Fraternity-Testvériség, 1951 (29. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1951-11-01 / 11. szám

4

TESTVÉRISÉG

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I IN PLAIN AMERICAN |

A monthly page conducted by Edmund Vasvary ==

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IN THE LAST ISSUE of our monthly I mentioned the fact that during 1950 and 1951 our Federation lost 17 members through accidental deaths, of whom only three had accidental death benefits. Since then we had another similiar death case: a young man of 24 was killed in West Virginia in an auto accident. “Dead on arrival” — says the death certificate. Did he have insurance for accidental death? No, he did not. For some people there must be a lesson in cases like this.

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AT THE END of the year we at the Home Office have a very unpleasant duty: we must weed out those members who habitually pile up a number of unpaid dues. The By-Laws give clear directions in these cases: if the certificates have a certain value, we must place them on the extended list (which is a very risky and dangerous position) — or if they don’t have cash or extension values we must strike them from the membership rolls. The main idea is that carrying such certificates over the new year hurts the interests of the Federation in several respects, — so they must be weeded out by strict application of the' By-Laws.

I am sorry to say that we have a few branches where this practice of carrying members with unreasonably long arrears seems to be so deeply established that any real improvement appears to be well nigh impossible. It is my duty to warn these branches that the Home Office has no choice in this matter, — so I earnestly request all those concerned to put their house in order before the end of the year.

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DIVINE PROVIDENCE was kind to us sofar during the Korean war, — we have lost only one of our soldier members who died in action, a young man of 24 years, ALBERT PISKOLTI, Jr. of Branch 247, Fairfield, Conn.

As our members probably know, the so called “war clause” is in effect in the certificates of our soldier members, which means that if they die in military service, only the dues actually paid during their membership are returned to the beneficiaries.

During the second world war our Federation, together with all the fraternals and insurance companies voided the “war clause” and paid the entire amount of insurance. Not knowing the length and fierceness of the present struggle, the fraternals simply don’t dare to take the same risk now and are leaving the “war clause” in effect, hoping that the war won’t last too long and the number of casualties won’t be too large. In other words, they leave the doors open for a possible full settlement. If, God willing, the final figures won’t be prohibitive, the Supreme Councils or Conventions might decide after the war that the full amount be paid.

In the second world war our Federation paid out more than $80,000.00 in death benefits for soldiers who died in service. We sincerely hope that the number of casualties will be so low in this war, that at the end of it, together with the other fraternals, we also will be able to make a full settlement.

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ONE OF THE MOST unpleasant duties of the Auditor is to correct the ages of those members who for some reason or other gave incorrect birth dates when joining the Federation. We are willing to believe that most of these mistakes are involuntary, although it is a little strange that the given information in no case makes the person older. In other words, the mistake always serves the interests of the member. Once in a while it happens that the generosity of the insured toward himself or herself goes much too far. Only the other day we had a death case, in which the insured gave his age as 50 when joining, when he was actually past 60 and therefore not insurable according to our rules. This is an extreme case but milder ones pop up almost daily.

When the age difference is discovered during the lifetime of the member, it is more advantageous for him or her, because adiustment is comparatively easy and the additional amount to be paid is not large. When the discovery is made after death, matter becomes more complicated and detriments for the beneficiaries, because the figuring has to be made differently, and the amount to be deducted from the benefit is larger,