Verhovayak Lapja, 1947 (30. évfolyam, 1-24. szám)
1947 / Verhovay Journal
PAGE ,10 Verhov ayJournal November 12, 1947 The Fraternal Magazine — Paper presented by James Daly, Editor of “The Sample Case’7, official publication of the United Commercial Travellers of America, at the annual Meeting of the National Fraternal Congress in Detroit, Mich. — According to the consensus of the editors in the Press Section of the National Fraternal Congress, held on September 29th, 1947, in Detroit, Mich., the paper of James Daly was one of the most profitable and worthwhile studies presented to the Congress. Its subject is of vital interest to every fraternal society publishing some sort of an “official organ”, especially in the present time when the mounting costs of publication, overtax the financial resources of even the larger societies. Editor Daly’s paper, “The Fraternal Magazine”, is of particular interest to the readers of the Verhovay Journal, because it offers an answer to many of those questions that had been widely discussed prior to the XXL Convention of the Association and, then, on the floor of the Convention. His arguments loeighing the costs and benefits of fraternal publications, outlining their purposes and editorial policies, represent an important contribution to the solution of this problem. Due the shortage of space, only excerpts from this important paper are printed in the following, but care has been taken to maintain both the continuity of thought and the essence of the discourse. The Story Of Fraternal Publications. The story of organized Fraternalism in America is the story of the growth of true brotherhood. The cry of Cain “Am I my brother’s keeper” did not anticipate a negative reply. Rather, it was an attempt to tear out of his own heart, the deep seated realization that he did owe a great deal more than perfunctory duties to his brother. The admonition of Jesus to “love thy neighbour” sprung from His divine knowledge that only by such a principle could justice and peaceful relations exist in the world. Fraternalism, in America, -arose in hearts that were filled with love and symphaty. The first fraternal society was organized because there was a need for protection of individuals which could only be provided by the Union of many. Every society can point to men who had the same great-hearted principles and the integrity and leadership to draw men to -them and inspire them. The general public did not understand these men nor the societies. A few hundred or even a few thousand did not make news. And their attempt to provide insurance at cost to their members was not re- | ceived kindly by the then bud- i ding commercial insurance I compaines. The result of this was that every society that attained any real growth found it necessary to establish a paper or magazine for the information and inspiration of the members of the society. In many cases these magazines were established on a subscription basis and members were asked to pay for them in addition to their other payments. It was soon learned in every case that every interested member quickly subscribed and only those who were interested only in “cheap insurance” withheld their subscriptions. Sample copies of the magazine to these nonsubscribers in a very great many cases changed their interest and made active mem; bers of them and distribution : to non-members brough many 1 new members. If I may be pardoned a personal reference — it was a magazine of a fraternal society that first caused me to be interested in fraternal insurance and for many years it was one of the “musts” of my monthly schedule. It was not long until the societies realized the great value of having each member receive its “official organ” and a plan was conceived by which the member dedicated a part of his payment to the subscription of the magazine and thus there came into existence a fraternal magazine as we have it today, a copy of which goes to every member of the Order that publishes it. In those early days, even as it is today, the magazine was the only means by which the various units could report their activities for the inspiration of others; the only means by which the leader could communicate with the members; and those grand old fraternal messages and editorials were the inspiration, the very text books, of every member. We mention “editorials”, arid we cannot pass this without a tribute to the great men (and women) who have first appeared as the editors of their societies’ magazines. Many of them became the actual heads of their societies and all of them were unselfish, inspiring directors of fraternal thought and builders of fraternal growth. Their editorials were copied in newspapers which could find no news in the meetings of the society itself; they even were read from pul- i pits which were not too friendly toward “secret societies”. Changing Tendencies . . . Today the picture is changing and it is not the magazines that have changed. What I am about to say will not be taken kindly by many who hear this but, in honesty, I am compeNed to say that the change is in the tendency of our societies. There is too much commercialism and not enough fraternalism . . . there is not enough consideration given to the fraternal benefit. The old fraternal insurance was built on an unsound assessment plan by men whose hearts were far larger than their knowledge of actuarial tables and insurance matters. It required at least as great ; fraternalism to point out these facts to the members and at a greater cost to put the societies on a so»nd basis. In these trying days the magazine was the only instrument the societies had to reach the. members and explain the' need . . . and they served well. No society at that time could have employed enough men to have reached all of the membership and these magazines saved many members and enlisted them in the work that saved the societies. With this establishment on the so-called “old line basis” there seemed also to come into the societies many “old line” practices. In many cases, the old names for the units were changed, the old names for officers were dropped, the old ritualistic ceremony was omitted or greatly altered; all unmindful of the facts that the i hearts of men had not changed and that the oldest of all fraternal societies still was portraying an incident of the building of Solomon’s Temple in the same archaic symbols. This spirit and this alone is responsible for the tholight that the magazine is no longer necessary. Today with both paper and labor advanced to unprecedented heights, the magazine still receives the same subscription price that was set fifty years ago. It actually does not put the magazine in the mail and this is undoubtedly the case of all of the editors, yet we are expected to produce each month a magazine better than the preceding one. Under such conditions a board of directors that prides itself on its business acumen — and forgets a certain other basic essential — immediately sets about seeking a way to discontinue or limit the number of times the magazine shall appear . . . Cheap Communication. The magazine is the one means by which the head of a society may reach the members. Every magazine carries a «message from the head of the society. Let* us consider that message alone for a moment. If it were printed each month and sent to each member of a society of 100.000 members, it would cost: Paper $ 120 Printing $ 325 Envelopes S 500 Postage $1,500 Handling $ 750 Total $3,195 To one who will study this situation it is clearly evident that if a society desires to send out information to the members, it is cheaper to use a magazine because the great savings in postage makes possible a greater amount of information at a slightly additional cost. The only issue then becomes one of whether or not it is desirable to inform the members. It is our belief that the members should have a complete knowledge of everything the society does and of every expenditure. The feeling of ownership should never be allowed to die in the heart of any member. No Other Publicity. Another equally important function of the magazine is that of reporting the activities of the individual groups hy whatever name they may be called. Every man enjoys seeing his name in a printed page. Whenever a lodge, coprt, camp or council has an interestingmeeting, a report of that meeting may increase the attendance at the next meeting and one can almost be certain that the local paper will not carry enough report of the meeting to accomplish this desired end. In this service the magazine is the only answer. The community activities of a fraternal group do often attract the attention of the public and the local paper follows that lead and gives the group some publicity. Here it would die except for the magazine which carries the report to other groups and inspires them to follow similar plans. How many of your members would ever learn about the prominent men and women members if they were (Continued on page 11)
