Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-24
A. o. U. W. AFFAIRS.
Members of 55 Years of Age Will Have
 Assessment Increased.

Members of 55 Years of Age Will Have
 Assessment Increased.
 New Haven, July 24.-There is con- siderable agitation among members Of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in this city because of a certain an- nouncement issued from the supreme lodge of the order, but the members Of the order who are acquainted with the facts believe the consternatdon to be premature and caused by lack of know ledge of what is intended. The an- nouncement is to the effect that mem- bers of the order who are above 55 years of age will be subjected to con siderable of an increase on their pres ent assessments, while those members below that age will receive a nominal raise. This new schedule was adopt ed by the supreme lodge at its last meeting in St Paul, Minn, June 9, 1905. It has now been sent to the state grand lodges, and if adopted by them goes 1n- to force.
 About 1900 members of the order in this state are above 55 years of age.
 The most reliable information on the subject is contained in the official cir cular of William H. Miller of St Louis, Mo, the recently elected supreme mas ter workman, which contains the fol- lowing:
 '"The order is we'll aware that we dis covered some time ago that the system on which we were conducting business would not perpetuate 1t. and secure to it's members the protection which was it's principal function to furnish. The system was changed to the classified plan seven years ago, with the recogn1- ton that additional provisions needed to be made for the deficiency pay ments of members in the ages above 50. Three years ago this provision was made, and we have had two years experience with tine change at that time adopted, with the result that we have discovered that it Is wholly inadequate and needs reorga nlZdtlon. At the last session of the supreme lodge a committee of seven members was created, for the purpose of going over the whole subject, giving 1t thorough investigation and reporting to the supreme lodge what was neces sary to be done in order that our sys- tenn should be adequate and not SuD- ject to future notifications. To th@ end provision was made for a careful collection of the statistical history Of the order for the uses of the commit tee. This being in the hands of the committee, It was then determined to secure the highest professional advice obtainab1e from among the actuaries or the country who were friendly and fa- vorable to fraterna1 societies.
 Careful compilation of the statis- tics and calculations disclosed the fact, now well known to the order, that the death rate increases with advancing age. It is we'll known that the order has not attained, even yet, such age as to have distributed its members over all the ages of life to the end. The object sought, then. was to ascertain from ollr own experience what the death rate and consequently the cost Of protection will be when the order should have attained to this position. From table constructed from our own experience the calculation was made as to the sufficiency of our present system, which disclosed the fact that to carry out and fulfill our present con- tracts at existing rates would require much more money than our present rates would yield.
 "In view of these facts 1t became ne- cessary for the supreme lodge to make 1 such changes in the system as would dispose of this deficiency and prevent the accruing of more. Tn doing this the supreme lodge had regard to the fact that the payments of members in the higher ages should be kept at the lowest possible limit, and that as much of the burden be assumed by the younger members as they would be willing to bear. With this view the l rates given below were made.
 The rates for $1,0O0 protection are as follows: