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A Masonic Congress.

A Masonic Congress .

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luvsmxiDtIT may be taken as axiomatic that all organizations that are founded upon a common basis , or whose members are bound together b y a community of interest , derive both profit and possibly an increase of vitality from the fact of periodical meetings together . Thus the annual meetings of the British Association have done much to popularise scientific

investigation and incidentally have smoothed the path of the scientific investgator . Similarly , we have the Trades Union Congress , the Social Science Congress , the various conferences of the several professional classes , such as—the National Union of Teachers ; the Church Congress ; the Lambeth Conference and many others of lesser importance , but all of

which serve lo promote the immediate interests , professional or personal , of those concerned . Incidentall y , there have been , not many years ago , an Anti-Masonic Congress , whose thunders reverberated in the north , east , south and west , but , to quote the author of Ingoldsby , " nobody seemed a penny the worse . " This might seem at lirst sight to contradict our opening statement , but in reality it confirms it , for we spoke of those who were drawn together by community of interest ,

whereas , those who attended the Council of 1 rent could not be so described , and in fact , the whole fiasco served to prove on what unreal grounds opposition to the Order was founded . All this brings us to a consideration of whether a Masonic Congress might not be advantageous to the Order . For one thing , we sadly need some sort of code of Masonic

international law . The problems of Freemasonry are not always confined to that class that can be solved by the genius of the Grand Registrar for the time being , and the decisions of any one Grand Lodge cannot reach beyond its particular membership . This fact has not prevented various Grand Lodges

attempting international legislation but it has prevented all other Grand Lodges from regarding such legislation with any feeling but that of curiosity . We refer of course to such matters as recognition , concurrence or conflict of jurisdiction , invasion of territory , and , perhaps as important as any , the status of

those who have been expelled . When this fate overtakes a brother , we speak of him as being expelled from Freemasonry , whereas , it is only accurate to say , he has been banished from the Grand Lodge of England , and his name erased from the English register . The absence of any international law on the subject would make it possible for such a brother to

retain his Masonic standing in any foreign lodge of which at the same time he happened to be a member . This points to the necessity of some law of Masonic extradition . These are just a few of the problems or questions which are absolutel y beyond the power of any one Grand Lodge to solve in a satisfactory maimer .

There are in all , sixty-seven Grand Lodges which exchange representatives with the Grand Lodge of England , but there are many other Grand Lodges besides , which do not exchange representatives . Outside the United Kingdom , the most important of these , numericall y , are to be found in the United States of America . The writer ' s information

respecting these is not quite up-to-date , but may be regarded as approximately correct . There are then in the United States of America and Canada no less than fifty-seven Grand Lodges . These exercise jurisdiction over very nearly 12 , 000 private lodges numbering 820 , 000 members . Less than fort y of these

are represented at the Grand Lodge of England , but this does not mean that the others are regarded as spurious . Accidental circumstances may account for the absence of representatives . The Grand Lodges of New York and Illinois head this list with about 750 lodges each , and under the former constitution

the average lodge membership is no . In one year , the number of expelled and excluded brethren totalled 14 , 500 ! We venture to think that we can do things better than that in our own jurisdiction , where an expulsion is an exceptional

occurrence . At the other end of this list of sixty-seven , comes the Grand Lodge of Utah , with less than a dozen lodges holding . The Mormons are however to be congratulated on possessing a Masonic jurisdiction at all , for the average brother finds it difficult to defend the secrets from the curiosity of one wife ,

and what that difficulty must amount to when the wives run up to dozens can only be faintly imagined . We may therefore assume that there nearly are 100 Sovereign Grand Lodges in the world , each of them possessing a constitution and methods of procedure , all of which are

only uniform in so far that they do not transgress the landmarks . Of the landmarks there are practically only two upon which any action is ever taken which involves one Grand Lodge with another , and these are the existence of God , and the secrecy of the Order . Here , then , is the very lirst point on which a

Masonic-Congress might usefully engage itself . An agreement as to the landmarks of the Order , sufficient in number to afford a lamp to the path and a guide to the feet of each and every Grand Lodge , is the lirst essential towards securing a satisfactory Masonic federation . At present , what is and what is not a

landmark , is left to the ipse dixit of the Grand Master or his Deputy , and whilst no one suggests that any of our rulers have reached any but righteous conclusions , it is only reasonable to claim that it would he infinitel y more satisfactory H a statement of what is and what is not Freemasonry could be made ,