_Of Balloting for Candidates in each Degree._
Although there is no law, in the Ancient Constitutions, which in express
words requires a ballot for candidates in each degree, yet the whole tenor
and spirit of these constitutions seem to indicate that there should be
recourse to such a ballot. The constant reference, in the numerous
passages which were cited in the preceding Section, to the necessity of
an examination into the proficiency of those who sought advancement, would
necessarily appear to imply that a vote of the lodge must be taken on the
question of this proficiency. Accordingly, modern Grand Lodges have
generally, by special enactment, required a ballot to be taken on the
application of an Apprentice or Fellow Craft for advancement, and where no
such regulation has been explicitly laid down, the almost constant usage
of the craft has been in favor of such ballot.
The Ancient Constitutions having been silent on the subject of the letter
of the law, local usage or regulations must necessarily supply the
specific rule.
Where not otherwise provided by the Constitutions of a Grand Lodge or the
bye-laws of a subordinate lodge, analogy would instruct us that the
ballot, on the application of Apprentices or Fellow Crafts for
advancement, should be governed by the same principles that regulate the
ballot on petitions for initiation.
Of course, then, the vote should be unanimous: for I see no reason why a
lodge of Fellow Crafts should be less guarded in its admission of
Apprentices, than a lodge of Apprentices is in its admission of profanes.
Again, the ballot should take place at a stated meeting, so that every
member may have "due and timely notice," and be prepared to exercise his
"inherent privilege" of granting or withholding his consent; for it must
be remembered that the man who was worthy or supposed to be so, when
initiated as an Entered Apprentice, may prove to be unworthy when he
applies to pass as a Fellow Graft, and every member should, therefore,
have the means and opportunity of passing his judgment on that worthiness
or unworthiness.
If the candidate for advancement has been rejected once, he may again
apply, if there is no local regulation to the contrary. But, in such a
case, due notice should be given to all the members, which is best done by
making the application at one regular meeting, and voting for it on the
next. This, however, I suppose to be only necessary in the case of a
renewed application after a rejection. An Entered Apprentice or a Fellow
Craft is entitled after due probation to make his application for
advancement; and his first application may be balloted for on the same
evening, provided it be a regular meeting of the lodge. The members are
supposed to know what work is before them to do, and should be there to
do it.
But the case is otherwise whenever a candidate for advancement has been
rejected. He has now been set aside by the lodge, and no time is laid down
in the regulations or usages of the craft for his making a second
application. He may never do so, or he may in three months, in a year, or
in five years. The members are, therefore, no more prepared to expect this
renewed application at any particular meeting of the lodge, than they are
to anticipate any entirely new petition of a profane. If, therefore, the
second application is not made at one regular meeting and laid over to the
next, the possibility is that the lodge may be taken by surprise, and in
the words of the old Regulation, "a turbulent member may be imposed on
it."
The inexpediency of any other course may be readily seen, from a
suppositions case. We will assume that in a certain lodge, A, who is a
Fellow Craft, applies regularly for advancement to the third degree. On
this occasion, for good and sufficient reasons, two of the members, B and
C, express their dissent by depositing black balls. His application to be
raised is consequently rejected, and he remains a Fellow Graft. Two or
three meetings of the lodge pass over, and at each, B and C are present;
but, at the fourth meeting, circumstances compel their absence, and the
friends of A, taking advantage of that occurrence, again propose him for
advancement; the ballot is forthwith taken, and he is elected and raised
on the same evening. The injustice of this course to B and C, and the evil
to the lodge and the whole fraternity, in this imposition of one who is
probably an unworthy person, will be apparent to every intelligent and
right-minded Mason.
I do not, however, believe that a candidate should be rejected, on his
application for advancement, in consequence of objections to his moral
worth and character. In such a case, the proper course would be to prefer
charges, to try him as an Apprentice or Fellow Craft; and, if found
guilty, to suspend, expel, or otherwise appropriately punish him. The
applicant as well as the Order is, in such a case, entitled to a fair
trial. Want of proficiency, or a mental or physical disqualification
acquired since the reception of the preceding degree, is alone a
legitimate cause for an estoppal of advancement by the ballot. But this
subject will be treated of further in the chapter on the rights of Entered
Apprentices.