p. 28Life Insurance in Secret Societies

The innate duplicity of secret societies may be well exemplified by the very direction which Weishaupt, the great German mystagogue, gave to his followers, the Illuminati: “Conceal the very fact of our existence from the profane. If they discover us, conceal our real object by profession of benevolence. If our real object is perceived pretend to disband and relinquish the whole thing, but assume another name and put forward new agents.”

Life insurance in any secret society is not the prime or most important motive of its existence. Every intelligent member of a higher degree in any lodge will admit, if candid, that there is an ulterior, deep, far-reaching purpose, in no connection and to no purpose in any merely benevolent association. Social advantages, political schemes and hopes, pecuniary speculations form part of the programme, but I have heard it time and again from the lips of prominent members that all these are not a tenth of the aims and objects. To be seminaries for the Masonic Order and auxiliaries to the principle of Masonry in doing away with Christ and His Church is the main reason for the existence of secret societies.

The insurance feature enables some of the officers to get an easy living. Thus we read in these days of conventions that the Grand High Bombaston draws a salary of $10,000; the Supreme Chief Ranger $8000; the Supreme Mystic Ruler and Supreme Dictator each $4000; Supreme Commander $5000, and so on.

What the Past Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias has to say in the letter copied below has been said by nearly all other leaders in the different secret societies.

Elk River, Minn., Jan. 7, 1895.

Editor Advocate:

“I have been silent much longer than I intended, though doubtless what is my loss is your gain. I thought long ere this to write you from the far West where I intend to make my future home; but fate seems to be temporarily, at least, against me, and so I submit to the inexorable decree with as good grace as possible, considering my former determination never to pass another winter in this hyperborean region. As a Pythian state, Minnesota is a grand success, and this is all the concession I am prepared to make; and I have been forced to believe that Pythianism demands just about such winters as Minnesota furnishes for its most vigorous development. In other words, they have to hustle to keep warm. But whether this idea is correct or not, I am proud of Minnesota for her Pythian record, her determination to lead; and this brings me to the point I wish to make, the object of this communication. In doing this I am moved by no other consideration than the highest good of the Order, an Order that has constantly grown in my estimation as a remedial force in society ever since I took my instruction therein; and if its principles, its objects and aims are rightly taught and understood and then practiced accordingly, Pythianism would furnish different results from that obtained today in very many localities. Thousands enter this Order for no other reason than what they can get out of it in dollars and cents. Take away the promised benefits, or hope of material advantage, and the work of suspension would be more rapid than that of gain. Now, in soliciting material for our lodges, the idea of pecuniary aid should never be hinted at. It is perfectly absurd to tell a man, in glowing rhetoric, how much will accrue to him financially if he will only connect himself with the lodge. If you can’t reach a man except through his stomach or by an appeal to his avarice, give him the go-by; for we have too much of this timber already. It is this class that carries into the lodge the tactics of the ward politician, and on the eve of an election you will find him as busy as a bee getting in his work among the members; and unless he wins, he finds it inconvenient for him to attend lodge thereafter. During our civil war, it was alleged that fat salaries made many truly loyal, and almost without an exception their loyalty increased in proportion to increase of salary. The same holds true with scores in our lodges today. There are members who will supplant a brother by means that a political trickster would scarcely use, and think it smart. Now, Mr. Editor, these fellows are ignorant of the first elements of Pythianism.”

“That ‘Grecian Scene,’ the most remarkable exemplification of unselfish devotion in the history of the world, has less significance to him than a horse-race. While I am as eager as anyone to augment our numerical strength, I cannot resist the annoying impression that we have rushed our superstructure too rapidly by the introduction of timber that an eye to symmetry, beauty and durability would have rejected. Our basis, our foundation is the grandest of human conception; our superstructure thus far reared has radical defects, and it devolves upon the true Pythian by means at his command to mold this heterogeneous mass into forms of beauty and loveliness fit to adorn the temple of Pythian manhood. I say by means at his command, for the true loyal Knight appreciates the grandeur and nobility of the chase and thus armed he is inspired thereby in every word and gesture to elevate all with whom he comes in contact, to his plane of Pythian existence. We are building, not for the present alone, but for the vast future. Our Order is to live co-extensive with the mightiest achievement of human intelligence; and after I shall have ceased to plead for the cause so dear, upon the shaft of marble or granite that may arise at the call of affection to indicate the repose of my humble dust, no grander eulogium could be pronounced than that I was a true Knight of Pythias.”

“E. W. B. Harvey, P. G. C.”

Life Insurance is a comparatively modern institution and looked upon in diverse ways. A number of Christians look upon it as sinful because they see in it a want of confidence in divine Providence. They say: “God knows what we need; He is our Father and in Him we must trust, for Christ said: ‘Be not solicitous, therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? for after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and his justice and all these things shall be added unto you.’” (Math. vi, 31-33.)

Another class of people look upon Life Insurance as a sure way to infidelity. Their sentiments are expressed by the French writer, Guyau, mentioned above. He says: “Among the causes which will tend in the future to eliminate the dogma of a special Providence, let us note the development of the arts, even the art of commerce and industry, which is still in its very beginnings. Merchants and workmen, equally, have learned already to rely upon no one but their own individual selves, to rely each upon his own initiative, his personal ingenuity.”

“In modern commerce the ‘positive,’ spirit-restless intelligence and calculation outstripping chance tends to become the true and sole element of success; as to the risks, which, in spite of every precaution, still remain, they are covered by insurance.”

“Insurance, then, is a conception altogether modern, whose operation is to substitute the direct action of man for the intervention of God in private affairs, and which looks to the recompense for a misfortune before it has happened. It is probable that insurance, which dates only some few years back and is spreading rapidly, will be applied some day to almost every form of accident to which man is liable; will be adapted to every circumstance of life, will accompany us everywhere, will envelop us in a protecting net. …”

“It is possible that the notion of a special Providence will some day be completely eliminated from the sphere of economics; everything that in any manner whatsoever is capable of being estimated in terms of money will be covered by an insurance, shielded from accident, made independent of divine favor.”

The majority of people, however, look upon Life Insurance as a business transaction, and in the present economical condition of society as a necessity, and they say: Every man with a clear head for business takes life insurance with three objects in view:

First, as indemnity payable to his family, or estate, or creditor, in case of death.

Second, as a preparation for old age when it is no longer possible to earn a living.

Third, as a method of saving.

In order to accomplish these objects, the institution selected must be permanent, it must have unquestioned financial standing and its business must be conducted according to principles laid down by some of the world’s greatest mathematicians and tested by the experience of one hundred and fifty years. These principles are as well understood and as certain in their operations as the law of gravity, and by their aid the “old line” or regular premium life insurance companies have built up a solid business.

According to the Insurance Year Book there were on January 1, 1902, eighty of these companies in the United States, possessing assets of $1,921,434,601. These companies have paid to their policy holders since organization the enormous sum of $2,915,351,025.

The operations of these companies are based upon carefully prepared mortality tables, from which can be ascertained the probable number of persons who will die out of a given number at each age, and a sufficient amount of premium is charged to pay off each death loss as it occurs. This premium is a fixed annual payment which provides for the increasing death rate due to advancing age. Policies of this kind have a cash value that may be drawn upon in case of emergency, or which may be drawn out in case the policy holder desires to give up his insurance. In this way a member protects his family against his death at the same time he protects himself against emergencies and old age. The companies doing business on the scientific old-line plan are so solid that every member is sure of his protection so long as he desires to keep his membership. In every state there are laws providing for the incorporation of companies using this system and for governing their operations.

According to the last United States census 325,829 males over 19 years of age died in the United States during the census year. During 1901 the eighty American life insurance companies previously mentioned paid in death claims $117,884,361, or an average of $361.76 for each such death.

Besides the old line insurance companies’ system there is the open business assessment system, in which the contract between the association and the insured is sometimes called a policy and sometimes a certificate. This system has no lodges or fraternal bond to bind the insured together, and the associations are merely business concerns without a representative form of government, generally close corporations. In every state, also, laws are found for their incorporation and supervision.

The most widely spread system is the fraternal beneficiary system or that of the secret societies, composed of societies having a representative form of government, subordinate lodges and ritualistic work, furnishing financial assistance to living members in sickness or destitution, providing for the payment of benefits to living members in case of partial or total physical disability arising from sickness or old age, and providing benefits at the death of members for their families or dependent blood relatives.

The uniform bill adopted by the National Fraternal Congress, which has been engrafted on the statute books of several of the states, defines what constitutes a fraternal beneficiary society in the following terms: Section 1. A fraternal beneficiary association is hereby declared to be a corporation, society or voluntary association, formed or organized and carried on for the sole benefit of its members and their beneficiaries and not for profit. Each association shall have a lodge system, with ritualistic form of government, and shall make provision for the payment of benefits in case of death and may make provision for the payment of benefit in case of sickness, accident or old age, provided the period of life at which payment of physical disability benefits on account of old age commences shall not be under seventy years, subject to their compliance with its constitutions and laws. The fund from which the payment of such association shall be defrayed shall be derived from assessments or dues collected from its members. Payment of death benefits shall be to the families, heirs, blood relatives, affianced husbands, affianced wives, or to persons dependent upon the members.

The laws of the Fraternal Congress declare that no fraternal society, order or association shall be entitled to representation in it unless the latter “works under a ritual, holds regular lodge or similar meetings, where the purposes are confined to visitation of the sick, relief of distress, burial of the dead, protection of widows and orphans, education of the orphan, payment of a benefit for temporary or permanent disability or death, and where these principles are an obligated duty on all members, to be discharged without compensation or pecuniary reward; where the general membership attend to the general business of the order, and where a fraternal interest in the welfare of each other is a duty taught, recognized and practiced as the motive and bond of organization.” The mutual agreement between the fraternal society and the member is not a policy or contract like that entered into between a life insurance company and its policy holder. Fraternal societies simply issue a certificate of membership, in which the member agrees to comply with all the rules and regulations in force at the time he becomes a member, and with all changes in the laws, etc., that may be lawfully made during his membership. He has no vested or property rights while living and belonging to such societies unless he should become sick or disabled, and then only after his claim has been allowed. After the death of a member who has complied with the laws, the beneficiary has a vested or property right to the amount of a deceased member’s certificate, as provided by the society’s laws.

As life insurance then is a monetary transaction “do ut des,” what need is there of signs and symbols, of grips and passwords, of chaplain and unchristian ceremonies, of blind obedience and unnatural oath, of debasement and slaving submission?

About the condition of the insurance feature of fraternal societies in the state of Illinois the insurance commissioner has this to say on August 4, 1901:

“The state has by statute required these societies to report annually their condition and transactions to the department, and has enacted certain regulations for the government of their business. But these laws are inadequate for such measure of supervision as looks to the ability of the society to fulfill its obligations in the future. There is not even a test of present solvency established. A society encounters no obstacle in delaying the payment of claims and permitting an amount of unpaid losses to accumulate until so large that it is beyond the ability of the members to respond to assessments necessary to meet them. No emergency fund is required.”

“In many cases rates so low were adopted at organization as to lead one to conclude that the law of mortality was construed as containing an exemption applicable to fraternal societies. A reluctance to encounter the criticisms and vexations liable to follow a rise of rates or an increase in assessments causes the managers to put off this necessary action, and in the meantime the amount of unpaid death claims continues to grow. This condition was strikingly illustrated during the year by the failure of one of the largest societies in the state.”

The State Insurance Commissioner of Iowa, Mr. Max Bechler, is quoted in the Dubuque Catholic Tribune of August 15th, 1901, as follows:

“There are fifty-nine fraternal societies doing business in Iowa, five less than last year, and of that number many are exceedingly short-lived, and some would better never have been born. The purpose of a number of companies seems to be to furnish cheaper insurance than the next one, and looking at them from the standpoint of an experienced insurance man, I cannot but feel confident that some of them will surely come to grief. A fraternal order cannot stand unless it raises its rates sufficiently high to cover the premiums which are bound to require payment at some time in the future. They will also have to be more careful about the physical condition of the members taken in. The fraternal orders have done great good for widows and orphans, but the only hope of the members can be to die before the company does.”