Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1902 — ODD FELLOWS IN SESSION. [ARTICLE]

ODD FELLOWS IN SESSION.

Sovereign Grand Lodge Meeta at Dea Moines, lowa. With special trains arriving from all parts of the country and the attendance having already reached 30,000; the seven-ty-eighth annual Session of the sovereign grand lodge of Odd Fellows was formally welcomed to Des Moines Monday morning by Gov. A. B. .Cummins and Mayor Brenton in a public session in the new auditorium. Addresses were made by M.- Newman of Des Moines, grant} master of Iowa; J. C. Miiliman of Woodbine, grand patriarch; Miss Ida Van Horn, president of the lowa Rebekah assembly, and Maj. Gen. M. A. Raney, lowa department commander of the Patriarchs Militant. The response was made by A. C. Gable of Covington, Ohio, grand sire. Upon the conclusion of the welcoming exercises the sovereign grand lodge was formally called to order. The report of the grand sire, which waß„,s,ubmitted*„iar., dicated that there were 127 grand lodges established, of which six were In foreign countries. The total number of subordinate lodges is 12,792 aDd subordinate encampments 2,780. The entire membership of the order reaches 1,002,272. During the year there were 99,398 initiation* Id the subordinate lodges and including those initiated In other branches thp total reached 185,845. The amount of relief disbursed was $3,939,785.68, an increase of $203,093.08. The financial statement shows: Revenues from all branches, Increase $666,025.19; expense*. $8,896,195.31, increase $436,853.03; surplus revenues, $2,090,775.35; invested funds, $29,952.769.38, increase $1,300,076.28. The report says that since 1830 there have been 2,544,120 members initiated Into the subordinate lodge, 2.505,907 members relieved, 256,006 widowed families relieved, 252,364,members died. Total relief, $192,665,244.47; total revenue, $240,430,422.21. --- - - - -1 •