Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-08-14
EAGLES IN SESSION
Abegt Fifteen hundIed Delegates at l. MilwlILss -1hs Annual Rspot

Milwaukee, Aug 14--The conyeD.
 ton of the Fraternal Order of tn.
 Aerie of Eagles opened in this place
 to-day. About 1,5OO delegates being
 present for the opening exercises
 Worthy President Conrad H, Mann
 delivered the speech of welcome tc
 those in attendance. The opening
 session Is the only one which will be
 held during the week to which the
 public has been invited, all 0thel
 meetings will be in executive session
 There promises to be sta exciting con.
 test for the various offices, Grand
 Warden President Krauft of VIII.
 mington, Del, and Wood A. Carr ot
 Pennsylvania are the most active candidates.
 Grand Worthy President Fly D. Da- wis in his report said that an- other year of rapid growth in mem- bership and general strength of the fraternity, the increase in member ship being 35,O00, making total membership of 250,000 at the end of the order in San Francisco, say ing, Il am proud that we were the first of the fraternal orders to offer aid to the impoverished and home less, and I am proud that we gave to the cause more money than any simi- lar body; yet take more satisfaction and find more pleasure in the fact that the donation made and the help extended came with a willingness which showed the big heart of the order. It was befitting that Mother aerie No 1, Seattle, Wash, should head the list with the largest con- tribut!on- $3,550. The total San Francisco relief fund of the order was $60,O0O,"
 Among his recommendations are the following: We have grown so large that there is urgent need for the formation of state aeries that 1t may not be necessary for the Grand aerie officers to keep so minutely in touch with the smaller aeries. With the reorganization of the field forces along these lines, the grand president by visits to the state aeries, can as- certain the condition of the whole state. while frequent reports from the state official in command would af- ford the grand president minute de- tail of the needs of each locality. In connection with the recommenda- tion for the formation of state aeries, 1t is not amiss to mention the fact that there is urgent need for either a corps of grand physicians or state physicians"
 During the year the way has op- ened up for the advance of our work into Canada, and within a short time we should spread our benevolence to the people of those provinces. For some years We have been baffled in our efforts to enter the dominion, be- cause of their peculiar laws, but the way has at last been opened and the future there seems bright with hope"
 MT Davis reviewed his years work of travelling, during which he visited almost every state in the Union, and concludes: T wish to call your at tention to the fact that our growth has not been alone in membership; our sphere of usefulness has enlarged with the opportunities afforded and the character of our membership has been uplifted by constancy to the obligations imposed by our ritualistic work. We seem to have awakened to the realization of the purposes for which our order was founded. We seem to have grasped the spirit of fraternalism and to have become more thoroughly imbued with love for our fellow men. We have mani fested our charity; We have spread broadcast the prospects of our order, we have taught the lesson of fra to thousands of new mem- bers, and we have by constancy to one another and to our order enlarg- ed our own conception to the teach ing we have expounded.
 "I have endeavored to get close to the work of the order in the local aeries; l have met the members in their own home in various sections of the country; I have fraternized with those of the south on their own soil; have journeyed through great many states; everywhere and always the story was the same-an awakening to the higher aims of men whose purpose it is to be of mutual teaching one another by example, liberty, truth, justice and equality. The work of the year has been beneficial in a material way. or oIr order was never in better financial condition. The grand ae- rie treasury Is in healthful condi- tion. What is of more vital inter est. the local aeries show a notable tendency to such policies as will safeguard the society's funds. that there may be no collapse through i'm poverished organizations" The in- crease in membership has been mo- table. not alone from the number of additions to our organization, but what Is of vastly more concern to those of us who are looking to the future. that increase has been for the most part of such character that we may boast of it. We. nave grown so fast, that Is marvellous indeed that our membership is as clean as 1t is. We have builded with dispatch, yet tne history of the years work shows also that we have wrought with care"