Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/661

 FRA TERN A L BENEFICIARY SOCIE TIES 647

system which includes one out of every fifteen of our popula- tion, and which involves the expenditure of millions of dollars annually. These societies constitute a complex of organizations which embraces in its scope the most diverse elements with respect to race affinity, material possessions, religious beliefs, political affiliations, intellectual attainment, and social position. The thread of fraternity joins them all in one great round table of equality and democracy.

Fraternal beneficiary societies, as the name suggests, are dual in their nature. Because they are both fraternal and beneficiary, these societies are really composed of two organizations each : a fraternity and an insurance company. The National Fraternal Congress declares the following to be the distinctive features of a fraternal beneficiary society: (i) the lodge system; (2) representative government; (3) ritualistic work; (4) fraternal assistance to living members in sickness and destitution ; (5) the payment of benefits to living members for total physical dis- ability ; (6) the payment of benefits at the death of members to the families, heirs, blood-relatives, or dependents of such deceased members. In other words, a typical fraternal society rests upon three things : first, voluntary organization on a basis of equality; second, some ritualistic system ; and third, a system of benefits. These three are united in different proportions in dif- ferent societies, and in not a few of them a struggle for predomi- nance is taking place between the first and third. This is the battle between " fraternalism and commercialism." No such antagonism should exist, for some system of relief is a natural out- growth of the idea of fraternity. As a matter of fact, it does not exist except where the benefit features are made so prominent that the fraternal element is lost from sight, and the fraternal society becomes an insurance company, perhaps wrapping the fraternal mantle about the decrepit body of a tottering insurance scheme.

The lodge system characteristic of fraternal societies goes hand in hand with the representative form of government. The term "lodge" may be used to designate the lowest unit of organi- zation ; in it direct representation is the rule, while indirect