Lights And Shadows Of Scottish Freemasonry.

but unless it be done , the standing of our proud old Craft will soon be reduced to a very IOAV level indeed . Raise the fees and Avhat Avill be the more immediate results ? First , a diminution , it may be , to some considerable degree in the

number of our initiates But this would only be for a time . As the Craft managed to bettor its position , bettor men Avould bo induced to join its ranks , and this Avould bring about some of the ulterior results ; a strengthening of its influenee ; a

Avidening of its spheres of usefulness ; a raising of its time-honoured name . Then , again , there Avould be a purging of the roll of lodges , and such as regulate the payment of their fees in the manner we have spoken of would be among the first to be struck off . Well ! what would it matter ? If

we promise obedience and do not obey , surely we deserve to be punished . We do not want such lodges as they are . We Avould like to feel proud of our fraternity , aud not to bo shame-faced at hearing any of its lodges spoken of . How are we to have the fees raised ? If

lodge A decides to i-aise its fees , Avill lodge B follow its example ? It may be that it will , but Ave are rather afraid it will not . Something like this sort of feeling seems to prevail among the members of B . "Let us keep our fees a trifle lower than

A , and we will catch the candidates first . Never mind about the quality , let us make sure about the quantity . " Money ! money ! money ! that seems to be the great aim of all from the Grand Lodge itself down to the youngest daughter . HOAV are the fees to be raised ? . Let us institute a

commission to inquire how many lodges will willingly raise them . Fifty per cent . I ¦ Nonsense . Possibly ten , but far more probabl y five . HOAV are the fees to be raised ? There is only one way . The G' -aml Lod ge must raise the minimum fee "Y two or three poundsThere is

. no ether way—we say this emphaticallywere is no other way . But the Grand Lod ge has not the courage to do it , and rather than face the storm which , successfull y braved , would reveal to their view

! ° S ' cat ocean of prosperity , they quietly 'mow the grandest old system in the *» rkl to sink into a comparative iiisigni-I'canco . What will their posterity think ,, them "'hen they find handed down to 0111 a rofcteu old shi p Avhich it needs all

their efforts to keep afloat , far less to repair ? Will they think with lwerence of those who allowed the Avorm to eat into its p lanks and made no effort to remove it ? Will they respect the memories of those Avho Avould seem to have so miserably mismanaged affairs ? They may ; but if Ave

were they , AVO wouldn ' t . Are Ave very plain-sj ) oken ? It may be that we are , but we arc not in the least any too much so . Now , there is another phase of the matter Avhich Avants to be looked into . In Edinburgh and Glasgowthe tAVO great

, centres of the Craft in Scotland , the average initiation fee is about three guineas . So far , so good . But Ave Avould like to ask a question : HOAV many members of the various lodges of the two cities have paid even this average fee ? Probably sixty per

cent . Very Avell . But Avhat about the other forty ? We will endeavour 'to tell you . Go a mile or tAvo out of the municipal boundary of either city into any of the numerous villages surrounding , and you Avill find a Masonic Lodge , tho foes of

Avhich are in all likelihood £ 1 12 s . Gd . ( a very common fee in the country ) . Take a look at their roll books , and you will find that they initiate a very large number of

candidates annually . Take a look at their sederunt books and you will find the meetings out of all proportion miserably poorly attended . These two facts strike you . For the size of the village the attendance seems good , nay , more than good , unexpectedly

large , but for the number of initiates it is A ery bad indeed . HOAV are you to account for this ? Take another look at the roll book . See the addresses of the initiates . Forty per cent , at least arc after this fashion : —A . B .,

B . C , 0 . D ., Edinburgh or Glasgow , as the case may be . That accounts for the small meetings . Forty per cent , have not paid the average fee of the city lodges ; forty per cent , do not belong to the village in which their mother lodge is . Is the

inference sufficiently clear ? No I Why , surely it must be . Well , if it be not , take a look at the roll books of the city lodges . What do you find there 1 \\ by , the names of these very people as affiliated members . Look at the dates ; now compare themand

, you Avill find in nine cases out of ten , that they are very shortly subsequent to the dates of their initiations . Here they are in the better lodges in the city participating Q 2