Rebekah Degree Lodges.

The reports from the Degree of Rebekah Lodges do not present the most encouraging prospect for the future, and I most respectfully submit for your consideration whether the experiment of chartering and instituting Lodges for the express purpose of conferring this degree has not been fairly and patiently tried. They may have been a success in a few instances in many of the jurisdictions, but assuredly not to an extent anywhere that will warrant the continuation of a system which is certainly detracting from the character and standing of the Order.

I do not wish to be understood as making an objection to the degree itself, nor to the orderly manner of these bodies when assembled, but I am abundantly satisfied that its value and usefulness would be greatly enhanced if it were left entirely under the control of the Subordinate Lodges, who would at special and convenient times take occasion to confer it upon all willing and entitled to receive it. The law of 1876 forfeiting the Charters of all neglecting to make proper returns should be rigidly enforced, and it will be well to consider whether the time has not arrived to stop the granting of other Charters for this special purpose.