38
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE
A Woman With a Genius for Business
rplNE of the strongest, most in
I J J fluential, gifted and suc
jpJffrCl cessful individuals in the
Wfi&SuJ city of Omaha is Mrs.
Emma B. Manchester, supreme
guardian (which in commercial terms
is equivalent to national president)
of the Woodmen Circle, the greatest
woman's beneficiary order in the
world. In her administration of
this vast and complicated or
ganization Mrs. Manchester
has shown executive ability
of the first order, and in
building it up from a weak
and debt-burdened condition
to one of sound and splendid
prosperity during her four
teen years of leadership she
has accomplished one of the
most brilliant achievements
known to the business
world.
The Woodmen Circle ' is
the woman's auxiliary of the
Woodmen of the World, and
was founded at about the
same time, 1891. It is,
however, an entirely sepa
rate organization, not in any
way controlled, aided or reg
ulated by the men's order.
It originated in Colorado,
but in 1895 was incor
porated In Omaha, and this
city has ever since been its
headquarters. It is now es
tablished In every state this
side of Colorado, thirty
eight in all
It Is, like the Woodmen
of the World, a secret order,
whose main purpose is fra
ternal insurance. For a
stipulated monthly payment
it insures the lives of its
members for amounts rang
ing from $100 to $2,000.
All policies for $500 and up
ward are accompanied by an
agreement on the part oi'
the Circle to contribute a
$100 monument on the
death of the beneficiary, and
if she is without friends, to
erect it. This 1b equivalent
to paying $600 on every
$500 policy. Women over
the age of 52 are restricted
to taking out a $100 policy;
this entitles them to all the
social privileges of the Cir
cle and to the monument.
Women alone are admitted
to membership in the Circle,
with the exception that
members in good standing
of the Woodmen of the
are permitted to become
they elect a delegate to the supreme
convention, which also meets every
other year at the same time and
place as the Woodmen of the World.
Every fourth year an election is held
of the supreme officers and mana
gers, nine in number. Theee compose
the supreme executive council, which
meets once a year at Omaha.
The rates for insurance in the
members; the rates had been reduced
and were so low that they were en
tirely inadequate to meet death
claims. The society was deeply in
debt and was in imminent danger of
having its license revoked by the in
surance examiners.- Under the cir
cumstances Mrs. Manchester assumed
the office with extreme reluctance
and misgiving. Her standing and
S IT $i If V '" 1
ft
MRS. EMMA B. MANCHESTER,
Supreme Guardian pf the Woodmen Circle
World
"social
members" by taking out a $100 pol
icy, and, in their case, as a monu
ment is supposed to be provided for
them by their own organization, the
$100 is applied toward funeral ex
penses. The Circle is represented in the
various towns, cities and villages in
all the various states in which it is
licensed to do business by "groves,
which correspond in character and
organization to the chapters and
lodges of other secret fraternal so
cieties. These groves hold state
conventions every other year, when
Woodmen Circle are much lower not
only than those of old line insurance
companies, but even than those of
any other fraternal order. It also
has the fewest lapses of any fraternal
insurance order.
This brief outline shows the gen
eral plan and character of the organ
ization and its mode of procedure.
The real interest to the outsider, the
human element, centers around the
work and personality of Mrs. Man
chester. Mrs. Manchester took the office of
supreme guardian In 1899 to fill an
unexpired term of two years. At
that time there were about 6,000
reputation were such, however, that
in reliance upon them alone the ex
aminers deferred hostile action until
she should have had an opportunity
of examining the condtlon of the
Circle exhaustively and deciding
upon a course of action. At the next
supreme council, at Columbus, Ohio,
in May, 1901, Mrs. Manchester pre
sented her decision that -the only
means of securing the future of the
organization was to raise the rates.
This proposition was met by a storm
of opposition. For ten successive
days Mrs. Manchester never left her
stand upon the platform, and during
all that time fought inch by inch for j
the adoption of this measure. It
was finally passed, but with many
bitter feelings and heartburnings,
and it was one of those victories
which are for the time being more
crushing than defeat. The measure
went into effect immediately and
affected old members as well as new.
During the first year more old
memberships lapsed than new opes
were written. Finally, how
ever, the tide began to turn
the membership began to
grow and the indebtedness
to decrease. From the year
1905 the prosperity of the
organization has been sub
stantial and uninterrupted.
Today the memberships
number 111,000; there are
3,000 groves, there is no
debt, all death claims are
promptly paid and the
Woouuten Circle has an
emergency fund of nearly
$3,000,000. During the last
year there was paid out for
death claims, monuments
and funeral benefits $469,
147.72. These payments
during the twenty years of
the s o c i e t y's existence
amount to $2,676,307.84.
Mrs. Manchester has been
re-elected at every supreme
convention since 1899. Un
der her management the
growth and prosperity of '
the society has been marvel
lous. Again and again
events have justified her
judgment. One of the strik
ing features of her adminis
tration is that there has
never been an appeal from
a decision of hers during
the fourteen years she has
held office; this indicates
a rare combination of good
judgment, fairness, tact and
wisdom. A most essential
element of her success is the
extreme economy with which
the business of the society
is conducted. When Mrs.
Manchester first took office
and found the affairs of the
Circle in such bad shape she
restricted herself to a single
room and one assistant.
Even now, with the immense
amount of labor and detail
which naturally exists at the
execut ve headquarters of
such a great organization,
Mrs. Manchester has only
twenty-nine clerks. It is
needless to .say they work for
her with enthusiasm and devo
tion, all the more because Mrs.
Manchester never spares herself, but
arrives with the first and is the last
to leave.
The Circle will -occupy the third
floor of the new Woodmen of the
World building, but already finds
that it will need more space. Had
the W. O. W. not built when it did
the Woodmen Circle would by this
time have had its own building,
which would have placed it in a most
novel and interesting situation
among women's beneficiary orders.