Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-10-25
INSURANCE.
A Bulwark Against Want,
THE EVENING WISCONSIN, MIL
WAUKEE WIS

WAUKEE, WIS.
The concenSuS OF opinion in regard to
the insurance investig Ion now in pro-
gress in New York is that it will eventu-
ate in good for insurers and insured.
Even the most pessimistic opponents of
the principle Of life insurance must ad
NIT that better conditions will follow the
publication, not only for the companies
which have been sorely stricken as
result of the moral lapses of their off,
Gals, but for the companies which are
suffering vicariously under the shadow of
distrust that has been cast upon corpo-
rate management generally.
Society cannot afford to throw down"
life insurance because of the remissness
of high officials in one or two companies.
The principle of protection for the de-
pendent through provision for payment
to them 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 philan-
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,00O,-
coo policy holders III 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 in
cident to sudden dependency. Cases
without number could be cited in every
large city of the United States where
the death payments of life insurance
companies have saved wives and children
from actual want, and made it possible
for widows to rear their children in a
way to make them useful members of
society. 1t would be interesting to know
how much Of the total of insurance risks
in the United States constitutes a bull
wark against poverty. A large part
of the $11,179, 14z,711 of outstanding
insurance would undoubtedly, on analy-
sis, 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
a well-conducted life insurance company
contributes to the support of the exist
ing social order. The first record Of
losses paid is that for the year ending
June 1, 1860, $1,000 goodly sum for
young company in those times of pio-
neering in life insurance, but a mere
amount now paid out annually for death
losses. The death payments increased
in logical proportion to the company's
business, and in ten years Jan. 1, 1S7O)
reached $443, 1920, quite a large
amount, yet still small in comparison
with the amount now annually paid to
the benefciaries of the insured. For
the year ending Jan. 1, 1886, the death
payments surpassed the million mark for
the first time, aggregating 81, O49, OO4.04.
Since that time they have increased with
the company's immense business, until
to-day the payments on account of death
losses approximates seven millions an
nually. The exact figures for the year
ending Jan. 1, 1905, are $6,985, 403.03.
Since its organization the Northwest
ern Mutual Life Insurance Company has
paid death claims to the aggregate OF
SIS, 6S5, 552 90. 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 Insur-
ance Company's management has been
unswervingly 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 de-
voted solely to the conservation of the
interests Of the policy holders, who are
with them mutually concerned in the
well-being Of the corporation. It is one
of the most substantial life insurance
companies in the United States, and it's
record is absolutely stainless.