434 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
summer. The principal thoroughfares of the workingmen's districts are gay all summer with the banners announcing the picnic of one or the other of these lodges. On Sunday, the great gala day for the foreign people, these excursions are numerous.
In general, then, the following may be said to approach the truth : " By the establishment of a lodge .... in a community, the social element may be organized into a society, and through its ritualistic work the members may receive grand and richly illustrated lessons in the practice and doctrine of human life."
There are in Chicago fifty fraternal orders, having in all lodges. From a study of the "objects and purposes" of each of these, I select the following, covering every purpose men- tioned in any of them: "To educate the members socially, morally, and intellectually; to give all moral and material aid in its power to its members and those dependent upon them." "The objects of this lodge shall be, and are, benevolent, social, and altruistic to promote and encourage manly friendships and kindly intercourse ; to aid, protect, and assist its mem- bers and their families." "To give all possible moral and material aid in its power to its members, and those dependent upon its members, by holding moral, instructive, and scientific lectures, by encouraging each other in business, and by assisting each other in obtaining employment to promote charity and benevolence."
Of foreign orders the following are characteristic: "To unite our fellow-countrymen into one grand brotherhood for benevolent purposes ; to assist newcomers to our shores with words of encouragement and advice, assisting them to obtain employment and instructing them in the ways of this country ; to encourage social intercourse among them and their families in this their adopted country, so as to enable them to enjoy the sym- pathy and fellowship of their fellow-countrymen." "The encour- agement of [our national] customs and games, cultivation of the taste for [the national] music, history, and poetry ; bringing
together more closely in Chicago and those of
descent, and the advancement of our countrymen by friendly
