[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 95 (Thursday, July 16, 1998)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E1322] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] FREEMASONRY'S LASTING TRIBUTE ______ HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON of the district of columbia in the house of representatives Thursday, July 16, 1998 Mr. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and celebrate the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia, and the Freemasons of this nation who gather for the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. Mr. Speaker, this monument to our first President, himself a Mason, retains the distinction of being the tallest freestanding masonry structure in the world. It is my privilege to enter into the Record information from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia. The Masons of the United States, having played a major role in the funding and erection of the Washington Monument, also have a major role in the current restoration effort. The cornerstone of the structure honoring the Father of our country was laid on July 4, 1848, by the Freemasons of America, with our own Past Grand Master, Benjamin B. French presiding. In these duties, he was assisted by the Grand Masters of the Grand Lodges of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Other Masons in attendance included representatives and members of Grand Lodges of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas, and of the Grand Royal Arch Masons of Maryland. Records of the occasion inform us that the procession to the site consisted of the President and Vice President of the United States, and of the Heads of Departments, the Senate and the House of Representatives; Foreign Ministers, distinguished strangers, and of the civil and military services. Also in the group were representatives of the Independent Order of the Oddfellows, the Order of the Red Men, Rechabites, and other Temperance and Benevolent Societies. But it was a Masonic day, and it was the Freemasons of the District of Columbia who were responsible for seeing that the ceremonies were in accord with Masonic custom and protocol. At the conclusion of the ceremony Grand Master French presented the architect, Robert Mills (also a Mason), the working tools of his profession with these words: ``I now present you, my Brother, the square, level, and plumb, which are the working tools you are to use in the erection of this monument. You, as a Freemason, know to what they morally allude: the plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and man, squaring our actions by the square of virtue, and remembering that we are traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns. Never forgetting this sublime moral lesson, you are here to use them practically in your profession. Look well to the erection of this national monument; see that every stone is squared, and that it is placed in its position both level and plumb, that the noble offering of a nation to commemorate greatness, patriotism, and virtue, may stand until the end of time.'' Mr. Speaker, I invite the Members in this hallowed chamber to join me in remembering the Masonic stones at the monument and the ongoing support provided by Grand Lodges and Lodges of Freemasons across America. ____________________