Concerning Candidates.

CONCERNING CANDIDATES .

Now that our lodges arc again assembling—in many cases indeed have already assembled—after the summer holidays , new candidates for the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry will be coming forward , and it behoves us to take heed of the warnings which , at favourable opportunities have been uttered by consecrating officers and brethren of distinction

against the indiscriminate acceptance of those who offer themselves for admission into our ranks . It is a matter of comparatively small importance that our lodges should bo strong in respect of numbers , but it is of vital importance that the members of those lodges should be men of standing and character in the sphere of life they belong to . They must be good men

and true , who will lose no opportunity and spare no effort to maintain and promote the dignity and fame of the Order . This has been so often and so strenuously urged by the present and former Grand Secretaries , by Provincial Grand Masters , and indeed by all those on whom the duty now and again has devolved of constituting new lodges or encouraging those

already formed , which have fared less successfully than they had hoped or had reason to expect , to seek to attain a higher standard of merit than had previously contented them , that we feel as if we ought to apologise to our readers for reverting to a subject which , if the iteration and reiteration of the warnings we have referred to are to be taken account of , ought long

since to have been worn threadbare . But the matter has once again been prominently brought to our notice by certain suggestions quoted by thc Mnsonic Advocate in its August number from thc last annual address delivered by Bro . FREDK . SPEED , M . I . G . M . of the Royal and Select Masters of Mississippi . Now if there is one country in the world in which numbers count for much .

it is the United States of North America . There no one seems to be happy unless every thing is on an exceptionally large scale , and Freemasonry has not altogether escaped from having that very common measure of merit attached to it . It is evident , however , that Bro . FREDERICK SPEED is very far from accepting this estimate of worth , based , as it is , upon mere numerical

strength , as possessing any serious value . Though his remarks had reference merely to the particular branch or section of Freemasonry to which they werc addressed , yet are they applicable equally to all branches or sections , and were very possibly intended to be so . At all events , the language he uses in deprecating the acceptance of mere numbers as a criterion of excellence is

plain enough and to the point . " I question , " he says , " whether Masonry has been benefited as a whole by thc rapid rushing through of a vast number of candidates from body to body . When our fathers made long journeys to and from the lodge they appreciated and valued Masonry at its true worth ; thc number was limited to a few choice spirits ; and it was

counted a very honourable thing for a man to be known in the community as a Freemason . It is not to be denied lhat we have not gained in proportion to our increase cf members in the public estimation , nor has our moral strength grown with our numerical . I recollect as a youth seeing all the people uncover when the Masonic lodge passed in procession ; it was the

sterling worth of the men who comprised that moving body which compelled the act of homage . " This is , indeed , a testimony to the reptitability of the Freemasons in the days of which Bro . SPEED speaks , of which they were no doubt exceedingly proud ; but the men must have been of afar higher stamp and being fewer in number , it was a less difficult task than it

is now to first of all establish and alterwards maintain a high standard of qualification among intending candidates . But now-a-days it is next to impossible to look for the same high standard . Many of the blue lodges in the United States are as numerous as battalions of infantr \ ' , nor do we imagine there is any material difference in respect

of numbers between many of their Royal Arch Chapters or Knight Templar Conclaves and a regiment of cavalry or a battery of artillery at its full war strength . No doubt it would be far better for our Order " if , " as Bro . SPUED goes on to remark , " Freemasonry were to guard its doors with flaming swords , and admit within its sanctuaries none but those whose

characters had been established . " But how is it possible to reconcile this very just desire to secure the privileges of Freemasonry to worthy men and worthy men alone with that love of "bigness" which is so characteristic of all Americans'' It is easy enough for the members of a small and select body lo insist upon a high standard of qualification on thc part of those who arc

desirous of joining them ; but the moment it is proposed to enlarge the body numerically , it follows of necessity that the standard of merit must be lowered . It is impossible , as things nosv are , to retain in

one and the same bod y , a high standard of moral worth with abnormal numerical strength . You may have the Iodide composed of a few choice spirits , men of " sterling worth , " such as Bro . SPEED remembers as a youth to have seen thc multitude uncover to as they moved

Concerning Candidates.

in procf ssion through the streets ; or you may have it as large , as we have said before , as a battalion of infantry , but you cannot fulfil the two requirements in the case of one and the same lodge . Hence it is that Masons of high character like Bro . SPEED arc never weary of lamenting the fact that—to use our worthy brother ' s figurative language as regards our lodges—¦ " stones

unfitted for the builders' use are to be found in its walls . " If then , in a country like the United States , where mere numbers count for so much in Masonry as in all things else , we find in one of the States the Grand Master of about the smallest branch of our system of modern Freemasonry exclaiming vehemently against the indiscriminate acceptance of all who otter

themselves as candidates for I'reemasonry , may we not , taking a leaf out of his book , renew those salutary warnings which have been so wisely uttered by our leading members on all suitable occasions against the adoption of a similar policy ? It is true that in this country we set ourselves , as a rule , strongly against having large lodges . With

us a lodge may be said to average , from 40 to 50 members , and when that number has been reached , the assistance of the authorities is invoked , with a view to establishing another lodge ; or thc initiation and joining fees are doubled . At all events , the desire is generally to keep lodges at such a moderate strength that a high standard of qualification may be maintained .

In spite , however , of these and similar efforts in the same direction , sundry of our lodges go very near being wrecked , even in the early days of their existence , because candidates who prove very undesirable additions to their numbers are hurriedly admitted , little or no care being taken to

ascertain beforehand whether or not they possess those attributes which are likely lo convert them into worthy members of our ancient and honourable Society . We trust these remarks may have the effect of encouraging our lodges to be cautious in the acceptance of candidates .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of West Yorkshire.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF WEST YORKSHIRE .

INSTALLATION OF BRO . RT . HON . VV . L . J . XCKSON , M . P ., AS PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER .

The meeting at Leeds on Wednesday , when Bro . the Right Hon . W . L . Jackson , M . P ., was installed as Prov . Grand Master of VVest Yorkshire in succession to Bro . T . VV . Tew , J . P ., will justly take rank among the memorable Masonic gatherings of the last few years , particularly in the provinces where the induction into office of a ncw Grand Master is necessarily rare , and where , wnen such an event does take place , every effort

is made to ensure that the surroundings shall be as brilliant and impressive as possible . VVest Yorkshire , indeed , is so large a province , its influence in the world of Masonry is so great , that even a less momentous occurrence than that of Wednesday would have attracted a large muster of the brethren not only from the lodges in the province itself , but likewise from the adjoining and more distant provinces , as well as from the Metropolitan district . But on this occasion our West Yorkshire friends were determined on

showing , in thc first place , how fully they recognised the wisdom of his Royal Highness the Grand Master ' s - selection of Bio . Jackson as the successor of Bro . Tew , and in the next , how gladly and loyally they welcomed thc accession of this distinguished brother who , during the ivhole of his Mason . ' c career , has been one of themselves , an

initiate and subsequently the principal ollicer of one of their own . lodges as well as the brother whom Bro . Tew himself , at his own installation some eight years ago , had been delighted to honour with the collar of PVov . S . G . VV . But we need not examine minutely into the reasons which prompted West Yoikshire to show thus conspicuously its loyalty to the M . W . Grand

Master and his newly-appointed Vicegerent . Suffice it that it has proved itself yet once again one of the most devoted ol our English provinces , and one of the most generous of hosts towards the brethren who assembled from all parts of the country to witness what in all likelihood will turn out to be the most brilliant and most successful Masonic spectacle during

the present year . As for the province which Bro . Jackson has been called upon to administer , those who are concerned to know more about the lodges contained within its borders and those of the contiguous Province of North and Fast Yorkshire than it is possible for us to furnish in the limited space at our disposal , will do well to consult that most valuable compilation

by Bro . J . Ramsden Riley , which was published in the year 1885 by the style and tide of " The Yorkshire Lodges . " It is , however , very generally known that there is no part of the country , not even London itself— -which , now for the best part of two centuries has been the centre of Masonic activity throug hout the world—can boast of a longer , more intimate , or more honourable association with the Craft of Masonry than Yorkshire . We have