The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1920-03-10
An Appeal by
Sec. A.D. Stewart
To Officers and Members of Township
Mutual Insurance Companies Who
Have Neglected or Refused to Con-
tribute to the Relief of the Stricken
Northern Companies.
BY: a. D. Stewart

Farmers Mutual Insurance Companies.
u / address an appeal to the Directors
of the 100 Farm Mutuals Of the State
to preach the Gospel Of Mutual help
fullness as we have learned it by the
conduct of the affairs of our local
companies, and as it is being demon
strated by them in the generous con-
tributions which thew have already
made toward the accumulation of a
fund to be used BIZ the Relief Com
mittse Of the Farmers Mutual Com
I panies for the purpose of enabling
the four Farm Mutual Insurance
Companies in the burned-over district
of Northern Minnesota to pay the
excessive losses sustained by them as
result of the forest fires.
sometimes think that the average
member of our various Farm Mutual
Companies, breathes different at
mosphere, and is actuated by little
different motive than that which char
acterizes the spirit and the activities
of other nan. He is less selfish;
thinks in terms of betterment for the
community of which he is an intergral
part; has more heart and sympathy
in his social and business relations,
and when adversity comes and proper
ty is destroyed, and loved ones tax
en- away, as in the recent conflagra-
ton, the sense of comradship which
he experiences by virtue of his mem
bership in one Of these mutual COM
panies inspires him with faith, and
hope and courage, and the desire to
be of real service to his felloWmen, so
that in the hour of extremity the
truth that underneath are the Ever
lasting Arms, is borne in upon him.
The State Association of Farm Mu-
tual Insurance Companies, at its an
nual meeting last December, inven-
toried the needs of the stricken mutu-
ais. formulated plans for the relief OF
thess companies and appealed to It's
200 900 constituents to save the stu
alton. to make good the principle up
on which mutual insurance is founded
"a sure anchor in time of disaster
and their eager and generous response
challenges the wonder and admlra-
tion Of all who are so fortunate as to
know what has already been accom-
pEshed.
In the last Great R view, they who
will lead the procession. we are told,
are not they who have acquired the
most of this worlds goods, nor they
who have sought and acquired polltl-
cal renown, but rather they who take
an interest in the unfortunate, feed the
hungry. clothe the naked and give "a
cup of cold water to the. thirsty. Lit
tie would l give for the religion OF
any man, who, when he finds his
brother in need, passes by on the 9TH
er side. Like Americas part IN the
great world War, this movement
| shollld be voluntary serVlce-anc
! who of us can turn deaf ear te
IN ssThe Call of Service" ?-and what g
~snew significance the word service,
has for us in this day-it is the threao
of gold which runs through the whole
fabric of humanity, and finds its re.
Spouse in the secret chambers OF the
heart. Every Mutual insurance mar
who contributes to this fund does so
not because, but becauseshrdlucmfWyI
not because he must, but because ne
has heard "The Call to Service" anc
wants to be Of help to- his fellow
men-and this is as it should be. This
voluntary idea expresses the key note
of Mutual Insurance The highes
achievement of our mutual organiza
tions is the development along line!
of brotherhood, and fraternal feeling
The Injunction to Bear one another.
Burdens's grips us, and we experience
real joy in helping the man who i
down and out. This spirit Of mutual
ty is the saving grace in the socia
fabric of the world today.
Conditions there are pitiful in th
extreme. An area of four hundre'
Square miles were swept bare. Her
and there, one may see the foundation
where once stood the house of SOM
family, or the remains of twisted an
gnarled machinery which bears NUT
testimony to tha fact that perhap
there stood barn. No fences are t
be seen. The efforts Of these peopl
to halp one another, are pathetic. Fo
instance farmer who has almos
nothing left, endeavoring to help hi
neighbor, who, perchance, has only tn
clothes upon his back. Thousands 9
families may be found in their littl
14x16 shacks single boarded, paper
rooted, and in many cases the groun
FOR a floor, which through the gener
osity of the State were erected fo
their temporary shelter.
Can you picture to yourself one 0
these shacks inhabited by har
working father, an anxious mother
little children in whose faces in tn
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