The home offices of The Fraternal Tribunes, a fraternal insurance society having a national reputation, are located in Rock Island, and the society occupies the entire second story of the Carse Building. This is a Rock Island institution of growing importance, having been organized in 1897, in which year a charter was received from the State of Illinois and its lodges now number up into the hundreds and are located in the thriving cities and towns of this and other states. The growth of The Fraternal Tribunes on January 1, 1908, was in excess of 11,000 members, and the society has paid in death and disability benefits over $425,000. In its scope the society is purely a fraternal beneficiary order, having a representative form of government and conducting its business upon the lodge plan, and it admits men and women for insurance benefits in the sum of $250, $500, $1,000 or $2,000, each individual age at entry determining the cost to the insured. The present supreme officers are as follows: Honorable T. J. Medill, past supreme tribune Rock Island, Ill.; K. M. Whitham, supreme tribune, Aledo, Illinois; Honorable W. C. Galloway, vice-supreme tribune, Aledo, Illinois; Robert Rexdale, supreme secretary, Rock Island, Illinois; Harold A. Weld, supreme treasurer, Rock Island, Illinois; Honorable James McCartney, supreme counsellor, Chicago, Illinois; Doctor A. L. Craig, supreme medical examiner, Chicago, Illinois; Gilbert Miller, supreme orator, Canton, Illinois; L. M. Campbell, supreme sergeant-at-arms, Peoria, Illinois; Sadie B. Miller, supreme guard, Chicago, Illinois; E. L. Wolff, supreme sentinel, Aledo, Illinois.
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908