DIVISION DIRECTORY. [Where not otherwise stated, the Meetings commence at Eight. Applicants for admission may apply on the night of meeting, or address a note to the Financial Scribe. Divisions advertised as under at Five Shillings per annum.] Temp. Hall, Greengate-street Alt. Tu. 7.30 A. Granger, North-road. Last Sat. 4.30 R. Weightman, East Holywell, New Alt. W. Alt. F. 7.30 Alt. Sat. Alt. Tu. Alt. M. Alt. F. Mon. castle. J. Brown, 5 & 6, Lower Tenten-street J. Billington, 4, Navigation-street W. Aitken, 8, Meredith-st., Market-st. H. Lloyd, 4, Commercial-street. J. Buchanan, Falla-park-road. J. McInnes, 74, St. James's-place. Temp. Hall, Blkfriars-rd, SE Th. 2nd & 4th R. Hall, 75, New-st., Kennington, S.E. J. Aldred, Peabody-bldgs, Southwark-st Cadogan-terrace Chapel, E. W. 1st & 3rd J. Vincent, 77A, Little Britain, E.C. G. Central Hall, Bishopsgate Alt. Tu. 8.30 W. Tranter, 9, Bridgewater-sq., E.C. 2, St. John's-pl., St. James'-Th. 2nd & 4th J. Lovelace, 2, St. John's-place square, Notting-hill.. ...... Portcullis Hall, Regency-st., 3rd W. Westminster. ...... Happy Home..... Sir Henry Havelock.. Grosvenor-st. Temp. Hall, Bapt. School, Ainsworth-st., Beacon-on-the-Hill.. Templars' Hall Monkwearmouth Progress. North Shields Newcastle-on-Tyne Excelsior .... ... Wallsend-on-Tyne Tyne ...... .... .......... Weston-in-Runcorn Nil Desperandum West Hartlepool Albert.. Wednesbury Wigan ...... Wolverhampton Worcester Meliora Workmen's Hall Tu. 2nd Tu. F. 7.30 Ch. of E. Institute, Percy-st. Alt. Tu. 7.30 Rob-roy Coffee Tav, Maple-rd Tu. 2nd & 4th Temperance Hall T. Hutchens, 77, Westmoreland-street, A. Wingham, 21, Prosser-terrace, T. Ogden, 32, Tomlinson-st., Hulme Jno. Brooks, 127, Clowes-st., W. Gorton J. A. Harrison, 91, Church-street. J. Hine, 34, Luxon-street. G. Hunt, 12, Wandsworth-rd., S.E. J. Fawcett, 10, Claremont-terrace. Alt. M. Alt. M. Alt. M. Tu. 2nd & 4th C. Dain, 9, Hall-street, Dudley-road. LONDON. VISITORS TO LONDON SHOULD STOP AT TRANTER'S TEMPERANCE HOTEL, 9, BRIDGEWATER SQUARE, BARBICAN, CITY, E.C., (Established 1859) CONDUCTED ON STRICTLY TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES. Six minutes' walk from St. Paul's Cathedral, five from G.P.O., and two from Aldersgate Street Metropolitan Railway Station. Comfortable, quiet, clean, highly respectable and select, handy for everywhere, being in the centre of this great city, well recommended by all who patronise it (see Visitors' Book), Charges strictly moderate. Beds 1/3, 1/6, and 2/- per night each person. Plain Breakfast or Tea 10d., with Steak 1/6. NOTE.-Visitors from all parts of the Country should book through to Aldersgate Street Station, where over a 1,000 trains pass daily, and save time and expense. Any further particulars will be gladly furnished by G. T. S. TRANTER F.S. SONS OF TEMPERANCE. Proprietor, THE BEST TEETOTAL BENEFIT SOCIETY: L.G.D. OF SONS OF TEMPERANCE. Has over 2,100 Members, and a Reserve Fund of £12,000. The Contributions are on a Graduated Scale according to Age & Benefits, & range from 31d. weekly & upwards, for Sickness, & from d. per week for Assurance. TEETOTALERS may assure, either for 5/-, 10/-, 15/-, or 20/-, in Sickness, or any Sum from £5 up to £50 at Death. No extra Levies or Management Expenses are charged, the Scale being inclusive. Members are Half Free in Six Months, and Fully Free in Twelve Months, and to Medical Attendance and Medicine as soon as they join. Full Pay for Twelve Months, Half Pay for Six Months, and Quarter Pay for remainder of Sickness. ENTRANCE FEE FOR ALL AGES 2s. 6d. Information relative to the opening of new Sub-divisions, and Deputations to explain the principles of the Order, will be supplied on application to THE NATIONAL TEMPERANCE PUBLICATION DEPOT, 337, STRAND, LONDON, W.C., Has been established for the supply of TEMPERANCE LITERATURE of all kinds, and the miscellaneous necessities of Temperance Societies, Bands of Hope, Templar Lodges, and other organizations for the spread of Temperance. A Complete Catalogue will be sent post free to applicants, and the full discount allowed on all orders. The Tables of the Book and Tract Saloon will be found to contain the only complete selection of Temperance Publications in the United Kingdom. It is open from 9 to 7; on Saturdays till 4. The First Yearly Volume of THE NATIONAL TEMPERANCE MIRROR, An Illustrated Monthly Magazine for the Home Circle, Containing 312 Foolscap 4to. pages, 27 High-class Engravings, 12 Original Pieces of Music, and a very Attractive Frontispiece, taken from the "Art Journal," entitled "THE SPRING OF LIFE." Paper Boards, with very handsome and novel ornamental cover Cloth Extra, printed on toned paper, with artistic design blocked in gold and silver POPULAR TEMPERANCE HAND-BOOKS. Cloth, boards, 1/6. The Voice of the Pulpit on Temperance. By Religious & Educational Aspects of Temperance The History of Toasting: or Drinking of Healths TEMPERANCE SCHOOL BOOKS. The Temperance Lesson Book. A Series of Short The Temperance Primer. An Elementary Lesson Temperance Reading Book, A; or Elementary The National Temperance League's Annual The Juvenile Temperance Series of Short Juvenile Temperance Stories, in two neat volumes. The Standard Book of Song. Compiled by THOMAS A novel Temperance Teacher, 1s. 6d. ; packed in wood box for rail, 18. 9d., carriage paid. The Electrical Temperance Instructor. An entertaining, amusing, and ingenious method of inculcating Temperance truth by means of magnetism. The "Instructor" contains 30 carefully prepared questions and answers of a most useful kind. This is just the thing for a present to old and young alike. 1/6 2/0 2/6 1/6 NEW ILLUSTRATED TEMPERANCE STORIES. 3/6 each. Step by Step: or, the Ladder of Life. By M. A. PAULL, Author of "Sought and Saved," "Tim's Troubles," "The Flower of the Grass Market," &c. Four full-page illustrations, by R. C. Woodville. Cloth, gilt. The Tempter Behind. By J. SAUNDERS, Author of "Abel Drake's Wife," &c. A powerful story, dedicated to Dr. B. W. Richardson. Cloth, gilt. "A powerfully-written story, evincing much dramatic skill and originality, and illustrating in glaring colours the evil effects of intemperance, especially in its most dangerous form of secret drinking."-The "Graphic.' 2/6 each. The National Temperance Reader-Recitations, Dialogues, and Readings, in Prose and Poetry, original and selected. Monthly Parts, 1d. Volumes, 1s. 6d. The Temperance Record-The Organ of the National Temperance League. Weekly, 1d. The Medical Temperance Journal-The Organ of the British Medical Temperance Association. Quarterly, 6d. NATIONAL TEMPERANCE PUBLICATION DEPOT, 337, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. Printed for the National Division by DANIEL & SMITHERS, 120, Newington Butts, and Published at 337, Strand.-Nov. 1, 1881. SON OF TEMPERANCE, No. 2. Organ of the National Division of Sons of Temperance of Great Britain and Ireland. DECEMBER, 1881. ONE PENNY. The Order of SONS OF TEMPERANCE is a Teetotal Friendly Society, comprising men and women who have signed the Teetotal Pledge, and who pay a weekly contribution for a sum of money payable to their nominees at death, and the men for a sum of money payable weekly in sickness. The whole of the management is in the hands of the members, by whom and from among whom the officers are elected. The payments are in proportion to age and benefits. The meetings are held apart from liquor shops, and are made conducive to the social and mental improvement of members, no inducement being offered to spend money" for the good of the house," or to risk the loss of health and character. There are branches in most of the large towns of Great Britain. Every information may be obtained of Mr. W. OLARKE, 29, Pitt-terrace, Miles Platting, Manchester, or at the meeting-rooms advertised in this journal. NOTICE. THE SON OF TEMPERANCE may be obtained of any Bookseller, or at any Bookstall, price 1d. monthly. Free by post 1s. 6d. per annum. Orders for the paper should be sent to the National Temperance Publication Depot, 337, Strand, London, W.C. Postal Orders in payment should be made payable to the Manager, W. TARVER, at Somerset House. Advertisements and Correspondence should be sent direct to the Editor, SON OF TEMPERANCE, 15, Lorrimore Square, Walworth, London, S.E. Items of news and reports of progress, should reach the Editor by the 18th of the month. Advertisements, etc., will be received until the 21st of the month. No attention will be paid to anonymous communications. THE LONDON VALUATION. THE space devoted in our present issue to the London Valuation will hardly be regretted by any of our readers. For apart from the importance of tabulated experience in its bearing upon the personal practice of abstinence, there is the no less valuable foundation laid of a statistical record which may be made a standard of reference by and by, in the preparation of tables of contributions and quinquennial returns. At present, the basis of calculation is the experience of the Odd Fellows or the Foresters. Our conviction is that this experience does not represent the experience of Sons of Temperance. Conviction, however, does not satisfy the authorities. The conviction may be justified by appeals to the mortality experience of Life Offices having teetotal sections, or to the experience of small numbers of men on special service, or to the records of societies composed partly or entirely of teetotalers. The invariable retort is your numbers are too small, or your society is of too recent formation. This is held to introduce an element of uncertainty into the experience, and thereby make it of little value to the science of vital statistics. Though we may strongly object to this dictum on the grounds of scientific testimony as to effects of liquors and undisputed public testimony of the value of abstinence in promoting health and prolonging life, the dictum has apparent force through our own negligence. Where are our records? What has become of the thirty years' experience of our own order? We have, certainly, sufficient to justify general statements. Here and there scrupulously faithful officers can give well authenticated records of the health history of their own divisions. But we have no tabulated general record-as we ought to have-a record complete in every detail, and thoroughly reliable as a faithful digest of experience. However the limit of our statistical poverty has been passed. The sting is partly taken out of the dictum. London gives the actuary's data in full. Before the National Division meets next Whitsuntide the chief office should be in possession of the detailed experience of every branch of the order. Where the actuary does not, as in the London case, give the basis of his results, officers should get their original information returned and send it or a copy of it to our chief office. Thus we may secure the nucleus of a valuable record. The years of experience for the quinquennium will be over 80,000 instead of over 11,000, and surely the value of such an experience will be suffiient inducement for every division to make its contribution thereto. But this is not all. Some branches complain of the new graduated scale. They say the payments are too high. Their reasons are the general ones already stated. Here is their opportunity. Let them insist upon a rigorous record. Then out of the Order's experience they will be able to get a table of payments, probably lower than the present, but, anyhow, one they will be able to justify in the only recognised way, viz. by reference to scrupulously kept records. Con Having said so much upon the general outcome of the London report, we now invite special attention to some of the details. The experience is not that of life teetotalers. There are many among the Sons who are practically so, but another generation will have to arise before the full expression of the life value can be given. Then many have been admitted beyond the age usual in other societies. Until recently, in London the limit was 55 years; the ordinary limit is about 35. sequently, the objection that this is the experience of a society only fourteen years old is partly met, for a reference to the table giving a summary of the experience will show that there is a fair proportion of members beyond the age of 45. The same fact gives force to the illustration by curves of the relative sickness in three organizations, for, though of course it cannot be pretended that the difference will be as marked when the numbers shall be larger, we have no hesitation in affirming that it will be sufficient to make a striking departure from the sickness usually counted up as inseparable from old age. In the mortality table, the results simply corroborate those published by assurance offices. They are hardly likely to be questioned. Still it is well to note that they represent the experience of men and women, mainly working people, whose lives are supposed not to be as good as those which give the experience of the larger offices; and, further, that some of them have profited by lax medical examination, and have found easy entrance into the Society. Turning to the sickness tables the results are simply extraordinary. The per-centage of members sick at any time is shewn to be less than one-half the Foresters' per centage. The younger and older ages evince a marked departure from the Foresters' experience, the only approximation being between 35 and 50. This fact is further exemplified on reference to the tables giving the average of sick experience per year at the several ages. The only approximation to anything like the same amount of sickness, is between the ages of 35 and 50. The average of sickness per member in the Sons, from 18 to 70 years of age, is really less than one-third of that experienced in the Odd Fellows and Foresters. If an allowance be made for the difference at the advanced ages on the ground of small numbers, even to the extent of writing the sickness really experienced as three-fourths of the Manchester Unity's, instead of onethird, there is ample margin to justify the actuaries in departing from Ratcliffe's tables in valuing this branch of the Order. With regard to the rate of interest assumed it is only fair to state that the actuaries were shewn that the whole of the capital was and is earning an average of So their basis is under rather than over 44 per cent. the mark. Other things might be noted. Still we think it will suffice to say in conclusion that this report is the original report. This is not always the case. There is a large society in London which had a report of an unfavourable character. Consultation followed, then an alteration of Rules. Another report was made, and then another. Finally the society was pronounced solvent. The London brethren have made no prospective alterations. The report represents the real condition of the Grand Division; and the publication of every line and figure as submitted by non-teetotal actuaries is at once tangible evidence that they court the light of the severest scrutiny. TESTIMONY OF SIR MATTHEW HALE.-This eminent judge, in his "Advice to my Grandchildren," written about 1670, has the following remarks:-" When men are disordered with wine, or other liquor, they put themselves out of God's protection, and are laid op to to the management of the devil; they lose the conduct of their own reason, and are more ungovernable than brute beasts; no villany comes amiss but they are qualified to commit it. The places of judicature which I have long held in this kingdom, have given me opportunity to observe the original cause of most of the enormities that have been committed for the space of near twenty years; and by due observation I have found that if the murders and manslaughters, the burglaries and robberies, the riots and tumults, the adulteries, fornications, rapes, and other great enormities that have happened in that time, were divided in five parts, four of them have been the issues and product of excessive drinking at taverns and alehouse meetings. Therefore, if you meet any person given to excess of drinking, if he invite you to go to a tavern or alehouse, or any such house of disorder, or if he begin to set you or any one else into a posture of drinking, remember your grandfather tells you such a person is not for your company; you must avoid him and his company, for he is laying a snare for you!" VALUATION OF THE GRAND DIVISION OF To the Committee of Management of the London Grand by your Secretary, we have made minute examination of the affairs of your society, as at 31st December, 1880, and we are now enabled to lay before you the results of our labours, with a report upon the condition of the society under its assurance contracts. TABLES OF SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. Your sickness and mortality experience has engaged our special attention, the more so as we anticipated, at the outset, that the result would be influenced, in a very great measure, by the carrying out of those principles which distinguish the members from an ordinary population. The results of our investigations are appended, and, to the ordinary observer, they will doubtless speak for themselves. But we have thought it desirable to concentrate a few of the broad inferences derivable therefrom, in order that the position of the society, as compared with other friendly societies, might be fairly understood. The results of the investigation were derived from observations comprising 11016 years of life in which members were exposed to risk of sickness and mortality. The results beyond the age of 21 were grouped in periods of five years, in order that the prevailing rates might be more readily compared with the experience of other societies. From the figures thus brought out it would appear that the rate of sickness attains a maximum in the middle period of life, after which, and contrary to all expectation, the rate declines gradually to a minimum. A comparison between your experience and those of other societies may be drawn from the following table :— The A comparison of the curves offers satisfactory evidence that the experience of sickness in your society during the five years under observation has been exceedingly favourable. departure of the curve representing your case, from the ordinary direction of the curves towards the later ages of life, is very striking, and it is not unreasonable to infer that some important influence has operated upon the health of the members at the older ages. Still, to prevent rash conclusions being formed with respect thereto, it should be distinctly understood that such expression of the prevailing law of sickness must not be considered absolute, and, indeed, two reasons present themselves why the precise form of the curves should not be relied upon with too great faith. It should be understood that the original observations were of a limited character, comprising only 11016 years of life, whilst, for instance, the Manchester Unity experience, 1866-70, was based upon observations embracing 1,321,048 years of life. It would follow, therefore, the law of average in your case would have less chance in manifesting itself than in the latter case. |