The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-08
Royal Arcanum Insurance.
To Editor of the Journal and courit

LuO- U DJ It.
 Your correspondent, an Arcanumite of eighteen years standing, fully ex- pected that an advance in the rates would become absolutely necessary sooner or later, notwithstanding the emphatic asseverations of the ''ora- tors" in 1898, that it would never be necessary to put up the rates again, and that our beloved order" had been made 'eternally safe' by the advance ] then made, etc., ste.
 Your correspondent finds in the new plan as set forth in this official circu- lar, what he did not expict to find, namely, sure evidence that the ''su- preme counciI' has deliberately deter mined to throw to the wind the basic principle of fraternity upon which the ord&r was avowedly founded, and in accord with which it was also man aged for twenty years or more. And apparently it does not propose to stop even with that revolutionary change, but has deliberately planned to dis 1 pense with justice and honor also in it's great desire to make the new rates irrestibly alluring to the young man | outside of the order. To accomplish l this, the supreme council does not hes itate to deal unfairly with all the young men within tfrsI order! The very i illustration which is used in this otfi- l cial circular makes this point plain. Here 1t is. "A member who joined the order at twenty-five, and has been a member say for fifteen years, will pay 1 o aff n0fnbaF 1 JQfS Q f | age forty years, and continue to pay the assessment at age forty until 1 he reaches sixty-five years of age, when he will pay the assessment at age 1 sixty-five as long as he remains a member" How much has the young member here described besn paying per month for his $1,000 of insurance 1 Answer, sixty-eight cents. How much is the new man at twenty-five to pay for his S1O00, from the day he joins until he is sixty-five y:ars os age? Answer, only sixty-seven cents per month, or one cent per month less than the man already within the or der has been paying for many years, and who now must pay the additional sum of thirty-s2ven cents per month until he attains the age of sixty-hVe, when he must pay the assessment at siXty-five!
 Does not this prove the correctness of my contsntion, that this new plan" dispenses with justice and honor as | we'll as with "fraternity?'
 But iniquitous as the proposed treat l,ment of the young man who joined the order few years ago is, it is not as iniquitous as the proposed treatment of the man who was induced to join the order at fifty years of age, and who has been paying his $1.9O per month on 1 each $1 ,000 of insurance right along, for on and after the first dayeof 0cto- ber aie must pay S5.S6 a month on Teach S1,OOO of insurance, or leave the order. Is it too sevsre to characterize such a proposition, or plan, as utterly absurd, as well as utterly devoid of equity and honor? As to "fraternity," | the proposed treatment of the old members is as devoid of it as was Captain Kidds plan for ridding him tself of his victims by bidding them lwalk the gang plank. Now the great kRoyaI Arcanum has announced it's prr" Epose to run out its gang-plank on the first day of October, 1905, when it will require every member who has attained Ithe age of siXty-five years or more, either to wax 1t or submit to the pro-
 posed robbery during thc remainder of his life. What display of the beau tiful principle of fraternity" that will be! What an exhibition of the divine meaning of the mystic letters which are ostentatiously printed on the orders regalia and literature, ''V. M. e.!
 Surely after that fateful day those symbolic letters should give place to
 these, which will symbolize the new spirit and purpose of the order more truly, IS. G. G."
 Let me here demonstrate the propo-
 sition that the proposed new plan and "scale of assessments" is nothing
 but a. wretched piece of guess work by a set of men who are apparently ig- norant of the A, B, c principles of life insurance.
 I will do this by means of the facts
 which are supplied by the last Official report" of the order itself, or as many of those facts as may be necessary to make the matter plain
 According to said ''repore" "seventy-one deceased members who had joined the order when they were thirty years of age, or under, had at the time of their death contributed to the widows and orphans benefit fund" only $15,3S6.64;
 but they were insured for $180,500. This
 means that the order lost $2,043S5 per capita by those seventy-one young I men!
 The same report shows that during T the same period forty-five membsrs
 diedwhol1ad joined the order when they were from fifty to fifty.nine years ot
 age, and that they had contributed $47,-
 9S6.62 to the widows and orphans } benefit tfund," whits they were insured f.for -only $12O,0OO. This means that the order lost $1,602.51 per capita by those
 forty-five old members, or over twen-
 ty-seven per csnt. per capita less than
 it lost by the young men! In view oi
 this fact, would 1t not be wise for the
 supreme council to shift its proposed
 gang-plank to the other end of the
 ship?
 I will close this communication by asking and answering this question | t4yHyI,,r {e ,oaoascarxy Fa,. tNast