FRATERNAL INSURANCE IN AMERICA 247 



procedure are described; and all previous laws inconsistent 

 with the act repealed. 



The National Fraternal congress has repeatedly been men- 

 tioned. Without fear of successful contradiction, one may 

 say imhesitatingly that no other factor in the fraternal world 

 to-day approaches in its importance the national congress. 

 A careful study of the proceedings of this body will convince 

 the student that from first to last it has stood for enlightened 

 and progressive measures which have long begun to bear fruit 

 in the reforms which have resulted from them. 



The idea of such a congress originated in the state of New 

 York, where the local societies had organized a state federation 

 for the promotion of their o\vn interests. In response to a call 

 issued by the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the father of 

 modem fratemalism in the United States, a convention of 

 representatives of fraternal societies was held in Washington, 

 D. C, in November, 1886. This organization session in- 

 cluded delegates from seventeen orders with an aggregate 

 membership of 535,000, carrying insurance to the amount of 

 1,200 millions. The latest congress embraced forty seven 

 orders ^\ith an aggregate membership of 2,668,649, carrjdng 

 insurance to the amount of 4,021 millions of dollars and having 

 paid over thirty eight millions in benefits during the year. 

 These statements reflect the magnitude of the interests cen- 

 tered in the National Fraternal congress. The objects of the 

 congress, as defined in its constitution, are declared to be the 

 uniting permanently of all legitimate fraternal benefit societies 

 for the purposes of mutual information, benefit and protection. 

 Representation in the congress is graded according to the mem- 

 bership of the respective societies. Eligibility for membership 

 on the part of a society is contingent upon meeting the require- 

 ments of the definition of a fraternal society, contained in the 

 uniform bill discussed above, which, in turn, is but a modified 

 statement of the distinctive features of a fraternal benefit 

 society as enumerated in a clause of the constitution of the 

 congress from the time of its organization. Membership in the 

 congress further involves the payment of an annual fee, vary- 

 ing from thirty five to one hundred and fifty dollars. The 

 constitution institutes the usual set of officers with customary 



