A Fraternal Leader Draws the Line at English—and at the Ballot Box

W. W. Blackwell, of Henderson, Ky., supreme chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of the world, arrived in the city yesterday and will remain here for several days as the guest of W. O. Ronald, the grand chancellor of Washington. He is making an official tour of all the grand lodges in the United States and Canada, and has already traveled over 60,000 miles in visiting thirty-seven grand lodges in official session. When he has completed his tour he will have visited forty-six of them, this being the most extended tour in his two years in office. He is making this official tour the occasion of urging upon the members their duty to pledge loyalty to the government, counseling the Canadian brethren to render like unswerving allegiance to the government under which they live, taking for his text the decision of the Supreme Lodge at Kansas City last year to allow the use of no language but English in the proceedings of the order. He talked with enthusiasm on the significance of this decision in an interview with a Post-Intelligencer reporter yesterday, in which he said:

'We have already practically covered the North American continent, in which we have about 500,000 members, and we do not desire to extend the order at present to foreign countries. In fact the Supreme Lodge is now considering one of the grandest questions ever brought before it, the determination of which may involve a decision not to extend the order beyond North America. The Supreme Lodge at its Kansas City session refused by a majority of one vote to allow the ritual to be published in any but the English language, believing that the time has come when this great American fraternity should assert its loyalty to the government under which we live—Americans to that of the United States and Canadians to that of Canada and Great Britain—by requiring all its adherents to present as evidence of their faith the practice and use of the language of the country. As this theory has grown in the minds and hearts of the membership, every strong desire has been evinced to nationalize and emphasize our own chosen tongue.

'We believe that this country is the leader in civilization and that the English language is to be the language of civilization, and that therefore we should inculcate loyalty to this government. The English language has done more than any other to advance civilization. A hundred years ago English was spoken by about 15,000,000 people, French by about 30,000,000, and German by about 35,000,000. Now French has advanced to about 60,000,000, German to about 70,000,000, while English is spoken by about 210,000,000 of the most active and progressive people on earth. At that rate, in another century the English language will have encompassed the earth.

'It is the greatest misfortune to this country that the people have been indifferent while a handful of foreigners have been transplanting anarchism and socialism and spreading it in spots, and we have been only laughing at it. If it goes on in this way the red communism of France will soon be a plaything beside this enemy. We take the broad ground that a man is not fitted to be a citizen until he knows the English language, and is not intelligent enough to vote in this country until he can use English. I do not mean to reflect on a man who speaks a foreign language, for a knowledge of foreign languages is good for educational purposes, but it is a luxury. If an intelligent, industrious foreigner comes to this country and is willing to obey its laws we will extend the right hand of fellowship to him, but he must show his loyalty to this government by his readiness to learn and use the language of the country before he exercises its privileges.

'The same principle applies to the lodges in Canada. They should require their members to pledge their loyalty to the government under which they live and to use the language of the country. If we extended the order abroad we should apply the same principle; we should have French, Italian and German translations of the ritual and the proceedings of the lodges would be carried on in those languages and the members pledged to show loyalty to the monarchies or republics they lived under. It is a question of expediency when we shall extend the order to these non-English-speaking countries, but I think we should leave it for our children to decide, for we have a large enough field in this continent to occupy us for the next 100 years before we shall have fully covered it. This principle, however, of loyalty to the government and language of the country we live in will make the order universal on a national basis. We have six lodges outside of North America, in the Sandwich Islands, but they are composed of English-speaking people.

'My position on this matter has been misrepresented by some of the German papers, and some opposition has been stirred up in lodges composed largely of Germans, but I have gone among them and explained the idea, and put the opposition to rout. I put those ideas forward at the sessions of the grand lodges of Nevada and California, pointing out to them the grandeur of not being French-Americans or German-Americans, but simply Americans bound together by loyalty to the government of this great nation of 70,000,000 people, and by the use of one language, and they rose as one man and applauded the idea—Frenchmen, Germans and all.

'The order is in fine condition on the Coast generally. It does not present the same activity as the jurisdictions East, probably because of the severe financial depression, but the jurisdictions are in good hands and promise a more active movement in the near future.'

Mr. Blackwell spent yesterday afternoon in meeting the members in this city, and last evening addressed a general meeting of all the knights of Pythias in Seattle and vicinity at the Castle hall in the Frye block. This evening he will be tendered a banquet at the Northern hotel by the Concord Lodge officials, the brigade and regimental officers.