Freemasonry In Germany.

next beg all our members to consider themselves as agents of the society , ancl undertake the distribution of the work among those of the brethren Avith Avhom they are in any Avay connected . If each member disposes of only about

ten copies , the result would already be gratifying ; and if Ave put even a very IOAV price on the publication , a respectable profit Avould still accrue to us , after deducting the outlay , for the benefit of our Central Belief Fund .

The sale of the pamphlet for a consideration cannot cause us any scruple , seeing that it has long been the practice Avith individual brethren as Avell as individual lodges to sell small

publications to the brotherhood for charitable purposes . Finally , my brethren , I Avould beg you to consider if it Avere not opportune , from time to time , to edit such small publications , the contents of AA'hich should be concise ancl clear ,

so as to naturalise them among us , for such a speculation , might prove advantageous in many respects . You are probably all of you aware that our periodicals as Avell as the independent Avorks of our literature meet only Avith

a comparatively small sale among the 35 , 000 German Freemasons . This strange attitude towards one of the most important means of our progress in culture is a barometer indicating the

general culture of the brotherhood , and represses any inflated panegyric Ave might be inclined to bestow on the lodge system of the present time . Under such circumstances our society must not confine itself to rendering one , or even

a few , of the points of attack accessible to a reform , but should gradually occupy every position for Avork opening a prospect of replacing what is insufficient and obsolete by something more efficient and suitable . I am persuaded

that small publications , such as the one proposed to you to-day by Avay of specimen , publications the perusal of which does not take much time , and being all the more useful because they afford instruction in a concise manner , and , to the exclusion of all abstract

aud oratorical jargon , only endeavour ' in a straightforward AA'ay , to go to the very substance of the matter treated , Avould very soon become popular with the brotherhood . They Avould furnish subjects for the so urgently required debating evenings , so long , at least , as the Bauhutte and Freemasons' Gazette .

are not more largely taken in , so that eA ery brother AA'O UICI have an opportunity of first reading an article on subjects about to be discussed . Again , such small publications Avould , by condensing all that in the last decennia

has been said by brethren on a given subject , prevent UCAV articles from appearing in the periodicals treating topics long since sufficiently discussed . The transactions in our press Avould then most decidedly progress more surely and steadily , ancl the brethren Avould take more interest in our literature and

give more support to its productions than now , Avhen independent Avorks especially can be brought out only at a loss to the publisher , so that here , too , Ave move in a vicious circle , for obviously , from the scant support given

to our press and literature , it simply follows that the intellectual progress of the brotherhood is slow , or , in other words , everything continues stationary . In recalling to your mind the facts that in the past year the members of the society at Hoxter-Holzminden urgently advocated a suitable manual to be put into the hands of brethren AVIIO AVI ' SII to

propose candidates ; and that , already two years ago , the members of the society at Aix-la-Chapelle pronounced the publication of pragmatic Avritings to be A ^ ery appropriate . I now entreat you to declare unanimously for my motion . "

The chairman , Bro . Leichtliu , remarked that the proposal of Bro . Cramer Avent indeed beyond the original motion but that even in this form it mig ht be recommended for adoption . The committee had with pleasure accepted the motion , a general instruction being really wanted , and they thought a printed manual very desirable . There had