This is an age of keen competition in every human undertaking. In business, in things spiritual and intellectual - in all pursuits of whatever nature we find the terrific struggle for existence.

This is frequently said to be the age during which fraternalism will come to an end. I often smile as I hear this statement, for I believe it to be no more true now than at any other time. To be sure, there are today many more distractions than ever before, but there are also ways of awakening interest in those things of the spirit for which at least our own Fraternity stands. In other words, we have developed a defense against those influences that tend to distract. One important line of this defense is the Board of General Activities.

Along about 1920 Grand Lodge formed a Bureau of Social and Educational Service. It had for its purpose the activating of those Ledges that were dormant by setting up for them such programs as would cause their members to attend more frequently. This was to be done through the medium of speakers by furnishing Masters with programs for special occasions, and by helping Worshipfuls to establish Freemasonry in the hearts of their Brethren by grounding them in the ancient teachings of the Craft. It also hid for an object the business of informing the Brethren as to the symbolism, landmarks, Masonic law, allegory, and history, etc., of the Fraternity. The Bureau was the forerunner of our present Board of General Activates.

Time and experience have gone into the development of the organization we now have. As a matter of fact, it takes time just to begin to obtain an understanding of the problems of others if we are to be effective in service.

This statement is particularly true in dealing with groups so different in individuality as our thousand and thirty-six Lodges in this State. I have still to be convinced that our problems vary so greatly in our different Lodges, yet Brethren believe they do. There has crept into the minds of Brethren throughout the State a conviction that these problems differ materially, that there is no one remedy applicable to all Lodges.

Grant that all this is partly true, yet it is not entirely so. Human nature is about the same wherever we find and so too are the problems of one group similar to those of another.

We have, of course, a wide variety of Masters. Some are sufficiently interested in their Masonic work to desire to energize their Lodges. Unfortunately we also have Lodges that are afflicted with Masters who are indifferent, with Masters who are not leaders, with Masters who do not care. With Masters of this latter kind little can be done; we have them with us always; they come
and go, and "the place thereof knows them no more." The contribute nothing because they lack the high qualities of leadership. But - given a Master who shows some signs of life, and the Board given an opportunity to go to work, and the result is well worth while.

My Brethren, if there is one thing this Craft needs more than anything else it is to be roused from a state of dormancy we too often find. We need Masters who avidly grasp at the opportunity given to them to serve. We need leadership by men with imagination. Often I have declared in my Grand Lecturer's Conventions that the man without a sense of humor and lively imagination is to be pitied. Imagination is a great factor in the progress of an individual as well as that of an organization. Great leaders are, without exception, men of imagination.

Let us look at the Muter who does have these qualifications, but who is so brimful of enthusiasm that his runs away with his good sense. Here a little sound judgment is needed to serve as a balance wheel. Such a Master is liable to transgress certain fundamentals because he is not well grounded in Masonry, or because of an excess of enthusiasm. His energies are apt to dissipate into thin air because they lack substance.

Now is there a happy medium? Can these two divergent types of men reach a middle ground that will be safe and useful? My answer to these two questions is that there is and that they may. Which brings in to the Board of General Activities.

To my notion, the wise Master will go to this service agency of Grand Ledge, because, my Brother, their plans work and are essentially practical. I know whereof I speak because I have tried them and have seen them tried.

Let me tell a true story. A certain Senior Warden of an average lodge noticed some literature dealing with the service of the Board. He became interested, for here to his mind was the answer to a problem he had observed in nearly every Lodge he knew anything about or had visited. He said nothing to any of the Brethren of his Lodge, who were inclined to look on him with disapproval, as one possessing too much zeal. However, he sent for some of the literature, studied it, and, when finally elected Master, put into practice some of the plans calculated to create new interest in his Lodge. He knew that because of business conditions in his community there would be few, if any, candidates. To tell the truth, he raised one man. But - he doubled the average attendance at the regular communications!

When he was Senior Warden this man had determined that if his Lodge did not grow numerically during his year he would at least cause it to grow spiritually. He determined that his one year in the East would be a year of growth for him and for his lodge. He realized that as one helps others to grow he himself increases mightily in stature. So it was that while he was still Senior Warden he started to look about him to see what could be done, and how best he could do it. He studied his membership rolls. He found one of the Brethren who played the cello. Two more were discovered who played the violin, and these three, with the pianist of the Lodge, he encouraged to form a quartet. This performed so well that the Brethren were able at every communication to listen to music that was a delight to them. And - these men were given something to do. The members were given something to come to Lodge for. They came again. They kept coming, and the word went out that he who missed a regular communication of his Lodge was missing something worth while.

And so it went. The Board gave his Master the same encouragement with respect to speakers, so that the Master was able to introduce to his Brethren, on many a night, some speaker who had been selected with care, so that nothing should be presented that was not in keeping with good Masonic tradition and practice. These speakers were men outstanding in their particular fields,
all of them Masons, and each with something worth while to give.

Also while Senior Warden this man happened to discover a copy of the Book of Constitutions of Grand Lodge. He read it, and then reread it to his Brethren, a little at a time each night, until he had covered all those points in which he felt the Lodge should be especially interested. The Brethren liked it - to his utter amazement they were interested far and above his fondest hopes.

And so it was during the entire year. Of course some there were who said "It hasn't been done before, therefore it can't be done now." Soon, however, even these skeptics were silenced, with everybody getting back of the energetic Master and responded to him with words of encouragement.

What that man did, you can do. And much more. Today we have at our fingertips facilities offered by the Board of General Activities that would cause our Brethren of a few years ago to grasp in amazement. Worshipful Master, why not try them? Why speed time and energy to contrive that which is already planned for you, and probably planned far better than you possibly devise? You may alter these plans to fit the needs of your own group, but at least you should try things that are so practical U the Board's offerings are, and that are free for the asking.

And while we are on this subject let us get straight another point. The business of study clubs, the reading of Masonic books, and more intensive efforts along all Masonic lines that the Board sponsors - all these are not advanced that men should be lead to forsake all other kinds of institutions. Far from it. Occasionally, I hear a man say that his Lodge is his Church, and that
he needs to be no better man than he will be if he follows the teachings of Masonry. This man has not stopped to reason the thing through. Such a conclusion is the result of shallow thinking. It was never intended that Freemasonry should take the place of the Church, but a man should be a better Church man because he is a Mason.

Another great asset to the Fraternity is the Masonic Outlook. It is, if I may be pardoned the term, the trade paper of the Craftsman who takes his Masonry seriously enough to subscribe to it, and then read it. Through the columns of the Outlook he may keep in touch with what his Grand Lodge is doing, may learn a great deal about the symbolism and the history of the Craft, and in a hundred ways become a better Mason because he is a well-read Mason.

So what you make of your year as Master is up to you. You may call for help, and it will be given freely, and in a practical way! The Board is responsible for the development of many a Mason. Through it a man approaching the Mastership has been given a new vision of the possibilities of his high office. Try it, for it is good.

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