Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)

1944 / Verhovay Journal

January 27, 1944

Man on the Threshold

of

New

Era

As a consequence of the many advances in science in the field of chemistry and electricity, this generation is on the threshold of a new era—an era when science will rise again to even greater heights than what it reached previously.

When the world is once more at peace, there will need be made many adjustments to take care of the men who will return from the fighting fronts; for they will have to be placed in work best suited to their natural skill. Many men now in uniform have learned trades since they have entered in service: and some of these types of work will be needed after the war. Science is now laboring to perfect certain essentials that can be made to serve man when he is no longer needed at the fighting front. Science must also0 produce various jobs that will need the men who are now in service, so as not to bring about an unemployment situation such as previously existed throughout the nation.

For a nation can not make progress if its citizens are not employed in some kind of constructive work. It will be difficult to keep jobs going at war level activity after the signing of the peace treaty. There must be other jobs created to take the place of the ones that will be discontinued later on.

The world Is passing through an era that has never been faced before in the past, and many postwar problems will arise that will be difficut to take care of unless there is productivity in the labor world, with no men idle;

for an idle man is as useless to his country as an idle country is to world industry and progress. In order to progress a country must have capable of handling industry to keep it going permanently, with no stoppages caused by labor shortage or inefficiency of the workers.

That is what science is working toward today. Creating new jobs to take the place of the ones that will no longer be needed after the peace is won. There are many things that chemistry and electricity will do to create new types of work later on. These sciences are needed to keep world progress make the strides it must in order to give employment to the millions of men who would otherwise be unemployed. Then labor will be creating for the welfare of the human race instead of being just a daily drudge whereby men must earn their daily bread as in the past.

Through the advances of natural science men will build a world fit to ive in; a world they will be proud to leave their children as a wonderful heritage. This world will be far different than what the dictators of various countries have planned for the future race of man. For in the new era which man is just seeing beyond the threshold there will be a world that will be for peaceloving men; men who want to work in a free word—a world where he can create individually and enjoy the fruit of his work.

We, of today, can only pray and look forward to that day, hoping it will be soon.

5. THIS IS THE ARMY—In distant India American fightingmen teat at an American Red Cross operated club in the Himalayas, after months of tens« greuling service on the Burma front.

Verhovay Journal________________________

The Organization of a

Page 3

FRATERNAL SOCIETY

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g There is nothing more tragic than for a wife and mother to stop her work at the sound of the siren that suddenly pierces the air of a quiet midday in some small mining town. She hastily lays aside her work and following other wives and mothers rushes to the scene of the accident. There she meets those who have arrived earlier on the unhappy scene, women who stand about anxiously, waiting for someone to inform them as to what happened in the mine.

There is much confusion all around, men rushing into the mouth of the mine, others trying to keep the crowds back, so the emergency crew can go about their work unhampered by people asking too many questions of which they know not the answers. It seems that hours have passed since their arrival on the accident scene, when in reality only a few moments have gone by. Then after what seemed a very long time the crowd groups as near the scene as is permitted, learns that there had been a cave-in within the mine and only one man is injured. The women stand tearfully by, wondering whose man it is. All are anxious, not knowing his identity or the extent of his injuries.

Finally the ambulance arrives on the scene but the man has not been brought forth yet. It seems another eternity is passing, still no sign of the man. Will they never bring him out? the women ask one another, as they are jostled in the crowd, now grown large at the accident scene.

After what seems an age gone by, the wonded man is brought out of the earth on the stretcher and the crowd gathers close to learn his identity. One woman’s scream pierces the air when she recognises the man as her husband. Others try to assist but are held back and must stand idly, helpessly by, and know not what to do in this emergency.

The ambulance rushes the man to the hospital. After an examination the doctors decide to operate. But the wife is frantic, not knowing where the money is to come from that will take care of the expenses of the operating room plus the cost of the hospital room during his stay there. Also, the doctors must be paid their fee. And where will the money come from that is to pay the rent, buy food and clothing that is needed to keep alive the wife and children during the man’s stay In the hospital?

Kindly neighbors take up a collection and pay part of the hospital expenses. But the balance must be met somehow. But how? the worried wife wonders. Isn’t there some way out of this period of extreme difficulties? Surely, if there is anything that she had overlooked, now was the time to do something about it. And now is the time she decides that as soon as her man gets on his feet again and is well enough to resume his work, they will do something about providing for the future—just in case another accident occurs.

And what is it that they can do to insure the future against financial worries? The only answer is life insurance with sick and accident benefits. For it is insurance that will help the family carry through a period of misfortune.

It was real events like the one narrated above that inspired thirteen coal miners over fiftyeight years ago to build a fraternal society that will take care of its members in times of accident, illness or transition.

These thirteen men braved many hardships in order to bring into reality the ideal which they fostered in a dream. It took many years of hard thankless work, tears, sweat and blood to make that dream a real thing, something they could see and touch and hold on to. They wanted to create something that would not only benefit them, but would endure long after their passing, and help thousands of others who need financial aid when adverse conditions come into their life.

The first years of the society which these men of vision and courage organised were hard bitter years. They met with many rebuffs on every side. People were unkind to the point of cruelty. Many times these thirteen men were almost tempted to give up the ideal which they were striving to create within the lives of those men and women who so needed help in time of need. For when men and women are in the prime of life they do not heed time, that Time is continually passing away, and age, illness may come upon them, that one day they will reach old age, illness may come upon them, or accident; or, worse still—transition, and they have not provided for funds that will take care of their last needs.

But the brave thirteen men could look into the future; and knew that although the present was quite rosy for some and the future promising, it would not last forever. They did not want to see the unfortunate conditions that would face them at one time or another in their life, but they realized it would be inevitable, and must be provided for. No one wants these unhappy incidents to overtake them, but it is always best to provide for such emergencies, so there need be no anguished tears on the part of the wife or husband, wondering where the cash . is coming from that will see them through accident or illness.

How the thirteen men succeeded in bringing into being a fraternal society is almost phenomenal. For out of obscurity rose the society that has grown to be nationally known as the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association, with attractive certificates that embody various kinds of

insurance—life insurance and sick and accident benefits.

If those thirteen men who founded the organization could see how the society has progressed they would be extremely pleased with the ideal that they helped bring into being. For the Verhovay F. I. Association is a society that embraces its members in a true fraternity, with branches in many cities scattered throughout the country, its members enjoying all the benefits of affiliation.

In the past the Society’s progress has been great, but in the future it will be greater still, for it is no longer a small group known only to a few, for today it has over fifty thousand members, with the hope of soon increasing its membership to seventy-five thousand.

All this has become a reality because many years ago thirteen coal miners had vision, courage and ability to make the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association a real society of mutual benefit.

All Can Help

• In 1914, when the first World

War started, annual fire losses in the United States were a little over 200 million dollars. They increased to over 350 million dollars by 1918, and rose to exceed 550 million dollars in 1925.

When the second World War started in 1939, our annual fire losses had been reduced to about 275 million dollars, in spite of tremendously increased property values over 1914. From that date on, however, losses began a slow but steady rise, and now stand at slightly more than 325 million dollars. This is a great improvement over the sharp jump in losses during World War I, particularly with present enormously increased values.

“Although losses have been advancing,” said J. M. Thomas, President of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, “fire prevention activities have been yielding results of importance to the war effort.

“Even before America was forced into the war, there has been established advisory boards on fire prevention in both Army and Navy Departments. Its engineers are occupied full time and are now augmented by nearly 100 engineers from boards and bureaus maintained by the insurance companies. A similar group of experienced men survey Navy shore establishments and privata shipyards.”

Now is the time to redouble efforts to curb fire losses and prevent such a rise in this controllable waste as took place during and after the first World War. We can all help win the fire prevention battle on the home front and save lives as well as money.