People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-08-22
Benevolent Insurance.

DNhNNOlNhN
Daily Mail.
The value and safety of benevolent
insurance has been brought prOmi-
nently before the public Of late by
| the vicious attack made upon all such
insurance by Geo. T. Anthony, super
intendent of insurance, in his annual
0 fficial report. In order that our
readers may know just what he said
we give that portion of his report in
| full. 1t is headed
BENEVOLENT INSURANCE.
Under this attractive and deceptive
tit Q is found disguised the most
heartleSs and worthless of all pretens-
eS TO insure against accident and
death. Through an unfortunate
omission, not an enactment of law,
these associations find legal shield and
gather certain official responsibility
which makes them real peril, an I'M
just an / unjustifiable imposition upon
an Over-cOntiding people.
In the act providing for assessment
! life insurance associations is found an
exemption from its provisions, that
This act shall not apply to any association
of religious or secret societies now existing
under the supervision OF grand or supreme
| ledge nor to any class OF mechanics, express,
telegraph or railroad employees, formed for
the mutual benefit Of the members thereof
and their families exclusively.
This exemption has been taken ad-
vantage of by multitude of men who
were born weary and reared IN a pur-
pose to neither "tOil or spin" for liv
ing. As statesmen out Of a job"
suddenly become Oracles-imparting
wisdom to the wOrld-theSe men out
of meat" blossom suddenly into titled
lords of benevolent insurance, as "Su-
preme COmmander-in-Chief," "Su-
preme President" Supreme High
Master of Knights of the Loyal
Guard" "The Supreme Lodge of Ben
Hur," knights and Ladies Of the
Golden Rule" Grand Master Mogul
of the Hoo Hoo, or Great Black Calf"
and so on, to the end of ingenuity and
folly.
That these ORDINATIONS are without
thread of security to their willing
dupeS, in the whole warp and wool of
organization and purpose, is too pa
tent to admit of discussion. They
must prove to be as ephemeral in ex-
iSteuce as worthless in promise; and
yet, we seem to be the victims of a
veritable epidemic of reckless unreas-
on, and men and women, sensible in
other things, court the disease and
waste their means in its support.
That the exemption from regula-
ton and control above quoted was not
intended to cover these supreme"
humbugs and celestial" frauds is ap-
parent; and yet There is no visible
remedy until the evil becomes so ex-
pensive and unbearable as to force
legislative action.
Incur opinion Mr.. knthOny's Ian.
guage justifes all the condemnation
it has called forth. But then there is
one satisfaction, nobody who knows
him will pay any attention to his
opinions on the subject. The only
harm that can come from his Screed
is the use that is being, and will be
made of it by the old line life insur-
ance companies to discredIt fraternal
insurance.
But the business men of every COM
munity have long since carefully con-
sidered the safety of fraternal insur-
ance and have invested their money
n it. Take the business men of Vel,
lingtOn. They ale only fair samples
of what you find all over Kansas. We
have taken some pains to investigate
what proportion Of our business men
carry benevolent insurance" More
than nine out of every ten of them
carry fraternal insurance. In the
Wellington National, John T. Stew
art, president; W. H. Burks, cashier.
and ]. H. Allen, director, each carries
$1,000 in the A. o. Q. W. In the Sum-
ner National, Dr. S. W. Splitter, presi-
dent; A. Branaman, cashier: G. D.
Benton, bOOkkeeper; G. f. Luening,
W. NJ. Morris and c. A. tGambrill,
directors, all carry fraternalinsurance
and all of them except Mr., Branaman