RED MEN, ImPROVED ORDER OF. A fraternal and beneficial order claiming unbroken succes sion from the 'Sons of Liberty' (q.v.), and other Revolutionary societies, and reorganized in 1833 at a convention in Baltimore. The Grand Coun cil of Maryland was created at this convention, the old ritual was revised, and soon the council fires of the order were lighted in several States of the Union. In 1847 the Grand Council of Maryland called another convention at which was organized the Great Council of the United States, which was made the supreme governing body of the order. The government of the order is mod eled after that of the United States. The Great Council of the United States is composed of rep resentatives of the various State Grand Councils. which in turn are made up of representatives from the various tribes in the State jurisdiction. The ritualistic work consists of three degrees, viz.: Adoption, Warrior, and Chief. The officers of the tribe are prophet, sachem. senior sagamo•e, junior sagamore, chief of records, and keeper of wampum. The officers or chiefs of the Great Council of the United States are great incohonee, great senior sagamore, great junior sagamore, great prophet, great chief of records, great keeper of wampum, great tocakon, great minewa, great guard of forest. The conditions of membership
are: age twenty-one years, citizenship in the United States, good health and character, and be lief in the existence of a Supreme Being, 'the Great Spirit.' There is a Chieftain's League or Uniformed Rank in the order. The Degree of Pocahontas is for the especial benefit of the fe male relatives of the Red Men, who are eighteen years of age and over. The Improved Order of Bed Men (including the Degree of Pocahontas, which has a membership of 50.000) had at the close of 1902 a total membership of over 300,000. During the decade ending that year it had paid for the relief of members nearly $4,000.000, for the relief of widows and orphans $125,000. and for the burial of the dead nearly $1,000,000. The emblem of the order is the eagle and the motto, 'Freedom, Friendship, and Charity.'