Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1888-02-01

1>NA~>> /
not known, and few towns or cities
where it has not peen felt.
In IS wears. we. .haye !. distributed
over $40. 000. 0O0, 90 among the families
of deceased brothers, mary Of whom
would have been left destitute, but
for the timely aid the order afforded
them. What does this mean? II
means tan thousand women aided. by
far the larger portion of whom were
widows. It means the mitigation Of
the suffering of thousands of widows
and ten thousands Of orphan children
saving them from the penuary OF
paupers and setting them upon the
road to fortune and fame. 1t means
opening up the way to usefulnessl and
happiness, to thousands of these be-
reft ones, which. would probably
never have been opened by any other
hand, had not the hands oftellowship
and protection have been extended
with the magnificent sum of 100000
In them. And brethren, when we are
told that this has been done without
tie expenditure of one farthing, to
rob widow or cheat an orphan out
of his inheritance, we may well be
proud of our order, and cry in exulta-
ton "Long Live the A. o. y. w."
So much for the history OF the order.
We have seen how it rose from
very small beginning to her present
mammoth proportions; how from be-
ing unknown and unthought of, she
is now one of the most widely known
and popular offraternal organizations,
and pre-eminently the best insurance
association in existenbe.
There must be causes for these re-
suits. What are they? First the de-
mand is to-day and has been for the
past few years for fraternal insurance.
There is no security to policy holders,
so secure as $4,000 to 100000 or zoe, 900
brothers who have taken n VOW to
help in adversely and to indemnify
in case of death. Bonds and Stocks,
magnificent offices and floating sur
plus may satisfy some people, but the
masses do not want to trust all that
wealth, wrested from the hands of
policy holders through the medium
of extortionate premiums, in the
hands of a specializing oligarchy, who
are answerable to perhaps twelve
directors; when they have it IN their
power to obtain the same indemnity
at less than one fourth the cost and
have the management of their own
affairs, aud two hundred thousand
brothers standing ready to go down
into their pockets and draw out the
one cent each that is required to meet
their obligations. In the fraternal
| insurance association, we rank first,
because we limit our liabilities, as no
other association, to the best of my
knowledge does. This is done by oul
division of the entire nation up into
| twenty two grand Jurisdictions, SC
that none need be over burdened. We
| fix the maximum assessment that
can be levied in any year, in each
Jurisdiction, based upon the average
mortality in that jurisdiction. So we
In Minnesota pay nothing upon
deaths in Tennessee until the grand
Jurisdiction OF Tennessee, has reached
its maximum rate, when we together
with all other jurisdictions which
have not already reached their limit
pay what may be required to meet
the excessive expense in those iuris.
| dictlons thns nuerhurdened, also be.
cause we are SO rigid in our medical
examinations. We must be SO, and
can afford to be SO, whist other secret
orders operating insurance IN certain
departments cannot consistently dc
so. They give prominence to frater.
nifty, whilst, right upon our thresh-
hold we say to every man: Unless
You can bear the test of health, which
we propose to subject you TO, oul
benefits are not tor you. We, car
consistently take this ground and
MAINTAIN it, and it Is duty we owe
every member of the organization te
do this, which has the most potent
force in keeping down our death rate
and consequently our expense.
| At the meeting of the Supreme
Lodge May LIST 1887, Supreme Medical
Director Hugh Doherty, favored inihis
report an increased stringency, in ex-
aminatiors as there are certain ways
| in which even more rigid ex-
aminations, might be had, and with
| a beneficial effect upon the order at
large. He also advises going into
the hereditary record Of applicants
more infinitely and more in detail
then eyer before, and favors the re-
lection of any applicant in whose
blood there are the taints Of Consunlp-
ton, Scrofula, Insanity, Cancer, or
alcoholism or other constitutional
diseases, even though the applicant
may seem fairly free from any OF
| these troubles. To be accepted ii
must be proven by the most rigid
tests that an applicant is physically
sound. Right here, let me offer "a
tribute Of praise to our Grand Medical
Director Stevens. Out of forty-eight
applications sent him by me while
working at Royalton and Little Falls,
which were from the healthiest per-
sons could find, as supposed, ten
were rejected by him, some for causes
which, to my mind, were trivial.
Yet, notwithstanding 1t subjected me
to quite an Inconvenience, and delay,
must confess that think more OF
the order for these rejections than Il
| all my applications had been ap-
proved. 80
This is the safe guard about us and
1.-THE gatei s made so wide that any
Az