Stephen Ryder invested $291.76. That investment has yielded $2,000 in Gold Debentures.

Take another instance: Mrs. Anna R. Cartnell invested $590.30 on the 26th of last January. In less than six months that investment yielded $10,000 in Debentures.

Show these examples to a client and it will set him thinking, and before long he will ask you what $10,000 of Debentures I will cost him. If he prefers the Endowment form, you can tell him that the cost cannot be more than a certain sum, and that it will necessarily be less if he should die before all the instalments fall due, and will be less also if he survive the period, because of the dividend which will then be paid. Even if he should prefer a life contract, you can explain that under no circumstances can the cost be more than so much a year; and that is quite as definite a statement as a man could make about his rent or his butcher's bill. He can tell how much he spends each year, but he cannot tell for how many years he must continue to pay his necessary living expenses.

After you have shown the above examples to a client, he may say: "The question of cost is a gamble after all." Well, you can, for the sake of argument, admit that it is a gamble, if you choose. It may aid you in selling your debentures. You will find few clients from whose composition the gambling instinct has been omitted; and you can reply: “It's a good gamble, anyway. The investment cannot cost you more than I have stated, and may prove to be a marvelous bargain," as in the four cases just cited, where a few hundred dollars yielded thousands within the year. And if the investor should have twinges of conscience, you can remind him that absolute perfection is seldom attainable in human undertakings; that he must gamble in one way or another whether he wants to or not, and, if so, it is better that it should be an innocent form of gambling than a pernicious form; in short, that it is better that he should gamble a little about the amount which an investment made for the protection of his family shall cost, than that he should stake the hearts, the prosperity, the health, perhaps even the life itself, of his

wife and children. For the man who does not protect his family against the accident of his premature death is a gambler, and if he loses, his widow and his orphan children must pay the stakes.

William Alexander

N. B. In this connection, read carefully the following article by E. F. Hubball. It will also well pay you to read carefully the articles by Joseph Bowes and Edward A. Woods, on pages 4 and 7.

HOW I SELL DEBENTURES.

The 5 per cent Debenture Gold Bond sold on the Endowment plan is undoubtedly our big gun, but like all other guns, it is useless without the right man behind it. My opinion is that these bonds should be sold without the display of rate book, without asking the customer his age, and with as little reference to life assurance as possible. Life assurance is only one of many good features contained in this contract. But it is necessary to know how to exhibit and present those features. A small piece of paper, a pencil, and the compound interest table is all that should be necessary to assist in selling the bonds.

Last, but not least, the seller of these bonds should be able to demonstrate to his customer's satisfaction the certainty that the Society will carry out its guarantees.

Any man of reason and intelligence is perfectly willing to divide on a prospective profit, and you gain his confidence when you make him a partner to the transaction.

I devote all my time to the selling of these bonds, appreciate the value of the investment myself, and try to inoculate my customers with the virus of my convictions. E. F. Hubball.

POSITIVE OR PROBABLE PROFIT. When men have achieved success they use safeguards to make their success sure. The purchaser of government bonds is not satisfied when he buys the securities. He locks them up. He pays a fire insurance company to carry the risk on his store, his house, and his goods. He makes positive the profit that seems probable.

There is the probability of profit in every productive of life, but the profit is very far from positive unless the life be assured.

THE TRUE STORY OF A KICKER. There lived two frogs, so I've been told,

In a quiet wayside pool;

And one of those frogs was a blamed bright frog,

But the other frog was a fool.

Now a farmer man with a big milk can
Was wont to pass that way;

And he used to stop and add a drop

Of the aqua pure, they say.

And it chanced one morn in the early dawn When the farmer's sight was dim,

He scooped those frogs in the water he dipped,

Which same was a joke on him.
The fool frog sank in the swashing tank;
As the farmer bumped to town,

But the smart frog flew like a tug-boat

screw

And he swore he'd not go down.

So he kicked and splashed and he slammed and thrashed,

And he kept on top through all;

And he churned that milk in first-class shape

In a great big butter ball.

Now when the milkman got to town
And opened the can, there lay
The fool frog drowned, but hale and sound,
The kicker he hopped away.
MORAL.

Don't fret your life with needless strife,

Yet let this teaching stick.

You'll find, old man, in the world's big can It sometimes pays to kick.

A CALENDAR SUGGESTION.

A life assurance policy is often allowed to lapse because the date of premium escapes the memory of the assured, or for some other trifling reason, and not because the assured intends to give up his Of course, such a policy can usually be reinstated if the assured is in good health, but it is always a very dangerous proceeding to allow the due date to go by without paying the premium.

assurance.

In this connection a manager offers the suggestion that if agents would ask their policyholders to make a note of their premium dates on their yearly calendar there would be no possibility of overlooking them. The manager referred to always looks up his policyholders as soon as their premiums fall due. He sends herewith a few days' results of this "reminder." He says, moreover, that in each of these cases if the assured had had a notice on his docket of the exact date upon which the premium became due, the policy would never have lapsed

No. 404,459, policy for $10,000 issued in 1888, annual premium $379.70, was not paid until November 22d, seventeen days after its due date, because the assured had moved and had neglected to notify the Equitable of his change of address; therefore his notice of premium miscarried.

No. 567,080, policy for $25,000 issued in 1891, annual premium $690, was not paid until December 2d, twenty days after its due date, because the assured had "neglected it."

No. 620,512, policy for $25,000 issued in 1892, semi-annual premium $404.75, was not paid until December 4th, twenty-three days after its due date, because the assured was "hunting."

No. 719,042, policy for $5,000 issued in 1894, annual premium $343, was not paid until December 2d, twenty days after its due date, because the assured had "overlooked it."

This strikes us as being a suggestion worthy of adoption. "Changed address," "neglected it," "hunting," "overlooked it." These are trifling occurrences, but they might have resulted in serious loss, and could easily have been obviated by a little mark on a calendar.

STRONGEST IN THE WORLD.

BY EDWARD A. WOODS.

Men Should Examine the Statement of a Life Assurance Company as They Do That of a Bank.

Few agents make full use of the immense advantage we have in the fact that we represent the strongest company in the world. We never publish an advertisement in Pittsburg without the words "strongest in the world." I would like to see on all the documents of the Society, on the envelopes, on the writing paper, in fact, on every advertising or canvassing document that the Society issues, the magic words "Strongest in the World." And yet some of us even permit competitors to duplicate the fable of the tailless fox, and use against us the strongest argument in our favor-our large surplus.

Every business man knows that surplus is the fund from which dividends are paid, whether it be in railroading, manufacturing, banking, life assurance, or any other busi

ness.

Furthermore, surplus is the only fund from which dividends can legitimately be paid. The best evidence in the world that a company will pay large dividends is that it is accumulating large profits. We cannot too strongly impress upon policyholders the fact that they are not merely customers, but are partners in our great Society, and as such they will receive their full share of the surplus at the time specified in their policies. Every policyholder in the Equitable has therefore just as much interest in watching the gain in surplus as a man has in watching the profit side of his account grow. Whether it be the small tradesman, or the president of a great corporation, when he sees the earnings increase he feels happy, for he knows that not only will his profits increase, but that his credit will be higher. The same thing is true of banks. When the controller in Washington calls upon a national bank for a statement, and its report shows substantial gain in surplus and undivided profits, that bank's stock goes up; its statement shows that greater dividends are to be expected because the bank is earning them.

Surplus is a far safer measure of the probability of dividends than estimates as to what dividends will be paid in the future,

or even statements of what dividends have been paid in the past. Obviously the surest proof that the Equitable will pay large dividends in the future is the fact that it is rapidly increasing the surplus of its policyholders. Being a mutual company, and under its deferred dividend contracts paying all the dividends that it makes, it is bound to give to such a policyholder all the earnings which his policy has legitimately made. It is equally true that companies not making so much money cannot pay such large dividends without taking them from funds of others or impairing the reserve, which is neither straightforward nor correct, nor in the end profitable.

Men would be wiser if they would examine the statement of a life assurance company as they examine statements of banks, or of any other financial institutions. Instead of the estimates of the dividends to be paid in the future, or even statements of those paid in the past, or being paid in the present, they should watch the growth of surplus, the financial barometer of a company.

No man buys a bank stock which has been paying large dividends in the past if the bank shows a decrease in surplus now. No man goes into a manufacturing concern which has paid huge dividends in the past if its financial statement does not show that

it is making money now. Even if it is paying large dividends now and they are not being earned, it should, instead of attracting the purchaser, make him avoid such a concern altogether.

When a man buys bank or railroad stock wisely, he does not do it on anyone's estimate of what the stock will earn, nor of what the stock has paid in the past, but by examining the financial statement of the corporation and seeing what has been its financial condition, and therefore, what is its ability to pay future profits. Every policyholder of the Equitable has a just pride and should have personal satisfaction in noticing how profitable the partnership is. No company can continue to pay dividends it does not earn, but the Equitable, having for years past made more money than any other company, can in the long run continue to pay in the future as it has in the past the largest returns to policyholders that can safely be paid.

The above portrait is a very good one of Mr. C. R. Scott, Special Representative for the Equitable, who leads in amount of personal business in 1899. During this year Mr. Scott's personal business ran up into the millions, nearly all secured in policies of $100,000, and four being for $200,000 each.

Mr. Scott has never worked for any company other than the Equitable, and has been with the Society for ten years. During this decade he has increased his business every year, and declares that he will write a still larger business in 1900, and that his business for 1900 and 1901, and for as long as he works, will be written for the Equitable, to which he gave his first allegiance, and to which he hopes to give his last.

CHILDHOOD.

A favorite poem of the late Geo. W. Phillips. Oh, golden time when the heart was young, and the soul from sorrow free;

When the harp of life to joy was strung, and thrilled with its melody;

When the lark's glad song at purple dawn was a note of the angel's song, And the golden streams of love flowed on

through the twilight soft and long. When the whole wide world was a wonderland, and the sky was its roof of blue, And the stars were "holes in heaven's floor to let the glory through;" When the rainbow's span was an arch of gems, and the dewdrops jewels bright, Which the fairies hung on each grassy blade when they danced by the moonbeam's light;

When we gazed spell-bound till the glory died in the wondrous mystic West, For the golden clouds of sunset fair were "The Islands of the Blest." Then we slept, and dreamed that angels

bright bent down from the golden sky, And told us tales of the far-off land where

HUMORS OF LIFE INSURANCE. Some twenty years ago the papers were full of the achievements of a famous life assurance agent by the name of Gunn. What company he represented we do not know. Those of our readers who have never heard of him will thank us, we are sure, for reprinting the following item from an old issue of the Danbury News:

By the by, there is something suggestive in the name of Gunn. A life agent is in more than one respect like a gun. He may be loaded to the muzzle with convincing facts, but they will do no execution unless there is the energizing force of gun-powder back of them, and unless that force is generated by the spark of enthusiasm, and even then the powder and shot will be wasted unless the aim is accurate.

AGENT GUNN AGAIN IN THE FIELD.

"Benjamin P. Gunn is still around, and he is still canvassing actively for his company. A day or two ago he dropped in to persuade Mr. Pitman to take out a policy, and the following conversation ensued:

Gunn-I called

Pitman-Oh, get out! I don't want to be bored about life insurance!

Gunn-I just dropped in to see ifPitman-I know you did, and I don't want any. You can't insure me.

Gunn-If you will permit me to exPitman-But I won't permit you. Skip! This is the sixteenth time you've tackled me, and I'm sick of it. I ain't a-going to insure my life. That's settled.

Gunn-You misunderstand me, Judge. I called to ascertain if you are a member of the Peace Society.

Pitman-Hanged if I know.

Gunn-Why, because it wasn't money in the pockets of any of those fellows to have the other chaps walking around enjoying life. Do you suppose Brutus would a stabbed Cæsar if Cæsar's death would a kept Brutus hard up for market money? Not much, he wouldn't. Do you believe Wise would a hung old John Brown if John's death would a forced Wise to borrow money to buy boots?

Pitman-Maybe he wouldn't.

Gunn-Well, then, look a here. Suppose you was a policyholder in a life insurance company; wouldn't it reduce your dividends if you was to kill another member, and wouldn't you do your terrific best to keep that member alive?

Pitman-Strikes me I would.

Gunn-Of course. Now, what I am aiming at is to gather the entire civilized earth -the whole human family—into our company, so's that all hands will be perfectly wild to keep everybody else alive. When this is done you can beat your sword into spears and your plowshares into pruninghooks, for there'll be no more war. I'm not working for a paltry commission or two. It is a labor of love. I'm trying to elevate the race and promote civilization. Pitman-It never struck me that way. Gunn-Anyhow, it's so. And I ask you,

as a member of the Peace Society, to enroll your name among those who are carrying on this great work. Unborn generations will rise up and call you blessed, and you'll dry the widow's tears and hush the cry of the orphans. Go in for a five thousand dollar policy, and I assure you that the glad hosannas of the white-robed angel of Peace once more will resound from the starry vaults of heaven, and over the smiling earth the songs of love will still the clangor of the war-horse and the boom of cannon, and man once more will know the felicity of Paradise. Your grandmother died of liver complaint, I believe? Lem'me see, how old are you?

Pitman-I'm forty-four in February. Put me down for five thousand, payable at sixty years of age. Call in the morning with the papers, and I'll sign 'em!

Gunn-Good day. I'm off. I've got an engagement with Cooley. I've haunted him for two years now, and he has succumbed."