Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-10-11
INSURANCE,
A Bulwark Against Want.
THE EVENING WISCONSIN. MILwAT
KEE, WIS

The EVENING WISCONSIN, MILWAU.
KEE, WIS.
The concensus of opinion in raoard IA
the insurance investigation now in prog
ress in New York is that it will evantu.
ate in good for insurers and insured.
Even the most pessimistic opponents Of
the principle of life insurance must adj
nit that better conditions will follow tha
publication, not only for the companies
which have been sorely stricken as a re-
suit of the moral lapses Of their officials,
but for the companies which are suffer
ing vicariously under the shadow Of dis
trust that has been cast upon corporate
management generally.
Society cannot afford to throw down"
life insurance because of the remiSsnesS
OF nigh officials III one or two companies.
Ihe principle of protection for the de-
pendent through provision for payment
10 tnen OF sufficient to keep the wolf of
want from the door is so closely inter
woven with the social fabric that if it
were possible to eliminate it by force.
the social order would suffer a severe
strain. Public duty and private phiIan-
thropy would together be unable to meet
the appeals for assistance from women
and children bereft of their breadwin-
ners. a large proportion of the 1S,0OO,-
coo policyholders in the United States
have by their wise provision for the fu-
ture insured organized society as we'll
as their loved ones against the trials
incident to sudden dependency. Cases
without number could be cited in every
large city of the United States where
the death payments of life insurance
dren from actual want, and made it
possible for widows to rear their chill
dren in way to make them useful mem
bers of society. 1t would be interesting
to know how much of the total of in
surance risks in the United States con-
stitutes a bulwark against poverty. Z
large part Of the S11, 179, 142, I'll of out
standing insurance would undoubtedly,
on analysis, be found to be protection of
this vital character
Bringing the subject close to home, the
people of the northwest have in the
history of the Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance company of Milwaukee,
company of which every resident Of the
northwest has special reason to feel
proud-a record which shows how much
well-conducted life insurance company
contributes to the support Of the existing
social order. The first record Of losses
paid is that for the year ending June l,
1860, $1,000 goodiy sum for a young
company in those times of pioneering
in life insurance, but a mere pittance in
comparison with the princely amount
now paid out annually for death losses.
proportion to the company's business,
reached $443, 1850, quite large
amount, yet still small in comparison
with the amount now annually paid to
the benefciaries of the insured For the
year ending January 1, 1886, the death
payments surpassed the million mark for
the first time, aggregating 81, O49, O04.04.
Since that time they have increased with
the company's immense business, until to-
day the payments on account Of death
losses approKimates seven millions an
nually. The exact figures for the year
ending January 1, 1905, are $685..
4O3O3
Since it's organization the Northwest
ern Mutual Life Insurance company has
paid death claims to the aggregate Of
$7S,6S5, 1926. This enormous sum Of
money has contributed in no small de-
gree to the welfare of society as whole.
The prompt payment of the death claims
has in thousands of instances made it
possible for helpless widows to .'get
along" without appealing to public char
ity or private philanthropy.
The Northwestern Mutual Life 1nsur.
ance company's management has been
nnswervingly honest, and it's history has
been an open book from which the in
sured could read the records at will.
The officers of the company have no
side lines" Of official interest. They are
devoted solely to the conservation Of the
interests of the policy holders, who are
with them mutually concerned in the
well-being Of the corporation. 1t is one
of the most substantial life insurance
companies in the United States, and it's
record is absolutely stainless.