Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 56 — NO. 8
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPIST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX. 76501
FEBRUARY 21, 1968
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER Sales and Gain. Our Society has enjoyed a fairly steady growth and increase in insurance sales down through the years. However, we must keep one thing in mind: a certain amount of insurance must be sold first to offset the loss of members through death, cash surrenders, paidup policies, lapses, and suspensions. If all of these, for example, totalled 550 certificates, that means that 550 new certificates would have to be issued before you could start counting any gains in membership. You might also have a gain in insurance sold, but a loss in total membership. Consequently, to say that so much insurance was sold and so many certificates were issued does not tell the whole story. You have to first subtract the total number of losses as stated above. • Suspensions and Expulsion. There is no question about the fact that we need and want new members — good members — members who will pay their premiums and dues, if any. Our by-laws provide for the suspension and subsequent expulsion of a member who fails to pay his premiums within a stated period. To "beat the bushes from here to Mexico City" in quest of Members, sign them up, and then have
YOUR HARVEST We must not hope to be mowers, And to gather the ripe gold ears, Unless we have first been sowers And water the furrows with tears. It is not just as we take it; This mystical world of ours; Life's field will yield as we make it, A harvest of thorns or of flowers. --Goethe to suspend and expel them shortly thereafter for non-payment of premiums, is not the answer to sustained growth. There are those who feel we must continue to be selective in writing new members. It looks good to add a large roster of new members to the lodge's rolls, but it looks bad to have to suspend and expel them after three months. We gain nothing from such short-term membership. It has been ,said that almost anyone can sell a prospect and collect one month's premium, but to keep him after that permanently is the ultimate goal. Suspensions and expulsions gain us nothing. They cost us money and time, and give us a false sense of gain when there actually isn't any. Remember The Maine! On February 15, 1898, 70 years ago, the United States battleship Maine, while at anchor in
Havana harbor, was destroyed by an explosion that killed 260 officers and men. The Maine had been ordered to Havana, after a Cuban riot in January of that year, to protect American life and property. After the explosion. the Navy Department appointed a court of inquiry. Although the government urged the public to reserve judgment, some of the more sensational newspapers, notably Hearst's New York Journal, attributed the disaster to enemy agents and demanded United States intervention in Cuba. "Remember the Maine!" became a popular slogan. Swayed by the powerful demand in and out of Congress, President McKinley on April 11th asked for "forcible intervention" of the United States to establish peace in Cuba. Soon thereafter, the Spanish-American War was upon us. We kicked Spain out of Cuba and the Philippines. Later, after Teddy Roosevelt became President (1901) he sent the US Navy around the world as a "show of force." Things then settled down for a while. • • Your Health and Insurance Premiums. Suppose you apply for life insurance and discover that you are one of the few people who must pay a higher premium because of impaired health. About one out of 20 applicants for