Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-02
SECEDERS LOSE
GROUND EACH DAY
Rebellion in Ranks of Modern
Woodmen Does Not Meet
With Much Favor.
STATE OFFICIALS OPPOSE
Commissioners of Insurance Take
Positive Measures Against
Plans of Malcontents.

The talk of secession from the |
Modern Woodmen has almost ceased,
since the promoters of the movement
in favor of the rebellion against the
new rates adopted at the Chicago
head camp have heard what the in
surance commissioners of many
states have to say on the subject.
Of the commissioners, Messrs.
narst of West Virginia, Henry of
Mississippi, Ekern of Wisconsin, Done
of Utah, Hotchkiss of New York,
| Hallabaugh of Idaho, Potter of Illi-
nois and Preus of Minnesota, have
stated reimbursement was the best
and only thing the Modern Woodmen
or any other fraternal society could
do where insurance was being fur
nished at less than cost, or where
present assumed obligations matur-
| ing in the future are not fully pro-
vided for.
OTHERS RATES HIGHER.
| The insurance commissioners NAM
ed, and others, have said in emphatic
terms that no new society could
transact business in their several
states except by rerating, if an old
society, or by complying with the Ma
tional Fraternal congress table of
mortality, which is II per cent high
Ell than the Modern Woodmen.
| The National FraternaI congress
table furnishes the basis for rates in
20 states, the congress having adopt
ed that table as the minimum under
which new societies may be organ
lied and transact business. Their
precaution is taken to protect the
people against unstable or wildcat"
organizations. many of which have
sprung up in the past and would
spring up now were strict regulation
not the rule.
NO LICENSE TO SECEDERs.
The first plan of the recent Min
neapolis meeting was to organize a
rev society, but this was given a
quick quietus by Commissioner of
Insurance Preus, who said new So
ciety of seeding Modern Woodmen
would be refused a license in Mime
sofa. Commissioner Ekern of Wis
ccnsin followed with statement of
similar purport, and it is doubtful If
a state commissioner can be found
in any one of the As states in the
Modern Woodmen jurisdiction who
would issue a charter to any new
society unless its rates were higher
than those recently adopted by the
| oil
would be due to existing laws, and
/ would on no account be owing to
/ friendship to the Modern Woodmen
, society or it's officers. Stability and
honesty of the organizations desir-
, ing to transact business are the frs!
and only requirements.
! ANOTHER SCHEME NIPPED.
: But there were other things to
: meet in the scheme of secession
= Take the affair at Winfield, Kan, as
an example. There, it was pro-
posed by few kickers, led by A. l.
futile and J. P. Gray, to foment q
r rebellion among the members of the
Modern Woodmen camps, using the
t rate adjustment as basis, and then
: throwing out what they believed
q would be an enticing piece of bait in
e the shape of an invitation to join g
! new Kansas society that they propos
= ed to organize without the. usua
a medical examination required of al
i men applying for any kind of life
insurance.
However, now comes I. S. Lewis
superintendent of insurance. in Kan
I sas, with a definite, positive ruling
t on this subject In a letter to f. E
= Miller, chief clerk of the United
States pension agency at Topeka, Su
4 perintendent Lewis puts the fina
word of condemnation on the Tut
tle-Gray project. He says, in answe
to two questions propounded by Nh
Miller:
at has always been Requirement
of this department that fraterna
beneficiary societies issuing life in
srrance certificates should provid
for a medical examination of it
members and that any member fail
ing to pass the medical examinatio
was not eligible to admission.
could do nothing else but decline
admit a fraternal beneficiary societ
whose bylaws, which must be sui
mitted to and approved by this d.
partment, failed TO provide for
medical examination of its benefic
airy members"