Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-11
ODD FELLOWS MEET.

The Mutual Aid Asso citation Holds the |
 Annual Meeting-various Reports l
 Made-Election of Officers.
 The Odd Fellows Mutual Aid association | held it's annual meeting yesterday afternoon in Odd Fellows hall on Orange street. The secretary's report was read by George N. Moses and is of special interest. It is as fol- lows: '
 "Having now as association reached
 nearly to our majority; having attained
 stage where we can claim the distinction of
 manhood as far as years go; having outlived
 by many year the most sanguine expecta-
 tions and pregnostications of large mum
 ber of wiseacres in the world at large,' I
 think we have right to point with pride' to
 our past record and achievements and to re-
 fer with satisfaction to nearly twentyeone
 years of honorable usefulness 8 valuable auxiliary to our noble order and an amelior ator of the condition of many loved one dependent upon the good right arm aud vii ling toll of him who in obedience to the di- vine command has passed from our circle as one twho, wrapping the drapery of his couch about him, lies down to pleasant dreams "But, my brothers, the question may here be asked by some not fully acquainted with J in what respect have you proved to be so val. uable an auxiliary to the order.'
 'fLet us glance backward for brief moment at said record and glean few items from it's pages. Our association being inst- tuted for the sole purpose of paying pecu- niary benefit on the occasion of the deceass of member. of course death became prime factor in our business arrangements and cal culations, and during these years spoken of his messenger has entered our circle on many occasions, summoning to that undis- covered country 406 of our members. To the
 loving and dependent ones left behind there has been paid by the surviving members of the association the goodiy sum of nearly $650, 900 in benefits, and the labor to carry
 out this work, vast in the aggregate, has been $1, ,675.77.
 s'I think these items, and the very signi6- cant figures by which they are demon
 strated, is ample cause for cougratulation
 and pride.
 "By the action taken at the special meet ing of June 15, the old class arrangement of membership was abolished and all members were merged into one class, therefore in making up my table of membership this year am compelled to drop all recognition of the second class, as has appeared in my reports for many years past. The total membership reported at the last annual meeting was 3,99S, but as some 1, ,134 of this number be- ! longed to both the first and second classes, and were consequently enumerated twice, \ the change above alluded to requires that ! this should be discontinued and only the \ exact number of individual members ac counted for.
 Dropping from the total membership of one year ago the 1, 134 therefore that were dupli- ' cated in the report of that date our member I ship table appears as follows
 MEMBERSHIP
 Actual members reported January, 1887. ,s64 Applications received for 19s7... 62 | Reinstated d.,'..,..........' .....'...''.... 5 e,9a9 | From which deduct:
 Dropped for on. payment of assessment. ...T Rejected. 5-l27 Total membership . ............ a,8oa ''The total shows considerable of falling \ off in membership from the number reported | at commencement of the year. Whether this \ was owing to the dissatisfaction felt by the | younger members of the association under \ the level assessment plan so many years in use with us, and the consequent payment by \ them of as large rates of assessment as the older members, thus causing them to sever | their connection with us, is not for me to say. | I can simply offer the following fact and fig \ ures illustrative of the work of the year, nine | months of which was under the old plan and three months under the new order of things. l My books show that for the first nine | months of the year the admis- sions to our ranks of new members averaged about three to the month, while the suspen- ! sions for non-payment of assessment during | the same period were at an average rate of | 2 IA, which, added to the death rate for the same period, shows very large and steady decrease in the membership. In contradis- tinction to this is the record of the three
 months of the year under the graded plan of
 assessment, which shows an average addi-
 tion of new members per month of Ii Is, and suspension from the same cause as
 stated above of per month. These figures afford much food for reflection, and certainly
 if the greatly improved condition of | the business as shown in the accession
 of new members during the last three months is a direct result of the change
 to a graded plan of assessment, it would
 seem decidedly to our advantage to not con- tinue in g direction so auspiciously inaugura- ted, but to do what we may to largely i'm prove it. This is, however, 8 matter for your consideration, rather than one calling | for advice from me.
 "The membership in the association is class \ ed as follows: