MW John Hodge |
Hodge served five years as Junior Grand Warden, two as Senior, and one as Deputy Grand Master before being installed into the Grand Master’s chair in 1894. John Hodge Lodge 815, now of the Ontario-Seneca-Yates District, was set to labor in 1897.
Postcard of the courthouse. |
In peace we have laid this cornerstone, and without fear have performed our work, because the laws of our country which are to be here administered, and the principles of Masonry are in unison in favoring equal justice to all men. The flag of our country, that glorious emblem of freedom floating proudly above us, which today is receiving special honors throughout the length and breadth of the land, like the Masonic creed, shields no favored class, but proffers the assurance of justice alike to the Jew and Gentile, the representatives of all nationalities, and the adherence of all religious and political faiths.
Another postcard. |
And what of the future? As meritorious as has been the work done by your judiciary in the old courthouse which this new and elegant building is to supersede, much more important, doubtless, to the peace and prosperity of the community will be the decisions to be handed down from the bench of the new courthouse in the far distant future. Law is declared to be the product of human experience. We are living in an era when questions of great importance, not only to individuals, but to aggregations of individuals, and to the peace and good order of society, are constantly arising. Many of these questions, whose solution is of the greatest importance. Law is declared to be the product of human experience. We are living in an era when questions of great importance, not only to individuals, but to aggregations of individuals, and to the peace and good order of society, or constantly arising. Many of these questions, whose solution is of the greatest importance to the parties interested, must be settled for the first time by the courts. Which, under our system of government, constitute the last resort for the redress of real or imaginary wrongs, and the settlement of differences between the employer and the employees, the rich and the poor, alike.
Modern times! |
Fellow citizens and brethren, our work is done. The cornerstone of this building has been tested by the working tools of our Craft. It has been found square, plumb, and level. The cement that unites it with its brother stone has been spread, and all has been pronounced perfectly done.
This speech and several score more are found in the pages of Jewels of Masonic Oratory, anthologized by L.S. Myler; printed in New York in 1900. |
May this be in truth a Temple of Justice, where all men may come and have their wrongs redressed; where oppression and intolerance may be throttled, and the rights of every man, from the humblest citizen to the highest official, be honored and respected. Justice is the platform for all mankind. The people who live upon this great round globe are the creatures of one Great Father, and have equal and inalienable rights, duties, and obligations. Those rights must not be disregarded. Those duties and obligations must not go unperformed. This building whose walls will be reared upon this cornerstone is to be a city of refuge to which the oppressed may flee; and we pray God that it may in truth deserve to prosper, and become the place of concourse for all good men, and from this house the spirit of harmony and brotherly love be disseminated throughout the whole community.
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