The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-28

d Y.
marks apply to officers, directors and
stockholders in individual companies,
as well as to the public attitude TO-
ward the subject of life insurance in
general.
There is a distinction between con-
Quoting the business of a life inSur-
ance Company and that of savings
bank, with which it is often compared,
or with that of commercial banking.
In the case of a savings bank
especially, no particular effort is made
to get deposits except by ordinary ad-
vertising. In fact, it is considered bad
taste upon the part of bank officers 10
directly solicit business. The depOSl-
tors bring their money to the tank;
all they expect is the return OF the
money together with a stipulated
amount of interest at a designated
time. The Life Insurance Company
proposes to do quite a different thing
for the policyholder or depositor. Bear
in mind, that all forms of policies
have date Of maturity, just the same
as deposits in a savings bank, but the
| Insurance Company. in addition to
paying the amount of deposits with or
/ binary rate of interest Of the savings
! bank at stipulated periods, agrees to
pay a guaranteed amount upon the
death of the depositor. The essential
feature Of an insurance contract is
/ the provision for a stated amount to
/ be paid in the event Of the death OF
! the deposition, or at certain other des-
! ignated periods mentioned in the con-
tract Human nature is such that but
| few men will make provisions for the
maintenance of those depending upon
them after their death, without being
urged to do so by some one soliciting
the business. 1t is not so with ma
terial things that they are handling
from day to day, such as the prOtec-
| ton Of buildings, live stock, grain
fields and other assets, by fire insur-
ance, or even the provision Of making
! deposits of cash in banks for interest
earnings. A Life Insurance Company
active solicitor.
a writer in a recent magazine article
states that to conduct the business
Of life insurance successfully, requires
neither energy nor initiative" Prob
ably the most Of you, If not all, are in
sured. I should like to have each one
of you ask yourself if you would be
carrying the policies you now have,
had it not been for the energy and ini-
tiative OF the agents who secured your
applications, and it must have occurred
to you that back of the agents there
was energy to help keep him at work,
and initiative that brought out the
modern contract that you buy today.
The work Of the life insurance agent
is high calling, because he compels
men to provide for their own after
they are dead and gone know of no
other work in which men are now en-
gagged that is more commendable, and
[ think there is no more useful citizen
than the man who gives up his life to
influencing men to do their duties to
tier families. I speak Of the work
of the agent from the fact that some
critics of American Life Insurance
Companies state that the English
; Companies do not solicit insurance, and
therefore conduct their business with
less expense and with better results
! to the public. I wish to emphasize
; the fact, that if life insurance is g
beneficent institution, then the more
people than can be induced to provide
for the benefits hereunder, the great
T er service this institution gives to hu-
! nanity. I say emphatically, that de.
spite the mistakes that have beer
: made the American Life Insurance
Companies have been and are the in.
stitutions which have done more good
, to the masses Of the people of the
United States, than all other financia
organizations.
The extent to which life insuranc,
! would be taken without agents may b.
? inferred in the business Of the OLD
Equitable Assurance Society of Lon
. don, organized in 1852, whose business
was conducted without agents for
, period of 143 years. 1t has insurance a
: the present time of about $35, 000, 00O
D not much more than one of your small
: California Companies which has beel
: in existence only five years, and no
0 any more than the Continental Lif
expects to have upon its books within
! the next two years.
There is another phase of the sub
/ ject which wish to mention, and tina
! is the criticism by the public of tn
vast amount Of assets and the surplu
= earnings accumulated by Life Insur
Q ance Companies. They forget that tn
liabilities increase in proportion to tn
r assets, and that a surplus in a Lif
. Insurance Company is absolutely nee
essary on account of the nature of tn
contracts made with policyholderS
= These contracts do not mature, as
. rule, for a term Of years, and there
= fore, it is essential for the Companie
G to hold surplus funds to meet emeT
: lgencies that may arise which cannot b
a foreseen.
: I wish TO say that the policy of writ
: ing deferred dividends was entered in
a to by the American Life Insuranc
n Companies for the very purpose of &C
4 cumulating this surplus to strengthe
the Companies, and thereby protect III
: policyholder. and this form of polio
: has certainly met with approval b
v the public, for the reason that sine
: the deferred dividend policy was place
q upon the market the amount Of insu1
: ance sold has greatly increased. An
~ I will state further that Companie
= writing the deferred Dolicies, writ
g most of the business done in the Unite
u States. This shows that this form {
= policy meets with public approval.
y To illustrate: the five leading Com
+ panies that have been paying out the
! surplus from year to year in the for1
Is Of annual dividends, had in force i
= 1868, $44S, 900 Of insurance, and o
= the 1st day Of last January, had onl
! 1898, DOC, 900 in force, showing an il
!. crease in 81 years Of $685., 100000, Will
: four deferred dividend Companies ha
? in force in 1868, 1852, 000, 900, and o
January 1st, had the gigantic sum
> s., 779. 000 600, or an increase of over S.
= 400 00O, 900 during 81 years; or in roun
n numbers. ten times greater than ii