The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-24
SEQ. A. BANGS ADDRESS At CH|CAG0
"Mlstaken Principles Of Charity"
COMPOUNDED With Business In
Fraternal Societies.

At Its 1904 convention held at Louis
Vile the supreme lodge Knights Of
Pythias made provisions for special
commission. the purpose of which was
to make all necessary Investigations
and report back at the 1906 convention
to be held In New Orleans, plans to
make the insurance furnished by the
endowment rank of the order the very
best fraternal insurance possible and
to put the society upon a permanent,
stable, financial basis to the end that
1t might perpetuate itself; the COM
!. mission was also required to devise
plans to equitably distribute over its
membership the amounts necessary to
defray mortality and other costs.
BY special resolution the supreme
lodge requested the appointment of
Mr.. Geo. A. Bangs as member of
such committee and the other MEM
bers were designated by the supreme
chancellor as follows: Zeno M. Host
insurance commissioner of Wiscon-
sin, Union B. Hunt. ex-secretary of
state and now chairman of the rail-
road commissioners of Indiana, Carl
+. kuehnle of Iowa, partner of Secre-
tary Shaw of the treasury, and Mr..
John NJ. Adams of Texas. The COM
mission employed Mr.. 8. H. Wolfe as
chief actuary and among other con-
suited with Messrs. Dawson. Lands
and Mandt, consulting actuaries.
The report of the committee has
been completed and is. now being
printed; the meetings of the commit
tee have been held in Chicago and af-
ter the adoption of the report and the
approval thereof by the board of con-
troll. which body was at the same time
In session. banquet was rendered to
the commission and to the board at
the Hotel Lexington: addresses were
made by the supreme chancellor and
supreme vice chancellor. Mr.. Wolfe.
Mr.. R. H. Jackson of Pittsburg, and
others. In responding to toast Mr..
Geo. A. Bangs of this city, among
other things, said:
Supreme Chancellor and Members
of the Supreme Committee and Board
of Control
''The adoption of this report marks
an epoch in the history of fraternal
insurance societies: it will stand as
the height of the divide between the
old and the new in their progress.
The old theory of fraternal insur-
ance was peculiar admixture of mis-
taken principles of charity with those
of business; use the expression
mistaken principles of charity" ad-
visedly because in practice the result
of their application was that in the
hour of need when distress demanded
alienation the fund had been dissi-
pated and the society was found want
ing, which result was attributable en-
tirely to the failure to appreciate that
charity" cannot be interjected into
business propositions and that any So
ciety mourning obligations running
into the millions, can be governed by
none except strict business principles:
such a society cannot sell its product
for less than it's cost, because. if it so
does, ultimately it becomes insolvent
or some one must pay not only for
his own but for another's insurance.
When the endowment rank is en-
barked upon the recommended plan
it will furnish no insurance for less
than cost and, because thereof. it
will be enabled to furnish to all at
the minimum safe cost: to some such
cost may be greater than formerly,
but the increase will fall only upon
those who in the past. have obtained
protection for less than its value and