The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-01
NO REAL BASIS EXISTS
FOR PUBLIC DISTRUST
Any Enterprise May Fail Without
Prejudice to the Character of the
Business-Iife Insurance Has Al
ways offered Real Safety.
BY HERBERT vANDERHooF.

LnerS IS q Unreal OIL udIlSei-SCd1celS |
yet a >1ikelihood-in the present attitude I
of the public mind toward life insurance.
In the heat of condemnation Of certain .
practices the American people may de-
eide that they wash their hands Of life
insurance. Should the present distrust
crystalline into a prejudice so hostile
as to forbid all commerce with the life
Insurance companies, who would suffer?
The companies, assuredly. But also the
people.
II the public decides to boycott life in
surance in order to punish certain COM
panies for the alleged acts Of certain
officials, the public must "cut off its
nose to spite its face" For, while the
companies would be the first and most
apparent sufferers, the people by their
self -denying ordinance" would inflict in
Jury upon themselves. Total abstinence
from life insurance could not but result
to their own detriment and demonstrable
loss.
Life insurance remains the one reliable
and surely profitable form of investment
which modern methods have perfected
and which modern business allows. An
American should think twice before he
passes Judgment in his mind against |
life insurance.
The average American does not despair |
Of the virtue and efficiency of popular |
government because Philadelphia is |
called 'hot-bed Of graft or because
Cincinnati seems the private baiIiwick of |
a boss" In his judgment no sporadic !
corruption or local sore is sufficient to |
impeach democracy as general propo- |
sition
Before tndulging In root and branch |
Reputation Of life insurance, in whole
sale Pronunciation of the institution, the
American should allow himself the ad-
vantage Of a general survey; he should
occupy high ground, from which he can
obtain broad and comprehensive view.
Has Never Been Failure.
In this report I offer the following re-
marks for his reflection:
Into all the activities carried on by the
mind Of men enters, always and in
evitably, the coefficient of error Error
Is a factor great or infinitesimal, of
every human calculation. Error not only
is an attribute Of the average human
mind. but 1t vitiates in some degree the
projects Of the greatest brains. NAPOLEON
himself fell because Of miscalculation-
he slightly overestimated his own power.
and underestimate the existing strength
Of Europe
If we all are prone to error, if the
strongest minds are automatically GER
tain to succumb to it in some subtle
form, 1t follows that in every human
undertaking exists a fault. The fault
may not be perceptible, it may not assert
Its presence for years but at some point
in some time it must result in damage
and disaster more or less severe.
True, the craft may be repaired, other
voyages may be adventured, new gains
may be Won. But it seems to have the
authenticity of a general law that about
once so often a day Of reckoning must
come: for every enterprise as for every
nation, When the sum Of the mistakes
must be, made good in order that with \
clean bill of health fresh start NAV be
taken.
Banks break, even savings banks. The
stocks Of railways are wiped out. Mort
cages, when foreclosed bring 20 cents on
the dollar. Industrial enterprises swallow
first the profits and then the capital. All,
these things not only happen, but in the
long run seem bound to happen. Scarcely
a railway in the country which at some
time has not passed thru a receivershin
and been reorganized. Very few manu-
featuring or other Industrial undertakings
Which have not failed before they sue
ceeded, which may fail again, If some
one proves INSCRIPTIONS or economic de-
n1ands slightly change
." Regular Periods of Liquidation,
So true Is it that error is universal and
must be reckoned with that the country
as whole about once every twenty years
or so liquidates. Wheels are stopped.
schemes are stayed, men ''sow down."
while the discrepancy between supply and
demand, between what is owed and what
Is owned. between hopes and truth, am
bition and reality, illusion and fact, is
ascertained and provided for, If these
periods of panic are spectacular in
America, they are not unknown abroad.
Germany which of all countries is per-
maps most nearly organized upon a SCI
ent1fc basis has only recently emerged
from period of profound depression, "
These intervals Of settling accounts be-
tween periods Of prosperity are terrible in
the suffering they inflict, in the woes thew
bring home to millions. There are the
"out-of-works'' who tramp the streets.
the suicides, the broken homes. the wild.
ows bereft Of sustenance, the children de-
pr1Ved OF nourishment No words can
picture the details Of the enormity of tha
suffering. Widespread business depres-
sion may entail more suffering upon a
nation than a war. Our people endured
more agony in 1893-94 than ten wars
such as the Spanish war, could possibl,
have inflicted. Probably the Germans
suffered two and three winters ago as
they did not in the years of Gravelotte
and Sedan.
But in the full tide Of prosperity things
occur.
The savings bank in which your surplus
Hes, accommodating per cent may fail
Savings banks have done so before. The
laws governing their operations are near.
~. ideal, Of course. The salaries paif
their officials are not permitted to be
excessive. The investments to which
these funds are limited are such as arr
properly considered 'gilt-edge' security
When the Bank Breaks.
Yet most appalling catastrophes befa]
savings banks, as all the world knows
And when savings bank locks it's door
the scene IS epocha1. Depositors crowt
In the streets and beat upon the panels
thousands of depositors maybe, whose life
savings. the savings Of years Of breakins
toll, Of bitter self-deprivation, are ii
Jeopardy. Have you ever seen the face
Of such crowd? Have you numbere.
the women it contains? Have yo,
listened to the curses felt the PRAYERS
II you were not maddened yourself to tn
threat to your savings, you were mad
heart-sick by the piteous spectacle of tn
despair Of others. .r 80 ... =. =.
i & The president Of the savings banl
speculated perhaps in grain or in stocks
or the cashier may have squandered TIN
money on the race track or woman
AT all events something or other had oc
CURED which the good laws could no
prevent or the wise supervision Of tn
state detect. It Is the old, old story, a.
Old as the human race, of human error
moral or intellectual, resulting in dis