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Show 150 151 were practically the only fraternal orders in this country. Klembers of each of these orders were on both sides in this war and It is not my purpose to go into figures to prove the uselessness of war and the loss to the nation of human life which all wars entail. This field has been covered by others. Neither is it my purpose to try to prove that fraternal orders are altogether right in their methods of teaching peace. I merely wish to record the fact that members of fraternal orders do teach peace and they do discourage war. They are factors in our present day civilization and should be considered by this and other peace conferences. They are agencies of brotherly love and not of bullets. They stand for friendship and not for fighting. They stand for truth and not for treachery. How are these fraternal orders promoting peace? If it will promote peace to teach men the brotherhood of man, the Father- hood of God, love, kindness, fraternity, friendship, charity, benev- olence, truth and justice, then these six hundred fraternal orders with their thousands of lodges and millions of members in the United States are promoting peace, and our nation in years to come will be known as a fraternal nation. Some men may say that the foregoing principles have long been the dream of dreamers, poets and women, but that these principles will never be practiced by business men and politicians. But there were many things called business and politics ten years ago, which already have passed away. 1t has been said that you have only to break the skin of the were engaged in filling each other with bullets and not with fraternity. Near the close of the war a new fraternal order was started in the City of \\'asliiiigtoit which had for one of its obiects the reuniting of the men in the North witli the men in the South in the bonds of brotherly love. m‘mmw "one" mum This fraternal order has now grown to nearly a million members. li ch of tlte two fraternal orders which existed at the beginning of the war now has over a million members in the United States. Fraternal orders in this country have grown from two in number to more than six hundred in forty-tire years and have a lodge in nearly everv town and hamlet in this nation. It is safe to say that the fraternal orders now ltave included in their membership over onethird of the voting population of the L'iiitetl States. It is no breach of confidence to say that all of these orders stand for peace. Fraternal orders have been teaching peace for nearly a century. Notwithstanding this fact. perhaps this is the first Peace Conference in which fraternal orders and peace have been discussed. It is therefore proper at this Ujiifcrcnce to discuss the question, "What have these fraternal orders to do with peace on earth and good will toward all lllC‘tl Perhaps the greatest guarantee against another civil war in this country lies in the fact that over oneithird of our men belong to these orders and are taught to regard their fellowmen as brothers. The members of nearly ell these orders have never charged each other with buyout-ts or killed each other with bullets. We may ask ourselves whether the human race has advanced far enough to practice peace truly, as well as to preach it. The old tribal feeling that it is wrong to kill a fellow tribesman, but that one is justified in killing his fellowman who belongs to another tribe. has been handed down to us from generation to generation. It will take generations yet to come for the members of the human race to educate themselves away from this tribal training of the past. This Peace Conference, as well as others of its kind, will hasten the day when all men will realize that they should do no man wrong and that human life should be held sacred. average man to find a savage. \Vars make men more savage, so that you do not have to break their skins to find the real animal. It is not my purpose to try to paint in words the beauty and glory of the principles of fraternity, but I desire to state some of the practical principles of fraternal orders which can help educate our men for better citizenship and make them better husband: and fathers and thus promote the peace of our nation. Most of these fraternal orders proclaim the doctrine that a man cannot: be true to his fraternity and at the same time violate the law of the land. In other words, these orders have laws which provide for the discipline of a member if he. violates the law of the land. A violation of the law of the. land is a violation of the laws of the order of which he is a member. At least one of these orders in Illinois is now seriously tryingr to expel from membership some of its members who openly and |
