The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-12
LARGEST OF GRAIN ELEVATORS.

| one Of the greatest fraternal organiza-
| lions the world has ever known. which
holds its national convention at st. Paul
the week of June 10. In the United
States are more than 100000 members
of secret societies and fraternal benefit
societies.
During the year 1900, the average gain
| in membership made by one hundred and
, fifty of the leading fraternities was 10
per cent. The net gain made by the
Woodmen in 1899 was 10l S7S members, or
90 per cent, and the net increase of
Woodman camps was 1865. Not single
fraternity in the world made 80 per cent
of this gain during the same period.
In 1900 the Woodmen made a gain of
100, 454 members and 1876 camps. During
the year of 1900 forty of the leading
fraternal beneficiary societies disbursed
$4O5, 00O0 600 in death benefits. OF this
amount the Woodmen disbursed nearly
$40 900 900 IN payment of 1900 death claims.
No other society, even approximately,
approaches these figures, hence numeri-
cally and in the aggregate of It's paid
benefits the Woodmen society unqueS-
tionably leads
To Joseph Cullen Root, now sovereign
commander of the Woodmen Of the
World a schismatic branch Of the Mod
ern Woodmen Of America. is due the
honor Of first introducing the order, He
was a resident of Lyons, Clinton coun-
ty, To-, and tried to interest two fra
ternal benefit societies to which he be-
longed in a plan to extend their jurisdic-
tion beyond the limit of the state, be-
lieving their field was too small. So he
determined to starte new society. The
name was suggested to him by a sermon
preached by Rev Sidney Crawford at the
First Congregational church at Lyons,
who spoke in the course of his remarks
of the clearing away of the fore SITS by
woodmen. The name was suggestive of
a useful employment and of sturdy
health, vIgor and life. 1t was Indigenous
to the soil of the land so what could
be more appropriate than to add tie
word America? Thus he decided upon
the Modern Woodmen of America.
This is his explanation, but others
have claimed that the name was but
an adaptation of the order of Wool
splitters, a society which existed in
France in the seventeenth century. How
ever this may be- he had decided upon
name, and he next devoted some
months to the preparation of a suitable
ritual He says he was careful to see
that the charge of being a seml-rel gious
body should not apply to the new body.
The door was left open to all creeds and
all nationaltles. He issued ten thousand
copies of a prospectus in which the OBJ
iects of the order were outlined.
1t WAS III NONtillDeI, 1907 IildI liiH III
ganizing of camps began The first head
camp was held in June, 1888, and by De-
cember, 1883, the society had 24,gS0 bene-
fit members in good standing. carrying
$53, $50 900 insurance, and $4,000 insur-
ance claims had been paid on eighty
four deaths. Then came dissensinns and
an investigation by the state auditor of
Illinois, who charged its books were ir-
regularly kept and that moneys from the
benefit fund had been wrongfully used
to pay expenses. Root and his adherents
were ousted, and an entirely new set
of officers installed Since then the So
ciety has fiourished- phenomenally w.
A. Northcott, the present head consul
and C. w Halves, the head clerk, are
credited largely for the wonderful re-
suits in raising the order from a fra
ternal nursing in 1899 to the powerful
fraternal giant it IS today. In that year
he made the prediction that Woodcraft
would some time lead all other American
fraternal organizations, he now says
there will be one million Woodmen four
years from date, and two million ten
within ten years.