The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-11
OFFERS SBLF-HELP
!. TO WAGE-EARNERS

III HAuE-GAhNEhD
AN INVESTMENT WITHIN THE
REACH OF THE HUMBLEST
TOILER.
Great Success Evolved Out of Many
Difficulties Profits on This Form Of
Insurance Reduced to Minimum Be-
cause Of Its Heavy Expenses.
BY HERBERT vANDERHooF.
This has always been hard world
for the wage Garner. Today, enlighten-
ment is causing public opinion to recog
nize the fact, and legislative power is
attempting to do something toward al
!eVlatlng the Wage-Worker IS lot. For
hundreds of years the. poor-houses were
relied upon to provide for the super
ANIMATED laborer, and for his orphaned
family. Now organized charity partly
fills the bill, and in Germany state pen
sions for the .workingman and his chill
dren are an institution, while in Eng
land the same device is strongly advo-
But: America is the land pre-eminent-
ly of self-help. individuals and cor
porate organizations do a bout every
thing, and none of US are in the habit
of relying on the government. In Amer
lea the wage-worker feels his independ-
ence, and has his pride, as nowhere else
on earth. He enjoys higher pay, he
weighs as heavily as any other man IS,
and in consequence he thinks for him
self, does for himself, looksLto no one
else but himself for aid. : He expects
and nightly, too, to make a success in
life. to be able out of the expenditure
of his muscle and his skill to provide
for his family, to educate his children,
n ntoIp co1f nd
the chances under American economic
and social conditions are in his favor,
as they are in no other land.
But the wage-earner, like everybody
else, encounters the risks of human life.
Indeed, his risks are preportionately
greater than those of any other class
The conditions Of his living induce a
apt to die earlier: The conditicgns Of of his is
employment are apt not to be the most
healthful, or are likely even to be more
or less dangerous. The wage-earner
must consider these facts.
Naturally. he,. like the other men,
seeks to- diminish the injurious posi-
bilities to his family. Upon that in
widespread want among the members Of
a great class, has been founded the in
stitution Of industrial life insurance. It
has been founded upon a need, de-
mand, just as every other successful en-
terprise has been founded, and it is
conducted for profit, or, like everything
else, it would not be conducted at all.
Humanity in Life Insurance.
Nevertheless, there is truth as well as
poetry in the much derided declaration
of the president of great life insur-
ance company that life insurance is a
humanitarian undertaking. Certainly
that phase IS even more pronounced in
industrial life insurance than in other
forms, since the risks are greater, the
| premium return more uneven and the
individual u amounts relatively small:
You, Mr.. Wage Garner, may scott at
this suggestion: You may say that ]
want you to believe that the industrial
INSURANCE companies are in the business
Flor their health. =.
[ want you to believe nothing of the
sort. / do not believe you are a fool
and I assure you I would be a bigger
fool TO- assume that you were. The
industrial insurance company is: not
sentimental exercises a. real func
Etion. It is not conducted sentimentally
It is not animated by sentimental mo
ttves. 1t would not be able to accom-
plish good for you and your fellows il
1t. were. 1t is founded on veracious
demand, it supplies in turn veracious
return. 1t is severely practical in it,
business, and the nature Of its business,
in. greater degree than any, othel
form Of insurance compels the practice
Of scientifically ascertained ways ant
means. -. - ,''.. -: -. r.
But Industrial life insurance does per
! form vast humanitarian service, ant
it is conducted upon practical lines tt
do good to the vast number of its con
stituents. It's possible profits are no
/ anvt hinor like tho m off
ed by the large policy insurance.; ye
its actual benefits are probably create
In their prevention Of suffering ant
want. -, D.. -. All. ;. rsz =. -. ..
James A. Garfield. before he becam
President of the United States, used t,
write and publish short talks" which
he entitled " Margins.'' His theme wa
which differentiates success from fail
ure, margin SO abbreviated and 81
much dependent upon seemingly trivia
matters of every day that, accOrdin.
to him, only the able man regarded it
while the majority missed it altogether
Professional VS.. Amateur knowledge
r. Or, to put it another way, the differ
| fessional is thing Of common know]
edge. Every man who likes the grea
American game of baseball is aware O
; whether team is amateur or profes
sional the moment play begins. No on
recognizes more clearly than the wage
Garner what is skilled or experience
workmanship as distinguished from un
skilled or inexperienced. The man ont
| his jobN is the fellow who, joined to Il
natural capacity, has experience in tina
particular sort of thing A carpente
: is not fitted for blacksmithing, an
neither Of those skilled trades can
filled by a boy just off the farm. i
other words, an apprenticeship is re
CURED before any. man becomes a mas
: ter workman in any material. AS lif
, is short and art is long, mighty few o
us are able, even if we had the capacity
; to perfect ourselves in more than on
] line. - ~'.sI-.-
Now industrial insurance is growth
: At first it was an experiment, an
pretty much failure. Only by lear1
ing, by failing and succeeding, by
gradual development of right methods
by an empirical knowledge Of poss
bilities and impossibilities, has secu1
J foundation been laid and lastin
q structure been raised. which is Gale
industrial life insurance. Industrial ii
surance is a very difficult and rattle
an abstruse science. Compared to
+ ordinary insurance is "easy.' The la
/ ter is based on the relatively large il
: comes of the salaried, the professional
il and the capitalistic classes; the. forme
upon the small and precari6us income
z of tho wa oa-wOr X nrS -. - -. - .s.s-