Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-18
GREAT INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Omaha the Home of an Institution Of
Immense Proportions.
WORK OF wOODMEE OF WORLD
Report of Sovereign Clerk to Sow
ereign Camp Gives some Inter
estins Details Of Enormoua
Business,

up py the sovereign camp. which opened it's
session at Rochester. N. Y, Tuesday.
The report Of John 7. Yates, sovereign
clerk, IL voluminous but many interesting
facts Indicative Of the growing popularity
Of this strong fraternal organization may
be obtained by a perusal Of what at first
glance would appear to be a dry docu-
ment. This report was presented to the
assembly In Rochester yesterday.
In connection with the pertinent inter
est In the building. perhaps one of the
items of most general interest shown in
the report is q recounting Of the standing
of the building fund at the close of the
last calendar year.
Condition of the Building Fund.
In 1909 the receipts Of the building fund
were Ss1sO69.66. In the same year the dis
bursement were $4,000 In 1910 the re-
ceipts were $Si6S16.26, with disbursements
of S24, 4240S, leaving a cash balance for the
two years of s3n 1914 This fund, at that
time, included S125,O0O which was trans
ferred from the general fund in 1909. To
this balance $4,000 was added from the
building at Fourteenth and Farnam streets,
making a total in the building fund at
present of $611461.S4
While the figures have been kept secret
by the building committee, which recently
opened the bids in a meeting in Chicago,
. t is said that the structure will cost in
the neighborhood of S95O,OOO The executive
committee is expected to ratify the action
OF the building committee at the general
meeting.
The head office of this great organization
is an institution the value of which can
not be overestimated, but which is not very
well understood by the people of Omaha,
where 1t Is located. An idea of its value
may be had from the statement that at
present it employs $50 clerks exclusive of
the officials. and that the weekly payroll
is at present $3.50 This gives some notion
Of the magnitude of the business the order
carries on.
The Woodmen of the World has just at
tanned its majority. 1t was organized in
. Omaha in June, 1880, and is consequently
just twenty-one 1t now has over 100000
members, with more than 10000 camps. The
reserve or emergency fund amounts TO APP
proximately $1S,OOO,000 and over $4,000, 600
has been paid to the widows and orphans
of deceased members. This is a record of
which the officers of the Woodmen of the
World are justly proud, and one hat can
be excelled by no other fraternal insurance
organization.
Officers of the Organization.
The sovereign officers all are in Ro-
chester this week. They are: 81 o.
Joseph Cullen Root. sovereign COM
mander, of Omaha.
w A. Frazer. sovereign adviser, of
Dallas, Tex.
Norris Sheppard. sovereign banker, of
Mr.. Yates, sovereign clerk, OF Omaha.
=. II; f. Simrall. sovereign escort, of Co
1umbus Miss
b. Wood Jewell, sovereign Waterman, of
D, 2; Bradshaw. sovereign sentry. of
Little Rock, Ark.
The members Of the sovereign board of
managers are
N. b. Maxey of Muskogee Ok.
j. Il. Fitzgerald of Kansas City Mo.
William Reuse of Cleveland, o.
70. Patterson OF Chattanooga, Tenn.
elisha b. Lewis of Kingston. N. c.
Edward d. Campbell OF Port Huron,
II. t. Wells, Murray, Ky.
DIR. Ira w. Porter OF Omaha and DR..
A. d. Cloyd OF Omaha are the sovereign
physicians of the order.
a trip through the home offices of the
1odge is worth the time. Hundreds of clerks
are busy ever files and documents that
Nappear mysterious in their figure-covered
sheets There are all kinds of clerks
from the ones whose duties are comprised
mostly of simple tasks of filing to the
lens. In this small army, the workers
range from young girls to aged men; men
who have been in the service of thA order
in some instances from the time IL WAS
organized. And every one of them is a
member OF the Woodmen of the World
snd working for its interests.
business of Clerks office,
In the preface of his report, Mr.. Yates
eNDlainS in "A h.
the business that is transacted day in and
day out. year in and year out.
Twenty-Five clerks are REQUIRED I'm tn
monthly checking up OF reports from the
subordinate lodges. which average about
1900 per month, and the mailing of abou.
asOOO special remittances each month.
The volume OF business done by the car
dficate department, when the immense
amount OF detail work is considered "a
astounding. In many ways fraternai In
surance involves more executive work In
the keeping OF accounts than does the old
line life companies.
The certificate department has In charge
the applications received. Mr.. Yates re-
cites. and the volume OF business done bv
this department can be estimated when
Il is known that during 1910 49,. 80 appl-
cations were received, making an average
OF nearly 1l.Ooo a month.
The simple receipt OF these applications
is not all the work involved. 1t is a fac
ulty Of human beings to do things wrong.
to make their own rules OF conduct. in
stead OF following the prescribed course.
Therefore, many OF the applications in
themselves more or less complicated TO the
average comprehension. are filled out
enormously and have 10 be returned TO the
sender TO be corrected. The returning OF
an application is more work than issuing
a certificate, because OF errors that always
are cropping out. II is no uncommon
thing for an applicant to forget to sign
his name or 10 place an address upon the
blanks used for filing.
The details OF this routine in the GER
. tficate department are further amplified
because OF the checking system In use.
The correspondence is systematized and
usually Is answered on the day received
or ON the following day, MIR. Yates SAYS.
1t covers every imaginable subject per-
tanning TO the order and many that are
not. but must have the courtesy OF a reply.
IN average OF 2O,OO0 letters is mailed from
u lhe office every month. which gives some
\ Idea OF the tremendoum volume OF CORE