: I now declare the Council closed until our next regular meeting, when it will be opened at … o’clock of the evening. The Council is duly closed.

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Junior Order of United American Mechanics
Second, or Degree of Liberty


1909

Opening
 
Councils will always open and close and transact their regular business in the Third Degree.
The stated hour of meeting having arrived, the Councilor will give one rap, when the officers and members will be seated. He will then rise and say:
C.: Council No. … is about to open. The officers and members will be clothed in proper regalia and come to order.
C.: Bro. I. S., you will secure the inner door and allow no one to retire or enter till so directed from this station.
C.: Brother W., you will advance and give to me the password’ and its explanation.
C.: You will now satisfy yourself that all present are qualified to remain, report to me and resume your station.
After testing the members the Warden will report from the altar and resume his station.
C., giving two raps, the members rising: Sons of a common country, reared under the same flag and influenced by like tradition, we have come here that we may trim and brighten the sacred fires of fraternity and patriotism.
Withdrawn from the tumult, selfishness and striving of every-day life; safe from the inquisitive, the envious and the faultfinding, we find ourselves in a presence where we may deliberate and resolve with that perfect freedom possible only-when men come together intent upon high purpose and where a true regard for the opinion of others ever moves to speech and action.
With a just pride in our country’s past and a sublime faith in its future, let us so carry ourselves here as to fill full the measure of our own approval, and so demean ourselves abroad as to bear witness that we hold our citizenship a precious birthright and our exercise of it a privilege beyond price.
C.: Brother Chaplain, upon what is our Order founded?
Chaplain: Upon Virtue.
C.: Brother V. C., by what are we made secure in the practice of Virtue?
V. C.: By Liberty.
C.: Brother Jr. P. C., to what must we look for our inspiration?
Jr. P. C.: To Patriotism.
C.: Brother Chaplain!
The Chaplain will here read a selection from the Bible and then offer the following prayer:
Sublime Master of The Universe! Humbly we bow before Thee and beseech Thee to move us to loving kindness toward each other. Direct us that all our words and thoughts and deeds may ever make for a higher and broader citizenship. Help us, that being clean of heart and true to self, we can be false to none, God of Nations! We offer our thanks that our Country has come to its high place among the peoples of the Earth. Quicken, O Lord, the public conscience and steady the purpose of our people, that our institutions may grow with the Nation’s growth, and that our greater destiny shall continue as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to struggling mankind everywhere. Protect, and grant of Thy wisdom to all, of high and low degree, who may be appointed to administer public business. Ever incline the hearts of the people to respect for and obedience to law. Prosper our Order and its purpose to make of us truer men and better citizens. Amen.
C.: Let us join in singing our opening ode.
Air, “America.” (Key of F.).
God bless our native land;
Firm may it ever stand
Through storm and night.
When the wild tempests rave,
Ruler of wind and wave,
Do Thou our Order save
By Thy great might.
C.: Relying upon a spirit of true brotherhood and invoking a perfect loyalty to our institutions, I now declare this Council duly opened.
Brother I. S., you will retire and so inform the O. S., and admit such as may be qualified to enter.
 
 
Advancement
 
The Council being at work in the Third Degree, the C. will say:
C.:
Brother W., you will retire and report to me whether there are any candidates awaiting advancement.
Returning from the anteroom the W. will report:
W.: Brother Councilor, I find … (naming Candidate or Candidates) in the -anteroom awaiting advancement.
C.: Brother W., you will present the Candidate at the altar for examination.
The Candidate being at the altar, the Councilor will say:
C.: My friend, are you prepared for examination?
Candidate answers: I am.
C.: Then repeat the obligation of the First Degree.
Candidate repeats.
C.: Brother W., you will reconduct our friend to the anteroom and prepare him for advancement.
C.: There being work to do, with the aid of the Council I will proceed to confer the Degree of Liberty upon …, he being a duly chosen candidate for membership in this Order and having already passed his initiation. I now declare the Council open in the Second Degree and will ask of all, proper assistance and careful attention.
The W., being in the anteroom, will carefully hoodwink the Candidate or Candidates. If there be more than one candidate, having selected the one appearing to be best fitted to the character, he will costume him as a Puritan. This done, addressing the Candidate or Candidates, he will say:
W.: Friend, having, upon a former occasion, been taught the lesson of Virtue as sought to be practiced by our Order, I am about to present you to our Conductor, who will guide you in your quest for Liberty. You will find your way dark, threatening and beset with difficulties. I am sure that, if you meet every obstacle with courage, you will find at your journey’s end both light and welcome. Follow me.
In the meanwhile the Council room will have been prepared for the ceremony. There should be provided some illusionary contrivance, preferably a mechanism representing the pitching and tossing of a boat at sea, or something that will thus impress the blindfolded subject; a machine upon which the Candidate shall stand, with a short mast in its center to which he must cling for support; something likely to produce more effect upon the mind than the body. On no account should anything making possible, physical danger, be permitted. The machine being upon wheels should be located immediately in front of the Chaplain’s station.
The Candidate being prepared, the W. will give two raps upon the inner door to which the I. S. will respond. in the same manner, and speaking through the wicket will say:
I. S.: Who comes there?
W.: Friends seeking Liberty and asking advancement in this Order.
I. S.: You will await the commands of the Councilor, to whom I will report your presence. Addressing the Councilor: Brother Councilor, there is without the W. with a friend asking advancement in this Order. What is your pleasure?
C.: If our W. will vouch for this friend he may be admitted.
I. S., opening the door: Brother W., will you vouch for this friend.
W.: I will.
I. S.: Then by direction of the Councilor, enter.
When all are within, the Conductor approaching the W. will say:
Conductor: Brother W., it is now my duty to take charge of this friend and accompany him upon a journey, that if it does not result in disaster, will end in his coming into the light and finding welcome. Addressing the Candidate: My friend, we will proceed.
The Conductor will then lead the procession formed of the Candidate, the W. and such other attending brothers as may be needed, to a position near by the Chaplain’s station, where he will halt, and facing the Candidate will say:
Conductor: We have arrived at the place of your departure upon a voyage, the beginning of which is known, but the end of which is wrapped in mystery. Should fortune favor you, upon the other side of the vast deeps, you will find a land where you may, within bounds, be as free as you have been oppressed. Be brave, be steadfast and have faith. Taking the Puritan Candidate by the hand the Conductor will continue. Enter then upon your voyage. Then leading the Candidate upon the machine he will place his hands about the mast and say: Hold fast. Whereupon the machine will be put in motion, the other Candidates, if any there be, and the attending brothers following and proceed once about the hall and again until the Councilor’s station has been reached, when the procession will come to a halt and the Candidate will be led from the machine and it will be quietly removed from sight. The Puritan Candidate will be left standing before the Councilor and the others, if there be any, will be seated immediately in the rear: The hoodwinks shall then be removed.
Here, if possible, such arrangements shall be had that just as the hoodwinks are removed a curtain shall be drawn disclosing the Councilor or someone selected by him for the part, costumed as an American Indian and standing in a blaze of light. The scene is to represent a Puritan just stepping ashore upon the American continent and being welcomed by a native of the soil. This scene and its setting may be made as realistic as the circumstances of the Council will permit.
C., in character and addressing the Candidate standing before him: Who are you? Whence came you?
Conductor, answering for the Candidate: One who, leaving the land of his birth, which has become a land of oppression, is seeking liberty.
C.: It is well. By the sign of the Great Spirit I know you. Long have I waited for this hour. The note of warning has come to my ears in the roar of the angry sea; in the song of the rippling lake; The north wind has called it aloud; the summer breeze has whispered it. Moreover, the spirits of my fathers, gone before, have told it to my soul when darkness has put out the light and sleep has stilled the weary body.
You have come from over the vast deeps, whence the bright God of day. Of a surety, these shores bound upon its hither side a land of liberty. Your quest has met with success, but before you and before those who are to come after you, lie many generations of toil and sacrifice. It has been given me to see, not to the end, but far into the future. I know that in receiving you, my people will invite your mastery, if not their destruction. But in doing so we yield to the inevitable; to a law as certain as that which governs the coming of the seasons. Therefore, speaking not for the past, not for the present, but for the future, I welcome you to a land where liberty may be first wooed, then won. No easy task, but the task is for you and for your children.
The liberty that has been ours has been the liberty to do as we willed, unless restrained by an arm stronger than our own.
The liberty to which you aspire is designed to protect the weak as well as the powerful.
Our government has been that of the strong, our law the law of might. Your government will be of and for all the people; your law will mean not the heavy hand of power, but the even hand of justice. May you fulfill the high destiny of your blood and race. You will now be conducted to the sacred altar upon which you will be obligated as a free man in your new land of liberty. Pass on.
Immediately with the last word of the Councilor the lights shall be extinguished and the hoodwinks replaced, whereupon the light shall be renewed and then in silence the procession shall proceed to the front of the altar behind which the Jr. P. C. shall have taken station. The Puritan Candidate shall be placed in the center, supported on right and left by the other Candidates, if any, with the Conductor upon the extreme right and the W. upon the extreme left. The hoodwinks shall then be removed.
Conductor: Bro. Jr. P. C., this friend having advanced thus far in his quest for Liberty, is now prepared for obligation as a freeman.
Jr. P. C.: My friend
YwpbhotHBagcattfowIwnp.
IitpoGatwasbmtekitotbmamiitO;
IptIwnrbwaodtaonktmtbamigsotO, apooapttc, o, 1, ocotd.
AafIptIwcahmirtdtltiaac-stAi, aftIwgcottloolabpaeeotdts.
TatfIspas.
Jr.P. C.: Do you solemnly promise and swear?
Candidate: I promise and swear.
Jr. P. C.: Brother Conductor, you will now reconduct this friend, just obligated as a freeman to our Councilor, who will finally instruct him as to matters appertaining to this degree and his duties with respect thereto.
Conductor, addressing the Candidate: I will now conduct you to the Councilor’s station. When arrived before the Councilor, the Conductor will say:
Conductor: Brother Councilor, it is the pleasure of the Jr. P. C. that I present to you this friend as a freeman, duly obligated and ready for your instructions.
The Conductor will then seat the Candidate or Candidates in front of and facing the Councilor.
 
 
Lecture
 
C.: You have just passed through an experience typifying a journey in quest of liberty. Your efforts met with success.
From your initiation as a friend you have now advanced to the dignity of a freeman. The dignity of it is that without free men, political liberty would be a delusion.
A wise man has wisely said: “There is no word that admits of more various significations and has made more varied impressions on the human mind, than that of liberty.” In order that we may measure the true value of political liberty, we must constantly bear in mind the difference between liberty and license. “Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid, he would be no longer possessed of liberty, because all of his fellow-citizens would have the same power.” Thus wrote a noted publicist before our republic was born.
The test by which the existence of political liberty is to be tried is the state of mind of the citizen-body. If the government is so constituted and administered that “one man need not be afraid of another,” the test will be complete. This condition, however, would be perfection. It is an ideal toward which we must strive.
By striving we will not only draw nearer and nearer to the goal, but we will honor our citizenship.
The lesson that we would now teach is that the liberty for which our forefathers broke the ties that bound them to home and native land, severing themselves from all the associations of life, is without value unless we keep it undefiled of license. And this, no matter in whatsoever guise license obtrudes itself.
Political liberty, such as we hold it to be, is constantly menaced from below as well as from above; from subject-citizen as well as from governing-citizen; from the tyranny of labor as well as from that of capital. Upon us and upon such as we are; upon all those who hold American citizenship to be a title that cannot be gilded to greater splendor by gold, but as one that can be soiled and degraded by such as would make it a secret instrument for narrow and selfish purposes, is laid an enduring responsibility.
Trite as it may be, no profounder truth was ever spoken or written than this, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Candidate rises.
 
 
Charge
 
C.: You are now a freeman. You have advanced one more stage toward full membership in our Order. I would admonish you that in accepting the title of freeman you should in no wise forget that of friend. In your initiation we sought to impress upon you that friendship was the foundation upon which our temple was built, and we would now have you fix it in your mind, beyond the possibility of forgetfulness, that to neglect that friendship will put in jeopardy the completed structure.
Bear this also in mind: The liberties that will be yours as a member of this Order are wholly dependent upon those that you are willing to accord your fellow members. You cannot possess more than you cheerfully allow to others, and such as are theirs are without value unless shared equally with you.
 
 
Instruction
 
Until your perfection in the work of our Order you will be permitted to attend the Council when working in the First and Second Degrees.
TtCwwitsdywgaitsmatpftfd Ayecwweyahtymbpio wbbtt, wtaosbtbabm, ywctmtootd.
C.: Brother Conductor, you will conduct this our friend, now a freeman, to the anteroom and than return to your station.
C.: The Council will now resume its work in the Third Degree, and those who have not been perfected will retire.
 
 
Closing
 
C.: Brother F. S. will you kindly name the receipts of the evening.
F. S. states the amount.
Brother F. S., I will thank you to enter the amount upon the records.
Brothers, the business of the evening has been transacted and we are about to retire. Recalling to your minds the precepts that should at all times, whether in or out of Council, govern our conduct as members of this Order, I will ask you to join with me in repeating our three cardinal principles.
Tbtatog, ii, cal.
TgtptaAierolataabotO, iin, wIedsijtmaf.
TglsarottoalotCtSaNCanta, aoctracawtO.
C.: We will now sing our closing ode.
Air, “Auld Lang Syne.” (Key of F.)
We meet in love, we part in peace,
Our Council labors o’er;
We’ll ask, ere life’s best days shall cease,
To meet in time once more.
‘Mid fairest scenes of mem’ry dear,
In change of joy and pain,
We’ll think of friends assembled here,
And hope to meet again.
C.: Brother W., you will return to me our secret work.
C.: I now declare the Council closed until our next regular meeting, when it will be opened at … o’clock of the evening. The Council is duly closed.

 

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