AN AGENTS'

JOURNAL

HOW PAT BROKE THE NEWS.

Tim Casey and his friend, Pat Kline,

Were blasting rocks one day,

When a blast went off and blew poor Tim
Clear to the milky way.

When Tim came down he came so fast
He left his soul behind.

An arm and leg was all of him

That they could ever find.

The foreman said to Pat: "Go home
And see Tim's poor old wife,
And gently break the news to her
That Tim has lost his life."

So Pat went sadly to Tim's home, And when he saw Tim's wife He cried: "Did Mr. Casey have

Insurance on his life?"

"You bet your life he has!" said she.
"Hurrah for that!" yells Pat;
"We can't collect your husband, but
We'll help ye collect that!"

Mapley Weak, in St. Paul Dispatch.

The man who makes a success of an important venture never waits for the crowd. He strikes out for himself. It takes nerve. It takes grit. But the man who succeeds has both. Anyone can fail. The public admires the man who has enough confidence in himself to take a chance. Success is the accomplishment of that which most people think can't be done.

C. V. White.

TOO GREAT A RISK.

1901

"I'm going to give up the business," said the life insurance agent, with a sigh. “I don't care whether they meant it for a joke or not. It's a hard life, and people have no business trying to be funny at my expense.

"I have always prided myself upon my ability to land a man when once I succeeded in getting his attention. But I had a new experience the other day. I was working hard to convince a party that it was his duty to take out some of our insurance upon his life for the protection of his family, and I saw that I had him wavering, when I had to pause for breath, and he broke in with:

"By the way, how much do you carry on your own life?'

"While I, taken unaware by the abruptness of the question, was stammering a reply, he escaped. The incident set me to thinking. I had induced hundreds of men to insure their lives for the benefit of their families, and yet I had never thought far enough to carry any insurance upon my own life. It didn't look consistent, now that I came to consider the question, and I resolved to remedy it at once. To think is to act with me, and I sat down and filled out an application at once for a good round sum.

"I got the application back to-day marked 'Refused-occupation too dangerous!' The next paper they get from me will be my resignation."

-Detroit Free Press

2

HOW TO BE AN AGENT. XI. The Advantages of Having the Equitable Back of You.

Sometimes in competition an Equitable agent, who is distant from headquarters, is hard pressed by the agent of some other company, who springs on the applicant a big dividend, or a low premium, or a novel privilege, or an excessive guarantee.

What is the Equitable agent to do in such a case? There are four methods of procedure:

1. He can lie down and let the enemy walk over him; or,

2. He can telegraph to headquarters petulantly asserting that he will throw up his contract unless the Society will instantly do what the competing agent says the company he represents is prepared to do; or,

3. He can "spar for wind" until he can obtain advices from the Society; or,

4. He can meet the issue squarely by throwing his company, "the strongest in the world," bodily at the head of the enemy. That will flatten him out. He can, in this way, show that the whole is more important than its parts. He can weigh one company against the other, and then isolated questions about the contract, the premium, the dividend, etc., will not assume undue proportions.

An agent who has the Equitable behind him has a right to exhibit pluck and dash; and if he is wise he will follow the fourth of the foregoing methods in competing with the agents of companies whose financial strength is less than that of the Equitable, and whose record is inferior to our record; that is to say, with the agents of all other companies.

When, therefore, a big dividend, or a new option, or a small premium is fired at you, do not be afraid to meet the attack. If in no other way, you can silence the rifle fire of the enemy by bringing your heavy artillery into action. "Not for a day, but for all time" "Protection that protects""Strongest in the world"-"Surplus sixtysix millions."

Often when a large dividend paid by another company is quoted against you, you would be able to retaliate in kind if all the facts were in your possession, but in the be

ginning it may be necessary for the Equitable agent to act before he can get details from headquarters; therefore, he may be forced to pass from small details to comprehensive arguments, and show that a company may pay a big dividend here and there and yet not be the best company to patronize. How many capitalists would there be left if every millionaire should reinvest all his money in securities whose only merit is that they have paid big dividends?

In the same way when the competition is based on the lowness of a premium, a practical business man can be shown that the same rules apply to an investment in life assurance as to one in railroad securities. Why does a man pay 110 for one bond when another promising the same rate of interest can be bought at a price 30 per cent below par?

Is it not often the case that a shrewd financier will increase his subscription to some enterprise in order to induce others who are interested in the same enterprise to increase their subscriptions? Is it not an advantage, therefore, to the members of an assurance company conducted on the mutual plan like the Equitable, not to see how little they can subscribe, but to see whether by joining their fellow-members in putting enough capital into the enterprise to make it eminently successful, they will not reap individually a far richer reward? If there are three hundred thousand members in a life company, and if you are a policy holder in that company, it is not a very important matter whether your premium is one dollar over or one dollar under a given amount. But when you apply a difference of one dollar to every policy holder, it makes a difference of $300,000, and it may be very much to your disadvantage to have the enterprise in which you are interested deprived of that amount of working capital. On the other hand, it may be greatly to your advantage if, instead of that deficiency of $300,000, the enterprise should have the use of an additional capital of $300,000-one dollar from each subscriber. If you were a policy holder in a stock company, this would not be true. It only applies to a company conducted on the mutual plan, where the Sur

plus, while undivided, is held for the protection of the policy holders exclusively, and when divided goes to the policy holders, and to policy holders only, in dividends of profits. Business men all the world over recognize, and will always recognize the fact that there are a great many considerations more important than big dividends and low initial cost.

In the same way the offer of special privileges or excessive guarantees may be met by comprehensive arguments appealing to the common sense and experience of practical men. The Equitable seeks to give every man every advantage that he can be offered without encroaching upon the rights of his fellow-members. If more than this should be offered to a new policy holder, it can readily be shown that the offer is made at the expense of his fellows; or at least, that the other policy holders will thereby be exposed to a risk which will threaten their well-being. Besides this, men must be reminded that every new policy holder, if he is steadfast, soon becomes an old policy holder, and if the bait used to hook him has been denied to those who have gone before him, he must expect that policy holders who come after him will be granted favors which he will never enjoy.

The Equitable agent should never be content to let business go to another company because the Society refuses to do something that another company offers to do. There are innumerable instances where other companies have sought to attract applicants by offering something which they knew perfectly well they had no business to offer, and would never have thought of offering if they had not been sure that it was something which the Equitable, in its adherence to scientific principles, would refuse to give. W. Alexander.

AS YOU FIND IT.

Take this life just as you find it:
Hot or cold, no use to mind it!

If it's a sunshiny day,

That's your time for making hay! If it's rainin', fills your wishMakes the lakes jest right for fish; Spring or Winter-Summer-Fall, Jest be thankful for 'em all!

-Atlanta Constitution.

MIDDLE AGE?

To a youth of twenty, middle age is from forty to forty-five. To a young man of forty, middle age is from fifty-five to sixty. -Somerville Journal.

That's the way it goes. We never like to admit that we are getting old. We flatter and deceive ourselves by making ourselves believe that our best and most productive years are always yet to come, while in all probability we are either living them out now, or have lived them already. The result is we keep putting off the time when we shall begin making provision for our old age, or obtaining protection for our families in case we should die, and just when the time arrives when we seriously think of laying by something, old Father Time comes along and nips our plans in the bud!

Be wise! If you are fortunate enough to have your middle age (your best years) before you, don't wait for it to arrive, but commence to save now; and if you are now in that period, or have just passed it, and have not yet started to make your future secure, don't delay any longer. Take out an Equitable policy, large enough to guard your own future interests, as well as those of your family.

A QUICK ANSWER CORRALS THE "AP." Mr. W. L. Lundy a day or two since was up against a pretty hard proposition for assurance. The prospect, who is well to do, had an idea that he could look after his investments as well as any assurance company, and said: "Why should I take out assurance?" In a moment Mr. Lundy replied: "Because man is born to die, and the Equitable was born to live and look after his family at his death." It was a clinker and they did business.

Editor EQUITABLE NEWS:

120 Broadway, New York.

Dear Sir-Will you please obtain for us in confidence the reason why the Medical Department are not writing any more policies on applicants whose names begin with the letter "K?" We have four rejections to day from different sections of the State-all of whose names begin with K. The reason for rejection given in each case is "family history." Can you let us know what is the matter with the letter K? Howard Swineford & Sons.

No, Howard, we can't, unless it's because it's so near 'L. Otherwise we're in the same box that you are. We referred your question to the Medical Department and the distinguished medical luminary who guards the outer doors said that he presumed it was because none of your applicants were named Oliver, as if they had been, they would have been o. k. This is the only reason he could give, and, moreover, said that if he could not answer a question no one else could. However, we showed our fire badge, and were admitted into the sanctum sanctorum where Doctors Bross and Pell were busily engaged in chasing, sorting and labeling several new varieties of germs and microbes, while Dr. Lambert was in a brown study inventing some new disease by means of which he can swat in the solar plexus some application on which the agent is building all his hopes of a vacation by the sad sea waves.

Two hundred years ago, Dryden (not he of the rock) was in a worse plight than you, Howard, for he wrote "And fee the doctor for a nauseous draught." Now you haven't had to fee the doctor, although you seem to have caught the "nauseous draught" all right-all right.

But to be serious, the Medical Department is a necessary evil. It often seems very hard to have a case turned down, but the Society is saved from many a loss by this careful discrimination. Of the risks submitted to this department the doctors only accept the cream-without sugar. Only recently a man was turned down becaused his heart murmured, and two weeks afterward he was killed in a railway accident, and another declined because of weak lungs, fell down an air-shaft. So you see, Howard, the doctors know what they are doing.

Personally, we don't think much of this department. Only the other day we tried to

work a little free medical advice from Dr. Pell. We told him that when we had an ache, or a pain, or both, it hurt, and expected him to say at once, "Why, my dear man (or men), you're working yourself (or selves) to death; you must immediately start on a long vacation and take a complete rest." Did he say it? Not on your Virginia creeper! He said: "All you want to do is to stop smoking, and drinking coffee, and take more exercise." That's what he said.

But here's a pointer for you, Howard: If what you and I (or we) have written escapes the watchful eye of the press censor and appears in the NEWS (we suppose the doctors would turn it down because of weak circulation), we had better-much better if ever we need medicine-not let any of the above mentioned medicos do the dosing.

"GET BUSY."

There is a whole sermon in the parlance of the day, "get busy"-that is, get to doing something; get to work; be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. A dozen synonyms will suggest themselves for the colloquialism, yet it has, perhaps, a pregnancy of meaning and a rugged force which none of them quite duplicates, as is often the case with the living speech of the people, as compared with the dead speech of the books.

"Get busy" is the gospel of to-day. The man who does not get busy is distanced from the start. The stress of competition, the eager pursuit of wealth and advancement, leave no chance for the man who idles his chances away. Get busy at something; even if it is not quite what you like, do the best you can, and hope for better things. But while you are hoping do not stop working. Get busy-keep busy.

Get busy for the good of the community. If it isn't all it should be, try to make it better, more prosperous, more progressive. Don't sit like a big frog, croaking all the time, and never trying to do anything else. Get busy in a hopeful, helpful, enterprising way. The man who gets busy has no time to be a busybody; his only interest in the affairs of others is to help where he may. -Albany Argus.