Part 497: Transactions of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, 1905
I am taking a brief pause from looking at Thomas G. Moses’ painting projects during 1905 to provide a little Masonic context for that year. Moses’ supervision of Scottish Rite scenery production would dramatically increase during the next five years. There are a couple of factors to consider as the Scottish Rite’s membership and the construction of Masonic theaters dramatically increased during this time. It is imperative to understand the structure of the Scottish Rite, however, before explaining significant Scottish Rite legislation that was passed during 1905.
Here is a very brief summary of how the Scottish Rite is organized. The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, oversees the Scottish Rite in 35 states. There is also a Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, but I am not discussing that right now. The headquarters for the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction, or Mother Council of the World, is located in Washington, D.C. Presided over by a Grand Commander, other members of the Supreme Council are called Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals (SGIG). There can only be 33 Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals at one time; they are each in charge of an Orient. Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of the Supreme Council, are titled “Deputies” of the Supreme Council. Either an SGIG or Deputy is the Scottish Rite leader for any given state, or Orient, with any given number of Scottish Rite Valleys. For example, the Valley of Minneapolis is located in the Orient of Minnesota. Minnesota used to have an SGIG, but he retired and is now a Past Sovereign Grand Inspector General of Minnesota. We now have a new Deputy. Not all Deputies achieve SGIG status, as some are replaced when a new Grand Commander is installed.
As far as Scottish Rite degrees go, here’s the breakdown: There are four Scottish Rite Bodies divided by degrees – the Lodge of Perfection (4-14), the Chapter of Rose Croix (15-18), the Council of Kadosh (19-30) and the Consistory (31-32). A 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason has completed all of the degrees in the Scottish Rite up to the 32nd. There is also an honorary 33rd degree, the Inspector General Honorary, but that does not pertain to this particular tale and not everyone achieves that status.
That is the basic structure of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction, as my tale today pertains to the thirty-three Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals from 1905 to 1909.
In 1909, SGIG Harper S. Cunningham repealed a 1905 resolution. This action is recorded in “Transactions of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction.” It was Cunningham’s name that made me stop and re-read the entry in the entry while I was looking for information to include in the timeline of “The Santa Fe Scottish Rite: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theater” (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018). Cunningham was the SGIG of New Mexico in 1909. Previously, he was the SGIG for Oklahoma and Indian Territory.
Cunningham was instrumental in the growth of Scottish Rite membership in the western region of the Southern Jurisdiction during the end of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth century. He was known as the “Temple Builder.” Cunningham helped expand the Scottish Rite in Oklahoma and Indian Territory, encouraging the construction of large Masonic facilities with theaters, such as in Guthrie and McAlester. They were designed to include theaters for the staging of degree productions, as those appearing in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and some of the Southern Jurisdiction. The use of theatrically interpreted degree gained popularity under the leadership of Charles Rosenbaum (SGIG Arkansas) in Little Rock.
Cunningham worked closely with Rosenbaum and Bestor G. Brown, the western sales manager of M. C. Lilley, a fraternal regalia and paraphernalia company. Brown was a Past Grand Master of Kansas (1903) belonged to many other Masonic orders, and was known as the only “Masonic Stage Carpenter” in the country. He also was the stage director for the Scottish Rite in Wichita, Kansas. Brown moved to Kansas City in 1904 where the regional offices for M.C. Lilley were located that year. For Scottish Rite scenery and stage machinery production, Brown – on behalf of M.C. Lilley – subcontracted all work to Sosman & Landis of Chicago. Joseph S. Sosman was also a Scottish Rite Mason.
In New Mexico during 1908, Cunningham helped lead the planning of the new Scottish Rite in Santa Fe. He was still working as the SGIG of Oklahoma and Indian Territory at the time, but soon requested to leave his SGIG position in Oklahoma to become SGIG of New Mexico. Cunningham also suggested the sale of the used scenery collection from McAlester, Oklahoma, to the Scottish Rite bodies in Santa Fe, New Mexico; this was to get the Santa Fe Masons used to degree productions for their new 1912 stage. He knew how to promote degree productions and get men excited about their new Masonic theater.
Many, including myself, have partially attributed the rapid growth of the Scottish Rite to the use of scenery and theatrically interpreted degrees. During the nineteenth century, the initiation of new candidates shifted from an individual to group activity, thus creating Masonic candidate classes. Each candidate class was named after an individual, place or event; one example is the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Cody Class, named for the 175 candidates from Camp Cody before they entered the WWI in 1918. Instead of one candidate receiving the degrees in a lodge room, degree productions allowed one exemplar to represent an entire class of candidates. These classes became massive, even numbering in the hundreds of candidates. In 1923, the St. Louis Scottish Rite theater had a seating capacity of 3,000; this was to accommodate the enormous class sizes, as well as its membership.
In addition to the appeal of staged degree work, there was also an incentive for the SGIGs of each state to increase the number of 32nd degree Masons after 1905. In 1905, there was a resolution adopted at the Biennial Session of the Supreme Council to provide each SGIG with a $2.00 payment for every 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason who joined their Orient that year. Today’s equivalent of $2.00 in 1905 is just over $57 per person, a great incentive to increase membership in a state. To add a little more economic context for this amount of money in 1905, the average worker in the United earned $400, while most physicians were making between $4,000 and $5,000.
The growth of the Scottish Rite from 1905 to 1909 is astronomical when compared with the previous four years. From 1900 to 1904, fourteen Scottish Rite theaters were outfitted with scenery from either Sosman & Landis (Chicago) or Toomey & Volland (St. Louis). From 1905 to 1909, Sosman & Landis provided scenery for sixteen Scottish Rite Temples, whereas Toomey & Volland provided scenery for ten Scottish Rite Temples; twenty-six Scottish Rite Valleys purchased scenery between 1905 and 1909. These were only two studios of many theatrical providers for Scottish Rite scenery at the time.
Think of the financial benefit of collecting $2.00 per incoming 32nd degree Mason, as there were two Reunions every year, each with candidate class. Using Kansas as an example with SGIG Thos. W. Harrison. There were seven Valleys in the Orient of Kansas, one of which was in Wichita. In 1908 the Scottish Rite Temple in Wichita was formally dedicated on June 8. Grand Commander James D. Richardson and several members from the Supreme Council were in attendance for the event. In the days following the dedication of the building, 529 Master Masons received the 4th though 32nd degrees. In one week, the SGIG would have made $1058.00. The equivalent purchasing power in 2018 is $29,008.08 (CPI Inflation Calculator). However, this gravy train only lasted until 1909 when those incoming funds would no longer going to go to individual SGIGs.
Why did Cunningham call for the repeal of the 1905 resolution in 1909?
Well, here is what happened that same year. During the Supreme Council’s session in October 1909, a resolution was passed to enlarge or extend the existing House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., or to erect a new one. The new temple was designed by John Russell Pope and modeled after the tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus. In 1910, Grand Commander Richardson accepted the basic design for their new building. On May 31, 1911, the Grand Commander broke ground on the spot where the House of the Temple now stands at 1733 Sixteenth Street NW, in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The cornerstone for the building was laid on October 18, 1911, and the building was dedicated four years later on October 18, 1915. The chairman for the dedication ceremony was Lieut. Grand Commander Charles E. Rosenbaum.
To be continued…
