ART. 23.] CORPORATIONS—INSURANCE DEPARTMENT. 335

are in any way involved as an element or condition of such con-
tract or agreement, shall be deemed and taken to be a life insur-
ance company within the meaning of this article, and shall be
subject to all the requirements of law applicable to said life in-
surance companies; provided, that the said business may be con-
ducted on the mutual or co-operative plan, and that all such
organizations shall, prior to beginning business, and thereafter,
have in force bona fide applications for membership from at least
one hundred persons; and in case said organization issues its cer-
tificates for a maximum sum of less than five hundred dollars,
these said applications shall at least equal ten thousand dollars of
insurance, and if any certificate or insurance on one life be issued
in excess of five hundred dollars, then they shall at least equal the
amount of insurance now required by law for a mutual company,
and in addition thereto comply with the seven following sections of
this article for said mutual or co-operative organizations; pro-
vided, also, that any incorporation for insurance purposes as de-
scribed in this article, exempt from any of its provisions, may com-
ply herewith by resolution of its incorporators, trustees or directors,
and by complying with all the requirements of this article, come
under its provisions, and that the incorporators, trustees or direc-
tors of any such corporation under this article may adopt by-laws for
the election of their successors; provided also, that nothing herein
contained shall be construed to apply to the granting of relief or
benefits to members or their families by any societies of a purely
and exclusively religious, charitable or benevolent description not
operated with a view to a profit by its officers or members; nor
to orders or associations having ritualistic work and ceremonies in
their lodges, councils, or societies; provided, also, that the busi-
ness commonly known as industrial insurance, or on the weekly-
payment plan, shall not be permitted to operate under the guise
of privileges of the orders as exempted in this article.

1888, ch. 424

128. Organizations as described in section 127, not heretofore
required to report to the insurance department of this State, who
shall be empowered to require persons offering to give the bond
required above to make oath that they, and each of them, are
bona fide worth the property or security they proffer, and that
the said bond is a fair and bona fide bond, may be formed either