Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-04
Supreme Secretary Mckinley Here
High Official Paid Visit to White Cross Council Friday Even ing-Was Accompanied By State Deputy William J. Cronin-seatng Capacity of Spacious Council Chamber
 in Sunlight Building Was Taxed to Capacity -DeIega- tons from Nearby Councils Also Pay Respects to Ma tonal and State Officials.

line, and fraternal or assessment in- surance are assumed to be theorecti- cally and essentially different As a matter or Tact the basic principles are of necessity alike in each
 It Is a matter of common knowIedge . however, that fraternal insurance is the life insurance protection of the great mass of people or moderate means Dy reason of it's convenient method of easy monthly zaymerts and other attractive features
 It has been stated that. roguhly speaking, one person out of every three or four is to a greater or less degree dependent on fraterna1 insur- ance. The strength of fraternal in surance lies in its low cost of man agement.
 IL may be said, that for the most part fraternal sociecres have been economically and honestly administer ed and in many the expenses have been so nominal that it might almost be said that practically every dollar col lected from members has been return ed in benefits.
 I have referred to that wonderful phase of the orders history in con nectlon with it's insurance system Re- l maIkable as has been it's development in other activities and lines of en- deavors, in none has it been more i'm portant or worthy of note than in the field of life insurance. This topic | might we'll be treated under the title ''The Evolution of the Knights of Co., lumbus Insurance System.'' The order, as you know, was found ed as a fraternal beneficiary society ] under special charter granted by the General Assembly of the State of 1 COnn0PfjPI1f in tho
 Original Rates Insufficient. Down to 1902 our plan rested upon an un-scientific basis Supposedly 1 level rate insurance, it was really an- nual term insurance. It was equally crude and on par with the fraternals of that day in failing to recognize that each member, old and young, must pay the cost of his own insurance; that life insurance is life insurance. wheth- CT sold by a fraternal or by an old line company, and that the only ad- vantage a fraternal could offer was in the saving of running expenses cost of agents and brokers ant stockholders profits.
 Cheap Insurance" was the shibboleth among the fraternals of that day, this being invariably secured at the ex- pense of that most important quality of all-soundness..
 As time went on several changes
 
 the order. In 1886 the society, for the first time transacted its business through National officers. In 1891 it was found necessary to again amend the plans and the final change was made in 1901 when the three National Councils adopted the present Step Rate Plan which went into effect on January 1, 1902.
 Then for the first time we were placed on an adequate rate basis, on safe and sound plan, worked out in accofdance with the principles =, 0e scientific life insurance by that well recognized insurance expert David Parks Fackler, Esq, former president of the Actuarial Society of America. This all important and most far l reaching change in our system was brought about as the result of much careful consideration of the inequities and insecurities in the plan thereto fore existing.
 The benefits of that change may be noted in the phenominal increase in membership that resulted. From a | membership of 32, 900 on December 31, i 1901, we have increased to 113,000; all l mortality claims have been met 1 promptly; assets have at all times ex- | ceeded our liabilities of every kind, in I cluding our reserves.
 Equal to the Best. | It is the simple truth to say that we
 
 ] tract, with up-to-date features, that l is equal to the best in existence. Ours is a combination step-rate and | level-rate plan, combining in a hap py medium the best qualities of each. | Every member upon entry pays at a rate representing protection cost a! | his age with a moderate addition in | order to insure a lower level rate up- 1 on reaching age 55.
 | Cur certificate offers genuine protec I I@ T. | ef1ts cannot be attached for debt. In- vestment and speculation features l which make life insurance expensive form no part of our contract.
 Since the beginning of our order we have paid out in death benefits dollars to the benefciaries of our de- parted brothers. Today one hundred l and thirteen thousand members are | protected under our system to the ex- tent of s12o,00o.000 life insurance.
 Protecting the Home.
 Through this feature of ours we are
 in very truth engaged in promotine | the permanance of that great and l vital institution, the home.
 To broaden the field of our activity l In this direction requires concerted persistent, hard work, but work wins
 Perhaps some day the widow and the orohan with full hearts and gratefu
 will bless our efforts in their behalf
 In any event, prompted by a proper fraternal regard and solicitude fol
 your brother, you will have done you1
 duty as 1t lay at your hand to do. | The Apostle Paul, in writing to hit
 beloved desciple Timothy said, ''But i
 any man have not care of his own ana
 especially those of his house, he hatt
 denied the faith and is worse than ar
 inf1del." St. James in his Catholi,
 Epistle says. Religion clean and un
 defled before God and the Father fl
 this-to visit the fatherless and tn,
 widows in their tribulation and t,
 keep one's self unspotted from tn,
 things of this world.s
 Surely through the means o1 ou fraterna1 insurance plan a man "hatl ! care of his own and by it we t'vis1 { the fatherless and the widows in thei tribulation." It is most commendabl and praiseworthy to adopt resolution of respect, sympathy and regret upol the death of Brother Knight, but i , l Is only in the case of. an insuranc ? member that we are able to demon strate effectively that our fraterna ! | charity is seal-is practical. At the conclusion of his remarks, Mi }. j-Io Cix