The National tribune., 1900-01-18

FACTS FOR THE SONS OF VETERANS.

FACTS FOR THE SONS OF VETERANS
1t is well for all those who are interested
in the development of the Sons of Veter.
ans into the grand, powerful Order that il
should be made, to consider some facts con-
cerning the astonishing development OF
some other Orders in this country.
OF course, all Of these owe much to the
NIasons, which is the Oldest of all present
secret societies, and whose ritual and meth
DDS have been largely copied by the
other Orders. The first really beneficial
order was the Independent Order of odd
Fellows, which was introduced into this
country over so years ago. 1t was fol-
lowed, Is years later, by the United An
cient Order of Druids, and 80 years still
later by the Ancient Order of Foresters.
An Order still wider in its beneficiary
scope than either of these, and which has
become the parent of about 200 societies,
ranging from the barely successful to the
widespread, solidly endowed, and very
powerful societies is the Ancient Order of
UnitedI Workmen, founded in 1868, at
Meadville, Pa, by John Gordon Upchurch.
This was started upon the idea of paying
by means of assessments upon living
members certain stipulated sums to the
families Of those who should die. II has
from the first been managed with the egreat-
est ability, and has evolved the most of the
valuable ideas which have been adopted
by other successful organizations. Among
these is the so-called step-rate assess
ment." This was development from the
first crude plan of assessing all the men,
bers 81 each to pay $1,000 to the deceased
members family, by increasing the rate Of
assessment according to the age of the
member, and by periods of years, and the
initiation fee is also graded in the same
way. This principle is now adopted by 20
out of the 81 most prominent societies, Tie
following are the names Of IL of the most
important Of these societies, which have a
membership ranging from something over
350, 900 for the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, to about $4,000 for the Catholic
Benevolent Legion:
Ancient Order United Of Workmen.
Modern Woodmen of America.
Knights of the Maccabees.
Royal Arcanum.
Independent Order of Foresters.
Woodmen of the World.
knights of Honor.
Knights and Ladies of Honor.
Catholic Order of Foresters.
Knights of Pythias Endowment Rank. }
National Union.
Catholic Benevolent Legion.
The membership of all of these is rap
idly increasing. The cost'of management
in six Of these ranges from 62 cents per
capita in the Royal Arcanum to = Sc for
the Independent Order of Foreste. aich
has magnificent headquarters building at
Toronto, and corps of high-saiaried
managers. In 1897 the average cost of
insurance in these societies was S9.22 per
81 200.
Dec. 81, 1898, there were 1900 900 mem
bers of these societies. A great many Of
the societies are the development of factions
III tile OlueT SOcletleS. a 1dcIlOH IlilulUB
itself beaten in the struggle for offices and
honors, withdraws and starts another on
the same lines, with different names and
high-sounding titles. OF course, these will
eventually be swallowed up again by the
older societies, if the latter continue to be
successfully managed, all the tendency
being toward consolidation and greater
economy in salaries and expenses.
One of the odd societies is the Sexennial
League, started in 1888, to "enable all
persistent members TO have an opportunity
to save small sums periodically, which,
merging into common fund, would pro-
duce large increase from safe investments,
the benefits to be shared by the persistent
members in proportion to the certificates
held by them" Every six years the soci-
ETY. comes to an end. and the funds are
divided, the members starting in afresh.
The secret of its success is the persistent
member" feature, who reap the profits from
those who get tired and drop out