Election Days And Election Tactics.

ELECTION DAYS AND ELECTION TACTICS .

TT ^ OR some years past discussions have been raised from JL . time to time as to the desirability of altering the days of election for the three Masonic Institutions , and we should not have to go very far back to find that a number of actual propositions for change have been considered at

one or other of the regular meetings of subscribers to the Charities . In all these cases—until the present yearnothing has resulted from the proposals which have been submitted , the general opinion having been that it was

best to leave matters as they were , rather than to make an alteration which would in all probability prove as inconvenient to some of the subscribers as the existing rules were shown to be . The question may really be considered

as one of those on which universal agreement is all but impossible , as the business or leisure of so many has to be considered , and what may suit one section proves inconvenient to another .

So strong , however , has the desire for a change now become that a Committee has been appointed to consider the question , and to report later in the year as to the advisability of making an alteration , or of continuing existing arrangements . What the decision of this Committee

will be it is of course impossible to say , but we think that very strong arguments should be forthcoming before any alteration is officially suggested in an arrangement which

has worked well for years , and which is as likely to suit the present and the coming generation as well as any other which might be adopted .

No doubt the question will be discussed by the Committee on its merits , but there are already signs that outside it will be fought on much the same lines as have governed more than one Masonic contest of late , when

the tendency has been to divide the Order into two great sections—Provincial and Metropolitan—with results which must eventually prove detrimental to the continuance of that kindly feeling which has so long been a characteristic of Freemasonry .

It would perhaps puzzle a casual observer to discover anything in this question which should create jealousy between London and Provincial brethren , and taken alone it would give us some difficulty to explain why it should

be regarded as a subject for disagreement , but there is a growing tendency on the part of London brethren to consider that the Provincials already get more than their share of the good things provided by the Institutions , and

to those who hold such opinions the mere mention of a change is regarded with suspicion , lest it may be but another move to secure yet greater advantages to the Proviucials , as compared with those obtained by Londoners .

Briefl y the state of affairs is simply this , nearly all of the Provinces have special Committees for securing the greatest amount of benefit possible from the votes held in their districts , while London , being without any such organisation ,

appears to lose its just share of the prizes periodically competed for . As a consequence some of the London brethren are dissatisfied , and are perhaps desirous of

quarrelling with the Provincials , whose only crime is that they are more enthusiastic , or more energetic , than those ^ ho find fault with them . The Provincial brethren argue that the time which has to be devoted to the elections as they are at present

Election Days And Election Tactics.

arranged is a considerable item year by year , and that every effort should be used to lessen as far as possible both the time and expense to which business men are put if they desire to attend . This , they urge , would be accomplished

bv having the several elections on consecutive days , and certainly the proposal appears a just one . Londoners , on the other hand , urge that if the clays of election were thus altered the Provincial brethren would make even more of a

business of them than they do now . They would be in London for two or three days at a time , with nothing to do but canvass subscribers , and work to secure scholarships or annuities for their own candidates , to the detriment of

London cases . . It hardly seems necessary for us to argue out these matters , as we are confident that London could do as well as any of the Provinces if the brethren would unite in the Metropolis as they do outside it—that is , if

such co-operation were possible in London as is all but general in the country . It is absurd to argue that the country brethren would be any better off than Londoners if the elections were held on consecutive days ; on the

contrary , they would often be worse off , for in many cases they would have to leave home the day before the first election , and could not start from London until the day

following the lust of the contests , while London brethren could always devote an hour or more to their business on each of the election days , and yet be present during the time of the meetings .

If we look at the number of votes issued for any particular election and compare it with the total polled , we at once see that there are very few unused , and even if the whole of the unpolled votes belonged to London—and we

need hardly say they do not—it would make very little difference in the actual result . It follows then , that the London votes are used , and if they are not given to London cases alone we may assume their owners have very good

reasons for sending them into the country . No doubt many of the London votes find their way into the Provinces , in consequence of their owners belonging also to one or other of the Lodges meeting outside the Metropolitan area ,

while not a few are sent miles away purely as a matter of business . London representatives of the great Provincial firms could no doubt tell us of a number of votes which go out of London every year in this way , not only in

connection with the Masonic Institutions , but also of every Charity in which the country as a whole is interested . Not long since a prominent London Mason told us that if ever he wanted to secure a case for either of the Charities

he should rely more on the help of his business connections than on that of his Masonic brethren , as with the former he was in the habit of co-operating in connection with the elections of almost all the Charities of the Kingdom ; while

the latter principally confined their attention to the Masonic Institutions , and did not even work systematically in regard to them . We have since had an opportunity of seeing this brother ' s opinion put to the test , and the result has been

most gratifying to him , his candidate being returned at the head of the poll on a first application . Here we have an illustration of London co-operation which equals anything attempted in the Provinces ; still it is not au exceptional

case , and no doubt it will bo equalled on many occasions in the future , without any alteration in existing arrangements , or any extension of voting associations among the brethren of the Metropolis ; still there was a cause which led to this

success which is absent in many other cases ; the members of the Lodge , which took the candidate in hand , worked as