The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-05-18
Seyenty.Six Past ChancellOrS We're
introduced
John II. Maxwell Elected
Grand Chancellor.
William L. Allen of South Port
land HOnOred.

| The grand lodge knights OF Pythiss OF
the grand domain of Maine, assem- bled In
Pythian hall yesterday forenoon at ten
o'clock. Grand Chancellor Waldo Petten-
gill Of Rumford Falls presided. Seventy
six past chancellors were introduced and
received the grand lodge rank. Grand
Chancellor Fred E. White of Boston, the
| grand chancellor of Massachusetts,, occu.
pied a seat at the right of the Maine
grand chancellor during the ceremonies
Of the day.
The following re the abstracts of the
| official reports.
REPORTS OF GRAINED OFFICERS.
The report of Grand Chancellor Waldo
Pettengill is voluminous review of
administrative details for the year.
Among the most important of the feat
| ures touched upon was the arrangement
of the seventeen Pythisn districts Of the
State and the benefits which arose to
| the order from bringing the brethren
| into communication with the grand
officers at the district ventions. He
reports that tho endowment rank has
cen sadly neg leotsd In the past in this
Grand Domain. 1t is Zone Of the most
important features under the control of
the Supreme Lodge and every attention
| and encouragement should be given 1t by
| the members of the Order. His expert
ence as Grand Chancellor has thorough ly
convinced him that If t hey desire to ad-
vance the prosperity of the Order in this
| Domain, increase its membership and ex-
tend its influence in every respect, they
must one and all make a united effort.
Upon the subject of suspensions the
Grand Chancellor says: 1.-The subject Of
suspension for non payment of dues has
been growing upon us for a number of
years and has now become of vital i'm
portance. The past year the number of
suspensions in this Domain was coo
against S23 for 1879 Z. The suspensions of
1923 are Pa, and as we look backward
we see the increase has been alarming, SO
much so that something must be done as
Il remedy. L would suggest, for one
remedy, that the Lodges eject TO the flee
of Master Of Finance such brothers asswill
pay strict attention to the business of the
offi ce. In order to obtain such attention
| deem it necessary that ths Lodges re-
munerate their Master of Finance to- such
an extent that IL will be of some financial
benefit to him to see that the business is
| properly attended to.
| On direct taxation, he says: This Is a
subject which we must meet at this Con-
vention and on which we will be obliged
| to legislate. The Supreme Lodge, at its
Convention held Aug. % to Sept. lst,
| 1898. found IL necessary, In order to main
| tain itself financially, to make some
80 ,a1i of
tofore the revenue of the Supreme Lodge
has been largely derived from the profits
on the sale of supplies, augmented by a
| tax of fifty dollars per year for each Su-
preme Representative. Owing to the
decreased demand for supplies for the
| past few years, the revenue from that
| source has been very materially dimin-
ished, leaving the supreme Lodge with a
comparatively empty exohequer. In this
dilemma the Supreme Lodge was forced
| TO adopt some system of q fixed revenue
| which would not be subject to the fiuctua-
ton incident to the sale of supplies but
| would insure the realization OF an an
nual revenue sufficient to meet all the
necessary expenditures of that body.
| After careful consideration and delibera-
| ton it was decided to adopt a system of
direct taxation upon each member OF tie
| Order. This tax WAS fixed at eight cents
per year, to be paid by each Grand Lodge
/
membership as reported at the close OF
each semi-annual term. The payment OF
| this tax to the Supreme Lodge must be
made on or before April LIST and October
LIST of each year. AS our Convention did
not meet until after the requirement of
April LIST, 1899, our payment Will not
| become obligatory until DC ober LIST OF
this year Yoa will therefore see the
| necessity of legislation TO meet this re-
quirement, and would recommend thht
| the per capita tax of our subordinate
| Lodges be increased from fifteen cents
| semi-annually to twenty cents.
| There is also a recommendation that an
| instructor be employed to secure uni
formity in the work of the subordinate
| lodges.
The report of the Grand Keerer of
| Records and Seals, Wesley u. Smith,
shows the following statistics;
SUBORDINATE LODGES
Number of Lodges January LIST, go
1898, I've
Instituted during the year 1895.
Total Lodges. January LIST, 1899, III
MEMBERSHIP.
| Number of mem bers initiated dur
ing the year 1898, 766
Nun Der Of members reinstatsd
during the year 1898, 40
| Number of members admitted by
Gard during the year 1898, 81
Total additions, S6S
Number of mem bers suspended
during the year 1898, COS
| Numter of mem bers withdrawn
| during the year 1898, "a
Number of members deceased dur
| ing the year 1898, 95
| Total deductions, 7S4
-
| Net gain for the year 1898. 81
1895, 1850
sU COORDINATE LODGE FINANCES.
Cash receipts for mem
| bership for the year
1895, sl1 ,667. 40