Derek Rutherford, secretary of the IOGT International, recently pointed out to
me a quotation that I missed when writing my TEMPERANCE & RACISM book about the
Good Templars, a quotation that fits nicely which my argument about the IOGT's
universalism.  When Joseph Malins of England led his supporters out of the
Good Templar convention at Louisville, as a result of its rejection of his
anti-racism proposals, he declared that "I honour the flag of my country but I
honour the flag of Good Templary more because it covers all nations and all
peoples."  The quotation epitomizes the commitment of Malins and many other
Good Templars to an ideology of universalism that made it difficult to tolerate
a racism that excluded African Americans from the IOGT in the American South
where the local whites didn't want them.
   David Fahey (Miami) [log in to unmask]