Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-12-01
FOR A WOODMEN FUND
Local Camps Vote Unanimously
to Protect Future of
Society.
STEP RATE PLAN IS OPPOSED
Sense of Nesting That Head
Camp Take Action-.Mem-
bers Talk.

| The joint meeting of the four local
camps of Modern Woodm IN held at
NJ. w. A. hall in Car5e block last
evening to discuss the emergency fund
proposition was ATTENDED By about
one hundred AMI fifty members. AMI
three hours were spent in an exhaus-
tive discussion of the question.
Over a dozen speeches Were made
and all agreed that the time has ar
rived when something should be done
to perpetuate the order. j. H. Kerr
was the only speaker who did not ia
vor the providing of some sort of fund
to draw upon in the future, but the
manner of collecting the fund brought
out a wide range of views. M. L.
| Stevens, who was the chairman of the
joint committee that called the meet
ing, presided.
DIR. j. +. Myers was the first speak
er called upon. He said he had OPP
posed emergency funds in fraternal
societies until two years ago, when
| he attended a meeting of the Frater-
nal congress at Boston and was con-
verted. Producing statistics. the
doctor read from them to bear out his
statement that the assessments of
fraternals increase in size and num-
Der as the society grows older. The
WOodmen, he commended, will eventu
ally be forced to esta biish a fund, and
it can be done over a long period of
years with less hardship and less
damage to the order than to wait
until conditions force the matter. The
example of the A. .. u. w. was cited
to show how an order had survived
such change and the Legion OF Honor to
show the manner of disintegration
that faces the Wood men if they per-
sist in their present policy. The
speaker showed that it would require
40 years for member to mature a
- 900 policy with 80 cent assess
ments. When the time comes that
Woodmen assessments begin to in
crease, the younger and unthinking
mem bers will drop out and Join
younger orders that offer cheaper in
surance, and thus the burden will fall
with double weight upon the older
members who are unable to enter n
new order.
Question of Utmost Gravity.
MAJ. G. w. Halves, head clerk of
the order, was next called upon |
He assured his hearers that the |
question up was of the utmost |
gravity. He felt that Woodmen are
not now paying to the order what is
Justly due it, in view of what they |
expect to receive from it. Fraterni- |
ties are a modern improvement, and !
as such are lacking in experience. |
Maj. Halves said he had been and still !
is with one of the older societies in |
which dues on a g, 900 policy are |
over treble those of the Woodmen on |
the same risk, and he feels that |
he is not paying the older So
ciety toe much. He read from |
tables of statistics based upon &C
cepted mortuary records showing the |
actual risk of insurance at various
periods of life. He then read the rates |
of Woodmen insurance. and by COM
parison showed that men above As |
years of age are now being carried at
an actual loss, the surplus from the
dues of younger mem bers being alb
sorbed to make up the deficiency. The
increasing average age of the general
mem bershiP renders it only a ques-
ton of time when the deficiency will
Overbalance the surplus and then will
come the increasing of assessments
Maj. Halves referred to the various
opinions as to what ought to be done
and briefly outlined some of the plans
advanced by prominent Woodmen.
He showed the difference between a
fund, which is a permanent
thing to be drawn upon only for its
earnings, and an emergency fund of
which both principal and interest are
available. For his part, he favored
the latter, to be raised in such manner
that mem bers contributing to it will
get their money back at the end of,
say 20 years.
Illinois Not PsyingLosses
George +. Morgan thought the pres
ent plan good for temporary insur-
ance and as such a benefit to one
where it is bound to prove loss TO
nine. Even now the craft in Illinois
s not paying its own losses
with it's revenues and some =
IF the other older states in Woodcraft :
ire in the same condition. Mr.. Nor
yan favored the adoption of the step
-ate plan, or an increase of assess
nent with the increasing age of the
member.
Head Adviser Dan +. Horne,
If Davenport, favored an emerg- d