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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

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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.

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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 Lem'me see, liver complaint, I believe? 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."

THE NEW PLAN.

BY JOSEPH BOWES.

I think the officers of the Equitable Life Assurance Society may confidently commit, as Abraham Lincoln did the Emancipation Proclamation, their new plan for the payment of commissions to agents, "to the blessing of Almighty God and the enlightened judgment of mankind." It is certainly quite remarkable that it should be reserved for the men connected with the Equitable to work every revolution in the life assurance business tending towards its popularization, its enlargement, and the vindication of the rights of policyholders, which have taken place within the last forty years.

I understand, however, that the plan which is to go into effect Jan. 1, is merely the crystallization of the thought, the desire and the hope that have been uppermost in the minds of the best men connected with the interest of life assurance for many years past. The conviction has been irresistibly forcing itself upon the judgment of the most thoughtful and experienced in the business of life assurance that a new basis of compensating managers and agents was absolutely necessary, in order to redeem the business from some of the wrongs which were connected with it, and to maintain the credit and character of the profession. But the company having the courage and capacity to formulate a new plan to work the revolution needed was wanting until the Equitable threw itself into the breach; and in this new departure the present executive force have proved themselves to be the worthy successors of the men who in the past made the Equitable what it is, and who have led the advance of modern thought on all subjects connected with the interests of life assurance for the past forty years.

It is acknowledged on all hands that the expedients heretofore adopted for dealing successfully with the rebate evil have been absolutely worthless; but here is a remedy which cannot fail to result in at least a mitigation of the evil if not in its absolute extinction. But not only is the rebate evil dealt effectually with by this step, but the establishment of a new relationship between the Society and the great bulk of the forces in the field has been consummated,

a relationship that must work out a most satisfactory result to the Society itself and to all connected with it. It may, of course, result in the loss of agents; it may result in a diminished business; but the agents who are worth retaining will be retained, and the business that will be secured by it will be worth having. Only the free lances, the rounders; only those who enter the ranks of life assurance solicitors for a season, will be lost. Heretofore, the companies have in nearly all cases limited the luxury of a renewal contract to managers and others controlling definite territory. Now, however, the Equitable furnishes the opportunity for giving every sub-agent an inte est, more or less permanent, in his business; thus attaching him to the business secured, and also to the Society he represents. This is what the man who has entered the field of life assurance as a profession has been longing for. This is the condition necessary to enable him who "plougheth" in the life assurance field "to plough in hope;" to enable him that "thresheth in hope to be partaker of his hope." The bane of the life assurance underwriter heretofore has been the giving to him at once the entire fruit of his labor. This practice has filled the field with an army of spendthrifts on one hand, or with an army of paupers on the other. It has done more to foster the infamous system of twisting policies than anything else; for, heretofore, it has only been necessary for unscrupulous agents, finding their interest in the business placed in one company to have lapsed at the end of a year, to attempt to turn it over to another company; or, failing to do this themselves, to put other agents upon it who are willing to make the attempt.

We know that the Equitable, having put its hand to the plough in this matter, will not look back, and we believe that through it a new era will dawn upon the life assurance agent and manager. It is known throughout the life assurance world that there is no company that guards with so much sacredness the interests of its agents in their renewals as the Equitable; so that the solicitor who has a renewal interest here, as far as the Society is concerned, has one of the most secure and available assets for the future that it is possible to possess.

THE EQUITABLE NEWS

An Agents' Journal.

FRANK F. EDWARDS, Editor.

JANUARY, 1900.

There are too many newspapers. There is hardly room for another. But here, nevertheless, is one more. It is to be hoped, however, that this is indeed the very last. Even now we launch the "Equitable News" upon the Sea of Letters only because it is impossible to hold it back. There is a demand for this paper. It has become so overwhelming that resistance is no longer possible. Besides it is fitting that the managers and agents, who represent in the field the interest of the many hundreds of thousands of policyholders constituting the Equitable Society, should have a journal to represent their views, report their movements, record their experiences, and carry to them tidings of interest regarding their Society.

The best company for the policyholder is the company which best manages its business for future results, and not necessarily the one which makes the most attractive offers for to-day.

The aim of the Equitable management is to adhere closely to those principles which will go for permanent strength and the largest returns in the future.

I have been an officer of the Equitable Life for over thirty-three years, and I have never seen the condition and prospects of the Society in such splendid shape.

If our agents believe the foregoing, it is the greatest possible lever with which to obtain business. We are not trying to stimulate our agents by decrying our neighbors or criticising the officers of other companies. Our business is to husband the resources of our own Company, and plant deep for the future.

In addition to the foregoing, the officers of the Equitable propose to maintain the vigorous handling of the business in the field which has characterized the past history of the Society, and to increase it if possible.

James ev alexander

It is an infinite pleasure for me to cooperate with the other officers of our Society in adding a few words of greeting to the readers of the first number of this paper. The beginning of anything is always interesting, and the beginning of a paper like this is more than interesting. We at the home office hope that it will become one more link in that strongly forged chain which connects, and should forever connect the home office with the agents. We will endeavor in every way to make it a success, but this end cannot be attained unless the agents, who are the base and foundation of the Society, also co-operate, as they have agreed to do, and as we know they will.

The Equitable has always been known as the agents' company, and we trust it always will be. The spirit and the loyalty with which our vast agency corps have assisted our present administration in its aim to uphold the righteous object of purifying. reforming and elevating the life assurance business towards that high standard it should always have is the highest tribute any company could ever be paid. There always has been between the administration at the home office and the agents in the field a sentiment that has undoubtedly done much for the Society, and it is this spirit of loyalty on the agents' part to the Society, and of the officers to the Society which it is so important to preserve.

This year of 1900 is going to be a remarkable one-the ending of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, and we hope, we feel, we know that the Equitable through its many arms will be made to stand where it always has, foremost in the eyes of the world for its many achievements gained by its honest policy, and carried out by its heart and soul-the men in the field.

Jauns MHyder

The "Equitable News" is launched with the idea that it is to be a real and actual medium of exchange of news and views among Equitable agents. The "Record"

will hereafter be devoted wholly to policy-
holders, and this paper is undertaken in the
interest, and for the benefit, of the agents.

Relying upon the co-operation of every
representative of the Society who is willing
that others shall profit by his knowledge
and experience, we hope to make it a
strong tie of interest between the agents of
the Equitable from Maine to California.
We expect every agent to feel that it is his
paper, and that he will take a special pride
in it; that when he runs across something
that is new and worthy of note, he will let
us have it; that when he has had an experi-
ence worth relating, or that may, perhaps,
help someone else in a similar case, he will
communicate it to the editor; that when he
happens upon something funny in the pur-
suit of his daily work, he will permit all the
rest of us to laugh with him. In short, it
will be an agents' paper, and so we must de-
pend largely upon the agents for the ma-
terial to make it interesting.

We hope particularly that you will tell us of your pleasant experiences. We would rather have the paper full of sunshine than of clouds. There is a way of slipping over the dark places in life and dwelling on the pleasant spots, and that is one of the faculties we are going to try to cultivate.

If every one will give these matters some thought, and occasionally contribute a mite from his abundant experience, we shall soon have an "exchange" that will be not only a source of enjoyment, but a real help to the agency force of the Society.

G&Darbell

Cordial greetings to the grand army of Equitable workers in the field!

In company with my colleagues, both in the field and in the Home Office, I hail with pleasure the issue of the "Equitable News" as one more means of keeping in close touch with one another. This "touch" "makes all the (Equitable) world kin," and is one of the props of that splendid esprit de corps which has been such a characteristic element in the upbuilding of our grand old Society.

The interest in this little journal is not

confined to the agencies located in the United States. Letters have been received from the managers of foreign agencies expressing pleasure that such a paper was to be issued, and the hope that the brethren in foreign lands would not be forgotten. We have told them that we were very sure that the agents here would be happy to hear of interesting doings in foreign countries, and that we would be pleased to have contributions from them from time to time. The agents in the United States may be inter sted to know that at the time of the Fortieth Anniversary celebration we were very pleased to observe that the names of many of our managers in the United States were household words to the managers in Europe. The “Equitable News" ought to be a means of bringing all of the agencies in the various parts of the world closer together. Its success, however, depends mainly on you. We at the Home Office are with you, heart and soul, in this, as in every other good work that facilitates, enhances and dignifies the work of the field officers of the Society.

All honor to all life assurance agents in all lands, and to the agents of the Equitable in the United States in particular! Because of the work they have done and are doing the world will be happier and better, and their work will live in the homes of America, long after the work of all of us on earth is ended.

I wish you one and all a Happy New Year.

To. 3. Milson

ро

THE ACTUARY'S POETIC CONTRIBUTION.

The agent said to William W8
While they were dining t8-a-t8,
"Oh, do not w8 until too 18,
But now secure your loving m8
From all mischance of luck or f8."
But William tried to hesit8
And said he'd fix another d8,
Just now the premium was too gr8,
He really could not pay the r8;
He would assure in '98.

But before that, he lay out str8,
And his poor wife, the lovely K8,
Was left in a most wretched st8.

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