The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-17
AN INTERESTING BIT OF PER
sONAL EXPERIENCE.

How One of Savannah's Leading
Physicians Decided An Important
Question.
Have I ever told you how I came
to take my insurance in the Massachu-
sets Mutual? 1t might be of interest
and value to you. You are probably
not aware of the fact that 1 studied
my profession abroad and during the
period that was pursuing my studies
made several visits home. On one
Of these trips I had occasion to visit
certain city in the West. and as
liked the place and became deeply in
terested in the young lady who is at
present my wife. I decided to locate
there, and after finishing my studies
in Europe, / returned to the United
States and located. 1 put up at the
club there. and shortly afterwards was
approached by one of the members
who represented some life insurance
company. Under the circumstances
felt that it was the proper thing for
me to have a policy of life i surance,
and 1 gave the gentleman q patient
hearing. A day or two later I was
approached by another agent who not
only told me all the good things about
his own company, but tried to impress
upon me how much better his COM
pany was than the one represented by
the gentleman who had first spoken
to me. Within the next ten days 1
was interviewed by nearly every agent
in the city, and l became so muddled
with the different ideas put forth by
these various agents that 1 was total
ly at sea as to which company would
be the best for me. Finally l hit upon
a happy solution of the difficulty and
I'D nnl.
come to my room at 9 o'clock on a
certain evening. At the time appoint
ed the ten or twelve representatives
of the various life insurance companies
met at my quarters, and were no doubt
surprised to find each other there. l
invited them in and made them a little
speech. l told them that 1 was in the
market for a $4,000 policy; that l had
heard each one of them set forth the
claims of their various companies, and
that 1 could come to no decision. 1
had, therefore, invited them all to pre-
sent their claims in the presence of
each other, and after 1 had heard from
them all 1 would come to a decision.
Now, gentlemen 1 said, we will
hear from you in alphabetical order.
Each in turn got up and presented the
claims of his company, and 1 listened
patiently. The agent for the Massa-
chusetts Mutual, in his remarks, stat
ed: Doctor. the rates of my company
are little lower than some of the
others, and a little higher than some of
them. Some of the other companies
have features in their policy contracts
which we do not have. and we have
features i'll our contracts which none
of them have, but the one feature
which, in my opinion, should have the
most serious consideration and should
bear most forcibly on your decision, is
the law of the commonwealth of Mas
sachusettS.' He then explained how
the Massachusetts law required the
companies to write cash surrender
values in their policies; how the law
regulated the distribution of the divi-
dends to polcy-holders; how the law
required paid-up policies (when in eX-
cess of 5000 to participate in divi-
dends, and provided for an increasing
cash surrender value of such paid-uE
assurances; how the law required u
verbatim copy of the application to
be attached to the policy contract; how
the law debarred the companies from
refusing to pay a loss when the appli-
cant had been truthful in his state
ments and had not withheld any in
formation which was material or in
creased the risk of loss. and how the
law protected a policy-holder in his
every equity, dealing justly by the pol
icy-holder without being burdensome
to the companies. He then took his
seat. After hearing from all of these
agents 1 told them that 1 had listened
to their arguments patiently, and that
I had made up my mind to give my
insurance to the Massachusetts, Mu-
tual; that it was now II o'clock, and
that 1 would hear no further from
them. I requested the gentleman who
represented the Massachusetts Mutual
to call on me at my Office the follow
ing morning, and We would arrange
the matter. I have had no cause to
regret my decision, and, as you know,
have since that time increased my in
surance in your company"
The above interesting information
was recently given us by one of the
most prominent physicians in this city,
and it fully bears out what we have
so frequently claimed for our COM
pany We shall be glad to furnish any
information with reference to the plans
of life insurance in our company on
receipt of request, stating age and adj
dress. Harry &c Apple, managers for
Georgia and South Carolina, III Bay
street, east, Savannah, Ga.-ad.