Charity: “Thou Shalt Open Thine Hand Wide unto Thy Brother”

“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing that I can do, therefore or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” This statement appearing on a wall near the entrance to the out-patient clinic at London’s National Hospital has been attributed to Stephen Gorellet, a French-born American Quaker Missionary and Philanthropist.

The Origins of Friendly Societies

A special class of charitable fraternal orders known as the Friendly, Social and Benevolent Societies and/or Mutual Assessment Fraternities originated in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in response to the social ills of the day. Their mission and purpose were to provide health and life protection to the working class without the motivation of profit. The first so-called “Friendly Societies of England” were an outgrowth of the burial leagues founded by the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Later the Romans and the Teutons established similar guilds to help alleviate the economic burden of losing a loved-one, by ensuring proper and dignified interment.

Essentially, these beneficiary organizations operated on the premise of a system of mutual assistance and assessment. During years of good health and prosperity, the organization would exact funds from its members with the idea of disbursing the same in times of distress. Composed primarily of members who labored within the same trade, these friendly societies were one of the links that led to the formation of the early trade unions and guilds. In addition to providing financial aid during sickness and death, the friendly societies also provided funds to members to cover various expenses, such as travel expenses incurred while searching for employment and the cost of replacing or repairing the tools of one’s trade that were damaged or lost in a fire or natural disaster.

The Failure of the Poor Laws

Prior to the voluntary establishment of friendly societies in England, the poor and working classes had to rely on a system of organized relief provided by the British Government by means of a poor tax. The English Poor Laws did not live up to their ultimate purpose, due mostly to a lack of standardization, coupled with harsh and inhumane policies. One such stipulation known as the “workhouse test” mandated that the recipient of aid was to be consigned to a labor factory where conditions were deliberately made cruel and brutal in an effort to deter all but the chronically desperate.

As such, the idea of providing self-relief through the vehicle of friendly societies became very popular; so much so that by 1819 there were literally thousands of these societies in existence throughout Great Britain. The British Parliament taking cognizance of the valuable service provided by these friendly societies, lowered the poor tax and passed the first of numerous Friendly Society Acts and subsequent amendments.

With the passage of time, it became apparent that few of the orders assessed and collected adequate money from their members to keep up with the demand for and distribution of relief. To protect its citizenry from ill-conceived, incompetent or unscrupulous accounting practices, the Friendly Society Act required these Societies to make annual reports of their condition and operations. At five-year intervals they released statements of assets, liabilities, risks and contributions for the benefit of their members. It was the expectation that a well-informed general public would be better enabled to select a sound and prudent mutual benefit order to which to belong.

Fraternal Orders in America

A number of fraternal organizations appeared on the American horizon that paralleled the Friendly Societies of England at a time bordering the Civil War years. It was during the period from the 1860s through the 1890s that the concept of Life Insurance achieved some favored acceptance amongst Americans. In her treatise titled Morals and Markets: The Development of Life, Viviana A. Rotman Zelizer observes that one of the impediments that held this acceptance of Life Insurance in abeyance, in addition to deficient actuary tables, was its affront to the American conscience and religious convictions of the day. Placing a financial evaluation upon human life was initially seen in America as a form of gambling or vice, condemned by nineteenth century social mores. In summary, Zelizer writes “Putting death on the market offended a system of values that upheld the sanctity of human life and its incommensurability. It defied a powerful normative pattern: the division between the marketable and the non-marketable, or the sacred and the profane… Sacred things are distinguished by the fact that men will not treat them in a calculating, utilitarian manner.”

How did Americans at the turn of the century overcome their initial reluctance to buy life insurance? The answer to that question lies in the packaging. In Constructing Brotherhood, Mary Ann Clawson quantifies the crux of the dilemma and its solution. By making the protection of families into a purchasable commodity, life insurance breaches the ancient tenet whereby family members and the community come to the aid of their distressed widows and orphans. Clawson states that, “In a gift-exchange system, men are bound by trust and community solidarity, but in the impersonal economic market they come together as buyers and sellers of commodities… although life insurance provided an efficient financial alternative to co-operative means of support, it did not qualify as their moral substitute. Systems of voluntary mutual aid were deemed morally and socially superior to paid protection, which obliterated spontaneous love and duty. As a result, [fraternal benefit societies] were immensely popular, outselling commercial life insurance… despite the greater security offered by the regular insurance companies. But the success of the fraternal benefit societies was always tenuous.”

In the aftermath of the Civil War, fraternal benefit societies began to flourish across the United States. It should be noted that according to the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders by Alan Axelrod, “There were at the turn of the century some 7,200 friendly societies [fraternal benefit societies], many of them financially unsound.” Amongst these groups were the American Benefit Society, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, the United American Order of Mechanics, the Knights of the Maccabees, the United Ancient Order of Druids, the Ancient Order of Knights of the Mystic Chain, the Fraternal Mystic Circle, and the Home Circle.

The American Benefit Society

The American Benefit Society was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1893. Membership was open to men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 years, who were considered “socially acceptable, able to earn a decent living, and believed in a Supreme Being.” Further, to be eligible for membership therein, the petitioner must reside in “the more healthful regions of the northern States” and agree to participate in a simple ceremony of initiation. The society issued various denominations of sick and death benefit certificates to its members in exchange for dues and assessments.

Four years after its founding the society had 4,381 members on its rolls. Amongst its members was an impressively long list of national, gubernatorial and municipal officials. Albert Stevens, in his Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, claims that many prominent officers of the Improved Order of Red Men, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Freemasons also acquired membership in the American Benefit Society. There appears to be no evidence of the order’s continued existence today.

Modern Woodmen of America

Illustrious Brother Joseph Cullen Root, a prominent 33rd Degree Mason, established the Modern Woodmen of America in 1883 in Lyons, Iowa and he procured the order’s Corporate Charter from the State of Illinois on May 5, 1884. In addition to holding membership in the Masonic Fraternity, Bro. Root also held membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the American Legion of Honor (not to be confused with the American Legion) and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

In applying for the Corporate Charter, Bro. Root stipulated that the order’s jurisdiction would be confined to the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. These restrictions, as postulated by Bro. Root, would ensure a membership selected from “the healthiest territory in the country.” He further disallowed membership to persons engaged in hazardous occupations and/or who resided within the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati. However, the prerequisites of membership did not revolve around any religious beliefs or convictions.

The by-laws and Constitutions of the Modern Woodmen of America state that membership is restricted to persons who are “…over eighteen and under forty-five years of age, of sound health, exemplary habits, and good moral character. One who is over forty-five years of age, if but for a single day, is ineligible. Persons engaged in the following kinds of business or employment will not be admitted as a member of this Fraternity: Railway brakeman, railway engineer, fireman and switchman, miner employed underground, pit boss, employee in gunpowder factory, wholesaler or manufacturer of spirits, saloon keeper, sailor of the lakes and seas, plough polisher, brass finisher, professional baseball or foot-ball player, soldier in regular army in time of war…” It is quite obvious that the order was intent upon keeping the cost of insurance as low as possible by admitting into the fold only the youngest and healthiest men who were not employed in dangerous occupations.

As is the custom of most fraternal orders, the Modern Woodmen of America was no different in weaving an elaborate legend concerning its antiquity. It is interesting to note the similarity of certain shared references that can be found in Masonic ritual and lectures. In an address presented in 1894 by their Treasurer, D. C. Tink, the alleged origins of the Modern Woodmen of America are explained, “…the Woodmen in one form or another existed centuries before the Golden Fleece or the Roman Eagle was dreamed of; that the Orders of the Star and Garter, the Red Cross, and the Legion of Honor are things of yesterday as compared with them. Far back in the dim and misty ages, before the creatures were born, before the first stones were laid in the eternal city, in regions unlike those we see round about us, where snow-crowned peaks stand guard like sentinels, where babbling brooks and murmuring rills discoursed soft music to the nodding pines, the first Camp [i.e. Lodge] of Woodmen was organized.”

“With the axe they cleared the forest, with the wedge they opened up the secret resources of nature, and with the beetle they battered down the opposition of unworthy tribes that sought to bar their progress. So, my friends, we, as Modern Woodmen of America, have the same axe, beetle, and wedge, and we are destroying the abiding places of poverty, as they did the wild beasts, so that the blooming roses of happiness, the waiving grain of plenty, the lowing herds of sympathy, the rumbling machinery of industry, and the stately cities of the home of the beneficiaries are thus maintained and protected.”

At the advent of the Modern Woodmen of America, they reportedly had a mere 600 members on their roles. Within twelve years, the order had grown to over 210,000 members in 1896. The organization continues to operate today and claims a membership of 700,000 throughout the United States. Although, Life Insurance is the primary function of the order, the various lodges referred to as Camps practice four principal degrees featuring “Forests and Roman Courts.” The Modern Woodmen of America sponsored in 1892 an auxiliary organization for female members called the Royal Neighbors of America.

Ancient Order of Gleaners

The Ancient Order of Gleaners was founded in 1894 in Cairo, Michigan by Grant Slocum, the son of a prominent farmer. He received inspiration from the biblical story of Ruth the Gleaner and believed that farmers could find mutual protection by banding together. He established the Latin motto prudens futuri meaning “thoughtful for the future” as the theme for the Ancient Order of Gleaners. Membership was open to men and women over the age of 16 years who are “of good moral character… who furnish satisfactory evidence of insurability and who believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, the Creator, and Preserver of the Universe.” Advancement in the order requires the completion of four degrees, namely the Introductory Degree, the Degree of Adoption, the Degree of Ruth, and the Dramatic Degree. The exemplar or candidate is known amongst the Gleaners as the Moabitish Stranger. The signs and tokens of their ritual are represented by the sheaf, sickle and hourglass and the degrees are conferred in lodges called “Arbors.”

One cannot but recognize the strong parallel that exists between the Masonic Fraternity, the Order of the Eastern Star and Ancient Order of Gleaners. Today, the Ancient Order of Gleaners continues under the name Gleaners Life Insurance Society with approximately 40,000 beneficiaries.

Order of Knights of the Maccabees

Another fraternal benefit society that drew strength and inspiration through biblical teachers is the Order of Knights of the Maccabees. Founded in 1878 in London, Ontario, Canada, the order is built upon the legacy of the followers of Judas Maccabeus, the Jewish patriot of the Maccabees family who rededicated the Holy Temple at Jerusalem. According to the research author, Albert C. Stevens, “…the name Maccabeus is said to have been derived from the Hebrew term signifying a hammer.” It is also a derivative of the name Maccabi, which was “formed from the initials of the Hebrew words mi Kamocha baëlim, Jehovah, signifying ‘Who is like thee among the gods, Jehovah?’”

In the second century BC, the Jewish people transferred their allegiance from Egypt to Syria and twenty-five years later the Syrian King, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, decreed that they were to renounce the Jewish religion and to worship solely the Olympian idol, Jupiter. The Jews were resolved not to comply with the heresy of the King and revolted against Antiochus Epiphanes IV of Syria under the leadership of their Priest Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabeus. On the death of his father a few years after the thirty-years war began, Judas took command of the Jewish people and through his military genius secured a new Jewish state in Judaea.

The Order of Knights of the Maccabees incorporated the attributes exemplified by Judas Maccabeus into the fabric of their ritual and philosophy. Specifically, his steadfastness and persistence, his wisdom in the use of power and most importantly his humanitarian treatment of widows and orphans. It was said that Judas Maccabeus was “the first recorded military leader to have ordered his soldiers to reserve a part of their spoils for the widows and orphans of their fallen colleagues.”

The organization is divided into local units known as Subordinate Camps, with Great Camps at the district level and the Supreme Tent at the international level. At its inception, each member of the order was obligated to donate ten cents to the widow of a deceased member, with a ceiling of $1,000. The Maccabees continues to function today in both Canada and the United States, claiming a total membership in 1994 of 3,500. During the mid-1920s the wife of a Maccabee member, Mrs. A.G. Ward, helped establish a women’s auxiliary organization called the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, which met in groups affectionately known as “Hives.”

Conclusion

In defining the meaning and essence of charity, I close this article with a quote from MW Brother Arthur S. Tompkins, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, in his address of May 1924.

“We sometimes hear the expression that charity begins at home. Masonic charity begins at home in the sense that we are obligated to take proper care of our own needy brethren, their widows and orphans, but Masonic charity should not end at home.

“We are taught that ‘Freemasonry is neither bounded by geographical lines, nor circumscribed by race, creed or time, and that ‘wheresoever destitution exists, there it is Masonic duty to relieve.’ Our Lodges are constituted in the name of ‘universal benevolence,’ and every new Masonic Temple and Hall is dedicated to the cause of ‘universal benevolence’ and in the dedicatory ceremony we pray that the Fraternity everywhere may be inspired to such deeds of benevolence as shall prove a constant joy to all mankind. Masonry teaches us that our charity shall be as boundless as the wants of our fellow creatures.’”