Brothers, IF tomorrow morning, every present Mason made a firm resolve to commit himself to the fraternity he "claims" to love and to the obligations he made, we would have a severe problem. Our lodges would be unable to accomodate their own members and the coffers of our charities would be running over.

WITHOUT asking a single person, advertising in any paper, buying a single license plate, or spending one penny on PR, or placing a single S&C on a business card, sign or plackard, the the word of our activity and and the good we are doing would spead. Exceptional men would flock to align themselves with the good men of the Masons. Degree work would be backed up for months. People who complained about the time it takes to hear the lectures or to learn the catechisms would be referred to one of the social clubs with no such requirements.

But that probably won't happen. It's easier to fool ourselves into believeing that a license plate will work than it is to pick-up the phone and call Fred, or Sam or Tom and ask them to come to lodge. It's easier to convince ourselves that a PR spot played on some obscure TV station at 2 AM will do more than taking a few minutes to prepare an interesting presentation for the lodge. Besides, if the members were coming, if everyone was acting like Masons and not just members, if we were so active that we didn't worry about "public awareness" and had so many petitions that the thought of lowering our requirements or shortening our ritual work would be absurd. . . what would we talk about?

Dan Weatherington