George Washington Masonic Memorial
No doubt most of our Members know something of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, organized in 1910 with Brother Thomas J. Shryock, for thirty years Grand Master of Maryland, as President, and Brother John H. Cowles, Secretary General of the Scottish Rite in its Southern Jurisdiction, as Treasurer. Although only five regular meetings of the Association have been held, forty-two Grand Lodges, the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Etite, the General Grand Chapter, the Grand Council, and a large number of grand bodies have officially endorsed the plan. Representative in form and national in scope, the Association is composed of two delegates from each constituent Grand Body. Its objects, as set forth in its Constitution, are as follows:
"First, the collection of a fund to erect and maintain a suitable Masonic Memorial to George Washingtont in the form of a Temple in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, provided that at least one floor therein be set apart forever as Memorial Hall, to be under the control of the several Grand Jurisdictions in the United States of America, members of this Association.
Second, To provide a place where the several Grand Jurisdictions, members of said Association, may perpetuate, in imperishable form, the memory and achievements of the men whose distinguished services, zealous attachment, and unswerving fidelity to the principles of our institution merit particular and lasting reward; to create, foster, and difluse a more intimate, fraternal spirit, understanding and intercourse between the several Grand Jurisdictions and Sovereign Grand Bodies throughout the United States and her Insular possessions, members of the Association; to cherish, maintain and extend the wholesome influence and example of our illustrious dead."
The title to the Memorial Temple, it may be added, is to be vested in five trustees elected by the Association and appointed in accordance with the laws of Virginia. In this fire-proof structure, when it is completed, the Alexandria-Washington Lodge will deposit the priceless heirlooms in its possession, an account of which Brother Callahan gives elsewhere in this issue. They are among the most precious relics, both patriotic and Masonic, now remaining among us, and it would be something worse than folly to allow them to be exposed to destruction by fire, as they are now, when it is within our power to protect them and hand them down to future ages.
As a perpetual memorial to the first President of the Republic, who was the greatest man and Mason this land has known, such a plan should appeal to every patriotic Mason. Surely he is a poor Mason, and no American at all, who can visit Alexandria-Washington Lodge, or Mount Vernon, and not feel his heart beat with solemn joy and pride that he lives in a land that is free from the curse of kings, and where the voice of the common people is heard. When one stands beside the grave of a man who was greater than any king the world has known, for that he refused a crown, or sits in the old Lodge where he was wont to meet his fellowmen upon the Level, one sees to what fine issues our mortal life may ascend, and why the whole world pays homage to Washington.
But this movement means more than building a monument to the past. It looks also to the future. It is a great school for the propagation of patriotic thought and sentiment, and the Temple which it is to build will become a mecca and a shrine for American Masons for all time to come. Not least among its benefits will be the establishment of a permanent representative Association, which will bring together in annual conference the leaders of the two great Rites of the Order to deliberate and council upon topics of universal interest and importance to the Craft. Any Mason, any Lodge, any Masonic body is entitled to membership in the Association on payment of one hundred dollars, and we trust that many of our members will take advantage of the opportunity and also induce their lodges to do so.
-Source: The Builder - February 1916