The Minneapolis journal., 1906-07-22

CORRESPONDENT SAYS THEY ARE
NOT SUBSTITUTES.
Membership in the Benevolent Organ
izations Declared by ''Jiner'' to be
Lacking in Certain Elements Which
Only the Church Can Supply.
TO the Editor of The Journal.

To the Editor of The Journal. .-'..l.@
This incident happened in Mime
apolis. ~
A man classed as laborer died after
q short illness, leaving a wife and two
or three small children.
1t is always tragic when the head
of young family is removed by death.
The despair of a young widow. ac-
customed to having someone to whom
she can defer in making plans, mex
perienced in solving, the everyday
problems of life, with helpless and
wondering little ones clinging to her
as the only refuge their tiny hearts
know, is something that no human
philosophy. has ever fathomed; but
when the husband and father, earning
the meager wage of laborer, working
when there is work to do and earning
nothing when there is no work, leaves
wife and little ones with little more
than a roof over their heads, their
Man of Sorrows.
It was the very day after the ,hus-
band died. The body lay under it's
white sheet in the little best room.
A Clergyman was giving the weeping
but his tender, hopefu ful words, while
they might assuage grief, could not go
far toward paying the funeral ex-
penses and afterward keeping the wolf
From the door.
Two men, strangers to both the
woman and the clergyman, knocked at
them addressed the woman in gentle
tones on her affliction and went on to
say that he was the official representa-
tive Of prominent secret socitey,
which he named, he had called to pay
her $50 funeral benefits to which her
husband, as member Of the lodge in
goodd stSanding, tam Ely was s. entitled: :p He
Then the other man spoke in the
same spirit and announced that as the
officer charged with such duties by a
certain fraternal insurance order he had
come to pay her an advance of $780,
The full benefit, he explained, was
s1,Aoo would be handed to her in a. few
weeks, or as soon as proof Of death
and other matters Of detail could be
arranged. -,
One can imagine the effect on the
widow. Her pastor out Of the good
ness of his heart had given her SIS to
pay for her immediate necessities; two
whose names she did not know, had
given her $3.50 and the assurance that
$1, 400 more would be forthcoming.
The mortgage on her little home could
Pe lifted and she would have several
hundred dollars to invest, or to live on
changed condition. And she had not
even known that her husband belonged
TO either of the lodges.
Hard to Draw Moral.
This story In all It's essentials is
literally true. It is hard to draw the
moral, for the story opens up the whole
fubjeet of why SO many poor men,
tend church, and why the fraternal
secFet societies have grown SO strong
and why they are so popular. Their
strength and popularity have been OBJ
tanned largely at the expense Of the
churches, and who can wonder9
=, The poor man Of necessity looks or
on both. He might attend church
greatly to his own edifcation and thai
Of his family; he might contribute &C
cording to his means to all the enter
Prises Of the church, but when he dies
even less than the clergyman gave the
wife of the dead laboring man in the
case cited.
Even then they would have no rea
son to complain, for the pastor and tht
church are under no obligations to dt
more: Presumably, the man and hi
family got value received when, they
tributed thereto with their substnce.
On the other hand, the fraternitie
deserve no particular credit for having
paid the widow Of the laboring ma,
1850. Thru no sentiment Of charity
was the money paid; the lodge officers
not intrude upon her grief because O.
their compassion for her, but because
holding their respective Offices, it wa
their duty to call; the money was no
paid as charity, but because the lodge
owed the money just as much as banl
presentation of a duly executed checl
Or certificate. 1t was purely a bust
hess transaction. Does one suppose tina
either lodge would have paid the widow
anything if the husband had been be
hind with his dues? Not cent.
Each Has It's Sphere.
The churches and the fraternitie
each have their sphere of usefulness
It is not the function Of church t.
s are enaPgng IN the seops
benefit year by year, until men an
women and their children may enio:
not only the fellowship of Christians
the advantages of Bible instruction
ana also many OF the maternal things o
life which work for their physical an
spiritual upbuilding and improvement
But it is hardly within the province o
the most liberal institution of religion
to pay death benefits Christians in
sure for the future life rather than 70
the present.
Nor can the fraternities take til
place Of the churches. 1t is safe to sa
that every fraternity, whether organ
lied for purely social or mixed soeia
and benevolent purposes, has as it's bas
the morality of Jesus. It does no
matter in this argument whether tn
code is lived up to or not. The mem
ber when he joins subscribes to it ant
theoretically at least, believes in il
Where that code falls down is in allow
ing the idea to obtain that morality
ell there is to any higher life.
Membership in benevolent frs
ternity carries with it certain sens
of responsibility to the local, the grant
and the supreme organization; a certai
sense of exclusiveness and fitness as c
a man who has been tried and nc
found wanting; a knowledge, that
man as member may attain to "a MOI
exalted station in society than he coul
of and thru himself The member wh
attends meetings regularly and WI
takes an interest in the lodge to tl