M.'. W.. CHARLES SMITH, Past Grand Master, in the Chair.

On motion of W.. BURTON J. HOTALING, Master of Temple Lodge. No. 14, the Grand Master's address was referred to a special committee of five for subdivision and reference.

W.. BURTON J. HOTALING, W.. R. A. MANSFIELD HOBBS, W.. MANUEL CAMPS, W.. ORME WILSON, JR., and W.'. LAYTON H. VOGEL were appointed such committee.

The Grand Master resumed the Chair.

M.. W.. TOWNSEND SCUDDER, Past Grand Master, submitted the following preamble and resolution which on motion was adopted by a rising vote.

WHEREAS the United States of America, in harmony with the ancient principles of freedom and justice upon which its government is founded, and in support of the liberties of all peoples, and the right of all nations, however small, to govern themselves, free from the aggression of more powerful states, has entered the great war now convulsing the world, has drawn the sword in defense of democracy against autocracy threatening those principles of self-government for which our forefathers fought and died, and has declared its intention to carry the struggle to a victorious conclusion, uninfluenced by mercenary motives or ambition for territorial aggrandisement, therefore be it

RESOLVED that we, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, in annual communication assembled, pledge to the government of the United States our unswerving support, and to our country our best efforts, our fortunes, and our lives, to the end that victory may crown our arms, and government of the people, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth.

The Grand Lodge was visited by BRO. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, former President of the United States, who was introduced by M.. W.. TOWNSEND SCUDDER and welcomed by the Grand Master.

M.. W.. TOWNSEND SCUDDER: Most Worshipful Sir, a brother seeks admission.

THE GRAND MASTER: Let him be admitted. It hardly seems possible for me to express to you how much I personally appreciate your

presence in this grand body. You, of course, remember that I was the recipient at your hands many years ago of an office which I felt very much honored to receive and ever since I have personally looked upon you as the best expression of American manhood that has ever been produced in this country.

My dear Brother Roosevelt, you see about you men that are inspired by the highest ideals, who are each, like you, striving to do what they believe to be the right thing, but thankful to God that they have a leader in their midst such as yourself.

I welcome you in the name of the Grand Lodge of this great jurisdiction of New York.

The Grand Lodge was also visited by BRO. the HON. WILLIAM RENWICK RIDELL, Chief Justice Supreme Court of Ontario, who was introduced by R.'. W.. JOHN A. DUTTON, Chief Commissioner of Appeals, and cordially welcomed by the Grand Master.

R.. W.. JOHN A. DUTTON: It is my pleasure and honor to present to you and through you to this Grand jurisdiction an eminent jurist of our sister country to the North, a country where jurists are held in high esteem and veneration. A country whose jurisprudence ranks amongst the best of the countries of the world. As brother Mason he comes here to visit us today, not only that, but a brother Mason who comes from a country whose hopes of its people are our hopes, whose purposes are our purposes, whose hearts beat as our hearts beat as they have never beat before. I can do him no greater honor by any words of mine than to commend him to that warm and cordial welcome which I know awaits him at your hands and at the hands of this Grand Lodge.

Therefore, I take great pleasure, Most Worshipful Sir, in presenting to you Honorable William Renwick Ridell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Ontario in the Dominion of Canada.

THE GRAND MASTER: You know when we were in Toronto a few weeks ago and I had the pleasure of sitting beside you and listening to your inspiring talk, I could not help trying and eventually inducing you to come here to give these brethren of this our great jurisdiction an opportunity to participate with me in the pleasure of listening to your splendid thought and your inspiring language. I welcome you, Brother Ridell, to our Grand Jurisdiction.

The Grand Lodge was also visited by BRO. LOUIS A. WATRES, R.. W.. Grand Master of Pennsylvania, accompanied by associate Grand Officers, who were introduced by M.. W.. WILLIAM SHERER, Past Grand Master, and cordially welcomed by the Grand Master.

M.. W.. WILLIAM SHERER:

Past Grand Master.

M.. W.. GRAND MASTER: I have the pleasure and honor of presenting to you Brother Louis A. Watres, Right Worshipful Grand Mas

ter of the Grand Lodge of the State of Pennsylvania, together with his associate Grand Officers.

THE GRAND MASTER: Right Worshipful Brother Watres, it affords me great pleasure to personally welcome you into this our Grand Jurisdiction. You, of course, are familiar with us and our methods, but I want to say in the presence of this great gathering that you are splendidly royal in entertainment and reception of ourselves when we go to your jurisdiction. We are glad to have you with us today. Brother Sherer, escort Brother Watres to the Grand East.

The Grand Lodge was also visited by M.. W.. SYDNEY A. LUKE, Grand Master, and M.. W.. WILLIAM D. MCPHERSON, Past Grand Master of Canada, who were introduced by M.. W.. JOHN W. VROOMAN, Past Grand Master, and cordially welcomed by the Grand Master.

M.. W.. JOHN W. VROOMAN: I have very great pleasure in presenting to you our now friend once and forever, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada, Most Worshipful Sydney A. Luke; and the Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada, Most Worshipful William D. McPherson.

THE GRAND MASTER: Most Worshipful Brother Luke and Most Worshipful Brother McPherson. I believe that you have always been our friends. I take great pleasure, Brother Luke and Brother McPherson, in welcoming you into the Lodge Room of our great fraternity in this great State. You did me the honor a few weeks ago to come from your City of Ottawa to Toronto to receive me in Zetland Lodge, and it affords me exceeding great pleasure at this time to reciprocate the compliment. I welcome you to the New York Lodge.

And now, brethren, by the resolution which you recently adopted you expressed your patriotic feelings in this crisis of the world's history.

THE GRAND MASTER: I do not know of a man anywhere that has done more or is doing more to present to the people everywhere the highest ideals for human conduct than our beloved brother and fellow Mason, Theodore Roosevelt. He has done us honor to come to us today to give to us directly and personally some of that splendid enthusiasm and inspiration of which he is so full.

I now take great pleasure in asking Brother Roosevelt to express himself to you directly.

BRO. THEODORE ROOSEVELT addressed the Grand Lodge.

BROTHER ROOSEVELT: Brother Grand Master, Brother Masons from Canada, Brothers and every Mason from our State and from the United States: Busy though I was and difficult though it was for me to get even an hour away, I could not resist the opportunity you gave to

speak to a body like this at such a time as this on such a subject as this. I speak to you who represent in every community in this State the men to whom we have the right to look for leadership in service, leadership in service to our own brethren, leadership in service to our State as a whole, leadership in service to the United States, and now leadership in service to the calls of justice and freedom throughout the world.

And friends, brothers, brothers and friends, I am happy to be able to say that when I ask you to see that we do all our duty I have only to ask that you see that we bear ourselves as Canada has borne itself. If we do what Canada has done, if according to our strength we show our faith by our deeds as Canada has done, victory will come to the cause of democratic freedom and justice just as surely as the sun rises in the East. If we were to contribute in the same proportion, population to population, what Canada has contributed in men to this war it would mean that if we relatively did as much we would put between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 men under arms in the United States. We will have to put between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 men under arms before we can claim to have done relatively to our size and population what your brothers have done in Canada.

We Masons are pledged by pledges and ceremonies as solemn and impressive as any in the world, we Masons are pledged to bear ourselves as far as fallible human beings can bear themselves, in the spirit of the founders of Christianity, in the spirit of those great men of the past who raised pledges above the human weakness to which they as well as we are liable. Every Masonic Lodge should have in it the picture of Washington. And if there is any human being who ever has lived, whose life symbolized disinterested devotion to duty and service, it was Washington.

Now, brothers, it is a fine thing for a nation which treats the possession of the heritage of mighty names in the past as a spur toward good action in the present, but it is an evil thing for that nation to have a heritage of noble achievements in the past if it treats that achievement as an excuse for failure to achieve in the present. It is a fine thing to commemorate Washington's memory, but only if we try to act now in the spirit of the men who upheld the hands of Washington when he was alive. I want to call your attention to the fact that Washington was not much of a speaker, but he never said anything he did not mean, and he never offered to try to make good what he had said. And I wish us now in this country today to treat as a form of action to be translated into continuing action, or else to be treated as a disgrace to us. It rests with us, with the American people, to make the President's message of April 2nd one of the great State papers in our history. And that message will either reflect credit upon America or deepest discredit, accordingly as we do or do not translate it into efficient action. If having, heaven knows, taken long enough to make up our minds that the murder of women and children should be more than faintly disapproved of, after having taken long enough, heaven knows, to find out what the great principles at stake in this war are, if we now continue conversation on the subject and then make the war merely a paper war in which we furnish dollars and potatoes