Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

COMMITTEE
COMMITTEE 169
irate from them the most important Items .
These committees were, however, very slow in
assuming the functions which devolved upon
them, and in coming up to the full measure of
their duties . At first their reports were little
more than "reports of progress ." No light was
derived from their collation, and the bodies
which had appointed them were no wiser after
their reports had been read than they were
before.
As a specimen of the first condition and subsequent
improvement of these committees on
foreign correspondence, let us take at random
the transactions of any Grand Lodge old
enough to have a history and intelligent
enough to have made any progress ; and, for
this purpose, the proceedings of the Grand
Lodge of Ohio, two volumes of which lie conveniently
at hand will do as well as any other .
The Grand Lodge of Ohio was organized in
January, 1808 . From that time to 1829, its
proceedings contain no reference to a committee
on correspondence ; and except, I think, a
single allusion to the Washington Convention,
made in the report of a special committee, the
Masons of Ohio seem to have had no cognizance,
or at least to have shown no recognition,
of any Masonry which might be outside
of their own jurisdiction .
But in the year 1830, for the first time, a
committee was appointed to report on the
foreign correspondence of the Grand Lodge .
This committee bore the title of the "Committee
on Communications from Foreign
Grand Lodges," etc ., and made during the
session a report of eight lines in length, which
contained just the amount of information
that could be condensed in that brief space,
and no more . In 1831, the report was fifteen
lines long- in 1832, ten lines ; in 1833, twelve
lines ; and so on for' several years, the reports
being sometimes a little longer and sometimes
a little shorter ; but the length being
always measured by lines, and not y pages,
until, in 1837, there was a marked falling off,
the report consisting only of one line and a
half. Of this report, which certainly cannot
be accused of verbosity, the following is an
exact copy : "Nothing has been presented for
the consideration of your committee requiring
the action of the Grand Lodge ."
In 1842, the labors of the committee began
to increase, and their report fills a page of the
proceedings . Things now rapidly improved .
1843, the report was three pages long ; in
1845 four pages ; in 1846 seven; in 1848,
nearly thirteen ; in 1853, ourteen ; in 1856
thirty; and in 1857, forty-six. Thenceforward
there is no more fault to be found. The reports
of the future committees were of full growth,
and we do not again hear such an unmeaning
phrase as "nothing requiring the action of the
Grand Lodge ."
The history of these reports in other Grand
Lodges is the same as that in Ohio . Beginning
with a few lines, which announced the absence
of all matters worthy of consideration, they
have grown up to the full stature of elaborate
essays, extending to one hundred and some-
times to one hundred and fifty pages, in which
the most important and interesting subjects
of Masonic history, philosophy, and 'urisprudence
are discussed, generally with much
ability.
At this day the reports of the committees
on foreign correspondence in all the Grand
Lodges of this country constitute an important
portion of the literature of the Institution
. The chairmen of these committees-for
the other members fill, for the most part, only
the post of "sleeping partners "-are generally
men of education and talent, who, by the very
occupation in which they are employed, of
reading the published proceedings of all the
Grand Lodges in correspondence with their
own, have become thoroughly conversant
with the contemporary history of the Order,
while a great many of them have extended
their studies in its previous history.
The "reportorial corps," as these hardlaboring
brethren are beginning to call themselves,
exercise, of course, a not trifling influence
in the Order . These committees
annually submit to their respective Grand
Lodges a mass of interesting information,
which is read with great avidity by their
brethren. Gradually-for at first it was not
their custom-they have added to the bare
narration of facts their comments on Masonic
law and their criticisms on the decisions
made in other jurisdictions . These comments
and criticisms have very naturally their
weight, sometimes beyond their actual worth ;
and it will not therefore be improper to take
a glance at what ought to be the character
of a report on foreign correspondence .
In the first place, then, a reporter of foreign
correspondence should be, in the most literal
sense of Shakespeare's words, "a brief chronicler
of the times ." His report should contain
a succinct account of everything of importance
that is passing in the Masonic world, so
far as his materials supply him with the information
. But, remembering that he is writing
for the instruction of hundreds, perhaps
thousands, many of whom cannot spare much
time, and many others who have no inclination
to spare it, he should eschew the sin of
tediousness, never forgetting that "brevity is
the soul of wit ." He should omit all details
that have no special interest ; should husband
his space for important items, and be exceedingly
parsimonious in the use of unnecessary
expletives, whose only use is to add to the
length of a line. In a word, he should remember
that he is not an orator but an historian .
A rigid adherence to these principles would
save the expense of many printed pages to his
Grand Lodge, and the waste of much time to
his readers. These reports will form the germ
of future Masonic history . The collected mass
will be an immense one, and it should not be
unnecessarily enlarged by the admission of
trivial items .
In the next place, although I admit that
these "brethren of the reportorial corps"
have peculiar advantages in reading the opinions
of their contemporaries on subjects of
q