THE PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON Issued Every Three Months By The Right Worshipful Grand lodge of The Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free end Accepted Mesons of Pennsylvania end Masonic Jurisdiction Thereunto Belonging, through its COMMITTEE ON MASONIC CULTURE- William E. Yeager, Post Grand Master, Chairmen; William E. Montgomery, G. Edward Elwell, Jr., Frank R. leech, William A. Carpenter, Charles A. Young and Ashby B. Paul. APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED TO BE PRINTED BY
RALPH M. LEHR Right Worshipful Grand Moster WILLIAM A. CARPENTER, Editor Mailing Address: The Masonic Temple, Broad and Filbert Streets, Philadelphia 7, Pa.
Vol. II
August, 19 55
No.3
From Our Gmnd Secretary' s Office (Continued from page 3)
the paymen t of all dues. Whether constituted such a member in return for the payment of a specific sum of money, or in consequence of having paid Lodge dues for a specified number of years, is of no importance. What is important is the fact that the Lodge charges him with no dues whatsoever. For each such member the subordinate Lodges, as has already been pointed out, will be charged, under the provisions of the proposed amendment, Grand Lodge dues at the present rate of $2.00 annually.
No New Life Members to be Made After Adoption of the Amendment However, .while permitting the Lodges to continue to pay Grand Lodge dues at the present rate of only $2.00 for each life member, the amendment prohibits them from creating any additional life members, or taking any other action to relieve any of their members from the payment of the annual Grand Lodge dues of $4.00, except members whose dues are remitted by their Lodge because of the inability of such members to pay their Lodge dues. The fact that the By-Laws of many Lodges now provide for life membership, will give those Lodges no right to constitute life members after the date of the adoption of this amendment. According to our law, when any portion of the By-Laws of a subordinate Lodge is at variance with the Ahiman Rezon, that portion is, by that very fact, null and void.
Honorary Members It is important to call attention to the fact that the By-Laws of some Lodges provide for what they call "Life Members" who are exempt from the payment of all dues except Grand Lodge dues. The term "Life Member", in such instances is used in error. Members who pay Grand Lodge dues are known as Honorary Members, and the Lodge will be subject to the full $4.00 charge for all such members. While the Lodges will be prohibited from constituting life members after the adoption
of the amendment, they may, if they so desire, create honorary members, who will be exempt from the payment of all dues except Grand Lodge dues. However, no Lodge will be permitted to set the dues of any member at a sum less than $4.. 00 annually.
When Lodge Dues Are Remitted · Finally, there is still another provision which represents a distinct departure from the practi ce that has heretofor been followed in charging the Lodge with Grand Lodge dues. One exception has been made to the rule that no Lodge shall be permitted in any way to relieve any of its members from the payment of the annual Grand Lodge dues of $4.00, namely: those members whose dues are remitted by their Lodge because of the inability of such members to pay their Lodge dues . Under our present law, Grand Lodge will remit the Grand Lodge dues only of those members of the subordinate Lodges who are confined to mental institutions, and then only after a formal request by the Lodge and the approval of the Committee on Finance. Under no other circumstances will these dues be remitted. The Lodges may remit the Lodge dues of their members who cannot pay, but they must still pay Grand Lodge dues for all such members. The proposed amendment provides for the first time in the history of Grand Lodge, at least so far as we are aware, that if a Lodge remits the dues of any of its members, for the reason that they are unable to pay the same, Grand Lodge will remit the Grand Lodge dues of those members.
A Summary Stated briefly, if the amendment to Article X, Section 1, Item 7, of the Ahiman Rezon is adopted, it will have the following effect: Grand Lodge fees will be $60.00 for each initiation or admission of a Brother from a Lodge of another Jurisdiction, whose petitions are received subsequent to 12 o'clock noon on St. John the Evangelist 's day next. Grand Lodge dues, payable by the subordinate Lodges will be as follows: No charge for members whose Lodge dues are remitted because of their inability to pay such dues. $2.00 for each member who is a life member as of the date of the adoption of the amendment. No Lodge may create any new life members after the 'amendment becomes effective. $4.00 for all other members.
Corner Stone Laying Ceremonies (Continued from page 2)
vania Freemasonry : that illness and infirmity of an applicant are no bar to his entry, rather are they the surest ticket of admission. "As our Homes grew in the years that followed, the Philadelphia brethren kept pace with increasing needs for hospitalization, adding the second and third units
which in 1922 gave 70 additional beds, and the fourth unit in 1931, whose 55 beds brought the hospital capacity up to 165 ... " In his address to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1947 the then Grand Master pointed out that enlarging our hospital is not merely a matter of adding bedrooms. There must be a comparable increase in the ancillary facilities that serve those additional rooms. More important still, new services must be provided in the light of advances in medicine since the earlier units of the hospital were built; such as better laboratories, that must include an adequate X-ray service, electrocardiography, and the like, and there must be trained technicians to man them. This meant planning in greater detail and a more costly construction. "Once again Philadelphia's Freemasons took up the challenge and they have now nearly completed their self-assigned task of raising half-a-million dollars. This is being supplemented by unrestricted legacies of Philadelphia origin and the Hospital Extension Funds from the same source to produce this fine building; a building which will provide not only llO more beds but the newest medical facilities to modernize the whole institution ..." How badly do we need additional hospital capacity? At a meeting of the Committee on Masonic Homes held July 22, 1955 the following significant facts were reported. Adult gues ts at the Homes-601. Average age of adult guests-80 years. Adult guests in hospital-218. (Hospital maximum capacity should be 165.) Permanent hospital guests- 204. The final cost of the Hospital Extension will be about One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00) . Dedication is planned for July 1956. Notwithstimding the unusually hot weather, some 1,500 Freemasons and their families witnessed the ceremonies. Some 800 came from Philadelphia, 300 by special train. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the R. W. Grand Master tendered a dinner to the members of his official family and their ladies and he was further pleased to have as his special guests, the members of the Philadelphia Freemasons' Memorial Hospital Ex. tension Fund Committee and their ladies. All others wh o witnessed the ceremonies were served a splendid buffet luncheon at the site of the Hospital Extension. Let us hope that the labors of the Freemasons in Philadelphia, who continue to look after their favor ite Homes project, the Hospital, may inspire Freemasons in other parts of our great jurisdiction, to set up other greatly needed facilities at our Homes. This, in one section, other than Philadelphia, is already being done.
~~~q. ~ CHARLES H. NITSCH
R. W. Deputy Grand Master
FREEMASON AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF PENNSYLVANIA
VOLUME II
AUGUST • 1955
NUMBER 3
A Message from Our Grand Master HE MOST RECENT annual report of the Committee on Finance of the Grand Lodge covers twenty-one printed pages in the 1954 Abstract of the Proceedings. Because of the length of this report, which is necessarily detailed and voluminous, I feel that it will not be read by many Pennsylvania Masons and will be studied and analyzed by only the few who are actively engaged in the work of the Grand Lodge. It seems opportune, therefore, at a time when we are so actively engaged in an extensive building program at the seat of our principal charity, the Masonic Homes at Elizabethtown, to call to the attention of the Masons of our Commonwealth some of the important facts regarding our financial structure. The statement has been made on some occasions by the uninformed that "Grand Lodge has lots of money." This is true if you consider only the auditors' summary of assets which sh ows a total in excess of 26-million dollars, but it must be remembered that approximately 16-million dollars of this total is in trust funds each of which is earmarked for a specific purpose by the provisions of the will or deed of gift under which the fund was received, and can only be used for the purpose designated. W e are under a very definite legal obligation to see that these funds are expended only as they were intended and, morally, we would be breaking faith with those who have remembered us were we to attempt to use these funds for any other purpose. About 4-million dollars of the total represents the value of the real estate, buildings and equipment of our Homes in Elizabethtown and 3-million dollars our Temple and equipment and other real estate in Philadelphia. Approximately 2-million dollars is in our reserve funds which must be maintained to insure against future unexpected contingencies. This includes the reserve carried for the Masonic Homes as well as the reserve for Grand Lodge itself. About 1-million dollars represents restricted funds which are and must be retained for the several purposes for wh ich they were created. Included in this category are such items as the funds presently set aside for the completion of the hospital extension, the development of an advanced publication program, the Military and Naval Service fund, the Pension Plan of the Grand Lodge and other similar projects. As a matter of fact, and illustrative of the general thought expressed above, of the 461-thousand dollars cash in our General Fund but 63-thousand dollars were fre e cash balances available for unrestricted use as of the date of the last annual report. It was an analysis of this nature which made your present Grand Lodge Officers realize that many of the trust and estate funds, while clearly designated on our records for use as directed by t he donors, were not being promptly applied to s uch use. After many months of study and examination of the terms of each gift on the one hand and the specific needs of our Homes on the other, it was found possible
T
to embark on the improvement program at our Homes, including the modernizing of our kitchens, the rehabilitation of the utilities, the erection of the very much needed extension to Olll' hospital and, I am happy now to report, the letting of the contracts for the construction of the recreation building and lodge hall. This is the last of the major undertakings presently contemplated and will supply appropriate recreational facilities which have been so badly needed for many years. Those familiar with the Homes have long realized the almost total lack of such facilities and the increasing need to have them · established. We have never had a Lodge Hall at our Homes and this lack has been felt, not only by our male guests, but by many Masons throughout the State who have expressed a desire to arrange for Lodge meetings there which could be attended by members of the particular Lodge making the arrangements and such of the male guests as might be able to attend. For the first time, this will now be possible under regulations which will be adopted prior to the completion of the building. All these projects are being carried out with funds which were graciously given to us for the purpose to which each has been and is being applied. When the program has been completed, a much larger percentage of our " total assets" will appear on the auditors' report as investments in real estate and equipment, but the far more important investment will be in the added comfort and happiness of our guests at the Homes and our expanded ability to care for that ever increasing number of our less fortunate brethren and their widows who require hospital care and treatment. So, Brethren, whether "Grand Lodge has lots of money" depends entirely upon the meaning applied to that statement by the person making it. Very definitely, every dollar we have must be considered as available only for the specific purpose for which it was given, and t he Grand Lodge must keep ever before it the realization that we have three principal obligations to meet: First: To maintain and constantly improve, so far as that is possible, our charitable work in our Masonic Homes. The applications for admission are increasing as time goes on and the number of our guests becomes larger each year. Coupled with this numerical increase is an increase in the average age of our adult guests. At the lates t report, we were caring for 655 guests whose average age was 80 years. For the future, the Grand Lodge is expanding its work for and among children and, under the resolutions recently adopted, we have proposed the creation of The Children's Service Committee and have given to the Committee on Masonic Homes a much greater latitude in the placing of children therein. Surely, this must be continued. Second : To care for and administer properly the business of Grand Lodge. We are justly proud of the position our Fraternity has attained ( Continaul 011. ne:a page)