252 WILLIAM WALLACE PHELPS 



accepted masons of Illinois and the high priest of the royal 

 arch masons of the state. Did any mason ever ask you to join 

 his lodge? I think not; you might ask a hundred outsiders 

 anjrwhere in the city and hear the same negative answer. Yet 

 in view of this statement, the lodges of Illinois have shown a 

 net increase of 4,254 members for the year ending on June 30, 

 while the gross increase over all deaths, withdrawals, and ex- 

 pulsions is 7,455. At that date, too, the total membership for 

 the state was 70,921. 



For this phenomenal growth in the last year it would be 

 hard to give a material reason ; that is, a reason showing causes 

 over another year's figures. Good times always has its in- 

 fluences upon new memberships, just as it influences other 

 actions of men where money is to be expended for any purpose. 

 But it may be said that ever since the Civil war the growth of 

 masonry in this country has been steady and without a hitch. 



There is no other reason at the bottom than that masonry 

 is holding out something to men which they can not get any- 

 where else. It is the unspoken influence of the individual 

 mason which impels the man outside the organization to ask 

 to come into it. This individual, in seeking so come in, will be 

 called upon for witnesses to his good character and to the 

 good motives prompting him to seek entrance into the order. 

 Two men at least will have to testify to these qualifications, 

 and when these have testified, a committee takes up the ques- 

 tion and passes finally upon the merits of the candidate. 



The greatest critic of masonry will not find ground for 

 questioning the manner in which masonic memberships are 

 acquired. And it may be said that when a lodge has been 

 formed, its memberships will rank with any similar order or 

 brotherhood in existence. There are 732 lodges in Illinois, for 

 instance, and at the annual meeting of the grand lodge there 

 are virtually 1,000 delegates to it, gathered into the hall. In 

 the personality of these men there is no governmental body in 

 the United States that will overshadow these delegates in 

 character and intellect and genuine democracy. 



There is no caste spirit in masonry, and to this extent the 

 mason in his lodge rooms is in an atmosphere that he can not 

 find anywhere else. Out in the world, in any walk of life, he 



