The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 723
dated goods, who has already applied for the first degree of Masonry twelve
times, but was always blackballed. The laws of Doric Lodge say that a rejected
candidate has to wait six months until he can apply again, which Otto Lubeck
has always done. The committees who have examined him have reported
favorably each time, and he has an unblemished reputation. So what is the reason
for him being rejected ever anew? One of the lesser educated brethren, who
almost betrays himself (it is Masonically forbidden to reveal how one has
balloted) gives the answer:
[b]ut he's a Jew! I don't care whether his grandfather or his father
married a Christian or not. He's a Jew and that's why... [...]
No matter how thin you slice it, it's still balony. And no matter how
good you say he is, he's still a Jew! [...]
But every one knows Otto Lubeck aint agoin' [sic] to get to be a
member of this Lodge, not if he applies for a hundred years! [...]
And I ain't saying I got anything to do with blackballing him, nor I ain't
tellin' what I know, but I do know balloting on Lubeck is a waste of
time! 1779
The other reproaches against Otto Lubeck are that he has disowned his son
(for which he may have had good reasons), that he does not go to a Christian
church, and that he does not contribute to the Community Chest of Aaronton,
saying "I haf mine own charidies!" 1780 This statement already gives a clue to the
outcome of this story.
Next, the Worshipful Master makes use of his special right and orders his
nephew to begin with his entertainment. The climax of this drama is predictable
and briefly told: the FBI agent compares the envelopes of the mysterious
benefactor with a letter containing a bill by a shop owner, Otto Lubeck. He
proves that the letters were all written on the same typewriter of which several
keys were slightly damaged, and the brethren have to accept that the Jew, Otto
Lubeck, whom they have blackballed all the time, is the unknown benefactor. Of
course, this is why the Master wanted to have this kind of entertainment before
the balloting, which now commences. While all brethren advance to the altar to
ballot, the one of them who had produced the most objections asks to be excused
from balloting, but the Master strictly commands that he either ballot or retire.
So he votes, too, and soon after the Junior Warden declares the ballot fair in the
South, the Senior Warden says it stands clear in the West, and the Master
comments that it is bright in the East, and that Otto Lubeck is elected to receive
the degrees of Freemasonry. The obstinate brother excuses himself for having
"done held a wrong idea of a certain man," and as a mild "punishment" he has to
read Proverbs 21, verse 14: "A gift in secret pacifieth anger," which explains the
title of the drama.
1779 Claudy, p. 163-165.
1780 Ibid, p. 165.