Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 56 — NO. 18
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX. 76501
MAY 1, 1968
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK THIS, THAT, AND THE. OTHER . CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED beating the deadline for reporting names of delegates, etc. It would be
Excellence. The trait of excellence has never known a surplus condition. Whether you labor at a desk, on the farm, or sweep floors, the best security you can get is by simply doing that job better than anyone else. This fact is sometimes overlooked by our social planners and reformers, who appear to be in long supply. It won't do much good to worry about people being out of jobs if they don't strive for excellence when they do have a job. In most such cases, reforms must come from the individual, not the government. As one writer recently put it, we seem to be in the middle of a "paralysis of analysis." •
Statistics on Delegates. In this issue our readers will find the list of delegates to the coming 20th Convention in June. The list is complete, save for the name of one delegate from Lodge 88, Houston. There will be 229 delegates to the next convention, provided, of course, all of them are present. Number of lodges represented: 109. Number of lodges not represented: 29. Some comparative figures are interesting. In the 1964 convention, 187
"An essential feature of our form of government is the right of the citizen to pairticipate in the governmental, process. The political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence is that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and the right to a voice in the selection of officers of government on the part of all citizens is important, not only as a means of insuring that government shall have the strength of popular support, but also as a means of securing to the individual citizen proper consideration of his rights by those in power." Judge John J. Parker (Rice vs. Elmore, 1947).
delegates were present in the convention, and 106 lodges were represented. Number of lodges not represented in 1964: 15. We can thus see that both the number of delegates and the number of lodges not represented are increasing. Those not represented may be attributed to a number of things: not having enough members to elect a delegate, overlooking the election of a delegate, neglect, failure to hold elections, not LIST OF DELEGATES IN THIS ISSUE
interesting to know how many of the 28 not represented this year were entitled to elect a delegate but did not do so, and why. The biggest gain in number of delegates from any lodge is, of course, the phenomenal growth at Lodge 88, Houston. In 1964 they had 16 delegates; this year, just four years later, they will be represented by 38 delegates! • • The Human Life In Dollars and cents. In estimating the economic value of the human life, particularly the head of a household, we might well use the following illustration. Let us assume that . Mr. A, at age 35, has a gross annual income of $12,000. After taxes and other deductions, his net income amounts to $10,000. Of that amount, he uses $3,000 to support himself, leaving $7,000 for the support of his wife and children. Assuming that he has a life expectancy of about 33 or 34 more years, but expects to retire at age 65, he can expect 30 more productive years. Furthermore, assuming that his earnings, taxes, and deductions will remain roughly the same over the years, we can conclude that Mr. A's economic value can be calcu-