Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 56 — NO. 20
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX. 76501
MAY 15, 1968
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Fraternal Benefit Society — Legal Definition. The law defines a fraternal society, order, or associat o n, social society, order or association, without capital stock, conducted solely for the benefit of its members and their beneficiaries and not for profit, operated on a lodge system with ritualistic form or work, having a representative form of government, and which makes provision for the payment of benefits in accordance with this article, is hereby declared to be a fraternal benefit society." Under this definition, and because of the humanitarian and charitable activities conducted by our lodges, our fraternal societies have been exempt from taxation. If such a tax ever comes, it will have to be passed on to the individual members. Please note the phrase ". . . operated on a lodge system with ritualistic form of work." This phrase is becoming increasingly more important with each passing pear. This is the reason the questionnaire Was mailed out to the various lodges this past fall. It is not enough for a fraternal society to merely spend thousands of dollars on a fraternal project, if such a society does not have a single lodge in existence, nor any members or fraternal activity. We must continue to show that we
are fraternal at all levels, that fraternal and related activities are actually being conducted at local lodge levels and among the membership. It is unfortunate that some of our lodges did not see fit to complete the form and return it. This makes our total picture incomplete. Nothing could have been more important.
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Gain — Gross and Net. We wrote a lot of new insurance and secured a lot of new members for our Society in 1967. In order, however, to get an accurate picture of the actual net gain, we need to look at some figures. It must be remembered that even as new policies are being written and new members secured, members are pasfing away, some certifiiates are maturing, a certain number expire, a certain number are surrendered for their cash value, and a large number lapse. Consequently, before you can start counting any net gain for any given period, you must first subtract these so-dalled 0 `lossesi." Folr example, in 1967, we had 321 deaths, 68 matured endowments, 144 expiry, 306 surrenders for cash values, and 914 lapses. (These figures will increase as we do more business). All of the above "subtractions" amounted to $3,224,000 in life insurance, and a total of 1,753 certifi-
cates. After deducting all these "losses," we had a net gain of 1,905 members, and $3,238,796 in insurance in 1967. Christmas in May. We all remember how last Christmas, and almost every Christmas before that, we expressed the hope that the true feeling of Christmas prevail throughout the year, not just at Christmastime. We'd like to recall a little incident this past Christmas in a bunker somewhere in Viet Nam. A 20-year-old Marine was spending his first Christmas away from home. He wrote home, telling of the little joys that came his way during that season. A few of his comrades gathered in that bunker to count their blessings. "Some people back home might wonder what blessings we over here have . I guess the biggest one in our hearts was our thankfulness for being alive . . . We have learned to appreciate not only life itself, but also the important things in life — friendship, love, unselfishness, and yes, a dry pair of socks. "My greatest wish in my prayers tonight was to be able to keep this feeling — not only throughout Christmas Day and every Christmas to follow, but throughout every day, before and