cr ft m sonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District Historical ...

came to us in Paris, and through a thorough canvas of the whole of France by the several members of the Mission, I endeavored to
sense the situation and determine the needs of our men.
I was greatly enlightened on conditions in the occupied territory by interviews with Major W. S. Solomon, 417 Telegraph Battalion,
Signal Corps, a prominent and zealous member of the Fraternity from Rhode Island, who was stationed at Coblentz and who had,
as President, undertaken the reorganization of the Third Army Masonic Club in the occupied territory of Germany, assisted by M.W.
Wendell Davis, Past Grand Master, and by R. W. James S. Collins, then Deputy Grand Master, now Grand Master of Rhode Island,
both secretaries of the A. E. F.-Y. M. C. A. These Brethren, who had been with the forces for months, in conflict, and behind the
lines, and who had been in Germany for some time since the Armistice, not only recognized the need of the Masonic Club referred
to, but had cabled the Grand Master of Rhode Island, requesting a Warrant for an Overseas Lodge with the Army of Occupation,
and in due time were assured that there request had been granted and a Warrant dispatched. I offered these Brethren, whatever I
might decide as respects Lodge activities in France, to hold for them one of the Warrants which I carried, until their own should
arrive, or until they should be assured it had not been lost in transit. Their Warrant, a replica as to authority of those entrusted to me,
arrived in due course, and Overseas Rhode Island Lodge, with Bro. Davis as W. Master, did valiant service for the A. E. F. in the
Occupied Territory and I am informed has been preserved as a living instrumentality for such service as may be required of it, at
home. By virtue of the authority invested in me, I exchanged plenary waivers, over all material in France and in Germany,
respectively, with Overseas Rhode Island Lodge and referred to it all requests for courtesy service coming to me, affecting men
stationed in the Occupied Territory.
The story of this Rhode Island Lodge was given in the January number of THE BUILDER. This mention by Bro. Scudder calls
attention to the perfect harmony that prevailed among the several Masonic bodies representing various groups of Masons at home.
The kindly and courteous fellowship did much to deepen the loyalty of the rank and file to the Institution.
The next thing dealt with in the report is the baffling and perplexing problem of French Masonry. Bro. Scudder said in regard to this:
At the Conference of Grand Masters, held at New York May 9, 1918, the possibility of Overseas Lodge activity under New York
auspices, was intimated to certain of the representatives of Grand Jurisdictions there assembled, and by some, plenary authority
was granted me, to accommodate their material applying to me in France, without reference to headquarters.
Though the Grand Lodge of New York was not, and is not, in fraternal relation with any French Grand Jurisdiction, I bore letters to
the Conseil Federal of the Grand Orient, and to the Grande Loge de France, and also to the Supreme Conseil of the Rite Ecossais
Ancien et Accepte; also to Brother Edmond Heiseh, Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Loge National et Regulaire pour la France,
and soon presented them and established most amicable and friendly personal relations with them all. With each of these
Obediences the possibility of Lodge activity in France, under authority of the Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, for
the benefit of the A. E. F. was discussed, and from each cordial acquiescence was received, and offers of use of all facilities and
premises belonging to them, without change, were graciously made. It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect courtesy than that
shown me, and all American Freemasons with whom I came in contact, by the Masonic Authorities and brethren of France.
In this statement I am sure the host of American Masons in the A. E. F. who came to know the French brethren will agree. I had a
wide contact with French Freemasons throughout France and found them invariably courteous, generous, willing to exhaust
themselves to care for our Masonic needs. I also found them to constitute the highest mentality in that nation and believe that within
the ranks of Freemasonry in France is to be found the great underlying stable force that keeps France poised and sound.
But returning to the story as told by Bro. Scudder:
As graphically descriptive of the condition of our men when I arrived in France, let me quote the following from an article by
Katherine Mayo in the Outlook for March 3, 1920. Referring to Le Mans, she wrote:
"In order to appreciate, however, anything of what it really meant, one should be able to realize, as perhaps only an eyewitness can
do, the utter depression, the weight of melancholy the general low morale of the whole body of troops held waiting in the
Embarkation Center Area.
"The great machine that had been throwing men across the ocean into France was now to be reversed. All the big, nervous effort
that had preceded the Armistice had stopped short. The excitement was over. A dull, long pause had ensued. Men had begun to fret
and fear about their jobs at home- to ponder at leisure the possible personal cost of their war period. Mail service had been
exceedingly defective. For many months, in many eases, home news had been entirely shut off. Meantime, in America, the
influenza had Slain its thousands, and every man who had failed to hear from his family dreaded the possible truth.
"Under conditions as anxious as these, with little but time killing labor to occupy attention and with sailing orders still delayed, a
vicious circle of thought ground on."
I saw these same conditions. Each member of the Mission saw them in every part of France where our men were. The sad story
was brought to me by Masons in numbers, and by others, competent observers.
I became convinced that valuable as was the influence of the Masonic Club, it was not sufficient. The existence of Masonic life, to
vary the tedium of existence, was necessary. Once established it came to the knowledge of innumerable non-Masons buddies of
our brethren in the service, and they were keen to acquire the same privilege. The need for more genuine Masonic life than the Club
could afford was conspicuous. If we were justified in our effort to serve in the activity of our Sea and Field Lodge, No. 1, in New
York, and in our regularly chartered lodges, men about to be sent out of the country, surely in their sorry plight, if we could, it was
our duty to serve them "over there."
I decided to institute Sea and Field Lodge! No. 2, in Paris, and arranged with the officers of the Grande Loge National, to rent
quarters for that lodge at 42 rue Rochechouart, Paris, in the headquarters in France of that Grand Jurisdiction, and equipped our
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