 The depression of the mid-1870s checked its growth and led to a movement for a general death benefit (local conclaves were allowed to create benefit options, but there were not overall benefits).When the Supreme Conclave rejected this idea the zeta Conclave of Baltimore forced a schism leading to the creation of the Improved Order of Heptasophs.There was an intense rivalry between the two groups for a few years, but this died down after the older order adopted its own benefit plan in 1880

During the 1870s, the Order became popular among some German Americans and was said to have spread to Germany by 1877.