BuilderLodgeCandidate
Contents
THE LODGE AND THE CANDIDATE
Part I, Proposing and Recommending
The Builder, Vol. III, No. 9, September 1917, Page 273.
(Note. The following article is one of a series prepared by the Editor for reading and discussion in Lodges and Study Clubs. This series is based upon the Society's "Bulletin Course of Masonic Study." Each month we present a leading article supplemented by a list of references on the same subject. Commencing with this issue, we also append a column of "Helpful Hints to Study Club Leaders," which we hope will assist those already doing this work, and inspire others to do likewise. This innovation is in line with the Society's policy of stimulating active Masonic study.
We recommend that Lodges and Study Clubs use the current paper at their meeting one month after it is received. This gives time for careful study by the members; it also permits the preparation of additional papers from the references. In the original presentation of this paper, if it is read a paragraph at a time, and fully discussed as you proceed, you will find that each member will get more out of it. By this plan, the leader can bring out the important points listed under "Helpful Hints," as you go along, and the discussion will perhaps be more to the point than otherwise.
The Bulletin Course may be taken up at this point as profitably as elsewhere. The previous lessons may be considered review work. Mackey's Encyclopedia and the bound volumes of THE BUILDER remain the necessary references; others will from time to time be given; rare references will be reprinted in THE BULLETIN. YOUR LODGE can undertake systematic Masonic study with small expense in dollars, but large returns to your membership, if you will let us assist you. Our "STUDY CLUB DEPARTMENT" is organized for that purpose. Address Geo. L. Schoonover, Secretary, Anamosa, Iowa.)
THE very word "candidate" has a special significance. It means one clothed in white. As a symbol the color reference is striking, representing as it does the stainless and unblemished. It is also a reminder of the apron and all which that emblem teaches.
One who applies for the degrees of Masonry must do so of his own free will and accord. He cannot be solicited to become a member. No invitation in any form is offered to him. Of all the requirements for a clear application this one is in the most rigorous class.
THE PETITION
A petition for the degrees is usually in brief form. It recites that the petitioner has long had a favorable opinion of the institution and if found worthy is desirous of being admitted a member; that he believes in the existence of a Supreme Being; that he has (or has not) before petitioned a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for admission; that he has lived in the same locality since the date he sets forth in the petition; states when and where he was born; and also gives his occupation. To this document there is appended his own signature and usually two Masonic endorsers.
Of course it is only to be expected that the endorsers of the application are able of their own knowledge to verify some, if not all, of the statements made in the document to which they have attached their signatures. It is not altogether reasonable that as witnesses their names are merely to be accepted as deposing that if required they can prove the identity of the person signing the statement.
CHANGES DUE TO NEW CONDITIONS
For a number of years there has been a tendency to elaborate the forms of petition for the degrees and that the method of investigation be extended and in general improved. That the candidate shall be more thoroughly put upon record in certain essential particulars is the object of these developments. Already in this paper I have presented a simple form of application and now I offer the clauses found in the application adopted in Pennsylvania so far as these are affected by recent developments.
"Name in full.... Age..... years. Date of birth...... Occupation (state specifically and in detail the character of the occupation)...... Residence of petitioner (give street and number).......... Where I have continuously resided since ...... My former residences were at......for.....years, and at......for.....years. Place of birth.......Name of employer .... Date of signature...........Signed......
"I recommend the petitioner as worthy, and certify that I have been personally acquainted with him for....years immediately preceding this date.
"Date.....................Signed........
"I recommend the applicant as worthy, and certify that I have been personally acquainted with him for.....years immediately preceding this date.
"Date..................... Signed........
PRESENTATION OF THE PETITION
This petition accompanied with the fee stipulated by the bylaws of the Lodge is presented at a communication of that body. If no sufficient objection, orally or in writing, is addressed openly to the Lodge or privately presented to the Master, the petition is received and acted upon to the extent of appointing a Committee of Investigation. The Committee makes suitable inquiries and reports at a succeeding communication of a Lodge. Some difference of opinion may easily arise as to what are "suitable" avenues of investigation for the Committee.
COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION
Whether the endorsers know much or little about the petitioner does not release the members of the Committee of Investigation from the full share of responsibility for a thorough inquiry into the worthiness of the applicant to receive the Masonic degrees in the Lodge to which he has applied for this privilege.
THE ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
What are these essential requirements?
The Ancient Charges exact only the broadest of faiths. "That religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men and true, or men of honor and honesty, by whatever persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the center of union, and the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance."
My own State (Ohio) interprets this in its Code as "No religious test shall ever be required of any applicant for the benefits of Masonry other than a steadfast belief in the existence and perfection of Deity; and no lodge under this Jurisdiction shall receive any candidate without the acknowledgment of such belief." Of course the Ohio Code also accepts as law the foregoing excerpt from the old Charges.
It is also provided by the same State Code that "At his reception into the Lodge of Entered Apprentices, the candidate must be able to respond of his own accord that in times of difficulty and danger he trusts in God. The Masonic requirement is in the expression of faith and trust--faith in God and trust in His protection-- and if the candidate does not so respond he should be conducted from the Lodge." The Code further recites that "Masonry is above sectarianism and embraces all who acknowledge a belief in God."
Sundry other qualifications are not so universally insisted upon as is the matter of religious faith, though even in that important particular there are a very few instances where the rigor of the situation is waived.
We are also informed by the old Charges that "The persons admitted members of a Lodge must be good and true men, freeborn and of mature and discreet age, bondmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of good report."
At least one great Masonic jurisdiction no longer follows this paragraph in its entirety. England uses "free" instead of "freeborn."
Just what is "mature and discreet age" may be variously estimated. Most jurisdictions specify twenty-one years as the minimum. Exceptions have been known. The son of a Mason was of old known as a Lewis and was privileged to become a member at an earlier age than other applicants for the degrees.
Among the other regulations are that the candidates shall be of good and honest parentage, and that they have "right and perfect limbs and able of body to attend the said science."
Many hold that the individual must be judged by his own acts and therefore this old stipulation as to legitimate birth no longer obtains as tenaciously as of yore. There is also great difference of opinion and of practice with regard to the matter of what is sometimes called "physical perfection." One jurisdiction has gone on record with the following: "A candidate for the degree of Entered Apprentice should be able physically, as well as intellectually, of himself and without exterior aid or assistance from another, to receive and impart all the essentials for Masonic recognition." It is obviously impossible here on the printed page to specify in detail all that the candidate will be instructed as to the requirements of Masonic recognition.
Some Grand Lodges are much more insistent than others as to the extent of bodily imperfection that may prevail in order to disqualify the applicant. It is usually held that the question only arises before the candidate receives the Entered Apprentice degree. Should he by some accident occurring subsequent to initiation suffer mutilation, this is sufficient cause in eight United States Jurisdictions for arresting his further advancement.
THE DOCTRINE OF "PHYSICAL PERFECTION"
The Grand Master of Alabama, in 1915, in his annual report dealt with the physical and other qualifications after this wise:
"One of the first lessons taught the initiate is that 'it is the internal and not the external qualifications of a man which recommend him to be made a Mason,' and yet, we are prone to overlook any little stain on the moral character, and waive any defect in the mental ability of a petitioner which renders him incapable of properly understanding or comprehending the principles of our fraternity. We are not willing to sit in judgment upon the intellectual attainments - or rather, the lack of them - of one who desires to connect himself with our ancient and honorable institution, but we never overlook a stiff knee, nor waive the loss of a foot, nor the first joint of a thumb. In so doing we deny membership to many men of big brains and warm hearts; men of good moral character; men whose mental ability and intellectual attainments would be of great benefit to the craft and of greater benefit to the world by reason of their association with us, and their help in the great work in which we are engaged.
"The requirements that an acceptable petitioner shall be 'perfect in member' comes to us from the days of operative Masonry when there was, probably, good reason therefor, but has little to recommend it now except its antiquity, and, as I view it, with so little to recommend it, and so much to condemn it, it is time that we modify it, even at the risk of shattering what might be termed a landmark.
"I believe that intellectually, morally, and socially, the effect upon the candidate and upon the craft would be beneficial if by amending or modifying the present law concerning physical perfection or qualifications we look more closely into the intellectual, moral, and social qualifications of the petitioner, and admit those who are worthy and well qualified from these standpoints, and waive such slight physical requirements as now prohibit the reception of a petitioner who cannot perfectly exemplify our ritual. I therefore recommend:
"That our constitutions and edicts be so amended that the question of physical qualifications for initiation or advancement be left to the subordinate petitioned lodge, subject to the approval of the Grand Master."
The suggestion bore fruit. An amendment adopted in 1916, reads as follows:
"No subordinate lodge shall proceed to confer any or either of the degrees of Masonry upon any person who is not a man, freeborn, of the age of twenty-one years or upward, of good reputation, of sufficient natural and intellectual endowment, with an estate, office, occupation, or some other obvious source of honest subsistence, from which he may be able to spare something for works of charity and for maintaining the ancient dignity and utility of the Masonic institution. If the petitioner be physically defective by reason of deformity or being maimed, his eligibility shall be determined by the lodge to which he has applied, and if determined favorably to the petitioner he shall be eligible to receive the degrees of Masonry when the action of the lodge has been approved by the Grand Master in writing."
It is the law in Indiana that "The Grand Master may with the consent of the Committee on Jurisprudence allow lodges to receive and ballot on petitions for membership of those who can by the aid of artificial appliances conform to the ceremonies of the order."
Since the adoption of this law in 1911, the average number of such petitions has not exceeded eight in any one year. Indiana has a membership of over seventy thousand Masons and therefore the ratio of the "physically imperfect" is numerically very small. Probably the method employed acts to some extent to deter or at least to lessen the number of applications because of the official approval required of those who are not influenced by the local personal equation. They do not have an acquaintance with the applicants other than is requisite to understand the extent of the bodily defect. Hasty and ill-advised action would appear to be checked in every way by the Indiana method.
A special form has been prepared for Indiana lodges which makes it easy to compile and submit such data concerning every applicant as will enable the Grand Master and the Committee on Jurisprudence to pass intelligently upon the merits or the demerits of each case.
Says the Committee: "We must remember that we should not encourage this class of applicants any more than we should solicit the applicants who are physically perfect, nor should we encourage them to believe that this amendment gives them an inalienable right to the blessed privileges of our institution. Let them understand that this is a favor to be bestowed only upon those whose mental, moral, and social endowments have more than compensated for the loss they have sustained in the physical."
In Massachusetts the law in reference to physical qualifications is expressed thus: "If the physical deformity of any applicant for the degrees does not amount to an inability to meet the requirements of the ritual, and honestly to acquire the means of subsistence, it shall constitute no hindrance to his initiation." Grand Master Johnson interpreted the significance of this regulation to be that "The physical defect of the candidate, whatever it may be, shall not be such as to render him incapable of receiving and imparting instruction, nor of performing any duties that may be required of him in his capacity or vocation as a Mason. No such maim or defect of the body as the loss of an eye, an ear, a finger, or other member not essential to the discharge of his Masonic duties, or to his personal maintenance, does any violence to the spirit and original intent of this regulation, and, in the opinion of your committee, no other construction can be put upon it consistently with the higher demands of humanity, justice, and equality."
ADDITIONAL DATA FOR THE COMMITTEE
Some lodges in Ohio provide an additional series of questions in order that investigating committees may be more thorough in searching out the character and reputation of applicants for membership. Sometimes these questions are printed on the backs of the petitions or reports. Under the heading of "Qualifications of Applicants" there is stated:
"Each committee shall, collectively if possible, visit the Petitioner in his home and require him to answer the following questions:
"Do you pay your debts? Do you use profane or indecent language, gamble, associate with improper persons, indulge intemperately in intoxicating liquors, own or tend a saloon? If married, do you live with your family? Do you believe in the everliving and true God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures? To what Organizations or Associations do you belong?"
The committee shall then ascertain from outside sources: If he is temperate in all his habits. If his neighbors, acquaintances and employers give him a good character. If he is mercenary, narrow-minded, arbitrary, or a disturbing element. If he is physically qualified to receive the degrees. If he has sufficient education to understand that Freemasonry is to improve in knowledge, to cultivate the social virtues, and to practice out of the lodge the great moral and charitable precepts taught in it. "If the Organizations to which he belongs would circumscribe or prevent his usefulness in the Fraternity.
With the very broad scope of these queries there is nevertheless omitted any mention of the provision to be made by the applicant for the future welfare of those dependent upon him. The Grand Lodge of New Zealand expects the applicant to satisfy the Committee of Investigation regarding the insurance or other provision for the family in case of the death or permanent disability of the petitioner.
Among the recommendations of Grand Master Cotton of Missouri submitted to his Grand Lodge during the annual communication of 1915 was one that suggested that committees of investigation be required to answer the following questions with reference to applicants for the degrees:
"Has the applicant resided in Missouri twelve months and in the jurisdiction of the lodge six months? Is he mentally qualified and of proper age ? "Is he strictly honest and truthful? Is he addicted to the intemperate use of intoxicating liquors? Does he gamble? What is the character of his company and associates? Does he habitually use profane or indecent language? Has he licentious or immoral habits? Is he a law-abiding citizen? Do you consider him suitable material for 'a beautiful system of morals?"
Lodges in New Jersey have an application blank containing the following directions and questions which the investigating committee is in every case charged with the duty of having duly and properly observed and answered:
"Brethren, you are appointed a committee to investigate the character and eligibility of.....for membership in our lodge.
"The following information will guide you in performing your duty: "He is in business at.... (employed by) ....located at...... He resides at..........
"You will obtain from said petitioner full and correct answers to the following questions: "Names of parents. Names of brothers and sisters. Where has he resided during the past ten years? (If more than one place, give places and periods of residence.) Does he appear to possess sufficient intelligence to understand and value the doctrines and tenets of our order? What are the names and addresses of all his employers for the past two years, and the periods and nature of his several employments? Is he married or single? If married, is he living with his wife? If not living with his wife, state the reason for separation. Has he any children? If so, how many? What provision has he made for himself or his family in case of his disability or death? Does he contribute to the immediate necessities of those who want, and is it his purpose to practice charity so far as his circumstances will permit? Has he ever been convicted of a crime? If so, state the circumstances and result. Is he physically qualified to become a member of the order? What three responsible persons, Masons preferred, have known him the most intimately, and for the longest time?"
Said committee shall report the results of its investigation to the lodge in the following form, which shall be properly filled in: "Your committee appointed upon the petition of Mr......... would report that they called personally upon such petitioner, and have called or communicated by letter with persons named in answer to questions five and fourteen, and have received the following answers: (Give report of each person replying).
"From .................... "From .................... "From ....................
"We are satisfied that the answers in his statement contained are.... true; that his life, conduct, morals, and general reputation and standing in the community in which he resides are such that he is ....qualified as a proper candidate for Masonry, and that there are .....reasons to the knowledge of your committee why the prayer of such petitioner should not be granted."
Details so elaborate may to many accustomed to the simpler forms appear unnecessary. On the other hand it has in fact happened that the wrong man has been under investigation and that the lodge has thereby been constrained to vote improperly. In this instance the two men were of the same name but not related and both resided within the jurisdiction of the lodge to which an application was tendered. The whole proceedings were subsequently officially declared null and void. The Grand Master found that "The committee did not report on the application placed in their hands nor did the lodge vote on the petition of the man who applied." Accordingly there was but the one thing to do and the lodge received the following explicit instructions: "Let the committee do its duty, make report on the proper man, and let the lodge vote on the proper petition."
Iris Lodge, No. 229, of Cleveland, Ohio, uses the regulation blank for the petitioner's application for membership. When this petition is received the Secretary sends the applicant another printed blank which he is to fill out and return. This latter blank bears the name and address of the Lodge and of its Secretary an otherwise is as follows:
"Dear Sir: - I am in receipt of your application to Iris Lodge. Will you kindly supply answers to the following questions and return the form to me in the enclosed envelope at your earliest convenience:
"Full Name ...................................... Address ........................................ Date of Birth.................................... Place of Birth................................... How long have you lived in Cleveland............ How long have you lived in Ohio................. Occupation ..................................... If employed, give Employer's name............... Business Address ............................... Single, Married or Widower...................... If married, how many in family.................. Do you attend any Church........................ If so, which..................................... Give Pastor's name.............................. Do you belong to any Secret Societies............ If so, which..................................... Give names of three men to whom you can refer, other than those already on the petition: Name.........................Address Name.........................Address Name.........................Address "Have you ever made application to a Masonic Lodge before............ Give any other information that will be of assistance to the Committee."
The effect of the last line in the foregoing blank will be to encourage the applicant to make a more thorough search through his answers to the preceding questions and to supply additional data where his first replies may have been scanty of particulars.
In all these investigations there is the object that a sense of absolute confidence within the lodge must be satisfied. To attain this end the candidate is called upon for all the necessary details of these qualifications essential to Masonic raw material. Systematization of the work of investigation simplifies the labors of the Committees, produces uniformity of results, and do much to provide that nothing of value has been over looked. When these much to be desired results are obtained the lodge can then proceed to ballot advisedly. Sure of its ground the lodge then builds upon firm foundation the edifice Masonic, the worthy candidate being by its labor fitted to the purpose of the Craft.
