Official Organ Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 55 — NO. 5
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send F•r:,,a 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE, SPJ ST, POE 100, TEMPLE, TEX. 74501
FEBRUARY 1, 1967
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK SUPREME LODGE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS; As promised last week, we wish to present here this week a few more notes from last year's activities in our Order, plus a few highlights from the recent meeting of the Supreme Lodge in Temple. On January 5th, the Supreme Lodge mailed out six per cent refund vouchers to 138 lodges, in the amount of $49,097.43. You will recall that the last convention in Waco increased the amount of this refund from two to six per cent of premiums sent in by the local lodges. President Marek, in two recent announcements, has recommended that local lodges reimburse their youth leaders out of this refunded amount. Many lodges will certainly do so. During December the Supreme Lodge received 229 applications for $687,000 of life insurance. The record total for the year was 3,449 applications for $7,209,995 worth of insurance, an increase of over 1 million dollars over 1965. Although all of this amount is not placed on the books as paid-for business, it is still a record, and the SPJST should end the year by placing well over six million dollars worth of insurance on the books as paid-for business. There is always a certain amount of rejects, non-delivery of
THOUGHTS . . . Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome. You cannot build a reputation on what you are going to do. Your temper is one of the few things that doesn't get better with use. Last week I saw a man who hadn't made a mistake in 4,000 years. He was a mummy in a museum. ♦ 0 The men who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize. certificates after they were issued, and some are still being processed. Four of our districts, Districts II, III, IV, and V oversubscribed their 1966 quotas — 190 per cent, 108 per cent, 101 per cent, and 129 per cent, respectively. Three districts, Districts I, VI, and VII undersubscribed their 1966 quota — 78 per cent, 78 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively. Of the 20 organizers who were given study books on the Fraternal Insurance Sales Program, Brother Leonard Mikeska, District Organizer, District II, is the only one so far to have successfully completed both the Basic
and Advanced examinations, thus earning the degree, Fraternal Insurance Counselor (FIC). (See feature article, this issue).
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Of the $12,608 allocated for the 1966 Camping Fund, $3,210.54 was returned by the districts. This amount will be carried over into 1967. On January 1st, 1967, the cash balance in all SPJST depositories amounted to $268,595.56. By declaring a moratorium on all mortgage loans in the fall of 1966, a cash balance of $649,240.26 was accumulated, of which $546,459.24 is in the Mortuary Fund. The Supreme Lodge, therefore, decided to allocate $75,000 to each district for mortgage loan investment purposes. Thus, our mortgage loan program is again under way on a limited basis. However, since it will probably take several months to actually invest the idle funds, it was decided to invest $400,000 in short-term US government bonds. A surplus of cash was accumulated in the Epense Fund, and since these funds will be needed for convention expenses in 1968 it was decided to invest $45,000 of this amount in Certificates of Deposit in the bank for six months, bearing 5 per cent interest, compounded semi-annually. This in-