Anniversary

The Odd Fellows were a prominent Fraternal Benefit Society. After returning to the topic I started looking up info again. Turns out today is an anniversary of the movement. From the Fraternal Monitor magazine in 1918:

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In 1918 the fraternal benefit system will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the institution, because it was on October 27, 1868, that John J. Upchurch organized the first lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the pioneer of societies in what isknown as the fraternal movement of this age.

There had been co-operative associations for the paying of benefits to dependents of members before that date, but they were apart from the organized trend that resulted in the great system of today. It is fascinating to view the achievements of the past; fifty years of experience, of co-operating for the uplift of humanity, of correcting the mistakes incident to the start, have made man happier and the world richer. According to the most reliable compilation of statistics these societies have paid about $2,800,000,000 in benefits. This money has gone where it could do the most good. It has been paid as real life insurance protection to the widows and orphans of persons who sustained life mostly by their labor. Such insurance was not carried for investment, nor did it swell accumulated fortunes. It was pure protection, purchased at a price as near cost as possible.

The future of the fraternal benefit system has never been so bright. It has established itself on a sound plan of operation, and it possesses safeguards and traditions that will carry it over all possible danger periods. Its leaders are enthusiastic and the members are satisfied. It is impossible to conceive of a relative advance so great in the next fifty years, because the known fields to conquer are limited, but each decade is bound to surprise us with the accomplishments that are now undreamed.

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Oops. The movement barely survived the next decade. The best survivor was Security Benefit of Topeka, which I wrote about here. Security was mentioned and advertised prominently in each issue of the Fraternal Monitor.

It was one of the largest associations at the time, and it lasted until the 1950s when it converted to a commercial insurance firm. The commercial version still survives now. Most of the associations either died or converted to commercial insurance during the 20s. Later issues of Fraternal Monitor show the unceasing gangsterish campaign by the commercial firms, similar to the LBO tactics of today.

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Kansas example: Security Benefit Assn began in Topeka in 1892. It built a nursing home, a hospital, an orphanage for children of deceased members, and a collective farm to supply its institutions and give work to the poor. Members paid 5 cents per month to gain access to these services. Not a typo.

Security Benefit lasted much longer than other FBSs in its original proper form. In the ’50s it finally converted to a commercial life insurance company and sold its massive grounds to the Menninger outfit. It’s still running, after NEEDLESS TO FUCKING SAY an LBO by GuggenheimCapitalPartnersLLC.

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The functions of Security Benefit illustrate the idea of RECIPROCITY. The collective farm gave work to the poor AND gave food to the institutions. Modern captalism interposes Wall Street into every transaction, requiring permission and sapping the profit. When every action must increase Sacred Share Value, no good actions can happen.

A renaissance of such associations would solve several of our modern problems. Applying the method to science research could break the monopoly of Deepstate on grants and tenure. Trinity House shows how it was done in the past. It could be done again!

Trinity House was reciprocal in the same way. It charged a small fee to every ship that docked in British ports, and in return protected the ships by building lighthouses and researching better protection methods. More safety meant more money, so its incentives were purely aligned. It wasn’t distracted or halted by the need to pay tribute to billionaire pirates.