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ASSURANCE :. EXCHANGE ROYAL INCORPORATED A . D . 1720 . Funds in Hand Exceed - - £ 4 , 900 , 000 Claims Paid Exceed - - £ 41 , 000 , 000 FIRE , LIFE , MARINE , ANNUITIES , ACCIDENTS , BURGLARY , EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY . New and Special Concession to Private House Insurers . Apply for full Prospectus to the Secretory . Head Office : —ROYAL EXCHANGE , LONDON , E . C .

Quality Before Quantity.

Quality before Quantity .

THE M

ASONICTHE rapidly growing prosperity of the Craft is a subject on which all good Masons may justly congratulate themselves . In itself it is an evidence of strength and of the soundness and solidarity of the principles on which the Order is founded . We are not amongst those who

consider that in this direction danger lurks and that Masonry alone of the great philanthropic and civilising communities of the world should possess a fear of mere numbers , providing always that none but the worthy are admitted within its portals . But there is another aspect of the question which may well give us pause . Increasing numbers brings with it

increasing wealth , and the knowledge of this amongst a certain class is too often an inducement to those whose objects are not altogether free from mercenary and sordid motives . Those of our readers who have read the report of the

meeting of the Board of Benevolence on the 22 nd December will have been struck with the number of cases dealt with , which amounted to sixty-six , the total amount disbursed amounting to nearly ^ 1500 . These , we believe , are the largest figures reached in the history of the Board . Were anything

like this to be the average amount of the sums voted by the monthly Lodge of Benevolence , the fund would require an income of £ 18 , 000 a year . And , although we are inclined to hope that such claims on out * Masonic charity are exceptional , yet we must not shut our eyes to the fact , for it is

one of very pressing import for us all alike , that there is novv a tendency in our Order to an increased and increasing demand on our benevolent grants and institutions . The question then may be fairly asked whence arises this overwhelming application for the benefits of our Masonic funds of relief . Whence this strain—for it is a strain , say what we will—on the fund of Benevolence in particular ? First there

is and has been in many lodges in the desire for mere numbers , a tendency to relax the older regulations as regards the strictness of admission . Some brethren contend that if a candidate can pay his fees and annual subscriptions at the time of his admission , no one has a right to look further or

demand more . But we would point out that a great fallacy lurks within such a premise . It does not follow that because a man is flourishing to-day he will be so to-morrow , and in out * opinion before anyone is admitted into Masonry it ought to be clearly ascertained that he is in such a position as to

afford a fair presumption that he will not hastily or speedily have to appeal to his brethren for eleemosynary aid . If candidates are recommendable to lodges only because they are novv well to do , there is and can be no possible limit to the probable eventual demands on our charitable resources .

We would therefore suggest , and , indeed , urge , that lodges should be more careful than they are in admitting members of precarious and doubtful occupations , as in nine cases out of ten the appeal to the benevolence of our Order is only a question of time . The habit , too , of granting relief to

applicants who have for any considerable time been unattached to any lodge , is one to be deprecated . Man )* such brethren , after paying two or three years' subscription , " demit , " to use an American phrase , and after a lapse of several years of inactive Masonry , appeal on the letter of the law for aid

and relief . In our humble opinion such cases should be considered as only deserving the minimum of benevolencefor we have known cases where brethren have paid for two years , the qualifying term , then " demitted , " then lived on in much apparent material prosperity , and then have had recourse to the Board of Benevolence for relief and aid .

But the real danger , as we have before said , lies in the feeling abroad amongst many that Freemasonry is a wealthy body , and so they come in to it for what they can get from it . They join with the full intention of getting their ** quid pro quo , " and there is a large class which thus constitutes a dead

weight on our prosperous Order . The very effect of numerical increase is to entail on us , owing to the wear and tear of life , and the invariable accident and changes of the world , a large class of claimants for temporal relief , but many cases come before them which should never appear on the

list . Very often , however , the friends of the needy brethren are more to blame than the applicants in their desire to shift their own burden of responsibility and that of their lodge to the Board of Benevolence .