In order to controvert propaganda current for several years that the B’nai B’rith order is in any sense a “secret” order banded together for un-American purposes, the first public initiation was conducted on March 12 by Dr. Julius H. Meyer and Dr. Louis L. Mann, Rabbi of Sinai Temple, as monitor. Thirty-eight candidates for membership were inducted into the Chicago Lodge. I.O.B.B., No. 982, before an audience which included Supreme Court Judge Michael L. McKinley, the Rev. Father Sidney J. Morrison, Dr. John P. Brushingham and Frank Sullivan, acting exalted ruler of the Chicago lodge of Elks.
This public ceremony presages a policy of throwing open the lodge rooms to the public in proof that the order B’nai B’rith stands on an equal ##ing with all other American fraternal organizations in its Americanism and sense of civic duty.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.