ZiJ Z Peraiti Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas, Founded 1897.
VOLUME 57 — NO. 31
BROTHERHOOD
HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX 76501
JULY 30, 1969
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Some years ago your editor read of a boy who had been struck on one side of his face by the end of a live electric wire which burned and para• lyzed that one side. In court, the boy's lawyer asked the little fellow to turn toward the jury and smile. When he tried one side of his face sinned, however, the injured side puckered up in a pitiful contortion. The jury took just nine minutes to award the boy $25,000. To them that was tie value of a smile. 11 a smile is worth $25,000 after you lose it, surely it must be worth that much or more while you still have it!
CHOOSING FRIENDS. Some choose their friends as they choose their hats — The flashy kind, and daring. Alas, that kind of hat, or friend, Grows irksome with the wearing! Some friends are most impressed by what Another owns, or spends. Friendships like this are idle show — When money's gone, it ends! Some Mks choose friends whom they can use; This causes woes and worry. F or when they've used friends all they can, They drop 'em in a hurry!
rangements, according to best available estimates. At year end 1967, group plans insured 132 million American workers and their dependents for hospital coverage, over 128 million for surgical expense protection, and 52 million for life insurance. Another 31 million employees had disability insurance under group plans, and about 28 million workers were under private retirement plans. In recent years, for most types of employee, benefit plans, the growth in coverage exceeded the over-all rate of growth of the labor force itself. But hospital and surgical expense plans showed a decline in coverage in relation to the work force.
Employee benefit plans .continue to show gains both in coverage and benefit payments, according to the Institute of Life Insurance. Citing the latest U.S. government figures just available, the Institute notes that employees received payments estimated at $15.7 billion in -1967. This was an increase of 01.3 billion, or nearly 9 per cent, over the previous year. Contributions to the plans both by employers and workers, amounted to $22.3 billion, a gain of $1.5 billion, or 7 per cent, over 1966. Group health insurance benefits totaled nearly $8 billion, up 7 per cent. Contributions to health care plans increased 6 Per cent during the year,
bringing the total to $8.5 billion. They represented nearly $2 of every $5 going to employee benefit plans. Retirement plan contributions rose $790 million and amounted to $9.2 a 9 per cent gain over the billion previous year. Benefit payments in 1967 totaled $4.2 billion, an increase of $470 million. The balance was held for future retirement income. An estimated 11,300 pension plans and 9,200 profit-sharing plans were approved by the Internal Revenue Service during 1967 — a record number. More than 150,000 plans were in operation at the end of the year, 58 per cent of which were pension plans and the balance profit-sharing ar-
According to an analysis of 98 large negotiated health and welfare plans, more than 3 out of 5 have extended health benefits for retired members. Overall, employee coverage for life insurance and accidental death showed sharp increases during the year. About 64 per cent of the work force had group life insurance protection on the job, while 43 per cent had accidental death protection. Contributions to both plans totaled $2.7 billion. In 1967, about 2.1 million additional workers came under programs providing group life insurance, bringing to nearly 45 million the number who were covered.