The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-04-29

W.T.
ceptions, charitable at all times and
always pleasant. His loss a few years
later was a severe blow to his com
munity, to the Grand Lodge and to
the Order Eastern Star, of which he
was a leading factor. Upon behalf
of the Masons Brother Kimbrough de
livered an address full of fraternal
cordially and was responded to by
Brother VIM. H. Jones of st. Joseph.
The annual address of Grand Mas.
ter Chinn was of a high rank, in sew.
eral points reaching near to sublimity,
in every respect indicating a deep.
seated interest and a profound knowl-
edge of the work entrusted to his
care. He discussed a wide range of
topics, many of them being of gen
eral interest, and he set forth his
ideals in a most cogent as we'll as de-.
lightful manner.
He had gone to the very bottom of
the system under which the Masonic
relief department had been operating,
and under the intelligent cooperation
Of Brother c. G. Williams, the then
secretary, he ironed out many of the
crinkles and gave to the department
a tangible aspect.
Chinn differed from Pelham in that
he was more careful of details, more
plainly practical and more economical
He was also of a more strict DISPOSE
ton and at once gave the lodges to
understand that he would not tenn
porize with them regarding the pay
ment of dues to the relief or the gen.
eral departments, and that he would
administer the benefits with equal
justice to all. Under this inspiration
the lodges were more prompt in meet.
ing their obligations, so that at Rich
mond the Grand Master announced
that for the first ime in its history
the relief department was able to sus.
tain all claims paid at he full amount
and hold a neat balance in reserve
1t is needless to say tina the effect OF
this announcement was most salutary
to he jurisdiction.
All the slothful and doubling breth.
rem now fell into line and the Ma
sonic relief was at las firmly estab
lished as an indispensable institution
of the craft. In all the subordinate
lodges it was found that financial trou
bles had disappeared simply because
the Grand Master had the nerve tc
say: If you do not pay you can no
say The grand dues, too, were paid
with greater promptness and at his
session it was proposed to raise this
tax to 40 cents per capita in order tC
better meet the current expenses Of
the Grand Lodge.
The committee, headed by Brother
Joe E. Hereford, which was appoint
ed the year before to present at this
session a revised form of the consti
tuition, made its report. The commit
tee recommended the abolition of the
proxy system, a limited tenure of of
flee for the Grand Master and an in
crease in the annual grand dues. Only
one of these, the tenure of office pro
vision, got through. The Grand Mas
ter was a friend of the proxy system
and the boys thought they could no
stand Is cents more per year on the
grand dues. So there was not mucl
revision after all, the changes agreed
to being of minor Importance and th'
new sections being merely an en-
couchment of legislation already il
force.
The death of P. G. ]. w. Rev. ]. w
Hughes, minister and former teacher
also founder of Hughes lodge at Louis
lana and one of the best loved Masont
of the jurisdiction, was announced a
this session.
At the annual election of officer
Brother Sonny Vaughan, heretofor
ed Junior Grand Warden. The Away
popular Tom Mahammitt was unani
mously chosen Deputy Grand Master
1t was expected that Brother ]. S
Cobb of Cape Girardeau, who ha'
been made Junior Grand Warden tn
year before, would advance t
the position of Senior Grand Warden
but friends of Rev. NJ. S. Bryan
thought he had been waiting lon
enough for Masonic honors and in
sisted upon putting him in the Gram
West. Brother Bryant, much lik
Brother Vaughn, had for many years
and is at this time, one of the mos