Very Dear Brother—We arrived here last week and will remain here probably for a month. Will you kindly see Bro. Geo. Standwood, the Secretary of Chicago Lodge No. 5, and pay him my dues to the Lodge? We will be in Chicago the latter part of February, 1908. I have much to tell you when I get home. I visited the Masonic Lodges since I have been here and was treated with the utmost courtesy. The diploma from my Lodge and Consistory that you signed has been a great service and benefit to me. I hear your name quite highly spoken of by the members of the Masonic Fraternity this side of the Atlantic ocean. The Lodges and Masons that you are connected with in America among colored Masons are the only ones that are recognized over here.
Yours Fraternally, H. S. COLLINS, 33.
CAN ONE MASONIC LODGE ASSUME THE FUNCTION OF A GRAND LODGE?
Some one might ask the question can only one lodge assume the functions of a Grand Lodge? The answer to that must be emphatically No, and whatever Lodge assumes the functions of a Grand Lodge then such Grand Lodge is unlawful and irregular. See Mackey's Masonic Jurisprudence, see Mitchell's Authority on Masonic Law, see Chase and Preston on Masonic Law and they all agree that one Lodge cannot assume the function of a Grand Lodge.
BOGUS PRINCE HALL GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS NEVER HAS BEEN HEALED.
In order to place the matter before the Masonic fraternity some one might inquire and ask the question that since the time that African Grand Lodge of Modern Masons of Massachusetts was organized with only one Lodge. On the 24th of June. 1791, which is now the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts have they ever been healed and legally Masonically set right? The answer to that is that they have not and only a short time ago they admitted by saying that they had never been healed, and Masonically set right, and that being true they were established in an unlawful manner and are clandestine and irregular Masons to this very day, and I challenge them to present any proof to the contrary.
CAN A SUBORDINATE LODGE GRANT A LICENSE OR CHARTER TO ORGANIZE ANOTHER LODGE? THEY CANNOT.
In order to justify the irregular and unlawful Masonic work that has been done in the State of Massachusetts by the Colored men who belong to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts they attempt to justify their actions by saying that it was legal and lawful for African Lodge No. 459 to grant a license or charter to organize another Lodge and they have published in a circular of two cases of that kind that occurred in the year 1625. I have taken particular pains to thoroughly investigate the cases that they referred to and no such actions of that kind was ever done by any Masonic Lodge in the places that they referred to. All the Masonic authorities, both in this country and Europe, have made it plain how a Masonic Lodge could be organized and it must be done by the authority of a Grand Lodge. No intelligent Mason and no genuine and regular Mason, either Black or White, in the whole world, can find any authority or precedent where one Subordinate Lodge can grant a charter to another Subordinate Lodge.
The Following Excerpt of a Letter From Ill. John G. Jones, of Chicago, Ill., Relative to Law Suit Pending in the District of Columbia Between the Old Compact Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia and the Legitimate Grand Lodge A. F. & A. Masons of Which Bro. H. C. Scott is Grand Master Shows That the Question at Issue is Purely a Local Matter and Does Not in Any Way Affect Any Other Grand Lodges in This Country and Shows Conclusively That the Claims Made by W. H. Grimshaw Amount to Nothing.
Chicago. Ill., Dec. 2, 1908.