,svic31"cr: eptraitt Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas, Founded 1897. HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 56 — No. 47
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX 76501
NOVEMEIt 20, 1U68
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Life Insurance Proceeds Not Taxable. Life insurance proceeds at death are not subject to federal income tax; nor is the cash value, if withdrawn, unless it amounts to more than you have paid into the policy. However, when an estate (including life insurance) owned by the deceased is worth more than $60,000, it is then subject to estate taxes. These questions are asked time and again by policy holders and so we are passing this on to our readers again. • • interest On A Policy Loan. Some people think they shouldn't have to pay interest on money they've put in when they borrow against their policy. But think about this: the cash value doesn't really belong to you unleSs you turn in your policy. Consequently, when you borrow against it, you're actually drawing on the life insurance company's general assets that would otherwise be used to earn interest elsewhere, probably through investments. Therefore, it's only natural that you make up the revenue loSs by paying interest on the money you have out against it. Remember that insurance premiums are based in part on anticipated earnings through investments, etc., and if such anticipation
THOUGHTS . . A man gazing at the stars is at the mercy of every puddle on the road. ' There is little chance for people to get together as long as most of us want to be in the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the middle of the road. Trouble is like a seive through which we rub our acquaintances. The big ones who won't go through, we call `friends. did not exist, premiums would have to be set higher than they are to make up the difference. BorroWing against your policy should be done only as a last resort. HoW much you can borrow depends, of course, on the cash value you have built up. Keep in mind, however, that if you die before the loan is repaid, your family's (or beneficiary's) proceeds and protection is reduced by what you have outstanding against the policy, plus the interest due.
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On Being A Good Citizen. Being a good citizen of these United. is a difficult and demanding job. But the rewards are worth all the effort neces-
sary to preserve our hard-won freedoms. The key to this preservation is your participation in the political processes of government and your use of the ballot box. The hand that marks the ballot controls the destiny of freedom and the free enterprise system. History has shown that when fredom is lost through carelessness, selfishness, or just plain indifference, it is seldom regained, or it is reestablished at great cost and suffering. Although freedom is oftentimes taken for granted, it is not free -- and it must be vigilantly defended. In Your Own Backyard. Certain Brazilian shepherds once organized a party to go to California to dig gold, and took alofig a handful of translucent pebbles with which to play checkers on the voyage. After arriving in San Francisco, and after they had thrown most of the pebbles away, they discovered that they were diamonds. They hastened back to Brazil, only to find that the fields from which the pebbles had been gathered had been taken up by other's and sold to the government. The majority of us have yet to learn that "Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to