Verhovayak Lapja, 1951 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1951 / Verhovay Journal
Verhovay’s 65th Birthday A Challenge To Be Met By Constructive Action (Continued from page 1) fish attitudes on the part of those involved. Such,a change was made a quarter of a century ago when the Association became a legal reserve life insurance society. That the change was not only an absolute necessity but unavoidable, is admitted today by even the oldest members. But in those long years during which only a few far-seeing and advanced minds fought for the change, it was bitterly opposed by the general membership. It took more than ten years of persistent hammering away and finally pressure put on by the Insurance Departments that the change was finally adopted, but even then only over the loud protests of a substantial segment of the membership, thousands of whom discontinued theTr membership, much to their subsequent regret when it became dear that this was the only way to strengthen their protection and to assure the progress of the Association. At that time, however, thousands proclaimed the impending doom of the Verhovay and the losses suffered during the next few years seemed to substantiate their gloomy predictions. Yet, it! was after this period that the real growth of the Verhovay started and an era of advancement commenced that carried the ship of the Association through the stormy years cf the last great depression and carried it forward at a great rate of speed up to about the 60th anniversary of the organization. NEW ATTITUDES DEMAND NEW CHANGES The strengthening of the financial structure of the Association has continued at an even greater rate of speed since then, but it was about this time that the first indications of a slow down in promotional activities and in membership increase, became noticeable. Though this was attributed by the critics of the Verhovay to a lack of leadership, faulty organization and similar reasons, actually, it was due more to the spread of mental attitudes characteristic of the pc-st-war era than to anything else. While until the outbreak of World War II the Association could quite safely depend for its growth on the unselfish enthusiasm of the branch-officers »and mainly branchmanagers, and their willingness to devote time and efforts to the advancement! of the Verhovay, this held no longer true since that time. As long as unselfish enthusiasm and willingness to serve were strong, they could make up — to a certain extent — for the lack of professional training and experience in meeting competition. But once these qualities weakened, the need for professionalism became apparent. The last few years have been marked by rapid financial progress, by the continued increase of the volume of insurance in force, but at the same time, by an apparent lack of aggressive promotional activities as a result of which the membership decreased. In view of the steady strengthening of the financial structure of the Association and of the increase in insurance in force, the temporary decrease in the membership is not an indication of the impending death of Verhovay’s vitality as some of our critics like to proclaim. But it is a danger sign, and the officers and directors of the Association were alert! to recognize it in time to take steps for the prevention of continued decrease. February 21, 1951____________________________ VerhoVay OFFICIAL COMMENT (Continued from page 4) able men to accept such full-time jobs it had to guarantee those jobs to these men so long as they satisfactorily performed their official duties. Consequently the Board ruled that the men who accepted full-time jobs as provided for under the By-Laws amendment of 1947 would not be subject to election at the regular branch meetings as long as their work was satisfactory to the Home Office. Why should any field man who is doing a good job for the Association have the axe of fear hang continuously above him? In the past it happened many times that a good branch manager was not re-elected and was thrown out of office because he was not as good a politician as some other member of the branch. Consequently in the interests of the membership as a whole-the Board of Directors again acted in good faith. In this action, we the insureds benefited tremendously. What is it that we members as the insureds want more than anything else? Isn’t it service? We want capable insurance-wise men and women to be our field representatives. We want the kind of men and women who will know how to counsel us on our insurance problems and who will give us every help with our insurance programs. Let no one feci us that our rights as the insureds are being taken away from us, when in reality we are getting additional rights — the right to have good insurance representatives and the right to receive the proper kind of insurance service. When we have men on the Board of Directors who act for us as insurers to give us more and more rights as the insureds and to give us a good strongsound organization we should appreciate them. Because a few members cannot agree with the majority is no reason why we should condemn the majority. The Board of Directors and the National Officers have always acted in the interests of all the members and will continue to do so, and we as the insurers and the insureds can rest assured that our ship-of-state will not be allowed to sail into any dangerous waters. The interests of all the members will be observed at all times. PAGE 5 The speeding up of the establishment of organizing districts managed by trained full-time men, the recommendation that the By-Laws be amended to the effect that branch-managers be selected, appointed and trained by the Home Office, the appointment of a Field Manager whose task it is to carry these plans into effect, are essential parts of this program. COMMON SENSE PREVAILS But, like in any democratic organization, all of such changes cannot be put into effect overnight. Membership approval must be gained for substantial changes, like that of appointing managers by the Home Office rather than having them elected, according to old and by now outmoded fashion, by the branches. It takes time to have such proposals go through the voting procedures and it takes some more time for amended By-Laws to go into effect. The amendments proposed by the Board of Directors have gained by this time the majority votes of the branches and once they go into effect — an efficient promotional machinery can be quickly built and put into operation. In the meantime, however, the tendency ■*£ human nature to resist changes continues to operate. Like when the Association became a legal reserve life insurance society, many of those personally affected by the proposed. changes make the most of this opportunity to exercise the democratic right of opposition. The end of advancement, the death of fraternalism in the Verhovay, the advent of dictatorial rule by depriving the membership of its' rights, are loudly and bitterly proclaimed by the very individuals whose attitudes and working habits in serving the Verhovay made the proposed changes necessary and unavoidable. Ultimately, of course, common sense will prevail, just as it did when the Verhovay became a legal reserve life! insurance society and just as it did during the past months when the branches voted on the proposed amendments to the By-Laws. In the meantime, however* precious time is lost, much potential business remains unwritten and morale is being undermined by those opposed to changes demanded by changing times and conditions, and as a result, the process of putting an efficient organizing machinery in full gear is being retarded. NO CAUSE FOR DISCOURAGEMENT Thus, the 65th birthday of the Association reaches us in a period of somewhat discouraging circumstances. Nor are world conditions apt to cancel the discouraging effects of these internal circumstances. The hot war in Korea in which already several members of the Verhovay had made the supreme sacrifice, the cold war the world over, military draft and continued inflation in our country do not help the business of a fraternal insurance society. However, we are not really discouraged. The most terrible of all armed conflicts in mankind’s history, World War II., did not stop the progress of the Verhovay. Neither will the war in Korea, nor will World War III., if it should come which we hope and pray it won’t. The terrible depression after 1929 did not stop the advancement of the Association, neither will the present inflation which will end and become a thing of the past just as the depression did. THE CHALLENGE OF THE PAST But, under the circumstances, it seems better not to observe the 65th birthday of the Association in the way of the traditional celebrations. It should be observed rather in a manner of courageously meeting a challenge. And we have every reason to meet the challenge with undaunted courage. The past record, the present strength and the future opportunities before our great Association afford us ample resources for courage. Through the 65 years of its existence, the Verhovay has alleviated the needs of its members and their beneficiaries by having paid more than 20 Million Dollars in various benefits. It has assumed the care for many of its aged and helpless members, it has rendered vital assistance to members in desperate need, it has been a source of comfort and brotherly help to innumerable Verhovayans, it has unstintingly supported patriotic causes in times of war and peace, it has helped and encouraged its young membership and it has practiced American fraternalism among an important segment of the immigrant population. PRESENT STRENGTH OF THE ASSOCIATION The Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association reaches its 65th birthday with assets totalling 811,700,329, representing an increase of $885,934 over last year, — with insurance in force in the total amount of $45,559,836, representing an increase of $371,026 over last year and a membership of 59,928, a decrease of 313 from the membership total of a year ago. (One may ask how come that the insurance in force increased while the membership total decreased? The answer is simple: many juvenile term certificates had been cancelled and quite a number of them had been replaced by ordinary certificates in higher face amounts. At the same time, many low amount insurance certificates had been exchanged for higher amounts of insurance, — a healthy and desirable trend which, if Consistently followed up everywhere, would soon result in a more favorable picture of the membership situation.) What is more encouraging, some net increase was attained during several months in the second half of the last year and if the early, bitter and sustained winter had not handicapped our producers, we already would have gone over the 60,000 mark which, no doubt, will soon be passed. OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE US However, Convention years are notorious for lowered productive activities. This should never be so, least of all in the year of Verhovay’s 65th birthday. The retarding effects of pre-Convention activities should be more than offset by anniversary enthusiasm. The past record and present strength of the Verhovay give plenty of reasons for enthusiasm and so do the future prospects. The Association is gaining increasing recognition among the non-Hungariandescendant population of the country. It is no longer true that our sources for new members are restricted to Hungarian born Americans and their second and third generation descendants. Having becor*e a ‘melting pot’ of all nationalities, it becomes increasingly true that all of America is our market. This is constantly proved by those of our managers, district managers and field supervisors who do not restrict themselves to the descendants of Hungarians but are able to sell and do sell the Verhovay to those born in the United States regardless of their nationality background. But in order to make headway in this immense market, we must have representatives able to talk the language of this generation. While inflationary conditions are discouraging, they create a definite (Continued on page 6) Journal
