Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-22

of the system of monthly assessments;
 also measures looking to the settlement
 of death claims within thirty days in
 stead of sixty days from receipt of no-
 tice. There is no reason why we should
 not pay these claims more promptly
 The comparative statement of the en-
 dowment will show that we have held
 our own, notwithstanding the extraordi-
 nary mortality, overestmates in our re- serve December 31, 1S93 and inaccuracies that have been carried for years. and which were not disclosed until our new endowment laws went into operation. All the inaccuracies, losses and unusual mortality were charged against this ac- count up to December 31, 1894, reducing it to a solid basis. The exhibit this cur rent year will be much better, because, so far, our mortality has been light and the interest account vii show a decided l improvement over last year
 Graded Assessments. At this convention there will be pre- 1 sented, as a result of a resolution adopted at Nashville, a full and comprehensive report on the feasibility of adopting | some plan of graded assessments. Whilst | this question is unsettled many young | men, who desire to avail themselves of our endowment, are holding aloof and are now awaiting our action in this matter | I hope you will give this question full and mature consideration, and adopt | some plan which will strengthen, pre- serve and prolong our system of endow- 1 ments.
 Constitution Grand Lodge. At our last convention we failed to l elect delegates to the constitution grand l lodge, which meets at Cincinnati April | 2S. As this omission necessitated either | the call of an extra session of this grand | lodge at great expense, or the change of l our law. I committed the question to 1 your general committee and it was de- l cided to submit the following resolution | to the subordinate lodges:
 Resolved, That the annual convention | of district grand lodge No. z, to be held 1 at Montgomery, Ala. be fixed for Sunday, l the Fist day of April 1885, which was | unanimously adopted.
 It will be your duty to elect nine dele 1 gates from the names submitted by the | subordinate lodges in accordance with 1 part 3, article 1, sections ?, and 4, of | the constitution of the order New Lodges.
 | During the term, charters were granted 1 to Dinah Lodge No. 440, located at Brook | haven. Miss, and to Chattanooga Lodge | No. 446, located at Chattanooga, Tenn. | The former was installed by the grand l secretary Nat Strauss assisted by Past | Presidents Joe Hirsh, Isydore Strauss, | and Brothers Sol Marx, Henry Strauss, l B. Forcheimer and l.. Aronson, the lat | ter, by your president, assisted by Grand l Secretary Nat Strauss, Brothers I. Lew | inthal, M. Samfield, Nathan Cohn and | Leopold Strauss.
 Amity Lodge No. 267 located at Green vile, Miss surrendered it's charter and was legally dissolved, it's members join | ing Deborah Lodge No. 161, of the same | place. The secretary's report will show | in detail the membership of lodges and l whatever is of interest to the grand | lodge in it's various business with the l subordinate lodges.
 l The district now numbers sixty eight lodges with membership approximate ing 2725. The membership report is com
 mentary sufficient of the comparative l strength and weakness of the respective | lodges. We have twenty-four lodges, each with a membership of twenty or less, and in view of the fact that repree | sentation to the grand lodge entails great expense, I would recommend the conso1- l idation of smaller lodges where practical l ble, or increased efforts on behalf of lodge | members to augment their membership | beyond a bare quorum.
 | Orator and Essayist. For this convention, I have appointed
 Brother Charles Rosen of New Orleans, | La, as orator, and Brother Nathan Cohn | of Nashville, Tenn, as essayist. Our Illustrious Dead. During the year the order sustained | great loss in the death of Brother Joseph l Abraham of District No 2, late presi- | dent of the court of appeals of the order. | The news of his death was officially com | municated to the district by Brother | Julius Bien, president of the executive | committee of the order, and in turn pro | mulgated to the subordinate lodges, who | took appropriate action. Thus passed | from the councils of the order patriarch | in Israel, solon in wisdom, who left his | impress upon humanity. May his mem | ory be cherished and his noble example emulated.
 District Grand Lodge No. 10. A noteworthy event in the history of l the order was the inauguration of dis | trict grand lodge No. 10 at Prague, in Austria, on December 30, 1894. Thus will | it be seen that the order is penetrating | all civilized countries and extending its | influence wherever the heart of the Jew | beats responsive to the cause of charity | and oppression.
 A Manual Training School. In May, 1893, at the New Orleans con vention, pr. M. Samfield introduced resolution looking to the formation of nucleus fund for the establishment of manual training school in connection with the Jewish Widows and Orphans
 home My predecessor in office called at- | tention to this resolution, but little progress has been made in this direction | The subject should be taken up vigor- ously at this session. and lsome plan adopted by which we can lay the founda- | ton for the establishment of such school eitherin connectionwith one of our | orphan asyums or as separate insti- | tuition located in some large city in the district. Its importance cannot be over- l estimated and such an institution would | prove a boon and a blessing to tofling hu- l manitys to indigent poor and deserving Jewish youth
 The president of the Jewish Widows and Orphans home at New Orleans, Brother Gabriel Kahn, in his message to | the association, has referred to the prom | ise of District No. to establish manual | training school similar to the one in | tio,, at Cleveland The time has