Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1944 / Verhovay Journal
VOL. XXVII. APRIL 27, 1944 NO. 17 THE CASE OF FRATERNALISM VS. INSURANCE The title of this article may surprise some of our readers, since most of them will believe that there is no substantial difference between a fraternal organization and an insurance company. Both sell insurance and insurance only; both aim to sell their policies to every prospect' available and both try to write every prospect for a little more than he can possible pay. It is generally understood that the only difference between fraternal organizations and insurance companies consists in the Way their resp. business is conducted. The insurance company considers the policy-holder as “the insured.” Nothing more and nothing less. A fraternal organization considers the holder of the membership certificate as a voting member of the organization and a potential officer of the same and gives him the right to examine the books, receipts and disbursements, investments and claims of the organization, if so authorized by the Convention. A member may protest against the actions of the elected officers and boards and he may carry his case through all the forums of the organization. The policy-holder of an insurance company may participate in the profit that results frcm the successful investing of the funds that accumulate from the premiums paid by all the insured; the member of a fraternal organization Will participate also in the management of the association. This is generally considered the only difference between an insurance company and a fraternal organization and, as a rule, prospects do not seem to think Very much of it because the individual member has only a Very slim chance to actively participate in the management of the Association: the voice of a single Voter usually gets lost in the din of the general elections. Perhaps we have advertised too often that particular feature of fraternal membership which entitles the member to participate in the management of the organization, It is obviously an impossibility that every member should run the association: it can be successfully done only if this job is given to the elected officers Who have the authority to handle the funds of the association according to their best judgment and answer only to the Board of Directors and the Convention. The “government by the people” is at its best, an elective business only and its success depends on the judgment people exercise When they vote for their respective leaders. It is for this reason that the idea of “participating management” does not appeal to the average prospect. In fact, many are rather unsympathetic towards the idea, because they rather cleverly feel that a business run by experts has a better chance to succeed than an organization that is run by amateur businessmen, as it .happens at least in the lower branches of a fraternal organization. We know, however, that there is much more to a fraternal association thán all that. And we believe that, due to the highpressure endeavor for new members, the insurance-feature has been overemphasized much to the detriment of the real substance of fraternalism. So much so, that we at last have arrived at the point where the tension between fraternalism and life insurance has developed so far that we are justified in writing about the case of “fraternalism versus life insurance”. I haven’t yet seen two people drawn to one another just because they both had a policy from the largest life insurance company in the world. In spite of the fact that they both decided to buy their insurance from the same company, they did not feel spiritually akin . . . just as there are people from many walks of life who buy their clothes and household articles from the same department store and yet remain strangers to one another. It certainly is not the Life Insurance Certificate that molds the members of a fraternal organization into a great Brotherhood, it is something that goes deeper, higher and farther and the Life Insurance Certificate is only incidental to the real substance that makes us Vcrhovayans friends brothers and sisters. The trouble is, we have been doing too much selling with the rate-book, and too little with the heart. The Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association is like a great building. On the first floor we have our sales-department, the store where we sell our goods: 13 types of excellent legal reserve life insurance certificates. However there are many floors above the store and our initiated members have the right to enter every floor. On the second floor we have our sports-department. Nothing is sold there. It is there where we stop selling and start GIVING AWAY. If there is a small group of members who desire to start sportactivities, the Verhovay Uncle steps ip and gives them money, uniforms, contests and encouragement. On the third floor is our educational department. Nothing is sold there either. Young members who strive for higher education, will get a lift here from the Verhovay Uncle who would like to see the second, third and fourth generation get ahead in life. On the fourth floor is the department for the aged. Letters come in from old people, whofn life has failed . . . crippled, I disabled, lonely men and women who need brotherly help, ungrudgingly given. Nothing is sold to them here. Nothing could be sold to those unfortunates who once helped to build our organization. But they have yet a big brother: the Verhovay, who will understand their plight and answer their pleas and GIVE them the help which they need in order to be able to go on. On the fifth floor is the medical department. It is there that checks are mailed out to mothers who are members of the Sick benefit Department, who will receive the gift of the Association for every child they have brought into the world ... It is a gift because it is given in addition to what they are entitled to according to their Sick benefit certificates. And on the floors above we find the social rooms of the Association. There the banquets, the socials, and all the other fraternal activities are attended to . . . freely, in order that brotherliness and friendship may thrive among the membership. THE TRAGEDY is that most members have seen only the first floor of the Verhovay building. They have never entered the rest of the floors, and therefore, they never had a chance to find out what makes a fraternal organization DIFI FERENT from any other organziation in the world. The fraternal organization is interested (!) in YOU, as a person, as a brother and friend, whose welfare is of importance to the entire association, You pay your dues and receive an insurance certificate for the lowest rates at which life insurance can safely be sold. You participate in the profits, and you have your part in the management of the branch and óf the association as a while. This far there is not much substantial difference between an insurance company and a fraternal organization. But it starts right here: where the fraternity starts to GIVE and continues to GIVE änd will never stop GIVING as long as fraternal responsibility is kept alive in the ranks of the membership. There is, as “The Ferret” so aptly put it in last week’s issue, a feeling of BELONGING: belonging to a big family, in which the members of the family WORK AND PLAY TOGETHER. They may live far apart, and yet they will recognize and know one another wherever and whenever they meet. They know they can depend on the family and will, therefore, exert their influence in order to help the family to develop and enlarge the field of its activities. Let us go and solicit new members: it is the responsibility of every member of a fraternal organization. You will do it simply because you are interested in others and you want them to share with you the benefits of BELONGING to such a fine family. Let us go out and sell: but let us not sell life-insurance, rather, let us sell the Verhovay brotherhood, and AFTER you have talked to your prospect about the beauty and fineness of our brotherhood, then you may mention to your pros.pect that he may BELONG to this fraternity easily, since there are no dues to be paid. The purchase of a life insurance certificate at the lowest possible rate will entitle him to full membership in this organization which makes it so easy for others to join it, because we Verhovayans love people and we love to help them! Surely you have not only prospects, but also members in your branch who consider the Verhovay “just another insurance”. Come on, bring them with you to the upper floors of the Verhovay Building, show them that our life begins after we have settled the businessmatters, and he who would attend to business matters only, has forgotten to live! Thus, we feel, the “case of Fraternalism vs. Insurance” has been decided in the court of human relationships. The judgment goes to Fraternalism, it wins the case because it stands for BROTHERHOOD. PRESS ONWARD Keep a brave spirit, and never despair; Hope brings you messages through the keen air— Good is victorius—God everywhere. Grand are the battles which you have to fight, Be not downhearted, but valiant for right; Hope, and press forward, your face to the light. —Author unknown. <(fwr)
