MAGLATreadway

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ALLEN TOWNER TREADWAY 1867-1947

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Junior Grand Warden, 1909

MEMORIAL

PROCEEDINGS, MARCH 1947

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From the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Council of Deliberation, 1935
Active Member of the Supreme Council

From Proceedings, Page 1947-61:

Right Worshipful Allen T. Treadway passed away at his home in Washington, D. C. on Sunday, February 16, 1947.

In Grand Lodge he had served as District Deputy Grand Master in 1905-1906, and as Junior Grand Warden in 1909, and in recognition of his service, the Henry Price Medal was bestowed upon him.

Our Brother was born in Stockbridge September 16, 1867, the son of William D. and Harriet (Heaton) Treadway. He attended the public schools of Stockbridge and graduated from Amherst College in the Class of 1886, from which he received the Degree of Doctor of Laws in 1934. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity.

He engaged in the hotel business with an uncle at Stockbridge and later became proprietor of the well-known Red Lion Inn and Heaton Hall there, both of which presently are operated by his son. He also managed several hotels in Florida and North Carolina.

In public life, he earned and won high esteem from all political parties because it was apparent that his endeavors were inspired with the sole purpose of protecting and promoting the welfare of his country. In Massachusetts, he was a member of the Legislature in 1904-1907, and the Senate in 1908-1911, serving the latter as its President for three years. He was elected to Congress in 1912, remaining in this office continuously until 1945, having refused to run for re-election in November, 1944, because of ill health. He was the ranking Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee and was on the Joint Committee on Taxation. It was he who launched the Congressional investigation of the Pennsylvania anthracite industry, resulting in government regulations to prevent the public from being gouged. He called for the impeachment of Henry A. Wallace as Secretary of Agriculture in 1936, after Wallace had termed a Supreme Court decision abolishing the AAA a "legalized steal," fought against Wallace's agricultural theories and ridiculed the Roosevelt Brain Trust.

On October 25, 1893, he married Sylvia E. Shares of New Haven, Connecticut, who died in 1943. He is survived by a son, Heaton I. Treadway, of Stockbridge.

He was raised a Master Mason October 20, 1892, in Occidental Lodge of Stockbridge, and served as its Worshipful Master in 1904. As previously stated, in Grand Lodge he served as District Deputy Grand Master (Fifteenth Masonic District) and as Junior Grand Warden. He was exalted in Monument Chapter, R.A.M., of Great Barrington June 12, 1893; and was knighted in Berkshire Commandery of Pittsfield April 20; 1896. He became a member of Onota Lodge of Perfection, Pittsfield, December 7, 1906; Massasoit Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Springfield, January 3, 1907; Springfield Chapter of Rose Croix January 24, 1907, and Massachusetts Consistory, April 26, 1907. He later demitted from the Springfield bodies to become a Charter Member of the corresponding bodies of the Rite in Pittsfield. He was created a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, October 1, 1912; crowned an Active Member September 28, 1933, and became an Emeritus Member September 25, 1944,

He was a Trustee of the Lee Savings Bank, Lee, Massachusetts, and a Director of two insurance companies - the New England Fire and the Berkshire Life. He held membership in the Stockbridge Golf and Tennis Club, the Park Club of Pittsfield, and the Chevy Chase and Burning Tree Clubs of Washington, D. C.

Leland C. Talbot, who served as Brother Treadway's Secretary for ten years, has paid the following well-deserved tribute to his public life:

"His energy was unlimited, his zeal and patriotism unparalleled and his efforts to serve every man, woman and child in his district, without regard to race, creed, color or political affiliation, endeared him to the hearts of all who had occasion to contact him. It seemed to me that he literally burned himself out in his congressional work and for the past two years was unable to meet any further demands upon his mind or body. Massachusetts has lost one of its most prominent statesmen."

The funeral services were held at two-thirty o'clock in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Stockbridge, on Wednesday, February 19th, the Grand Lodge being represented by Right Worshipful Henry G. Pollard, as the personal representative of the Most Worshipful Grand Master.

"He walked through life and left his impress here;
He still lives on in ways we cannot know.
His love of life and living is not lost;
His spirit carries on in those he loved
And reaches out to touch humanity,
A heritage continuing through the years."

Fraternally submitted
Melvin M. Johnson
Frank E. Peirson
Harold L. Williams
Committee

SUPREME COUNCIL, MARCH 1947

Letter from the Sovereign Grand Commander, N. M. J., A. A. S. R., 03/01/1947:

To All Freemasons of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Obedience of this Supreme Council.

Peers and Brethren:

ILL.'. ALLEN TOWNER TREADWAY, 33°, Emeritus Member of this Supreme Council, died at his home in Washington, D. C, Sunday, February 16, 1947, following a long illness.

He was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, September 16, 1867, the son of William D. and Harriet (Heaton) Treadway. He received his education in the public schools of Stockbridge and Amherst College, Class of 1886, and was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. In 1934, his Alma Mater conferred the Degree of Doctor of Laws upon him.

Brother Treadway early engaged in the hotel business with an uncle at Stock-bridge, and later became proprietor of the well-known Red Lion Inn and Heaton Hall there. He also managed a number of winter resort hotels in Florida and North Carolina. The Stockbridge hotels presently are operated by his son.

On October 25, 1893, he married Sylvia E. Shares, of New Haven, Connecticut, who deceased in 1943. He is survived by a son, Heaton I. Treadway, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

In public life, his service was of great and far-reaching value, being characterized by an unusual personal interest in and attention to the numerous requests and problems received from citizens of his District—without regard to race, creed, color or political affiliation—and a paramount endeavor to protect and promote the best interests of his Country. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1904-1907; and of the State Senate in 1908-191 1, serving the latter as its President for three years. He was elected to Congress in 1912 and remained continuously in this office until 1945, having refused to run for re-election in November, 1944 because of ill health. He was then the ranking Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee and was on the Joint Committee on Taxation. He was the one responsible for the Congressional investigation of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal industry and subsequent government regulations to prevent the public from being gouged. He called for the impeachment of Henry A. Wallace as Secretary of Agriculture, in 1936, after Wallace had termed a Supreme Court decision abolishing the AAA as a "legalized steal," and fought against Wallace's agricultural theories.

A summary of his Masonic endeavors is as follows:

  • SYMBOLIC: He was made a Master Mason in Occidental Lodge, F. & A. M., of Stockbridge, October 20, 1892, and served as its Worshipful Master in 1904. In the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, he was District Deputy Grand Master in 1905-1906 and Junior Grand Warden in 1909; and was later decorated with the Henry Price Medal.
  • CAPITULAR: He was exalted in Monument Chapter, R. A. M., of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, June 12, 1893.
  • CHIVALRIC: He was knighted in Berkshire Commandery, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, April 20, 1896.
  • SCOTTISH RITE: He became a member of Onota Lodge of Perfection, Pittsfield, December 7, 1906; Massasoit Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Springfield, January 3, 1907; Springfield Chapter of Rose Croix, January 24, 1907, and Massachusetts Consistory, April 26, 1907. He later demitted from the Springfield bodies to become a Charter Member of the corresponding bodies of the Rite in Pittsfield. He was created a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, Honorary Member of this Supreme Council, 33°, October 1, 1912; crowned an Active Member September 28, 1933, and became an Emeritus Member September 26, 1944. In Supreme Council, he held the following important offices:
    • Member of the Committee on Constitutions and Laws from 1933-1944;
    • Representative of the National Grand Lodge of Denmark near our Supreme Council since January 13, 1936.

He was a Director of two insurance companies: the Berkshire Life and the New England Fire, and Trustee of the Lee Savings Bank of Lee, Massachusetts. He held membership in the Stockbridge Golf and Tennis Club, the Park Club of Pittsfield, and the Chevy Chase and Burning Tree Clubs of Washington, D. C.

Ill.'.Bro. Treadway and the Grand Commander served contemporaneously as District Deputies and Grand Wardens in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, forming an intimate acquaintance which grew closer with the years. We know whereof we speak when we say that few men have lived more exemplary Masonic lives than he. Sound and sincere as a statesman, devoted to the service of his fellow men, loyal and helpful as a friend and brother, he has left a record of accomplishments which will far outlast the memories of man.

The funeral services were held at two-thirty o'clock in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, February 19th, the Rt. Rev. William Appleton Lawrence of Springfield, Bishop of the Western Massachusetts Diocese, and Rev. Edmund Randolph Laine, Rector of St. Paul's Church, officiating. The Supreme Council was represented by Ill. Charles E. Cooke, 33°, Active Member for Massachusetts, as the personal representative of the Sovereign Grand Commander; Ill..'. Harry G. Pollard, 33°, Grand Sword Bearer, and a group of Honorary Members. Interment was in the Stockbridge Cemetery.

"Upon the door that ever opens outward
From this life into the great Eternity,
We place a wreath of Laurel intertwined
With Acacia, symbol of victory and immortality."

It is hereby directed that this balustre be communicated to each body of the Rite and be suitably mentioned therein at the first stated meeting after its receipt.

Melvin M. Johnson, 33°
M.'. P.'. Sovereign Grand Commander.

SPEECHES

AT FEAST OF ST. JOHN, DECEMBER 1918

From Proceedings, Page 1918-510:

Most Worshipful Grand Master, Brethren of the Grand Lodge:

I really wish, Most Worshipful Brother, that I was deserving of any portion of the kindly words that you have so eloquently expressed in introducing me, or rather in presenting me, because I feel that I do not need an introduction to a gathering of Masons here in the Grand Lodge. I have drifted away, to a certain extent, from force of circumstances. I have not met with you as often as my heart has been with you, but, nevertheless, I always feel at home in this gathering, or in any gathering of the Fraternity. If I ever enjoyed two hours in my life it was in the Lodge-room this afternoon in witnessing those wonderfully impressive, dignified, and very interesting exercises. Then too, the opportunity of hearing the special addresses, especially the stirring one of dear Brother Horton, added to the enjoyment.

Particularly gratifying to me was the installation of the Junior Grand Warden, in that it recalls the circumstance that ten years have slipped quickly by since it was my privilege to stand as Brother Carter did this afternoon to be installed in the South. It does not seem possible that that length of time has passed by, and only the record of the date proves it to my mind.

I cannot talk to you tonight along Masonic lines and I am going to be extremely brief, but the few words that I do want to bring to you have to do with what is uppermost in our minds, namely, the great conflict which has now so happily terminated.

Naturally, one in public life has had it brought home to him, perhaps more than the individual citizen, but we are so absolutely wrapped up in everything, in our thought and mind and life, in the outcome during the past year and a half, that to get away from the thoughts and conditions having to do directly or indirectly with war is almost beyond our ability. So, I want to offer you an apology that what I do say will be following along that line, rather than the lessons and tenets of our Institution.

I saw, a few days ago, a new alliteration of the three R's, reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic, the three R's as applied to Germany. They are these: repentance, reformation, restitution. (Applause.)

May I say just a word about those three R's. You know that repentance must come from within. There is nothing that we can do to bring repentance for the past to what may be left of the German Empire. The Germans must look with a different vision upon the world's affairs; they must, as a people, have coming from their hearts and souls whatever repentance may be possible for the atrocities that they have inflicted upon the human race.

Closely allied with repentance is reformation, and assistance can be rendered in reformation. Not voluntarily. It can be forced upon the German people, and it will be, because, whatever may be the outcome of the Peace Conference, there nevertheless will be a reformation in the German Government. The Peace Conference will not leave a vestige of the present form of governmental relationship in the German Empire. (Applause.)

We have already begun, in fact, a change in the domination of the Kaiser and his lineal descendants. That form of government is absolutely wiped from the face of the earth and there is to be a reformation in Germany to that extent.

Perhaps, of the three R's restitution is the greatest of all. I, for one, cannot show the brotherly love towards Germany that the Secretary of the Navy did a few days ago when he said that the American people required no restitution from Germany. I think we do demand restitution from Germany, and rightly so. If not, what have the sacrifices been for that we have made? The contribution of our country to the great cause was only a proportional, a comparatively small proportional part of the entire effort of the allied governments, but, nevertheless, a man who can say that the dastardly act of the sinking of the Lusitania should not require an absolute restitution, cannot, it seems to me, have the red blood of American citizenship in his veins. (Applause.)

I would go one step farther. When the peace table decides just who has been responsible for all these terrible atrocities, let there be punishment, physical punishment, therefor. (Applause.) Speaking of restitution, there has been very little said, so far as I know, of the physical possibility of restitution from the German territory. You know that practically none of the German territory has been occupied or fought over. They can restore, within a very comparatively short time, the physical condition, manufacturing, and industrial possibilities of the country and be placed in a position to do a great deal along this very line of which I speak, namely, restitution.

Lord Reading said a short time ago that "Justice must be stern. Justice, to be lenient, must be accompanied by extenuating circumstances." Those circumstances do not exist so far as the relations of the rest of the world toward the German Empire are concerned.

May I say just a few words as regards possible future legislation certain to come before Congress? A great deal of the actual form of legislative enactment will naturally depend on the conditions established around the peace table. But we have pending today some very great questions and it seems to me that any body of men like this, gathered together anywhere in this great country of ours, owe themselves a duty and owe their right of citizenship a duty to give most careful personal interest and consideration to these problems and questions, because, my friends, there is no such thing as one man, or one group of men, being in a better position to decide these questions than another. I have always looked upon elective office as carrying with it a duty of the officeholder to those from whom he receives his commission. In other words, a man elected to public office, when he begins to consider himself as above those from whom he secures his position, has reached the period when he is no longer needed or of service to his constituents. (Applause.)

We must be the servants of the people for the right kind of government here in this free country of ours, and so I say that it is the duty of every one of you to study these questions which you ask your officeholders, your senators, your representatives, your governors, your legislators, to enact into law for you.

Now, just as an illustration, we have facing us today the great problem of the size of the new army and the size of the new navy, or the present navy. For you ought to know, and I suppose you do know, the present army expires, practically, with peace, the period of the enlistment of the men, except in a very small percentage of cases, being for the duration of the war. What is to be the next move in relation to the continuation of our duty to our allied nations in providing our share of the actual war material, or the police material if you so wish to regard it, today! The size of the standing army of this country in the immediate future is one of the great problems facing the American people today. It is a pending question which American citizens need to study most deeply for their own interest.

Then again, the navy. Do you approve of the change of sentiment of the Administration in that particular ? You know at the beginning of the war what the idea was as regards both the army and the navy. There has been a great reversal of that attitude and today the Navy Department of the Administration desires to proceed on the basis that by 1925 we shall have a navy practically equal to that of Great Britain. Does that represent the sentiment of the American people! Tell your representative whether it does or does not.

There are other questions, not at all involved in the war problems facing us today, having nothing to do with the Peace Conference. There is the question of what Congress will decide to do with the great problem of railroad control. Our President, on December the 4th, in his address to Congress, told us frankly that he did not know himself what ought to be done with the railroad situation and he left Washington that night. Within two days the Director-General of Railroads informed us that he thought that governmental control should be continued over a period of five years following the expiration of the twenty-one months that the present law provides for after peace is declared, and he added that the opinion which he expressed in a letter to Mr. Sims, Chairman of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, represented the attitude of the Administration. The President evidently made up his mind very, very quickly after addressing Congress and sent a very prompt wireless to Mr. McAdoo on the subject. Personally, unless those who honor me with their power of representation express a different viewpoint, my attitude will be absolutely the reverse of that of Mr. McAdoo. (Appluase.)

I do not think it is proper or right that we should follow the suggestion made by the President in his address, when he said that unless there was immediate legislation he should feel compelled to return the roads in the condition in which they now are to their former owners. That would be injurious in a very large degree to the interests of the stockholders of the roads, and very detrimental to the service that the people expect from the big railroad corporations. A certain amount of governmental supervision and regulation must accompany the return to private ownership. No greater problem could face the American Congress than that one which is preeminently before us at this very time.

There are other questions of governmental control that I present to you for your consideration and thought. Are you satisfied with Federal control and ownership of the telegraph and telephone systems of the country? (Cries of "No.")

I am not at all surprised at the answer that comes so generally from the audience. Further than that, we must look at the personal, individual side of that question. I say in all fairness to the people demanding the service of telegraph and telephone systems that in placing the control of those systems in the Post Office Department at the present time you would be involving the control of those public utilities in the political maelstrom as it could be done in no other way than under the supervision of the man at the head of the department, and in saying that I am fairly generous in my viewpoint of the Postmaster-General. (Applause.)

So I might continue indefinitely along this line of thought; but you are here in a different atmosphere. You don't want, I know, too much of the shop of Washington. We are there at the present time leaderless, but, nevertheless, perhaps we can continue to get on in a fairly equitable way until such time as our President has been satiated with the entertainment provided by Royalty. (Applause.) I won't continue on that line. (Laughter.) I do want to call attention to an extract I picked up from a very distinguished Brother of ours a day or two ago, having an indirect bearing, I think, on our Masonic Fraternity and the brotherhood of men that it represents. I remember seeing this distinguished Brother receive the highest degree in Masonry in this very building, under the escort of our distinguished Senior Grand Chaplain but a few years ago. Let me read you Chauncey Depew's views on the League of Nations, which is so prominent before the people today. This is what Mr. Depew said a few nights ago: "But, my friends, there is a League of Nations that belts the globe, which is all-powerful. It is a league held together without formal treaties or alliances. It is a league of common ideals; of more comprehension and practice of liberty and law; of more determination to maintain and defend humanity, right, and justice. It is a league brought together, as never before, by common sacrifice, common suffering, and common victory."

Doesn 't that represent the league of Freemasons throughout the world? (Applause.)

How glad we are that the great war is practically over! (Applause.) How proud we are of the participation of our own Brethren and friends in the service! How glad and proud, both, we are that this country should have made its contribution to the cause of humanity and democracy. America can feel that the weight of its contribution was what turned the scale, and started us toward the victory that we have so richly deserved. (Applause.) May I close by reading a few lines on the victory:

Gone are the long, long nights of dread,
Gone are the days of weeping.
Awake, awake, ye mighty dead;
Wherefore are ye sleeping?

See fading in the stormy West
The evil fires of warning;
And see! the Eastern sky is bright
With promise of the morning.

Awake! Press on! The hour is nigh,
And "Victory" your battle-cry.
They died for this. Oh, never doubt
For them the dawn is breaking;
At Victory's triumphant shout
The shattered earth is waking.

Oh, living hearts be worthy these
Strong hearts in silence sleeping,
And peace will bless the earth again,
And joy be born of weeping.

Look up! Look up!
The long, long night is gone,
And Victory is leading on.


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