nism, nor again religion; _it is humanity that has broken
down_. The ills of Capitalism arise from the egoism of individual
capitalists; Socialism has failed because, as Robert Owen discovered,
the idle, the quarrelsome, the selfish have prevented its success. If
men were perfect, Socialism might succeed, but so might any other
system. A perfect capitalist would love his employee as himself, just as
a perfect Socialist would be willing to work for the common good. It is
the imperfections of human nature that prevent, and will always prevent,
any system from being perfect. There will never be a Millennium of man's
making. Only the application of Christian principles to human conduct
can bring about a better order of things.

Grand Orient Masonry, in deifying human nature, thus not only builds
upon the sand, but by its rejection of all religion takes away the sole
hope of human progress. Meanwhile, by the support it lends to Socialism
it encourages the class war instead of the brotherhood between men of
all ranks and conditions which it professes to advocate. British
Freemasonry, on the other hand, whilst not interpreting brotherhood in a
political sense, nevertheless contributes to social peace. At the annual
conference of the Labour Party in 1923 a proposal was made by the
extreme section that "any person who is a Free mason should be excluded
from any kind of office," it being suggested that "in cases where an
understanding has been reached between Trade Union leaders and
employers, thus preventing or limiting industrial trouble, the secret
has been the bond of Freemasonry."[693] Whether this was the case or
not, British Masonry, by taking its stand on patriotism and respect for
religion, necessarily tends to unite men of all classes and therefore
offers a formidable bulwark against the forces of revolution. Any
attacks on British Masonry as at present constituted and directed are
therefore absolutely opposed to the interests of the country. But at the
same time it behoves Masons to beware of the insidious attempts that are
being made by irregular secret societies to infiltrate the Craft and
pervert its true principles. The present satisfactory condition of
Freemasonry in England is owing not only to its established statutes,
but to the character of the men who control it--men who are not, as in
eighteenth-century France, mere figureheads, but the real directors of
the Order. Should the control ever pass into the wrong