Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1917-02-22
4 SHORT HISTORY Of
THE CLEANERS ORDER
Only Twenty-Five Years Old But
Has a Membership Of Over
$4,000 in Michigan.

Cleaner district rally TO be held n
this city on Wednesday, Februar,
18th. are complete. The forenoon SEES
sion will start at ten o'clock sharI
and take up federation matters of inn
portance. All Cleaners may take part
| in this session The afternoon session
is public. Among the special feat
ures of this session will be an address
| by Hon. Grant Slocum, founder of the
order and its present supreme secre.
tary. Mr. Slocum is an able speaker
and will interest all citizens, the bus
mess man, the laborer. and the farm
| er.
| In statement, Fred Marvin, su-
pervisor of the supreme federation
department. says: "The Ancient Or
der of Cleaners was founded in Sep
tember 1894, by Grant Slocum, and
today has a membership of more thar
5000 in Michigan. Besides this, il
is operating in Ohio. Indiana. Illinois
and Iowa"
"Of the original incorporators five
( took an active interest in the work OF
building the organization--Gra Slo-
cum, John ~ Ealy, Joseph j. Eng
land, B. f Ayres and Sherman p
Chase, all Of whom are still members
OF the Supreme Arbor. with the ex-
ception of 3 + Ayres. who was call
cd by death in 1904 The first six
hundred members Of the organization
required 10y the laws Of the state of
N4t,.L t,r.,t UNIV. -a.t,cad a,nnu0 tho
farmers residing in the townships ad-
jacent to Caro-. Michigan. the birth
place of the order. The funds for
forming the organization were fur
nished by Messrs. Slocum. Ealy. Eng
land and Chase. and amounted to
more than $1,000 This amount was
carried in a note by these gentlemen
FOR seven years and finally presented
to the organization, as 1t was found
the money could not be returned with
out handicapping the work Of the or
ganization'
The laws Of the order relating TO
membership have never been changed,
consequently the promoters of the or
ganization soon found that it would
require a strong. long pull to place
the organization upon its feet. Even
at that early day there were many
fraternal organizations, and yet none
had attempted 10 organize for the ex-
press purpose of furnishing protec-
ton TO one particular class. For more
than FIVE years none of the officers
received pay for the work or organi-
zation The founder of the order for
more than seven years furnished all
OF the printing required, and it is
needless TO say he staked all he pos
sessed on the ability of himself and
co workers to pull the organization
through.
The first meeting ever held in the
interest of the organization was in
the school district near the home of
Joseph England. AS result OF that
meeting, Caro- Arbor No. was or
ganized with a membership of thirty.
This organization is still in existence
with membership Of more than one
hundred
The secret work was first given ia
a lodge room over an old saw mill at
Ellington. Michigan The ritual was
written by the founder of the order
and was given TO a class of twenty
six candidates
The first Cleaner office was opened
in a small bedroom in the Herman
block. at Caro-, Michigan. just over
the printing Office of the founder of
the order. The equipment consisted
VI kitchen-table. one chair, and
fling case. For the first few months
the founder Of the order not only as
sisted IN organizing local arbors. but
kept up the work on his paper and
took care Of all the work at Cleaner
headquarters. After four months as
sistance was required and year later
IL required two rooms to carry on the
business Of the order Before anoth-
er year had passed, larger quarters
were required, and Supreme Treas
urer Ealy erected a second story on
his bank building and turned the same
over TO the organization. rent free
until they could afford To pay for the
same. First, only three rooms and a
vault were used; later it required the
whole Of the upper story of the bank
building to handle the business. As
the years passed, more space was re-
ouired and the offices were removed to
the McNair block. where one entire
floor was given over to the use Of the
order. The business of the order con
tinued TO grow, and it was soon APP
parent that even larger headquarters
would be required
At the biennial session of the Su-
preme Arbor. held at Toledo, Ohio,
IN 1908, the question of securing per
manent headquarters for the Cleaner
order was considered More space,
more vault room for the protection
Of valuable papers, and general re-
arrangement of the building seemed
necessary TO carry forward the work
satisfactorily and economically. Aft
CT discussing the matter for some
length Of time the delegates decided
without dissenting voice to erect
a temple at Detroit, Michigan. which
city should be made the permanent
headquarters of the organization The
resolutions passed designated the
members of the supreme council and
the supreme secretary as a building
committee and authorized the expen-
diture of not more than $4,000 for
land and building; the value Of this
nrct.nrty hoe iprraaood % etoo nnn