The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-03

New York. Pennsylvania, MaSsachu- | setts. While the territory is not so
 densely populated as are the eastern states we may look forward to a
 healthy and gradual growth. which
 will be an honor and credit to the l Knights of Columbus. The institution of councils in every state in the Union where available in, | surance territory could be had has al- ways been the aim of this administra- tion, and latterly, under the authority given by the laws enacted by the Ma tional council, at Cliff Haven, the in- stitution of councils composed purely of
 associate members has been accom- | plished in states wher our laws pro- l hibit the writing of insurance. This
 policy has been pursued consistently. as | the national character of this conven- tion will testify, honestly and to the
 best of our belief, economically, ac-
 cording to our concept of the word. We showed exclusively in our re-
 port to the board of directors at their
 January meeting, that only the exten- | sion of the order into new fields has | saved us from a net loss in insured | members during 1902. This statement | is based on the fact that 175 old coun- cils failed to add one insured member during 1902, 112 councils added one in- sured member and 90 councils added two insured members each; total of 377 out of 500 councils furnishing only
 292 new insured members. When we consider that we had PAS deaths and 1ar of t1ac11 other causes in 1902, almost entirely from old councils, we can readily see that the councils from one to six hun
 dred suffered net loss, which was
 only overcome by the increase gained from our vigorous campaign in open-
 ing up and developing new territory. We are consequently enabled to show to the whole insurance world to-day a substantial gain in our insured men1-
 bership, despite our increased rates of assessment.
 He commended the present system of
 rates and recommended to the council
 the advisability of issuing policies of $2,000 and $3,000 in addition to the s1,- 900 policy now written by the order.
 He referred to the building of a home
 office, which has been under discussion some years, and said that it si abso-
 lutely necessary for the proper conduct and work of that office.
 The supreme knight further said that the efforts of the order to establish a fund for the maintenance of a chair of
 secular history in the Catholic univer- sity at Washington were nearing frui- ton.
 He submitted some Valuable statis- tics on membership, which shows the wonderful growth of the order. The report of National Secretary Col well of this city was brief, and is as follows:
 To the Officers and Members of the Ma tional Council, Knights of Colum- bus:
 New Haven, Conn.,, June 2, 1903. Worthy Brothers:
 Pursuant to custom, and in compli-
 ance with the laws of the order, have the honor to submit to you the twenty first annual report of the national sec
 retary, covering as briefly and concise
 ly as possible, the general transactions
 of the year 1902, and also the financial
 business of the order for the first three months of the year 1903.
 As in past reports to this honorable
 body, I have aimed rather at brevity and perspicuity than at any literary effort and I trust the report will be acceptable, and that the condition of
 the order, as set forth herein, will prove most pleasing and gratifying in- formation.
 With the passage of years, and the continued advance of the order, the business of the home office has made proportionate increase, and although we had thought at the close of the year 1901, that an equally strenuous year was hardly to be expected, we may safely say that our expectations were disappointed. The complete change in levying assessments, which was made necessary by the installa- tion of our new system of rates, pro- vided the then small clerical force with an enormous amount of labor. But the year just closed although unattended by any revolutionizing methods of transacting business, has gone far to prove the worth, merit and interest of the employees of the home office. A generous share of extra work has been their portion and they have always met the emergency willingly and with out comment.
 The year 1902 has been good to the Knights of Columbus. We have made a large gain in membership, as will be seen from the following tables:
 Total membership, December 31,
 1901 ENTERTAINMENT. ........... 7s,4S6 Insured members, December 31,
 1901 ............... ............. s2, ,79O Associate members, December 31,
 1901 ......,....... .............. 45,696 Total membership, December 31,
 1902 ,............ ............... ss,99S Insured members, December 31,