The Scholar In Politics.

interest in the question he raises that the Masonic legislator ( we might as well say politician ) need pay no attention . But trouble arises when , as in the State of Washington , a Masonic scholar , trained to aim at the whole truth and to be satisfied with nothing less , becomes also responsible for legislation . The result is as if a state legislature were to decree obedience to the whole code of Christ . Human nature would not stand it .

Our Most Worshipful Brother Past Grand Master William H . Upton has , by his papers upon negro Masonry , placed himself at the head of fche American branch of the new school of Masonic Historical study , if he will take and hold the place . This is the school which has enough distinguished representatives in England

to compose a Lodge of thirty-three members—the Lodge Quatuor Coronati . This Lodge is composed of Hughan , Gould , Speth , Crawley , Lane , and twenty-eight others of the same sort . These men have revolutionised Masonic History and Masonic

scholarship . We question if they have yefc afc all influenced Masonic Legislation . Very wisely tbey have not tried . It is enough for them to do to ascertain the whole truth and to put it upon record . The responsibility for the use made of the light thus cast is upon fche Craft . It is best to let it make its way slowly .

Bro . Upton s latest paper upon negro Masonry , printed in the volume of Proceedings of tbe Grand Lodge of fche State of Washington—just out—is a monument of Masonic learning , a model of historical and critical method of the new school . It has no place in what has heretofore passed for Masonic learning in this

country—a learning real enough at bottom , bufc biased and prejudiced , full of controversial twists and of the half truths which to the politician are whole truths , and which , at all events , he makes to pass for such . It marks its author as capable of better things than Masonic politics .

We regret that the occasion should have arisen for its publication in its present connection . Ifc should have been ( of course with an altered style ) published in the Transactions of the Lodge Quatuor Coronati , where ifc would have enjoyed the pure

air of Masonic Scholarship untainted by Masonic politics , and where it would , doubtlessly , have secured for its author the blue ribbon of Masonic membership in that Lodge . It would have gained dignity printed there , and would have lost none of its practical effect , for it would have none in either case , afc least for

many years . All over fche country are young scholars who are fully conscious of fche faults of the American historical method as heretofore applied to Masonry , and eager to follow in the path marked out by the English Brethren of the Quatuor Coronati . They need

only aleader . The " Tyler " mosfc earnestly calls upon M . W . Bro . Upton fco divorce himself from Masonic politics , which will hamper him and finally ruin his method and his style , and to assume this high position—higher than any which Masonic politics has within its gift , whether in Washington , New York , England , or in any jurisdiction on earth . —" American Tyler . "

The Ballot.

THE BALLOT .

EVERY Freemason is gifted with a power which in one direction , afc least , is supreme . In the Lodge the Master is master in all things , yet he has no more authority in the matter of the ballot than has every other Master Mason who is a fellow-member . There is in the hand of every Freemason a ball which has deadly Masonic power when wielded against an

applicant for initiation and membership . The profane remains profane at the will and pleasure of one initiate . This is sovereign authority , but ifc is in consonance with the spirit of our Fraternity , which is eminently one of authority and law . Ifc exercises a paternal government , and in this respect every Brother is a

father , every member has supreme auchority over every applicant for initiation . This was the early regulation in the Craft , and we in the United States of America , at least , have sedulously maintained this Masonic usage . In criminal law it is recognised that it is better that nine guilty men should escape than that one

innocent one be punished , and hence there is always a presumption in favour of innocence , so that a jury is never warranted in convicting , if there be a reasonable doubt in favour of the innocence of the prisoner . But in Freemasonry the rule is different , there it is considered better that nine worthy applicants should be rejected , than that one unworthy should be approved .

We start out with this premise , but it does not warrant the conclusion that every member of a Lodge may carelessly , thoughtlessly and irresponsibly exercise his sovereign authority in the ballot . The Craft may not reckon with him for such

conduct unless he convict himself by revealing his own unworthy motives , but his conscience should ; and in what we have to say now respecting the Masonic use of fche ballot , we shall appeal to the reader ' s sense of Masonic justice—in other words , to his Masonic conscience . It goes without saying that the immoral , the dissipated , the dishonest , the mentally unbalanced man is unfitted for the

The Ballot.

Masonic Fraternity . We desire sound men , morally , mentally and physically . The unworthy initiate who has succeeded in hoodwinking the Craft sufficiently to secure initiation is nofc thereby ensured the right to advancement . The error of the

ballot may be corrected at any time prior to his entire reception into fche Fraternity , so thafc facts which , if properly known , would have justified his rejection , may cause his subsequent suspension or expulsion . All this is clear . But this is outside of that to which we are about fco advert .

Brother reader , do you realise the truth that the possessor of sovereign power should be sovereign over himself , should be master of his prejudices , his passions , his moral or mental blindness ? The power of the ballot carries with it a weighty responsibility . For a man who in the best sense of the term is a

good man and true to rest under the imputation of Masonic rejection , is an unmerited punishment . He is announced to the universal Craft to be an unworthy person , one nofc fit to associate with Freemasons , one whom we cannot trust , and therefore will not have among us , one who has been weighed in the balance

and found wanting , and in consequence cast out among the rubbish . To pronounce this judgment on an applicant is to pronounce a dire condemnation . When an applicant is rejected by our ballot we do not say only that he is unfit for our Lodge , bufc that he is unfit for any Lodge—that he is unworthy to become

a Freemason . While it is our bounden duty to promptly reject the morally , mentally and physically halt and lame and blind , let us never reject an applicant only because he is- a rival in business , or of a different religion , or has some angles in his character which oppose themselves to our smoothness , without

injuring either ourselves or our fellows . Ancient Freemasonry is not a rite of perfection . It aims high , but it does not expect to hit fche moon . " Ifc is a reasonable Fraternity , and every member of it should be a reasonable man . It does not expect to accomplish impossibilities , bub it does expect every one of its initiates to be truly loyal to it , and while guarding its portals

against the admission of improper applicants and candidates , to reject no applicant because his hair is red , his complexion pale , his disposition nofc altogether saintly , or his behaviour a trifle below thafc of the high standard which we set up for ourselves , bufc never attain . Brethren , examine yourselves on every occasion before you cast a ballot . — "Keystone . "

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