The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-23
WOMEN AND INSURANCE.
Many of Them Now in tn
Business.

Business.
The insurance of the lives of women
and the employment of women as So
licitors by insurance companies is a
comparatively new idea, but it has be-
come very popular and is growing rap
idly. There are probably 1000 women
in the United States today who make
theT living in the insurance business.
securing business and earning large
commissions that it may already be
considered an established profession,
and women insurance agents will here
AFTER work on the same terms and I'M
DER the same conditions as men.
The big life insurance companies here
all nave women solicitors and the man
ayers are unanimous in commencing
them. The New York Life was the pi-
oneer and employed its first women
agents in Chicago about eight years
ago. 1t came about naturally. Miss
Jessie F. Nichols, who had been a
teacher In the public schools and was
compelled to give up that employment
because of poor health. brought in
some business to the general agency
1nere ana was told to so out for more
mat company now has twenty one
women solicitors, the Mutual Life has
thirty or more. the Eouitable six o.
seven, and all the other companies
nave women among their solicitors
Inc managers also tell men that a
larger proportion of women who at
cessful than the men. They show more
tact, they are more intelligent in col
iectlng and presenting facts in handling
their patrons; they are more persistent
IN IolloWlng up arguments to their eli
entS ana are not so easily discOurage
They work among men, but chiefly with
women, and as l have said, the insur-
ance woman has recently become a fad
When asked Miss Niccolls how she
happened to go into the business she
I had to give up school and was COM
PEELED to do something else I saw that
the insurance field was open and enter
ed 1t. At first it was very hard work.
but 1t has grown easier every year. The
first year l made about S45 a month
which is the salary of a teacher in a
primary school, confined my work to
women and had to educate everybody
that l talked insurance to. The second
year made three times as much mon
ey as at first, and the third year did
still better. Now 1 am working among
men as we'll as women and on the same
terms as the men solicitors, and 1 am
sure that soliciting insurance has be-
come permanent ana will be a profit
able occupation for women I see no
reason why it should not particularly
as women are taking out more and more
| insurance"
Who are your clients ?"
Mostly working women, and ii would
SUI PA4S JOQ LOW many OF them are
supporting or contributing to the sup
port of families. / believe that nine
tenthS of the women wage-earners of
Chicago have others wholly or partly
dependent upon them, and this class of
people are beginning to learn that in
surance is not only a good but a nee
essary Investment to protect those who
are dependent upon them and to pro-
vide for themselves in their old age.
Women are now considered good
vie lrc 7ar@Ix~ 4 q
an extra premium to secure insurance,
but about six years ago that was re-
moved, and now nearly all of the life
insurance companies accept them on the
same basis as men. One of the old con-
servative companies just yielded the
point few weeks ago, but still makes
an exception to married women, as sew
eral of the other companies do. The
mortality among women is no greater
than among men, and their liability to
accident is not so great"
What class of women take insur-
ance?"
L suppose that trained nurses and
women physicians have a larger per-
centage insured than any other profess
sion. After that come the teachers in
schools, then dressmakers, milliners,
cashiers. clerks in department stores
and others, but very few stenographers.
1t is a singular thing that we always
find it difficult to convince a stenog-
rapher of the value of life insurance.
Professional women are more apt to in
sure than others. and insurance has re-
Gently become popular among actresses.
They are taking out twenty year en-
dowment policies as investments for old
age. AS a rule. actresses do not save
their money and do not have anything
left after their popularity has passed.
We insure a good many women in pri-
vate life also. It is becoming quite COM
mon, and very soon I expect that as
many women as men will take out poll
cies upon their lives. particularly those
who have others dependent upon them.
Mrs. Leland Stanford is said to carry
a larger amount of insurance than any
other woman in the world. Her policies
amount to more than a million dollars.
Mrs. Frank o. Lowden of Chicago. car
ries $25000 probably more than any
other women in the west. and Mrs. Nc
Reynolds carries 100000. Helen Gould
and one of her sisters have 100000 each.
Anna Held carries 100000; Mrs. Leslie
Carter, $4,000: Katharine Grey. $4,000;
Nordica, $4,000; Maude Adams. SOS. 900;
Blanche Walsh, 100000: Blanche Bates,
$4,000; Maxine Elliott. $4,000; Lulu
Chaser. $4,000: Pauline Hall, $4,000;
Laura Joyce, $4,000 and others similar
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