No. 13 ASSURANCE OF ONE'S LIFE A DUTY. Dean Fair Sets Forth the Benefits Accruing from Protection. (From the Omaha Bee.) In discussing the insurance of man's life and property at Trinity Cathedral last night, Dean Campbell Fair took for his text II. Timothy ii, 5-8: "If any man provide not for his own, especially for those of his own home, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." The dean said: "It may be that before next Sunday some one here to-night, strong, able and robust, may be laid low and feeble upon a bed of dangerous illness. You may lose your health of body and your strength of mind. In a moment an accident can strike you down, and in a second you become helpless. * "But, my fellow-man, something else is to happen! That illness may end in death, and what then? What and who are to support the helpless widow and more helpless orphans? Here comes in the magnificent system of finance we call insurance, the greatest of our many 'godsends,' to prevent pauperism and preserve the home. I bow in reverence before an insurance agent. I honor with unfeigned reverence the insurance organizations of America. They have saved the homes of our country and fed and clothed the widows and orphans of America, when nothing else but begging and borrowing and an almshouse could have fed the hungry when death took the husband and father to the grave. Consult a representative of these great companies and excellent orders, and at once, while you are in health and strength, pass the medical examination, secure your policy and never cease its payments-from $6 to $20, saving your family $1,000 or $2,000 when you are gone so that you may be a free and honest man. ones. "What shall such a course as this prevent? It will prevent an aching heart upon the bed of death as you think over from where can bread come to feed your loved It will prevent shame upon your brow and poverty in your home. It will prevent the relieving officer coming to your widow and children to take them in the paupers' wagon to the Douglas county almshouse. It will prevent a thousand and one ills and make you feel that you can look with confidence into the face of loved wife and children, of mother and sisters, and know in your heart that because you loved them you saved them the awful condition of being a 'destitute family.' "Some men tell us they don't believe in insurance, and that the world owes them and their families a living. I never argue with such men, because I feel the world owes them a kicking, and I wish someone would do it right off!" A New Issue of 5% Debenture Bonds Either Coupon or Registered. Bonds to Run for Twenty Years. Payable in Gold at Maturity. Interest Semi-Annually in Gold. PAYABLE JANUARY 1, AND JULY 1. Sold in Lots of from $1,000 to $200,000. Issued, Guaranteed, and Insured By the EQUITABLE SOCIETY OF NEW YORK The Safest and Best of Investments. The above is reproduced from a circular issued by the Society regarding its new issue of 5 per cent Gold Debenture Bonds. These bonds, together with the new Guaranteed Cash Value Policy, have been received with the utmost enthusiasm by the Society's representatives throughout the country. The managers and agents, with great unanimity, pronounce these to be the best contracts ever placed in the hands of a life assurance agent. Here are some of their expressions of opinion. "Certainly the best contracts in the insurance market to-day, and, backed as they are by the 'strongest and best Society in the world,' they should be great sellers." "We consider them as strong contracts as could be placed in the hands of an agent.” "They are going to be sellers, and I am glad to have them to start the new century with." "New contracts all right; special congratulations for allowing suicide clause to stand." [No thought of ever taking it out.-ED.] "Best things in life assurance since we became managers." "Superior to any policy on the market to-day, and I believe can be more readily sold than any policy in existence, backed as they are by the strongest and best managed life company in the world." "The new policies are all right. Best of all, the improvements are made in such a way as not to sacrifice a proper conservatism." These are but a few, a very few, of the opinions expressed; but they show the tenor of them all, the widespread satisfaction felt, and the unanimous opinion that, with these contracts, the Society's representatives in the field should surpass all previous records during 1901. GOLF "AS SHE IS SPOKE". In the absence of the regular golf editor, the following question from a beginner was referred to the turf editor for an answer: "In a game of golf is it the proper play to fizzle your put, or is it better to fetter on the tee?" The turf editor set his teeth together, firmly stared at the wall in front of him for a few moments, and then wrote the following: "In case a player snaggles his iron, it is permissible for him to fizzle his put, but a better plan would be for him to drop his guppy into the pringle, and snoodle it out with a niblick.”—Exchange. A GOOD START. "A good beginning makes a good ending." Now is the time to make a good start for a new century. It is our only chance. We have never had one before. We shall never have one again. Centuries don't come often enough. Make a good start for yourself by inducing your clients to do likewise. Induce them to make a good start by taking life assurance. It is not yet too late for them to so start, even at the very beginning. A policy issued now can be dated back to January 1, or, rather, January 2, the first business day of the century. Apart altogether from the satisfaction such a policyholder must necessarily feel in the knowledge that he has begun a new year and a new century aright, think of the convenience of it. He will always know just how old his policy is, and just how many premiums have been paid on it, for his policy will be precisely the same age as the century. One other point. By taking a policy on the first day of the twentieth century, the assured can rest assured that before the first day of the twenty-first century rolls around, his policy will have matured. All he will have to do will be to pay the premium. But, seriously, there is now the chance of a lifetime to draw men's attention to the fact that all men are mortal. With the beginning of each year men realize to a certain extent their unstable tenure of life, as they think of the many men of their acquaintance who have died during the previous year. They know, however, that they will probably live through the coming year, and perhaps through many years. This year it is different. It is the beginning of a new century, and a man must realize that, long before the next century comes, the present generation will have passed away. DELAY. A month ago Mr. J. T. D., of Sacramento, signed an application for a policy, but delayed going before the doctor for examination. We have received advice that Mr. D. was accidentally drowned a few days ago. Not having gone before the doctor, his family are now without the protection of assurance. Edwin Cramer. F. A. C. HILL. The name of F. A. C. Hill is well known to our readers as that of the Society's Boston manager. Mr. Hill is still a young man, being not much more than thirty years of age, but he has already made a great success in the profession of life assurance. His first direct contract with the Equitable was in 1892 at Providence, R. I., and his success in that territory led, in a few years, to his appointment to a larger field. On January 1, 1898, Mr. Hill was given charge of the Boston office, and since then this territory has been brought up to first place, and now the Equitable leads all other companies in the amount of business written in Massachusetts. Manager Hill is a large personal writer, and has for colleagues a very able body of life underwriters, and the result of their efforts has been, as stated, to place the Equitable in the very front rank in this field; and this has only been accomplished by the writing of about seven million dollars of new business annually. HE HAS ONE F. Opper, the cartoonist, says that President McKinley is "very anxious to have a good, strong policy." He has one-in the Equitable-the strongest in the world. THE EQUITABLE LUNCH CLUB. On April 25, 1891, recognizing the advantages of gathering together for an interchange of ideas, the Pittsburg agents of the Equitable were invited to lunch in a private room at the Hotel Duquesne, Pittsburg, with a view to effecting a permanent organization. After the lunch the organization was completed by calling it "The Equitable Lunch Club," and it was decided to meet every other Saturday at noon. Captain Denis Behen, who has since died, a venerable life assurance man, with a most enviable reputation, and an example for all assurance men who knew him to follow, honored the club by accepting the first presidency, and a permanent secretary, Mr. Renwick T. Sloane, was elected. It was, as far as I know, the first organization of its kind in the country, although the idea has since been followed by many agencies of the Equitable and by some of other companies, because the advantages that have arisen from it have been so conspicuous. The club has grown until now it may be considered the backbone of the organization of the Pittsburg agency. It is a channel through which the experience of each agent is communicated to all. It is a forum for discussing practical questions about the business, a school for training new men. It affords an opportunity for announcing or explaining the plans, rules and methods of the Society, and above all, and perhaps more important than all, it affords a social occasion at which once every two weeks at least, the manager and agents and office force can meet together when not under the strain of pressure for business, and good fellowship enables all to rub off the sharp corners which are necessarily, and often unnecessarily, felt in the business transactions of the week. The usual course of proceedings is, first the simple lunch, then the reading of the minutes of the previous meeting, announcements by the manager of the progress of the agency and its business, any items of current news concerning the Society, assurance business in general, items of interest about other companies or some unusually good policy or settlement which has been written or made. Then a general discussion of some topic of practical value to the agent, the subject having been announced some days in advance. I could not help noticing, in looking over the early minutes of the club, how usual it was at that time to discuss some other company, its policies and methods of doing business. Gradually, however, discussion of other companies has almost stopped, and, instead of it, practical questions are taken up affecting the work of the agents in general. For example, recently such questions have been discussed as: "How best to prepare and work large cases.' "The advantages of instalment assurance." "The advantages and disadvantages of team work." "How best to meet competition." "How most effectively to meet the rebate evil." "How to check the dividing of commission with third parties." "The advantages of a clientele, and how secure it." to The advantage of having the experience of each one communicated to all, particularly when practical questions are discussed. must be apparent to every one. While other professions, and even other trades, require systematic training, sometimes for years, life assurance seems to be the one business in which the giving of a rate book, and the proper forms, and a few circulars, and an hour's talk, is expected to suddenly fit a man for the business which is yearly becoming more scientific, and in which only experts can hope to become permanently successful. Some form of training school seems absolutely necessary to properly equip the novice. It is necessary to constantly communicate the experience of one to all; to keep abreast of changing methods of transacting business. and of meeting demands of different times and forms of policy. Even the agent longest in the business can learn much at every meeting, and I believe the Lunch Club can be made in any large agency, with the active co-operation of all of the agents, a mighty engine for good, to solidify the agency, to give it esprit de corps, to make its members more intelligent, more skilful and more loyal, and more in accord with the Society and the head of the agency. EDWARD A. WOODS. THE FOUR GUESTS. A knock at the door-but he Was dreaming a dream of fame, And the one who knocked drew softly back, And never again he came. A knock at the door-as soft As soft-as shy-as a dove, But the dreamer dreamed till the guest was gone And the guest was Love. A knock at the door-again Of the one who came that day. Yet the dreamer dreamed of the one who called For the guest was Fame. A knock at the door-but still He gave it no reply; And the waiting guest gave a cheery hail Ere he slowly wandered by. A knock at the door-in dreams The dreamer fain would grope, Till the guest stole on, with a humbled sigh And the guest was Hope. A knock at the door-'twas loud, And the dreamer stopped in his dreaming thought, And suddenly awoke. A knock at the door-he ran With the swiftness of a breath; And the door swung wide, and the guest came in And the guest was Death. -Baltimore American. MULTUM IN PARVO. Here is a very striking little reading notice published by H. D. Neely. He runs two or three of them daily, distributed through the newspaper, and reports that they are receiving much comment, which they ought to: "For policies that are sight drafts at maturity apply to H. D. Neely, Manager Equitable Life, 206 and 208 Bee Building." PROTECTION THAT PROTECTS STRONGEST IN THE WORLD THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY OF THE U. S. "O, MR. O'CALLAGHAN." Last night, at 39 Stephen's Green, the Irish representatives of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States made their manager, Mr. Stokes O'Callaghan, the recipient of a handsome address and costly presentation. Mr. O'Callaghan is held in high esteem by those associated with him in the work of the Equitable Society, and by none more so than the Irish agents, whose presentation was a tribute alike to his sterling personal qualities and business capabilities. The presentation was made on behalf of the Irish representatives by Mr. Fred. Hill.-Irish Times. Who hath his collar button lost The chase need ne'er give o'er. Barefooted, let him close his eyes And promenade the floor. -Chicago Record. |