The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-06-30
STATUS OF WOODIAN RATE
INCREASE SUIT

There are probably thousand
members of the M00dmen of the
World in this county who are vitality
Interested in the lawsuit testing the
legality of the action Of the Sover-
eign Lod C Of the or.ier in advancing
fhe laass and leHying 4 lien upon It's
members policies, and as The Dis
patch promised these 70 keep them
Informed SIS to the progress Of the
Hon. Claud H. Wilkinson giving the
result Of the hearing recently conclud-
"a In Nebraska. The article Is from
his pen and Is pub ishea in the iast
number Of the Woodmen Voice and is
as follows;
In the last issue of the Woodmen
Voice promised the membership to
furnish them with all information in
connection with the trial which is
pending at Nebraska City, Nebraska.
The case was set down fer trial
on the eth day Of June. 1920 On
that day both sides appeared before
the court and announced ready for
trial
Judge Bcglcy, who is the regular
Judge in the district of which Otoe
county is a part, disqualified. His
reason for disqualifying was because
the attorneys for the SoveI eign Camp
and others connected with the defense
OF the case had made statements to
the effect that Judge Begley was pre-
JUDGED against the defense. These
statements were prompted by reason
Of the fact that some years back
Judge Begley was connected with q
suit Of similar consequence on behalf
Of the insuFgent members 0f the Mod
ern Woodmen Of America. This made
ii embarrassing to the court and he
accordingly disqualified himself call
cd III Judge Button, Of Fremont,
Nebraska, to try the case
AS stated before, the attorney for
both sides announced ready before
Judge Button and we proceeded with
the trial.
The attorneys appearing ON behalf
az plaintiffs were p. w, Livington,
Nebraska City, Neb.; Wilkerson and
Barnett, Sedalia, Mo-; Whitley, Me-
lntyre, Nardin and Nielsen, st. Louis,
Mo: Judge F. B. Swank, Norman,
Okla; Jerry f. Dugan, st. Louis, Mo.
Charles f. Keller, st. Joseph, Mo-;
Herschel r. Smith, Fulton, KY, and
G. FL. Danbner, Waukesna, Wis; for
the defendant, De Bradshaw, general
attorney for the Sovereign Camp;
Gaines and Pratt, Of Ohama, Neb.,
and w. b. Price, general attorney for
the Woodmen Circle.
The opening statement on the part
Of the plaintiff was made by Mr..
Barnett Of Sedalia, Nc, and on the
part of the defendant by De Brad
shaw. of Omaha, Nebraska. and the
trial was Immediately proceeded with
1t will not be necessary to men
tion any of the witnesses in the case
outside of the most important ones
II is sufficient to say that TWO net
naTies testified In behalf of the plaiF.
tiff showed conclusively that the rats
were arrived at upon an arhitrar.
basis. Ii was particularly develoile.
in the testimony Of Alb Lands sani
Mr.. Marklin, who We're the actuarie
who first compiled the rates, cha
lhEA put lne rates as niEn dS blts
possibly could. Mr.. Mackin test flied
and he is the actuary regularly EN-
ployed by the society, that his on
idea in compiling the rates was to b.
sure to make them high enough an,
not to take any chances whatever il
making them too low, So, in orde
to be certain that the rates were higl
enough, he took the mortality tabl
Of the Woodmen of the World AM
first compiled the net rate. He mad
this net rate so high that it, in itself
according to his testimony, Shove,
the selyency to be 10097 per cent. HI
then testified that in order to h.av'
proper expense money to run the so
ciety on, he placed an additional. i
per cent. on the rates, This addi
tiCnal Is per cent. was termed tn
loading and made up the gross rate
Of the society. He testified that the
were going to use 10 of this Is pc
cent. to conduct the expenses Of til
society, and said in his testimony ha
the remaining was put on the gi'os
rates as a factor of safety Also i
addition to the Is per cent. they pa
upon the rates as expense money tn