Chapter IV, supra.

920
AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT. PROFIT”
published statements and claims heretofore made by them; but it is obvious that the lack of space forbids such treatment, as inter- esting as it would be, and even though such evidence is important on the essential issue of fraud.
The suit was originally brought by Roy W. and A. E. Smith of Colorado, as members of the AMORC, against H. Spencer Lewis, Ralph M. Lewis, their respective wives and others, alleging that they had mismanaged the AMORC; that they had misused and mis- appropriated the funds of the Order; that they had not been duly elected as officers thereof by the members of the Order, and that the present constitution of the AMORC, under which the Lewises claimed their rights and powers, had not been duly and properly adopted by the members of the Order at large and asked for the appointment of a Receiver to take charge of the AMORC pending the trial of the issues. Upon preliminary hearing the prayer for a receivership was denied and that issue was reserved to await the eial of the case:
On the trial of the case the complainants abandoned their prayer for a receiver, and according to the statements and claims of the Lewises ‘‘they finally abandoned all of their original charges and pleadings and claimed only that the officers had not been properly elected by the members, and that the active constitution of the ‘Order had not been properly approved by the members.’”!
The complainants undertook to establish their allegations and to make their case by calling H. Spencer Lewis and son Ralph to testify in their behalf. The Lewises proved to be cunning witnesses for themselves. They swore to many things that are not true— that can be shown to be untrue by written and published statements which they have made on other occasions, but the complainants having called them as their witnesses vouched for them and could not impeach their testimony or show that it was false in any par- ticular. They (the Lewises) evidently impressed the Court with
1 The Rosicrucian Digest, March, 1937, p. 47. In this article, beginning on p. 46, written by Ralph M. Lewis, Supreme Secretary of the Hierarchy, under the prominent headline: “The Final Settlement of an Important Issue” in the nature of propaganda to promote and perpetuate their family racket, it is claimed that the suit was brought and inspired by those whose only purpose it is to ruin and wreck the AMORC and that the important issue decided was that they, the Lewises, are in full charge and have the right to run the AMORC as they please. Whether this suit is conclusive of tthat issue remains to be seen.
a
AN ANSWER TO - LEWIS’ WHITE (re BOOK ee
their viewpoints, to wit: that they are “the Order’ as they contend; _ that the members at large had consented to them being “the Order’ and approved of their acts, and that such consent had been evidenced by their approval through their “duly authorized”’ rep- resentatives in conventions assembled by the ‘“‘unanimous”’ action thereof—because the Court came to the conclusion that the AMORC is a fraternal order operating under a convention system and that the contentions of the Lewises had been approved and their acts had been authorized or ratified by the conventions of the members and for this reason and upon that ground dismissed the suit.
The Real Fraud Was Not Shown
Convention Chicanery and Manipulation Not Shown
The true nature of the fraudulent scheme which underlies and permeates this fraternal swindle, as herein set forth and exposed, was not an issue in said Federal Case; the evidence available to prove the same was not introduced, and the real fraud was not considered or passed upon by the Court. Apparently the only issue before the Court, as viewed by the Judge, was whether the Lewises were exercising their authority with the consent of the general membership; whether the general membership had not ac- quiesced in their leadership of the AMORC and approved their acts and conduct in connection therewith, and whether that consent and approval had been expressed and given at the National Con- ventions. Evidently the Judge resolved those issues in favor of the Lewises, concluded as aforesaid that the AMORC operates under a convention system. Therefore, if any of the general or paying members have any grievances to air or rights to assert, that the proper place to air those grievances and the proper forum in . which to assert and resolve their rights is in the National Conven- tion of the AMORC and not in the courts, and accordingly—and obviously—dismissed said proceedings on that ground and for that reason, holding that such ground and reason was controlling in the case, and that any other issues raised by the evidence or matters asserted by the complainants were immaterial.
In this connection, it must be remembered and kept in mind that the evidence of the chicanery of the Lewises; the whiphand
P22
ORG ar RAMIEY RACKET “WITHOUT, PROFIT”
which they hold over the delegates; the power of “hiring and
firing’ all officers who constitute most of the ‘“‘accredited dele- gates’; the threat of excommunication which they hold over the head of the members; the mass or mob psychology which they successfully employ, and their cunning manipulation and complete control of the conventions was not before the Court and the Judge’s attention was not directed thereto when he resolved the aforesaid issues in favor of the Lewises and dismissed said case. If these matters had been placed before the Court in their true light; if the Judge had fully and properly been advised of the truth and the whole truth thereof, and if he had acted in the light of all the facts, instead of being guided by the false shadows thrown upon the case by the testimony of the Lewises, the result of said case and the outcome thereof, in all probability, would have been dif- rerent,
The Amendment to the Corporate Charter If Fraudulently Procured—A Question for the State
A great deal of evidence was introduced into the record of said Federal Case upon the manner in which the corporate charter of the Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC was amended in 1930, and the issue was raised as to whether a majority of the membership of said corporation had legally agreed to and evidenced their con- sent to such amendment whereby the Lewis family and another of their choosing became the sole and only members of the corpora- tion and the absolute ‘‘autocratic’’ masters of the AMORC.
From the evidence introduced and on record, it was conclusively established that the verified certificate—filed by Mr. Lewis and his son Ralph with the Secretary of State of the State of California, certifying that a majority of the 5,000 members of the corporation had actually, duly and legally consented to such amendment to the charter was false; therefore, the filing of such amendment in the ‘Office of the Secretary of State and his approval and allowance of such amendment to the corporate charter so as to make it legally ‘operative was procured by misrepresentation and fraud on the sovereignty of the State of California, which alone may grant, revoke or forfeit corporate charters or amendments to corporate charters granted by it.
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AN ANSWER TO LEWIS’ WHITE (@:) 2BOOCK™ De
The issue of the fraudulent amendment to said charter was strongly raised and established by the evidence, and the complain- ants claimed that by reason of said fraudulent amendment to the charter the members of the Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC had been wrongfully and fraudulently deprived of their right to vote for directors of the corporation and divested of their rights therein, which rights they said had been usurped and were being exclusively exercised by the Lewis family. Certainly the Judge could not disregard that question or ignore that issue which was made so prominent by the evidence, with the falsity of the certificate upon which the amendment was procured being practically ad- mitted by the Lewises; yet from the dismissal of the case upon the motion of the Lewises on the mere face of the Court’s action it would seem that the Judge disregarded that important issue in the case; unless, as has been suggested by one of our attorneys, the Judge concluded that the incorporated Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC as it is functioning today under said amendment to its corporate charter, with the Lewis family in complete charge and control thereof, has a de facto existence, the legality of which cannot be attacked or questioned collaterally, notwithstanding the fact that its charter is subject to forfeiture or the said amendment thereto liable to be declared null and void in a direct proceeding by the State of California, to forfeit said corporate charter or to set aside said amendment thereto on the grounds of fraud or ir- regularities which prevents the Supreme Grand Lodge being a cor- poration de jure.”
However, irrespective of all legal questions involved; without regard to the regularity of the procedure; despite the fact that the Lewises invited the general paying members to become members of ‘the Order” and to be members of the Supreme Grand Lodge, which right they had under the Constitution of 1917, and notwith- standing that all the rights of their membership in the Supreme Grand Lodge, whether rightfully or fraudulently, have been taken over and are now exercised solely by the Lewis family, the effect of the dismissal of said Federal Case is to leave the Lewis family
’ This explanation, made upon the suggestion of an attorney, may not be of great interest to the general reader, but it should be of real interest to official investigators, who should investigate the legal structure of the AMORC and also to the officials of the State of California, whose duty it is to forfeit corporate charters and to revoke amendments thereto irregularly and illegally made and procured.
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AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT PROFIT”
in absolute charge and control of a de facto corporation, an instru- mentality of the law, operated under color of legality, by virtue of which they are carrying on and conducting a gigantic fraternal swindle as a family racket.
W hat Did the Federal Case Settle? Nothing at All—No Issue Was Settled
In a recent article published in their official organ’ with fac- similes of newspaper articles carrying headlines proclaiming that “ROSICRUCIAN OFFICIALS WIN CourT FIGHT,” etc., and written under the prominent heading: THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF AN IMPORTANT Issue, the Lewises claim that the dismissal of the Federal Case finally settled their exclusive right to manage, all in the family, the affairs of the AMORC and to run it as they please.
As a matter of fact, no issue was settled or finally adjudicated. The action of the Lewises in moving to dismiss the proceedings indicates that they were not anxious to have the issues go to final judgment. The action of the Court in granting their motion and dismissing the proceedings merely indicates that in the opinion of the Judge the parties bringing the suit had not produced sufficient evidence to warrant the Court in proceeding to final judgment on any issue. Therefore, the action of the Court was binding on no one, not even on the parties who brought the action. There is nothing to prevent them from refiling the case and producing addi- tional evidence. The Judge did indicate, as we have hereinbefore noted and discussed, that in his opinion the AMORC operated under a convention system, thus adopting the viewpoint of the Lewises, leaving the present status of their exclusive management undisturbed, giving them a further lease to pursue their fraternal racketeering, and an opportunity to use the Court’s action for propaganda purposes, of which opportunity they have availed and ‘will continue to avail themselves to further justify, promote, and perpetuate their fraudulent scheme.
A Profit-Making “Racket” In his White Book D, Mr. Lewis has his “Voluntary Committee”
3 The Rosicrucian Digest, March, 1937, pp. 46 to 48, both inclusive.
aS
AN ANSWER -TO: LEWIS” WHITE?) 25bO00OKe Be
discuss the Tax Exemption Status of “the Order’’, of which he and his family are the “hierarchy”, the sole managers, and chief bene- ficiaries. In this connection, under charge ‘NUMBER ELEVEN’, stated after his own fashion to suit his convenience in making reply thereto, he says:
“Clymer and his cohorts have been charging for a number of years that the United States Government found that the AMORC was a profit-making ‘racket’, with huge sums of money being ap- propriated by Imperator Lewis and his family, and that therefore the AMORC organization was not entitled to income tax exemp- tion as a ‘non-profit’ organization.” (White Book D, p. 35. Our italics. )
The reader will not fail to note the tricky way in which this charge is stated. It is so stated to create sympathy for himself; to leave the impression that we are the leader of a band of unlaw- ful ‘conspirators’ who “‘attempted to have the United States Gov- ernment set aside the AMORC exemption”. For some time we have been publishing the fact that the AMORC is being operated as a family racket. ‘That is true and is established by the evidence offered herein. So far as we know, no one has been “charging for a number of years’ that the United States Government found the state of facts which he states above. That is his own cunning way of stating it, so that he can plausibly reply to a number of charges that he cannot answer otherwise, by showing that after an investi- gation and audit the Commissioner of Internal Revenue granted him further Income Tax Exemption under date of May 28, 1935.
On April 5, 1935, Mr. A. Leon Batchelor, his former Grand Treasurer, made the charge concerning the income tax status of AMORC in a published letter, addressed to Lewis, in which he
said:
“All fraternal orders are exempt from paying income tax. This exemption privilege was enjoyed by our Order until recently, when as the result of an investigation and audit of the books of the Order by the Internal Revenue Department the tax exempt status has been revoked, and the order, in addition to paying income tax, faces large penalties. All of this is due to your deliberate departure from the rules of the Order, which you have commercialized. You have not given this vital information to the members, nor do you inform them that for several months now you have been making frantic efforts to recover the former status.” (Our italics.)
926
-AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT PROFIT”
We have made no charges with reference to the Government's action in regard to AMORC’S income tax status. That charge was made and published by his former Grand Treasurer. In our Bro- chure: “An Exposé of the Imperator of AMORC’’* we quoted Mr. Batchelor’s charge and attributed its authorship to him. Prior to the time of Batchelor’s statement concerning the matter, we knew nothing about Lewis’ income tax troubles and Mr. Batchelor is no “cohort” of ours. We do not know him and have never been in communication with him. We quoted him because we believed and were justified in believing that he had been in a position to know whereof he spoke.
“The Committee Found”
Then after stating the charge as aforesaid, he replied in the name of the Committee as follows:
“The Committee found that many years ago the United States Government had granted exemption to AMORC in regard to in- come tax, and that this HAD NEVER BEEN SET ASIDE. [?] It found from correspondence with the Government and other records that about a year ago the conspirators attempted to have the United States Government set aside the AMORC exemption on the basis of fraud in the handling of the AMORC funds. It found that the Government had sent a special auditor to San Jose, California, who spent six whole weeks of seven hours a day auditing every book and financial record, including the bank books of AMORC, cover- ing many years, and that this auditor found no fraud, no discrepan- cies, no errors, and no misadministration of the funds. As a result of this investigation on the part of the Government, a letter was sent to AMORC from Washington dated May 28, 1935, in which the original exemption to AMORC was stated again, and the AMORC was assured that it would not have to pay any income tax if it continued to maintain the system of operation it had used for years!” (White Book D, p. 35. The capitals are ours, the italics are his. )
This is a certification of the self-righteousness of himself and of his racket by himself, but it is not altogether true. It states that the income tax exemption of the AMORC “had never been set aside” by the United States Government. Now, the facts are
4 See Brochure, p. 124, or Volume I, pp. 402, 403.
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AN ANSWER TO LEWIS" WHITECG@?) tO603 se
that as a result of the audit and investigation the special investi- gator recommended that the tax exemption of the AMORC be revoked, whereupon the Bureau of Internal Revenue of the Treas- ury Department revoked the income tax exemption. This was admitted to be true by Ralph M. Lewis in his testimony in the Federal Case’ at San Francisco in February, 1936. When the exemption was revoked upon the findings and recommendations of the special investigator, the Lewises employed one of the ablest and best known firms of attorneys and income tax experts in Washing- ton to appear before the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who after meeting certain requirements of the Commissioner succeeded in having the revoked exemption restored. ‘Therefore, the charge of their former Grand Treasurer that their income tax exemption had been revoked and that they were making “frantic efforts to recover the former status’ was true and the alleged finding of the “committee” was false.
Fraternal Merchandise
The Lewises claim that the sale alone of weekly lessons or lec- tures of four mimeographed pages each at $2.00 per month to their members does not pay. Perhaps not—that may be so—but be that as it may the racket on the whole pays—and pays well. Let us inquire into the commercialized nature, the sources of revenue and the financial status of this most extraordinary mystical exploitation doing business in the name of brotherly love and the kindly spirit of fraternalism. We will first consider its commercial nature and sources of revenue and then its financial structure and status.
Mr. Lewis frankly admits that in its ‘outer activities’ the AMORC is a material organization, that it “has got to operate like any physical, material business, so to speak,’® and boldly de- fends his high-pressure salesmanship; his unethical and bombastic advertising, and his fraudulent practices in carrying on the alleged fraternal business and livelihood of its hierarchy, as we have seen in Chapter V, supra.’
5 See Reporter's Transcript, pp. 101, 102 and 122. 6 See his statement in quotation (98), Chapter V, supra.
7 See his statements in quotations (95) to (101), Chapter V, supra. Also his false claims and use of falsified evidence and mutilated documents in his notoriously crooked White Book D, exposed through this volume.
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AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT PROFIT”
Aside from the mystical merchandise sold in the form of ‘‘secret lessons” to the paying members under the false pretense of being Rosicrucian teachings at two dollars per month, which in 1936 grossed about $288,000.00* and 6,000 new members per annum paying an initiation fee of five dollars each, which grosses $30,- 000.00 per annum;? the Lewises operate an extensive and lucrative merchandising business in sundry articles, sold to the members, which constitutes the chief source of income of their fraternal business and family racket, and which in one of the more pros- perous years produced a gross income of more than a million dollars.
The “Institution Behind Each Order’
In many respects the AMORC is a most unique “fraternal” en- terprise. It is not an order as that term is generally understood because its membership is limited to four members of the Lewis family and another transient member whom they employ and dis- charge at will or when he ceases to be their humble and willing servant. Therefore, it is a family enterprise whose business it is to run an institution falsely represented to be the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, whose membership was secured under the false pre- tense that they were becoming members of the Rosicrucian Order; that they were Rosicrucians as the result of having paid their ini- tiation fee, and that they remained Rosicrucians so long as they paid their monthly dues, remained in good standing or were not excommunicated. Not satisfied with the simple business of selling them mystical “bunk” and occult trash under the false pretense that it is secret Rosicrucian teachings—or finding that it did not produce sufficient cash or at least to the extent desired—they mo- nopolized the market for fraternal supplies, knickknacks and what- nots among the membership of the “brotherhood”’ by setting up a
8 Ralph M. Lewis testified in the Federal Case that the paying members numbered 12,000 in 1936, paying annually dues of $24 each, making a total of $288,000. Reporter's Transcript, p. 115.
9 Mr. Lewis has explained that unless they get 500 or 600 new members each month they “cannot grow.” See quotation (101), Chapter V, supra. And if they did not get at least 500 new members with their high-powered salesmanship and bombastic ad- vertisements, they would soon be out of the fraternal business, because, as their for- mer Grand Treasurer has explained, about 400 members become dissatisfied or dis- cover the fraud and drop out each month. See Volume I, p. 404.
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AN ANSWER TO LEWIS’ WHITE (?) BOOK ‘‘D”
merchandise mart, known as the Rosicrucian Supply Bureau,* to supply said members with everything which they can induce them, by false pretense or otherwise, to believe they need or for the ‘good of the order” should purchase.
Although the ‘‘Rosaecrucian”’ Supply Bureau was established as early as 1916, it did very little business until the Lewis family ac- quired complete control of “‘the Order” in 1928. Since then they have been pushing the sale of various and sundry articles of com- merce and mystical merchandise with deceptive high-pressured salesmanship and with alluring and fantastic advertising in their official organs which reach their entire membership. Since 1928 the merchandising feature of this family enterprise has become a major operation and has grown into enormous proportions and huge prof- its. So much so that they now issue a general catalogue with a picture of the buildings at their headquarters, which they say is “The Institution Behind Each Order” for merchandise given to them by the deluded “brothers and sisters” of their spurious Rosi- crucian Brotherhood, which supplies the royal revenues of the hierarchy of their exclusive ‘“‘order’’ or—to be more exact and explicit—their family racket.
The Merchandising List The Main Support of a Non-Profit Concern
We give a partial list of various articles sold to their members made up from advertisements in The Rosicrucian Digest and Forum, their official organs, and taken from their catalogues. As a rather cunning method of advertising ‘“‘The Institution Behind the Ad- vertisement”’ they strongly advise their loyal members to purchase and wear ‘“‘Rosicrucian’”’ emblems; to place ‘“‘Rosicrucian” auto em- blems on their cars; with ‘‘Rosicrucian”’ stickers on the windshields; to place ‘‘Rosicrucian” seals on the envelopes of all their corre- spondence; to use ‘‘Rosicrucian”’ stationery for all their correspond- ence; postal view cards of the building and grounds at headquarters, which the ‘“‘brothers and sisters” are advised to use liberally and to
1 Jn all real orders, brotherhoods and fraternal societies where the spirit of brotherly love and true fraternalism prevail, no attempt is made or ever thought of making it a business to sell supplies or merchandise to their members or to monopolize such busi- ness. Such supplies and merchandise can be obtained only from outside sources or supply houses.
930
~. AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT PROFIT”
be “proud of the institution behind their membership”; and to use “Rosicrucian”’ Gold Crosses as necklaces, stickpins or rings—all of which are “‘economically priced”.
Perhaps the most cunning trickery and artful chicanery about this whole merchandising scheme is that each member is told, in order to get the greatest good—indeed, if any benefit at all—from the spurious Rosicrucian lessons which they supply, if the dues are paid, that a miniature lodge room or “sanctum’’ must be provided in the home of the student, properly equipped wherein all rituals must be performed and wherein all such study and meditation should take place. Now this sanctum should be equipped with the following very important and necessary articles supplied by them, viz:
Sanctum cards and attractive ‘‘Rosicrucian” wall and creed cords; Sanctum altar scarf; ‘“‘Rosicrucian” candlesticks, beautifully designed as replicas of the Egyptian columns used in the Supreme Temple of “the Order”; or Rosy-Glow Lamp (electric) for the Sanctum; Sanctum Cross—Egyptian Crux Anasta; ‘“Rosicrucian”’ phonographic record with Sanctum invocations, etc.; the neophytes’ ritual apron; the placing of which on their bodies represents their willingness to serve and to do any task for “the good purposes and principles of Rosicrucianism’” as taught by the hierarchy of the order, and special ‘“‘Rosicrucian”’ Incense, which will prove satis- factory, whereas other incense purchased elsewhere may not be so—it is so difficult for the members to secure a satisfactory in- cense—hence, the hierarchy selects it for them at “sixty-five cents per box of twelve large cubes” post paid. ‘Then, to cap the climax of presumptuous imposition upon the religious instincts of their members, they are urged to purchase for their sanctums beautiful replicas of the “large oil painting of the Master Jesus which hangs in the initiation chamber of the Supreme Temple” of the hierarchy —notwithstanding that the AMORC is strictly a non-religious con- cern, exploiting fraternalism and selling, for “‘cash with the order’’, among numerous other items of profitable merchandise the pictures of the founder of the Christian religion, who drove the money changers from the temple.
For the practical members they sell students’ correspondence tab- lets; students’ lesson binders, magazine binders and practical acces- sories. For the mystically inclined they sell mystical song books; “Seven Minutes in Eternity’, by William Dudley Pelley; Sacred
O32
AN ANSWER - TO LEWIS Willits.) BOOK “Ds
pictures; mystical art prints; portraits of the Masters, priced from fifty cents to twenty-five dollars, and ‘“‘Rosicrucian”’ mystic chests— known as the “Little Brown Casket’’—the Oriental box, of antique origin, carved in California redwood and ornamented with the em- blems of the Order. And, for the curious and gullible, they give their ‘‘ancient” spurious ‘“‘Order” founded in America A. D. 1915, an ancient Egyptian origin and sell them ‘‘Genuine Egyptian Tapes- tries’, such as ‘“‘Genuine’’ woven tapestry centerpieces, price only $5.00; Wall tapestry, Egyptian linen appliqué (cut work), Oriental scene, price only $5.50; Egyptian Linen Cushion covers, very sym- bolic, revealing ancient figures, each $2.75; another Egyptian cushion cover, “‘priced extremely low at $2.00’; an unusually artis- tic Egyptian table cover, very symbolical design, various colors and irregular in workmanship, reasonably priced at $4.00; also Woven Egyptian tapestry, ideal for small table, cheap at $2.75; appliqué tapestry, bright colored material cut in various Oriental and symbolical designs sewed on native linen, the crudest and per- haps the most picturesque of all tapestries, a bargain at $2.75; mystic lamps of Egypt, elaborately designed, very symbolic and ‘will lend a superb, mystic charm to your sanctum”’ for only $5.00; brass incense burner; Egyptian trays; Oriental wallets,’ and lastly, but not least in importance of the profit-making mystical merchan- dising, greatly oversold and generally misrepresented, in some if not in most particulars, are the Egyptian scarabs (made in San Francisco )—‘‘The World’s First Jewelery’—with ‘their myste- rious influence’ unmounted or mounted on gold and silver rings or necklaces, priced ‘‘extremely low’ from seventy-five cents to four dollars and seventy-five cents each. ‘These prices” and the prices of all Egyptian mystical merchandise “are only possible because of the Order’s connections in Egypt.” ‘The high-pressure salesman- ship and the typically cunning and deceptive methods of advertising to move such highly profitable merchandise in large quantities is shown in Chapter III on pages 183 to 186 inclusive, supra. With such racketeering:
‘He shames the higgling market-place And dwarfs our more mechanic powers.”
2 After the membership have been exploited in this manner and spent most, if not all, of their ready cash for mystical merchandise, one wonders what use they may have for a wallet. But if they do need it, they can get it from the spiritual hierarchy of “the Order.”
O32
AMORC—A FAMILY RACKET— “WITHOUT PROFIT”
Publishing and Selling Books
The authentic Order of the Rose Cross in America has printed for its members from time to time certain private books containing certain phases of its secret work, which is made available to its students possessed of the secret Key, or advanced to certain degrees of development or understanding; and Grand Masters, also mem- bers, of the Order have written books on Rosicrucian philosophy and on other phases of Rosicrucianism, not containing secret teach- ings, which have been sold to the public, and the proceeds donated to the work of the Brotherhood. In the early years of his opera- tion, Mr. Lewis falsely represented that the real Rosicrucian or- ganization in this country was merely a publishing company,* and claimed that his fabrication was the true order because it published and sold no books.* In this connection, in his official organ in
tae 1916,-he stated that:
“* * *® since we are not a publishing firm in the sense that so many movements in this country, we have not, nor will we, pub- lish books for our members to buy at various prices and thereby commercialize our work.
“Our secret teachings and philosophies will never be put into books to be sold to those who are willing to buy—regardless of their qualifications. “This alone has done more to make so-called Rosae- crucianism appear ridiculous in the eyes of the learned than anything else, and by our very refusal to conduct our work on a book-selling plan we prove the honesty of our claims.’ (American Rosae Crucis,
Nine, 1916p. 2.. Our italics. )
After the Imperator and his family took complete possession of the AMORC in 1928 by incorporating its Supreme Grand Lodge with the Lewis family in control of the Board of Directors and all the offices thereof, they announced their entrance into the publish- ing and bookselling business’ as a supplemental source of revenue for the hierarchy of “the Order”. Thereafter Mr. Lewis began to explain (!) away his former statements and to justify their
3 See his quoted statement, Volume I, p. 215, to be found in his American Rosae Crucis, October, 1917, p. 195.
*See The Triangle, April, 1920, p. 24; The Mystic Triangle, May, 1927, p. 102, and various statements to the same effect throughout his publications and propagandic literature up to 1928.
5 See The Mystic Triangle, November, 1928, pp. 657-658.
O33
AN ANSWER TO LEWIS) WHITE G7 BOOK Ds
entrance into the book publishing business.* In 1933 they were urging the “members of the Brotherhood” to become book agents for the hierarchy of the Order,’ and, now, they are in the book publishing and selling business.
A partial list of books which they have been and are now pub- lishing and selling under the false pretense that they are Rosicru- cian books* is as follows:
The Mystical Life of Jesus, by H. Spencer Lewis, Ph.D.,°® Rosi- crucian Principles for the Home and Business; Mansions of the Soul, being a restatement of the doctrine of reincarnation, copies from various books of the East, by the ‘‘Imperator”’; Unto Thee I Grant, “Ancient Tibetan Writings”; Self Mastery and Fate with the Cycles of Life, by “Dr.” Lewis; Mystics at Prayer, by Many Chilar, F.R.C.; The Rosicrucian Manual, the ‘‘Rosicrucian Ency- clopedia”’, by the “Imperator” and manager of the hierarchy; 4 Thousand Years of Yesterdays, the “Gateway to the past”, by Mr. Lewis; Rosicrucian Questions and Answers—Complete History of the Order,’ by H. Spencer Lewis, F.R.C., Imperator of the Rosi- crucian Order; The Technique of the Master, by Raymund Andrea, F.R.C., Grand Master of the AMORC of Great Britain? e- muria—the Lost Continent of the Pacific,’ by Wisher S. Creve (H. Spencer Lewis); The Mystery and Prophecy of the Great Pyra- mid, by Dr. Charles S. Knight; The Book of Jasher—the sacred
® See The Rosicrucian Forum, Number Five (probably June, 1930), pp. 150 to 153, and read his statement “about our books” wherein he says: “Now, the truth of the matter is that we have never said in recent years that we do not publish any books. We did say that before we ever published any, and it was a truthful statement.” Read his strange explanations and contrast them with his former positive declarations.
7 See The Rosicrucian Digest, May, 1933, p. 143.
8 On the back cover page of The Rosicrucian Digest for the last few years these books have been advertised as a “Rosicrucian Library” with a picture of their head- quarters stated to be: ““The Institution Behind This Announcement.”
° This is a false representation. Mr. Lewis is not a Doctor of Philosophy, as we have shown in Chapter IV, Part Four, pp. 407 to 413, supra.
1 This is not a history of the Rosicrucian Order. A more flagrant misrepresentation could not be made. The sale of this book at $2.00 per copy or at any price is a com- mercial fraud.
2 This is an organization founded by Lewis as a part of his world-wide scheme. Mr. Andrea is his appointee and acts under the direction of the Lewis hierarchy.
3 Mr. Lewis has said that if he could retract everything he has said about Mount Shasta in his book Lemuria, he would thank God for the opportunity to do so— The Rosicrucian Digest, July, 1936, p. 234. But he continues to sell the book! See