Arizona republican., 1909-02-22

dawn of recorded history as to have
 become one of the landmarks of the
 order. Sir William Blackstone, in his
 commentaries on the laws of England,
 in the introduction, section 3. says:
 The goodness of a custom depends
 upon it's having been used time out of mind or, in the solemnity of our legal phrase, time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. This it is that gives it its weight and au
 thority.'
 In South Carolina, where I first be-
 came affiliated with the Masonic fra
 ternity, and where research in Masonry
 has reached a high state of perfection, this subject has been frequently dis
 cussed in lectures and talks on the landmarks of the order. That our less informed brethren may be enlightened concerning the status and right of a grand master to make a Mason on sight shall quote from the work of Albert G. Mackey, M. D., B. S.. IL. D., of Charleston, s. C., entitled Masonic Jurisprudence" page IS: The first requisite of a custom or rule of action to constitute it a landmark is that 1t must have existed from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary Its antiquity is its es- sential element" And again: Another peculiarity of these landmarks of Ma sorry is that they are unrepealable, like the laws of the Medes and Per sians; they can suffer no change What they were centuries ago, they still re- main, and must so continue in force eho tn ist. They stand in the way of ;nnova- tions, and checking them"
 Had the Masonic knowledge of our Texas brethren been as great as their misguided zeal, they would probably have escaped the just censure of Past Master Melish.
 In South Carolina, the landmarks are enumerated in Mackey's "Ahiman Reg on," and the eighth is: "The preroga- tive of the grand master to make Ma sons at sight: It is not to be supposed that the grand master can retire with a profane. into private room, and there. without assistance, confer the degrees of Free Masonry upon him. No such prerogative exists, and yet many believe this is the so-much talked of right of making Masons at sight The real mode and the only mode of exer- cising the prerogative is this: The grand master summons to his assist ance not less than six other Masons. convenes a lodge, and, without any previous probation, but on sight of a candidate, confers the degrees upon him, after which he dissolves the lodge and dismisses the brethren If the grand master has the power of granting to any other Mason the privi- lege of presiding over lodges working by his dispensation, he may assume this privilege of presiding to himself; and as no one can deny his right to revoke his dispensation, granted to number of brethren at a distance, and to dissolve the lodge at his pleasure, it will scarcely be contended that he may not revoke his dispensation for lodge over which he himself has been prsiding, and dissolve the lodge as soon as the business for which he had as- sembled it is accomplished. The mak- ing of Masons at sight is only the con ferring of the degrees by the grand master, at once, in an occasional lodge, constituted by his dispensing power, for the purpose, and over which he presides in person"
 In 1851, the committee on corre- spondence of the grand lodge of New York, in a lengthy report upon this subject, said: We consider it enc among the ancient customs of the craft, one of its ancient usages, which having prevailed time out of mind. had become the law and a landmark, and which every future grand lodge was! solemnly forbidden to pass any law,