MasonsAtSight

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MAKING MASONS AT SIGHT

NEW ENGLAND CRAFTSMAN

The following commentaries were published in the New England Craftsman in 1909, and may be instructive regarding this subject. There is no information regarding any ruling or edict in Massachusetts Jurisdiction on this subject.

MARCH 1909

From New England Craftsman, Vol. IV, No. 6, March 1909, Page 201:

The following article on "Making a Mason at Sight" is from the "Masonic Standard" of New York. It says about all that is needed to show that there is ever a reason for exercising this right. Of all reasons that have been presented that of Grand Master Holmes is the most unique, when he said he exercised it to show that he had a right to do so.

The recent announcement in the press that M. W. Charles S. Moskinson, the Grand Master of Masons in Ohio, would make President-elect Taft a Mason at sight on Feb. 18, has caused considerable comment in the newspapers, and is a subject of discussion wherever Masons meet. Naturally there is some criticism, as there have always been by those who dispute the "prerogative" of a Grand Master to make a Mason at sight. According to the press dispatches, certain Lodges in Texas have gone so far as to pass resolutions condemning the proposed action of the Grand Master of Ohio. This is obviously improper and un-masonic. Texas Lodges have no right to interfere in such a matter, nor to criticize officially the Grand Master of Ohio for exercising a prerogative which is not disputed in his own jurisdiction.

It is pointed out that there is a recent precedent in Ohio for the making of a Mason at sight, such a course having been pursued in 1892 in the case of the late Governor Asa S. Bushnell, when Grand Master Levi C. Goodale conferred the three degrees upon him in one day. Precedents in other States are not wanting. About ten years ago John Wanamaker was made a Mason at pght by Grand Master Wagner of Pennsylvania The making of Admiral Schley bv Grand Master Small of the District of Columbia, in 1899, caused widespread discussion. It was reported that all of the three degrees were conferred in full form on Admiral Schley, and a similar course was pursued a few years later when Governor Foster M. Voorhees was made a Mason in the Opera House at Elizabeth, before an assemblage of a thousand Masons, by the Grand Master of Xew Jersey. Still more recently Vice President Fairbanks was similarly honored by the Grand Master of Masons in Indiana.

It thus appears that the honor to be conferred upon the President-elect, though unusual, is by no means unique. In this connection it is interesting to quote from the annual address of M. W. George D. Copeland, the immediate predecessor of Grand Master Hoskinson, at the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, in October last:

There have been the usual number of requests for permission to hurry the degrees, generally for some one who was about to go upon a long journey in different parts of the world where it might not be convenient to take the degrees and sometimes because the regulations of foreign jurisdictions permit such haste, but I have uniformly refused such requests for two reasons. * * * When such haste is made it is impossible for the candidate to commit to memory the instructive and useful lectures pertaining to the several degrees, and I have never known a brother who has slighted the lectures to be an active and useful member of the order, and it almost universally happens that a brother who thoroughly understands the lectures of the degrees becomes an interested and active, useful and whole-hearted Mason.

In our opinion, the chief objection to such action as is contemplated in the case of Mr. Taft is that it violates the spirit of equality which is a fundamental principle of Freemasonry. If any man has earned exemption from the usual preliminaries. perhaps Mr. Taft has. Nevertheless, we believe that he would derive far more benefit from Masonry if he received the degrees in the usual way. Vice President Fairbanks said, at a dinner given by King Solomon's Royal Arch Chapter at Louisville in 1907: "I went through Masonry with great speed. The thirty-three degrees of Masonry I made in eleven months, and at the end ot that time I regretted that I couldn't make them again." Regret is the natural result of the speed made by Bro. Fairbanks.

When Bro, Roosevelt was Vice President he received the three degrees of Masonry in the usual way, with the constitutional interval between the degrees. He was thoroughly instructed, and is what we call a "well-posted" Mason, lie was not "hurried through" the so-called "higher degrees," but remains a plain Master Mason.

We of New York live under a constitutional government, and we doubt if any Grand Master in this jurisdiction will ever assume a prerogative that is not granted by the Constitution and the accepted landmarks. The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New York adopted in 1785, and in force for many years thereafter, contained the following provision:

It is the prerogative of the (irand Lodge, and the Right Worshipful Grand Master has full power and authority (when the Grand Lodge is duly assembled), to make or cause to be made in his Worship's presence, Free and Accepted Masons at sight, and such making is good; but they cannot be made out of his Worship's presence, without his written dispensation for thai purpose.

This regulation appeared in the "Ahiman Rezon" of 1772, and was reaffirmed in the Constitution published in 1884, but in the Revised Regulations of 1832 it was omitted and the following substituted: "He (the Grand Master) may make Masons at sight, and for this purpose may summon such brethren as he may deem necessary to assist him." The Grand Lodge of England, since 1717, has never recognized any other authority for making Masons at sight than the Grand Lodge duly assembled.

There are a number of cases o making a Mason at sight in the records of the Grand Lodge of New York, but the power was not frequently exercised. The last time was by Grand Master Robert D. Holmes, who reported to the Grand Lodge in 1861 that he had made Hon. James T. Brady a Mason at sight, on account of his great per sonal merit, and for the following reasons:

The tendency of modern Grand Lodge legislation, here and elsewhere in these States, has been toward abridging the powers of the Grand Master as the sole and absolute head of the craft; and, among other things, the right of thai official to make a Mason "at sight" has been criticized, if not doubted. I desired to bring to the surface a power and prerogative that has been gradually sinking out of view, and to exercise them, to the end that the present generation may know that they have an existence and recognize them also. This I have done, and the records of our proceedings of this session will show to the Masonic world that one, at least, of the prerogatives of a Grand Master has been rescued from desuetude in this jurisdiction.

The Grand Lodge indorsed his action, as the exercise of a constitutional prerogative. The present Constitution of the Grand Lodge o New York does not confer the power to make a Mason at sight.

APRIL 1909

From New England Craftsman, Vol. IV, No. 7, April 1909, Page 239:

Grand Secretary Frederic Speed of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi is quite apt to have an opinion about things Masonic and when he does he has the courage to express it. He has something to say about making President Taft a Mason at sight. We quote him as follows:

The Grand Master and his invited guests assembled in the spacious auditorium (Scottish Rite Cathedral, Cincinnati) between 4 and 5 o'clock p. m.

It was just past 5:05 o'clock when the distinguished candidate appeared at the cathedral. He entered arm in arm with Colonel William Cromwell Melish, Grand Master of Ceremonies. The two came unheralded and amidst perfect silence walked down the center aisle of the hall to the proper position, where Mr. Taft was greeted by Charles H. Hoskinson, "The Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Ohio," who made the simple announcement that he had exercised the prerogative of his office in calling an occasional lodge. After he had called the brethren to order Prof. John Yoakley played upon the organ Mendelssohn's Lift Thine Eyes. The Scottish Rite double quartet, composed of Mr. William A. Beck, Charles Bartlett, John N. Roberts. David E. Griffith. W. A. Evans, F. Wm. Haas, Henry L. Korb and John C. Hersh accompanying. As the last notes died away Grand Master Hoskinson called upon Grand Chaplain Ralph R. Hickock to invoke the divine blessing. After which, without any other Ceremony, the obligations of the three degrees were administered. Berween each of them there were musical numbers, the program consisting of Charity by Xembach; Father, In Thy Mysterious Presence, by Gerrish ; The Lord is My Strength, by Blodgett, and America, which was sung last and in which Judge Taft joined and then he was Brother William Howard Taft.

There were a good many eminent Masons present to witness the farce, some of whom must have had a queer feeling run down their spines, as they heard the words "in a just and regular lodge," repeated.

It's all right, of course that Mr. Taft should be a Mason, his high character and the eminent position, which he is soon to occupy settles this beyond cavil, but we would have greatly preferred to have seen him come in in the regular way and in our judgment there ought not to have been any difference between his initiation and that of the boy who comes from between the plow handles or the forge. In the Lodge every one stands upon an exact equality and the President of the United Stales, although the highest and most exalted personage upon earth, is no better than the humblest, who knocks at our doors and it was a violation of every fundamental principle upon which Masonry is built to have made an exception in his favor.

In assuming this power, the Grand Master of Ohio violated a fundamental principle, which has never been questioned: "That no Lodge shall ever make a Mason without due inquiry into his character," and subject him to the ordeal of the ballot. It is simply farcical to say. that the Grand Master could of his own volition without the assistance of a Lodge make this "inquiry."

We unhesitatingly assert that no such "prerogative" as "making a Mason at sight" is vested in the Grand Master and it is purely an assumption upon his part, for which there is no foundation in any of the ancient laws of Masonry. It is strange that it is not mentioned in Anderson's Constitutions or the Ancient Charges or Old Regulations, which were published in 1723, but that it was left to slumber until Lawrence Dermott, the Grand Secretary of the Schismatic Grand Lodge, April 16th, 1777, should have brought it to light sixty years after the reorganization took place and when every participant was dead. The record as Dermott made it was that after the Stewards Lodge, as the Committee on Charity was called "although Grand Master had full power and authority to make (in his presence or cause them to be made) Masons, when and where he pleased, yet he could not force any Lodge to admit a person (so made) as members, without the unanimous consent of such Lodge, and if the Grand Master made use of his privilege of making Masons, he ought to have a sufficient number of them to form a Lodge and grant them a warrant, by which means they would be entitled to registry or otherwise not." "This rule of the Stewards," says the great Masonic historian, Robert Freke Gould, "was afterwards inserted by Dermott, as a note to "Old Regulations xviii." in "Ahiman Rezon, 1778" and has served as the foundation of authority, upon which a false doctrine called "making Masons at sight" has been erected. Gould, page 163, Volume 4. To this only need be added, after a critical examination of the old regulation to which Dermot appended this note, it fails to disclose anything which serves as a foundation for the note itself, and it could be appended any where else in his compilation. And, it is upon this flimsy pretext that a few, Thank God, very few. Grand Masters have violated their obligations to support and maintain the "true principle of Ancient Craft Masonry."

Other incidents of the occasion are reported in the "Masonic Standard." The ceremony occupied nearly an hour. At its conclusion the new brother was called upon to make some remarks upon his experience and he said in part:

"My brethren, I have stood in many presences and have felt embarrassment at the lack of anything appropriate to saw but never have I stood in any presence with such fear of saying something inappropriate. The territory into which you have led me was until now a terra incognito and I lift my foot in hesitation as to where to plant it. There is one consideration, however, which gives me confidence — the consciousness that many years ago mv father stood in the same place and expressed his love and admiration for the order. I can only envy my brother in Masonry and in fact, that it was given to him to be received under the auspices of that good old man. I would feel strange among this assemblage but for the fact that numerous members are present with whom I have had close relations in daily life, which has robbed me of the terrors of initiation which otherwise it would have had for me. And 1 am grateful at the presence of three of my classmates from distant cities who came for the ceremonies, showing the attachment of the members for the order, and I am indeed grateful to them. I thank you and congratulate myself upon being one of you and am very grate ful for being received among you."

Following the close of the Occasional Lodge, the officers of tin Grand Lodge of Ohio were entertained by Bro. Charles P. Taft, at his home in Pike street. In the evening the Third Degree was conferred in full form in Kilwinning Lodge Xo. 356, with Judge Taft a an interested spectator.

There was an attendance of about 500, including the dignitaries who had bed present in the afternoon. Following the degree work, Kilwinning Lodge - through its Secretary, Bro. J. W. Williams, presented a Masonic apron to Bro. Taft.

He responded feelingly, stating that he had been permitted to enter into the order without performing the labor exacted of all candidates, which labor, he said, he would be glad to perform. In a happy reference to the generous length of his apron strings Bro. Taft called down the house.

He closed his remarks with the statement that it did him good to feel the thrill which comes From recognizing on all hands the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

Grand Master George B. Orlady of Pennsylvania delivered a masterly address on Masonry, and told how Pennsylvania Masons many years ago watched with fatherly care over the new Lodges of Masons which were instituted in Ohio.

OCTOBER 1909

From New England Craftsman, Vol. V, No. 1, October 1909, Page 14, referencing
Moore's Freemason's Monthly 1849:

There has been a good deal said about making Masons at sight since President Taft was made a Mason by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. We know of no sounder opinion on the subject than that expressed by Charles W. Moore in The Freemason's Monthly Magazine, March 1, 1849. Brother Moore was the founder and editor of the magazine and a noted writer on Masonic subjects. The opinion was in answer to a letter as follows :—

Jan. 9th, 1849.

Br. Moore — Permit a contributor to your excellent magazine to call your attention to a subject of vital importance to the Fraternity. It is for the purpose of eliciting your opinion on the subject. 1 allude to the prerogatives of a Grand Master of a Grand Lodge. In the city of _____, there are two Lodges, No. 3 and No. 15. A citizen of that city, through a friend, presented a petition for initiation to a member of Lodge No. 15; the member of that Lodge intimated, from what he had heard, that the petitioner would be rejected, consequently the friend of the applicant withheld the petition, and requested a member of Lodge No. 3 to present it to his Lodge. The member of Lodge No. 3 ascertained that a similar petition had been presented to a member of Lodge No. 15, and was informed that it would have been rejected by that Lodge, he therefore took some pains to investigate the moral character of the applicant, and found there were some objections; but, perhaps without cause. Immediately upon this, the Grand Master summoned together a number of the members of both Lodges and observed that he was about to exercise his prerogative by conferring upon the citizen above alluded to the three first degrees in Masonry, and therefore opened what he called the G. Lodge of W_____, in the city of M_____.

The Constitution had established the location of the Grand Lodge at M_____, the capital of the State. After the Grand Lodge was opened, the Grand Master observed that if any Brethren present bad any objections to the citizen about to receive the degrees, they were at liberty to state them,— none were made neither was the ballot passed — the Grand Master conferred the three degrees. The object of this inquiry is, has a Grand Master any such power, by the ancient regulations of the Order? And if so, is it not a dangerous prerogative? In the case above alluded to, there is a probability at least that the candidate would have been rejected as unworthy in either Lodge. The Grand Master takes the responsibility, and forces him upon these Lodges, by conferring the degrees upon him.

Again. From what Lodge dues the initiated hail? From the Grand Lodge of W______. setting in the city of M______? Such Grand Lodge is not recognized, and further, what body of Masons are entitled to the fees for conferring tin se degrees? They certainly do not belong to Lodge No. 3 or Lodge No. 15, for they did not receive the petition; yet, if the applicant was a worthy man, were not one or the other of those Lodges entitled to the fees? The Grand Lodge cannot receive it, for they do not recognize any such power; the Constitution gives no authority for conferring degrees as a Grand Lodge. Is the Grand Master himself entitled to it? If so, and the power of conferring degrees at will is granted to him, then it seems to me there is no necessity for subordinate Lodges, for the Grand Master can travel the country and not only confer the degrees, but establish the price and appropriate the funds for his own use.

The editor of the Masonic Review at Cincinnati has treated somewhat at large on the "powers and prerogatives of Grand Lodges." but I believe not on this particular point to which 1 call your attention, He says, "up to the year 1717, every Lodge was an independent body; in the year 17I8, it was provided by the Constitution that the Grand Lodge thereafter should be a representative body, to which should be granted certain limited powers," — such, I suppose, as legislation, and judicial, in all cases of appeal from subordinate Lodges; it bad no authority to initiate, pass or raise candidates, as that power has never been surrendered by subordinate Lodges; neither were the Grand Lodges clothed with that authority by the Masonic body from which they were created. Now, then, if the Grand Lodge has not authority to confer degrees, from what source does a Grand Master derive his power? 1 discover from the reports of committees on foreign correspondence of the different Grand Lodges, much said about the ancient landmarks of the Order,— do the ancient regulations authorize a Grand Master to confer degrees in Masonry at sight? It seems to me, that those ancient landmarks cannot be too clearly defined.

Your opinion on the subject to which 1 have called your attention, will not only afTord satisfaction to a numerous class of your subscribers, but highly gratify.

Your obedient and humble servant, D. F. L.,

Before noticing the particular inquiries presented by our correspondent, we take permission to remark, that, on the facts stated, the proceedings of the Grand Master if not positively irregular and unauthorized were injudicious, as tending to disrupt the harmony and disaffect the lodges more immediately interested. It was a matter over which, by the Masonic usage and government generally recognized in this country, they alone had exclusive jurisdiction, and with which the Grand Master was not required, nor by the Constitutions of his own Grand Lodge, authorized to interfere.

That a Grand Master is empowered by the Constitutions and usages of Masonry, to assemble the Grand Lodge for a specific purpose in any part of his jurisdiction that may be most convenient for the object in view, does not admit of a question, but that he may call together any number of Brethren, without notice to the Grand Officers, and constitute them into a Grand Lodge, is what we are by no means prepared to concede. The Grand Master is a constituent part of the Grand Lodge, and so are his Wardens and other officers; and it is no more competent for him, with such brethren as he may see fit to call around him, to resolve himself and them into a Grand Lodge, without the usual and proper notice required by the Constitution, than it would be for the Grand Wardens, with such brethren as they might select, to resolve themselves into a Grand Lodge, without notice to him. The Constitutions clearly prescribe what officers shall constitute the Grand Lodge and how they shall be elected and qualified; and they also prescribe the manner in which Grand Lodge shall be assembled together and opened. To the observance of these requirements, the Grand Master is bound, equally with the lowest officer in the body.

Our correspondent does not state the manner in which the Grand Lodge in question was called together, and the preceding remarks may be altogether irrelevant to the case under consideration; but from the terms in which he expresses himself, he leads us to an opposite inference.

Our correspondent has not stated his case very systematically, nor proposed his questions with much regard to their relation to each other. We will endeavor, however, to follow him in his own order. The Brother initiated as above will, then, hail from the Grand Lodge in which, or under whose authority, he was received. The location of the Grand Lodge is immaterial.

The fees belong to the body in which he was made; though we are free to admit, that in the present case, Lodges Nos. 3 and 15 would seem to have an equitable claim to them, inasmuch as the Grand Lodge has, by its own voluntary action, assigned to them a certain jurisdiction, and granted them the right to make Masons within its limits, as the means of their support and maintenance. With this right the Grand Lodge cannot equitably interfere, nor without a violation of its own good faith to those Lodges; for as our correspondent very properly suggests, if it may do this, through its Grand Master, or other of its officers, the necessity for subordinate Lodges will be materially lessened, and their prosperity essentially endangered.

Our correspondent is not altogether correct in his views of the "powers or prerogatives" of Grand Lodges. Nor is he more correct in his historical quotations and references. But, without entering into any very formal discussion of the question, whether Grand Lodges, subsequent to 1718, have possessed the power to make Masons, it will be sufficient for our present purpose, to cite a single historical fact, which will probably satisfy him mi this point. We quote from the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of England, as follows :—

"June 34, 1731, George Paine, Esq., Grand Master, assembled a Grand Lodge at Queen's Arms, in St. Paul's Church Yard, London, made some new brothers, particularly Phillip, Lord Stanhope, afterwards Earl of Chesterfield, and then marched, according to the maimer of Masons, to a noble feast, prepared for them at Stationer's Hall."

At this time Lodges were empowered to confer only the first degree, unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master. Subsequently this regulation was so modified as to enable them to confer the second degree, and finally, the third. But the Grand Lodge of England never surrendered its right to make Masons, though it has rarely exercised it. This power has also, within our own recollection, been exercised by one or more of the oldest Grand Lodges in this country; but never, except upon extraordinary occasions.

In connection with this branch of the inquiry, and in answer to the question of our correspondent as to the power of Grand Masters to confer degrees at sight, we give the following extract from one of the early books of Constitutions:—

"It is nevertheless still the prerogative of the Grand Lodge, and the R. W. Grand Master has full power and authority, (when the Grand Lodge is duly assembled) to make, or cause to be made, in his Worship's presence, free and accepted Masons, at sight, and such making is good; but they cannot he made out of his Worship's presence, without his written dispensation for that purpose; nor is any warranted Lodge obliged to receive any of the persons so made as members, except by vote, and with the full consent of the body of such Lodge; but the R. W. G. Master, with the authority of the Grand Lodge, may grant them a warrant, and form them into a new Lodge."

This regulation was thus declared to be in force many years subsequently to the period when the power to confer the three degrees was delegated to the Lodges. It reserves the right to the Grand Lodge, and to the Grand Master, "when the Grand Lodge is duly assembled," to make Masons, at sight; but it does not authorize the Grand Master, of himself, nor by virtue of the presence of any given number of brethren, to make Masons at all. He can only do it when the Grand Lodge is "duly assembled." Nor is any subordinate Lodge required to receive as a member, a brother so made,— an exception to what was then a general rule, manifestly intended to restrict the making of Masons in the Grand Lodge, by rendering such making undesirable, and less advantageous to the initiated. In reserving to itself this right, the Grand Lodge evidently did not contemplate the exercise of it, except under peculiar and extraordinary circumstances,—such as the initiation of a distinguished foreigner, or some gentleman of the nobility, whom it might find it advantageous to compliment in this manner.

We have thus, frankly though briefly, endeavored to answer the inquiries of our correspondent. We have no other knowledge of the facts in the case, or the parties interested, than he has seen fit to communicate. Our opinions are predicated entirely upon the former, and the latter will give them such consideration as in their judgment they may deserve.

GRAND LODGE OF CONNECTICUT, NOVEMBER 2008

A more recent example of this exercise of authority was performed by Most Wor. Robert J. Stika at the Massachusetts Masonic Home (Overlook Community) on November 15, 2008. The candidate was age 93 and unable to travel; the officers of Putnam #46 of Connecticut obligated him and invested him with the grips and words of the several degrees, and he was declared a Master Mason by the Grand Master. This ceremony, for which it is noted there is no "official ritual" (in Connecticut), was performed with the permission of Most Wor. Roger W. Pageau, who was the sitting Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts at that time.


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