Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Illinois - University Library

Tuesday, ] GRAND LODGE OF ILLINOIS, I. 0. O. F. 101
Nov. IS. 1013. \ '_
The Grand Master recommends that such legislation be enacted
that will empower the President of the Rebekah State Assembly of
Illinois to answer all questions pertaining to the law, customs and
usages of the Rebekah Branch of the Order; that she be empowered
to appoint the District Deputy Grand Masters for the Rebekah Lodges;
that she be empowered to grant dispensations for entertainment purposes
to Rebekah Lodges; that she be empowered to issue commissions
and grant dispensations for the institution of new Rebekah
Lodges; and that she be empowered to revoke or suspend the charter
of delinquent and offending Rebekah Lodges, preserving, throughout
the above suggested legislation, that the person or Lodge feeling
itself wronged, the right to appeal to the Grand Master or to the
Grand Lodge at the next session thereof.
DECISIONS AND THE REVISION OF CODE.
The Grand Master, during the year passed has rendered an immense
number of decisions touching both branches of the Order.
Most of them have been of small import, many of them may not have
been right.
At the suggestion of the Grand Sire, I reversed myself in one
decision and decided as the Grand Sire requested.
That decision was upon the question of whether or not a penalty
could attach should the Noble Grand permit the Rituals of the Sub-
ordinate Lodge to be taken from the Lodge room. The Grand Sire
held that there could be a penalty inflicted upon the Noble Grand for
permitting such action. I promptly held the same way on receipt of
the Grand Sire's letter.
There have been no other appeals from my decisions. Nine out
of ten of the decisions asked for from the Grand Master could bo
answered by the person making the inquiry, or by the Lodge Deputy,
by referring to the Code. It is only occasionally that a question involving
the construction of some uncertain or conflicting laws, is
called for. Such questions, to be sure, should be answered, not particularly
by the Grand Master, but by some one who is learned and
especially trained in the civil law of our land, as well as in the laws
of our Order.
Many sections of Merrills' Code, 1906, are inoperative in applica-
tion, for the reason of the many changes in our Grand Lodge Consti-
tution and By-Laws and to a person not trained in the examination of
law books, the present Code oftimes conflicts with the real law of the
Order, and the present Code oftimes misleads the casual examiner.
On account of the above matters, I recommend that Merrills' Code,
190G, be revised and brought down to date, and especially those sec-