Show A 0 U W lecture able ible exposition of the objects and den ants of or the order at the A 0 U W entertainment monday evening grand lecturer heading reading delivered the following oration on the abla objects ts and alms of the order on the of october 1868 in the town of ble meadville adville in the state of 0 pennsylvania one john thornton Tb ornton upchurch conceived the idea of forming a local organization tor for the purpose of relieving the miseries of destitution so ti tit ution tation then existing not only in that town but throughout the great commonwealth mon wealth of pennsylvania at that time the labor question was agitating the people of the country bat but more particularly in that state the commonwealth in mon inon wealth was wrought from one end to the other with this agitation until almost every industry was paralyzed thousands of f families milies L ii lived V ad in destitution and thousands a ads of m men en were out of employment it t was at that t time me that mr upchurch conceived the idea of doing something to relieve the community from the distress which ev everywhere ry where was prevalent a lent lie ile ballel into consultation with him eleven other men employees of the railroad located at that place after making known t to 0 them what bad had been in his mind tor for years they finally concluded to meet at his hou house se for the purpose of organizing and adopting a constitution in accordance with th that at undertaking Jer taking the in meeting betl ag was h held eld AT articles of incorporation were presented and adopted until they came to the word white men that is that all white men be between t 21 and 60 50 except ce p thour tour classes ol 01 a I 1 our citizens would would b be eligible li gible to me membership on the introduction of that word white a d I 1 s cu s n arose finally culminating in a decided d e ld ed disruption ol 01 the harmony m 0 ny and the meeting adjourned tha next day mr upchurch who bad secured a leave of 0 absence personally interviewed eix six of the ee se ceders cedera and finally prom ispa 80 were were exacted acted from the th se ceders er I 1 to 0 return and perfect the organization which they did at the end of three years theonder the order n numbered in that state members two years after a supreme council was w as 1 called calls beards at cincinnati at which there here t were three grand jurisdictions represented ohio indiana and penn pennsylvania aal ayl van a and with three grand jurisdictions the first supreme lod lodge e was held inthe city of cincinnati with a total membership throughout the entire country of ofa a little more than 1200 that wai wag five fi ve years after the organization of beffar so bon i lodge no 1 0 ince which time th the e order has I 1 been e n introduced into ev every ry state staf e town city and territory in the united states today to day we eland stand before the country with a membership of over a quarter of a million of the beet best men in the land this wonderful growth growl BO so far as I 1 know is un unprecedented precedent in the history of any fraternal organ izat iza ions tiona the word fraternal or fraternity is in my judgment the corner atone upon on which this grand fabric of ours has been built it is the corner otone of this magnificent structure it if you t take ake away from this organization that feature i ture you remove the original nal feature of the A 0 U W and make ns us simply nothing more or lees than a life insurance company Com rany vat but I 1 might stand here until to morrow borr ow morning illustrating the beauties of the fraternal nature of our organization to prove to you that WB we are or from in first f rot to last from bead head to toot foot a fraternal t organization if we were nothing more than a life insurance company it would be utterly impossible to draw such an audience as 98 you have tonight to night but we have left our home and business relations ergui simply M P y to learn something of that organization t ion which stands before the world w with ith the promise that when one ne of its members member 0 dio die we come to the assist ance of the bereaved one whether widow widow orphan mother or sister the question naturally arises bow how may I 1 become ome ft a member of this organization iza nit tion 1 11 lam I am informed that it will cost you 10 0 to become a member ol 01 the A 0 U W of this jurisdiction first you must be between the ages of 21 and an bod 60 you make your application to one ot of the tile city lodges you are then required to go before the medical examiner of that lodge if it a dav favorable ora ble examination is passed it is so an reported 0 o d a committee of investigation Is named to inquire into your moral character and if that report la is favorable you are then balloted for and if I 1 elected you are invited by the recorder to present yourself f on such a night I 1 g h t as named for the purpose of re ro C ceiling i v ing your degree when received yon you are a full fledged member in the order and should you die the next morning or that same night your family is entitled to the sum of two thousand dollars as so specified tn in the i policy it paying before the end of every month the sum of 3 00 that thai Is the proposition Is there anything wonderful in that you may say that is all very well in theory but where is the practice well wall within the last mat seventeen years we have paid nearly fourteen million dollars in gold coin to our deceased members Is there any better illustration than that I 1 say no every claim against the A 0 U W has been paid without question without any liti litigation litiza estion tion whatever lot not a claim in the united states today that is unpaid there hag ha naver never been a caal claim in disputed P buted where fraud is not shown on the he face ace of it but thank havn II aven these cases case a have been few and far between the question has ban also been raised many times that because we have no lo 10 0 reserve fund that in case of a disaster diaab a or calamity we would not have the means with ich which to pay our death losses most mott of you will re member the yellow fever scourge that occurred in this country a few years ago agnit ii it devastey dev devi asted most of the eon thern n elates states and hundreds upon hundreds Is of the members of the A 0 U W were stricken ken down at one time we were yvere in debt there was a tall call roada made by the supreme lodge for or a I 1 donation for at that time it did not have the authority to levy an assess ment upon the various jurisdictions as it has hat now we called upon the members throughout throng bout the country for a donation of two dollars and a half and in less than thirty days money was wall in the bands hands of the supreme 8 preme treasurer tre aurer and in due course cours of time our ours debts we have no reserve fund cor nor do we want ant any if it we bid a reserve fund as some organizations ha have v e 0 of I 1 and millions of dollars do I 1 I 1 a T s I 1 the b 0 temptation to do wrong to ape calas and peculate would be too great we boasts boast and it Is our pride do to say may that a V very ery man in the A 0 U W is his ID own wn treasurer cat carries ae the key of the tile vault v alto in his bin own pocket and when the he t money monelle is needed all be he bas hasto to do is to take the key out of his pocket unlock his life pocket book and take a dollar that is our treasury and mud we have never seen a day nor an bour when we could not call upon the jorder oriler as an a whole and find receive any a n amount of money we might need to jay ou our r debts w with ith why it is only on I 1 a year or two ago in the state of 0 oreain Or ezon eaon when they made an eight dollar assessment A universal crash was predicted what was the every lodge in that jurisdiction ju riedle vied with each other to eee see which could get thia this eight dollar assessment into the hand of the great receiver first by the twentieth of the month every cent of it was put into the treasury egv you ever considered what the the assessment of two and a half or three dollars a month would be it la Is about the he price of a chinese made cigar 10 cents a day and yet intelligent tell igent men of 0 families will tell you they hey cant afford it there is i not a man in in this room particularly the bead head of a family but what can afford it and lt lot me eay say unhesitatingly it Is his duty daty no young man has the right to take ke from her home a young woman unless be ie Is willing to afford her some kind of protection after be he hag has passed from this life to another when yon you consider that more than 16 15 per cent of our death dath lo 10 losses sees are caused b by y accidents or alo violence yon can see the force of my statement the speaker here gave many illustrations trat ions of sudden deaths and vicissitudes by which men comparatively lost all and left avely their families if nothing continuing be said 1 I do not wish to disparage any other organization for I 1 recollect the ganderr gan deur the love and the charity chat that for centuries have been characteristic teria te tic of blas masonry onry I 1 recognize the odd fellowship as a great practical beneficial organization of the nine teaneh century I 1 bow with respect to Pythian ism and Redmond ism an and d other fi si organizations and yet tet I 1 say here that the A 0 U W have say culled the sweetest and MOB most t beautiful lowers flowers from all of these organizations binding them with the ribbons of hope and protection and that bouquet I 1 offer you tonight tonight and call it the A 0 U W 1 I am not here to oppose any organization or insurance coin company pady it is not lot in my y business my business is to present to the public mind as clearly as my ability will permit me the objects and alms of this organization and it if it is satisfactory to you we will open our doors and will admit you and you will have no cause to regret the jou hour our you entered our lodge room A you young 12 g man will eay say I 1 am young no wife d do 0 not need the A 0 U I 1 W j there ther is no better school of instruction or morality than th the Is lodge room there you learn the first principles of 0 how to govern yourself f thereby teaching you to govern others th the most eminent men of this country who have held the highest positions in the gift of the country have referred with admiral admiration on and find respect to the principles learned in the louge room 1 I remember schuyler huyler Bc colfax malting the assertion that bis his first lesson esson in parliamentary law was in the th lodge room washington himself first k knew new how to govern himself before he I 1 no commanded the american army the lamented garfield has made the same statement t precisely when you are in the lodge room your employer knows where you 0 U 1 are 11 and therefore has more C confidence I 1 C 7 tn T you 0 U than were you out upon the public i street cstreet to ro the young ladles ladies here let me bay I 1 presume the young ladies here like everywhere else have a tender regard for the young men and I 1 presume that a great number of the young ladies in ibis room tonight to night expect some day 0 to o be Mrs Somebody that tha is perfectly natural nt ural and I 1 have h ave no 0 doubt there are re a great many women wom enthis this night who are on the ragged edge they are sitting knowing not what to say yes or no but watching all the time for a dark room and a dark corner to say yes that is natural too but now let me say to you young ladies and I 1 am speaking earnestly now look out see that you have this protection before you take that step it is all very well to talk about living in a cottage and everything of that kind but the day must come and sometimes it comes too soon that the young man that you have taken as your husband passes to the other side with but very little warning and if be he has not made pr provis provia 0 on for you what becomes of you 7 to the young men I 1 will say when you go to the old gentleman to a ask a it him for the hand of his daughter you would rather face a cannon any time I 1 know I 1 would but it has got to be done and when you go to the tile old gentleman and trembling in your boots and with your tongue at the roof of your mouth he na will bay say to you well charley I 1 have known you a long time you are a pretty honest sort of a boy you are andua and healthy but dut look a here have you auy money no sir air well I 1 consent to give you the hand of my mollie what are you going to do 1 I have a good trade everything Is in my favor favor 1 I think I 1 can support a wife well 1 I 1 charlie that is all very well suppose ose YO you are taken a eck ck weli I 1 do not know about that supposed yon died what then 7 there is a policy in the A 0 U IV for 2000 1 take the eirl girl charley take the eirl girl there ii a grand and glorious future awaiting this organization where an organization has fulfilled every promise it is a guarantee in the future that in seventeen years added to the seven seventeen teen years that a are relapsed passed assed instead of numbering as we rel do 0 now about a quarter of a million member we will number at least five hundred thousand what is the reason that this order has but members in this beautiful town of yours with a population lution of arbir 2 w with ith such men as bishop Tb orburn n rich and others at the head of the organization in san ban joee jose with a population of I 1 about 18 they have 1100 in the city of with a population of about they have over 1000 members member park city only a few miles from here her with a population of and 1813 members in that little town there should be in ogden n from to 1000 and I 1 predict here tonight that in less than ten years you will have the opportunity of boasting of that number in this city give its trembling feet the wings of heaven until they intertwine and comal commingle with h the stars stare and stripes of the fre emens Is hope and the free mens home let no tear start from the widows eye unseen and U nor an orphan go out from the hearthstone unseen and for go on with the great work before you remember your obligation stand by them stand by each and every work shoulder to shoulder and the day will eoon come when this order will be the foremost order not only in the city of ogden but I 1 hope in the territory of utah it can be done it requires a persistence in persever ence and heaven then will merever bless aa our efforts and crown our work with BUC suc cess |