E. H. ADDINGTON

OP THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. 91
around them that a Masonic Lodge means something for Benevolence
in the locality in which it is established. The Grand Lodge
relief fund can be placed under the control of a Board of
Charities, which should be composed of at least five members, of
which the Grand Master, the Grand Secretary and the Master
of Louisiana Relief Lodge, or in his absence one of its Wardens,
should be ex officio members. All of the safeguards for proper
administration can be placed about this fund and I am certain
that if the plan be tried, this eternal question which has been
before us at every session of the Grand Lodge will be solved
forever and satisfactorily. The indigent widow, the lonely
aged, the fatherless child, will thus be kept in congenial surroundings,
among friends, in the family home, under parental
care, where the associations of their lives will, be preserved,
where the cheering word, the consoling thought, will alleviate
the burden, bring joy and happiness in the reflection that though
poverty may be near, they are still in possession of riches more
valuable than mere money—the wealth of hearts, brimful and
overflowing with love. Which, my friends, shall it be?
Which—Mother Love at Home, or Chilly Institutional Care?
Which?
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Practically nothing has disturbed the cordial and fraternal
relations between this and our sister Grand Lodges. Our correspondence
has been confined to the exchange of fraternal
greetings and the filling of vacancies in the corps of Grand
Representatives.
During the earlier portion of the year, I received a communication
from the Grand Lodge York Valle de Mexico, socalled
legitimate successor to the Grand Lodge Valle de Mexico,
with whom we have heretofore been in fraternal relation. The
Grand Lodge York Valle de Mexico in a circular letter claims
jurisdiction over all York Symbolic Lodges in the Republic of
Mexico. Considering that the recognition of this Body would be
acknowledging its claim and consequently its right to violate
the territorial sovereignty of Grand Lodges in Mexico with
whom this Grand Lodge is in fraternal relations; and consider-