E. H. ADDINGTON

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE
great State of Illinois has only lately inaugurated a system
which bids fair to solve the problem. It is a plan which is practical,
has none of the objections hereinbefore mentioned; it is
sane, logical, humanitarian. It is more in harmony with modern
methods of orphan training and preserves the integrity of the
family, with all its psychological, moral, and religious influences.
It is the pension system, which enables children to be raised at
home rather than spending the amount maintaining them in an
orphan asylum or State Home.
The Grand Lodge of Louisiana has now a widows' and orphans'
fund of $19,113.44, of which $13,398.12 are now invested
in 5% bonds. It has, furthermore, a special fund of over
$5000.00 which could be used in the event that we decided not
to build a Home. Furthermore, the resolution creating the
widows' and orphans' special fund provides for the continuous
yearly appropriation of $6000.00 or more, of which $2500.00
are now given to the Grand Master for a special relief fund.
(I have, as stated above, with your approval, entrusted the dispensing
of that fund to the Louisiana Relief Lodge.) Let this
yearly appropriation continue for a definite period until the
principal—exclusive of the interest, which should be immediately
used for relief—reaches the sum, let us say, of $100,000.00.
The special fund to the Grand Master of $2500 a year can still
be continued from the revenues of the Grand Lodge. The
amount for relief for the next year, if this plan is adopted,
will be:
From the Grand Master's fund $2,500.00
From the interest accrued on the special W. and O. fund
a little over 1,000.00
From the Louisiana Relief Lodge, some 2,500.00
In all $6,000.00
for immediate relief, a sum which will necessarily increase each
year as the appropriations are invested.
This relief fund will be materially increased by the contributions
from local Lodges, as the custom now prevails, and ought
to continue to prevail, whereby the local Lodge should be made
to share the burden of its distressed and demonstrate to those