Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
thing altogether foreign to an operative Lodge , as ours was to a very recent period . In ancient Lodges , which were almost wholly composed of operative Masons , the matter of wages would necessarily be often brought under consideration . Wages were a thing of vital importance to the well-being of the Craft , as the workmen , without obtaining a proper remuneration' for their labour , could not continue to exist . In the old charges frequent allusions are made to the subject
of wages . We find it stated that 'the Master is not to give more wages to any Brother or Apprentice than he may really deserve ' that ' both the Masters and the Masons receiving their wages justly , shall be faithful to the Lord , and honestly finish their work , whether task or journey ; ' and that * all Masons employed shall meekly receive their wages without murmuring or mutiny . ' These are judicious recommendations . They are well calculated to preserve peace and harmony among the Brethren , but they do ! not preclude the idea of friendly negotiatiou bet ween the employers and the employed as to the rate of wages .
The rate was no doubt fixed by mutual agreement , and when this was done , the workmen were properly enjoined to receive the sum agreed on without disputation or complaints T ^ duty of paying the wages devolved on the Warden * and the Master , before he closed the Lodge , publicly inquired of this official if all the wages were paid , with the view , ho doubt , of ascertaining that every one had received his just due and went away satisfied . The arbitrators most likely were of opinion that the new Lodge would be composed wholly of one class of workmen — viz . Fellow Crafts—and , therefore , that it would be improper for this class to pass any laws to regulate wages when the Masters were not present .
" In the second place , it ' was laid down that all the money received by the journeymen , either by voluntary donation or for giving the Mason ' s word , was to be put into a common purse , and to be employed in no other way than in relieving the poor and burying the dead . It cannot be questioned that , these-were very proper objects on which to expend the funds , but we consider that to limit the expenditure merely to them was to confine the operations of the journeymen to a somewhat narrow sphere . The design of
the arbiters evidently was to make the new association of journeymen as closely a benefit society as possible , but according to the notions now generally entertained regarding a Mason ' s Lodge , it is held that the funds may also be legitimately expended in entertaining strangers , in renting premises , in purchasing Masonic clothing , in maintaining the dignity and efficiency of the central authority , or Grand Lodge , in paying the expenses of Brethren when employed in representing the Lodge at Masonic festivals , and other
ceremonials , & c . It must be admitted , however , that these were not of so much consequence at the time the decreet was delivered . The number of Lodges being few , public demonstrations of the Craft seldom took place , and the present Grrand Lodge bad not been formed . It is plain that the arbiters were specially bent in doing what they could to prevent the journeymen from forming any combination to thwart and overawe the incorporation , and this is still more evident from what follows .
"In the third place , the journeymen were to keep a book in which all the sums of money received and expended in the manner already stated should be entered , and also the names of the persons on whom any money was bestowed . The design of this evidently was to afford an opportunity to the masters to ascertain in what way the journeymen spent their money , in order to check them should they apply the funds to any other object than those specified in the decreet .
" In the fourth place , it was decided that the journeymen should keep a box with two locks , in which their money and books wore to bo deposited , and that one key was to be kept by a member of the new Lodge , and the other by a freeman Mason of Mary ' s Chapel , who was to be elected annually by the incorporation , out of a \ eet of three given in by the journeymen . This was to make the funds of
the journeymen doubly secure . They were never to be taken out of the box without permission from the representative of the incorporation , and therefore they could not be employed in carrying out any secret object which the journeymen might wish to prosecute . " I n the fifth pty ce it was enacted that the freeman keeper of the koy should
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
thing altogether foreign to an operative Lodge , as ours was to a very recent period . In ancient Lodges , which were almost wholly composed of operative Masons , the matter of wages would necessarily be often brought under consideration . Wages were a thing of vital importance to the well-being of the Craft , as the workmen , without obtaining a proper remuneration' for their labour , could not continue to exist . In the old charges frequent allusions are made to the subject
of wages . We find it stated that 'the Master is not to give more wages to any Brother or Apprentice than he may really deserve ' that ' both the Masters and the Masons receiving their wages justly , shall be faithful to the Lord , and honestly finish their work , whether task or journey ; ' and that * all Masons employed shall meekly receive their wages without murmuring or mutiny . ' These are judicious recommendations . They are well calculated to preserve peace and harmony among the Brethren , but they do ! not preclude the idea of friendly negotiatiou bet ween the employers and the employed as to the rate of wages .
The rate was no doubt fixed by mutual agreement , and when this was done , the workmen were properly enjoined to receive the sum agreed on without disputation or complaints T ^ duty of paying the wages devolved on the Warden * and the Master , before he closed the Lodge , publicly inquired of this official if all the wages were paid , with the view , ho doubt , of ascertaining that every one had received his just due and went away satisfied . The arbitrators most likely were of opinion that the new Lodge would be composed wholly of one class of workmen — viz . Fellow Crafts—and , therefore , that it would be improper for this class to pass any laws to regulate wages when the Masters were not present .
" In the second place , it ' was laid down that all the money received by the journeymen , either by voluntary donation or for giving the Mason ' s word , was to be put into a common purse , and to be employed in no other way than in relieving the poor and burying the dead . It cannot be questioned that , these-were very proper objects on which to expend the funds , but we consider that to limit the expenditure merely to them was to confine the operations of the journeymen to a somewhat narrow sphere . The design of
the arbiters evidently was to make the new association of journeymen as closely a benefit society as possible , but according to the notions now generally entertained regarding a Mason ' s Lodge , it is held that the funds may also be legitimately expended in entertaining strangers , in renting premises , in purchasing Masonic clothing , in maintaining the dignity and efficiency of the central authority , or Grand Lodge , in paying the expenses of Brethren when employed in representing the Lodge at Masonic festivals , and other
ceremonials , & c . It must be admitted , however , that these were not of so much consequence at the time the decreet was delivered . The number of Lodges being few , public demonstrations of the Craft seldom took place , and the present Grrand Lodge bad not been formed . It is plain that the arbiters were specially bent in doing what they could to prevent the journeymen from forming any combination to thwart and overawe the incorporation , and this is still more evident from what follows .
"In the third place , the journeymen were to keep a book in which all the sums of money received and expended in the manner already stated should be entered , and also the names of the persons on whom any money was bestowed . The design of this evidently was to afford an opportunity to the masters to ascertain in what way the journeymen spent their money , in order to check them should they apply the funds to any other object than those specified in the decreet .
" In the fourth place , it was decided that the journeymen should keep a box with two locks , in which their money and books wore to bo deposited , and that one key was to be kept by a member of the new Lodge , and the other by a freeman Mason of Mary ' s Chapel , who was to be elected annually by the incorporation , out of a \ eet of three given in by the journeymen . This was to make the funds of
the journeymen doubly secure . They were never to be taken out of the box without permission from the representative of the incorporation , and therefore they could not be employed in carrying out any secret object which the journeymen might wish to prosecute . " I n the fifth pty ce it was enacted that the freeman keeper of the koy should