Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-25
ESSAYS BEFORE MEETING
Howard Hoyt and William Reed Both
Cup Winners.
NEED OF MORE INFORMATION
Speakers Say the Papers Were Misled
in Many Things Printed About
Insurance Scandals.

ST. LOUIS Mo. October 23.-The final
days session of the convention of the Ma
tional Association of Life Underwriters was
the busiest session of the convention. owing
to the fact that yesterdays program was
partly held over until today.
The report of the executive committee was
taken up recommending additions to the
constitution and bylaws providing that no
person may hereafter become an officer
member of the executive committee or a
delegate to the association unless he be
agent or local manager other field work
er for regular legal reserve company, who
Is clearly identified with an agency dis
tInguished from the home office. and unless
also he be Il member in good standing of
local association belonging to the national
body. and also providing that existing ex
presidents shall be qualified for the period
of their lives for their positions as men,
bers of the executive committees and as
delegates-at-large, and that the future ex-
presidents shall be eligible as members of
the executive committee and delegates
at-large for a period of three years only
o from and after date of expiration of their
term as president. The recommendations
were adopted after considerable discussion.
Press and Insurance.
Howard Hoyt then read a paper on The
Press and Insurance" In the course of it
he said
We have on one hand a free press. lift
Ing a great people toward a higher and
better citizenship; on the other, life In
surance. teaching thrift and making posi-
BILE family independence. These two forces.
so deeply affecting our civilization. are
unique: primarily they did not spring from
the struggle for existence. but were altru-
istic in their inception. This fact must be
kept in mind in any adequate discussion of
their relationship.
The press was originally purely educa-
tional. and ideally Is still so. Life insur-
ance originally was a mute alliance for
help in the hour of need. The fact that
from administrative necessity each has be-
come business ought not to interfere with
the high ideals which gave them birth.
Yet there has been a seeming antago-
nism between these two natural allies. The
business of life insurance has been
sailed and greatly injured. The press has
been guilty of exaggerations and of al
most malicious sensationalisms more dis
astrous in their immediate results than the
conditions which inspired the attacks. Peo-
pie have been frightened into lapsing val
liable policies, and even pre1udtced against
the principle of life insurance.
What Is the explanation of this anoma-
lous condition. and how does II accord
with the Idea that both of these institu-
lions are working along different lines to-
ward the same end. the uplifting of the
race? Either the other. or both.
of these social factors has been false to
Its ideals. There is other explanation
possible 1t Is not my purpose to criticise
the press. Our forefathers were so con-
scious of the Importance of free speech
that they wrought their conviction into the
National Constitution. Although sometimes
misinformed. sometimes mistaken. in the
main the press is honest. and in some re-
spects Is the greatest human power for
good In the world.
THE point is that whatever antagonism
exists between these two rests upon false
nd
be cleared away there will be a distinct and
deplorable loss of power. affecting our
whole social progress. The insurance man
should be philosopher enough to see clearly
one significant fact-the press did not origi-
nate the insurance scandals. If there had
been nothing to criticise, there would have
been criticism. My experience and OBJ
Servation has been that, with all It's short
comings, no institution in the country
stands ready unselfishly to promote the
welfare Of the public as the press. and that
man or that institution which is blameless
need have no fear of injustice criticism
at it's hands.
Life insurance institution is still
young. 1t is too vital to human progress
to be permanently injured by recent devel-
opments Out of it all will come a great
and lasting good. in which press and life in
surance companies will be found shoulder
TO shoulder In work of real service.
Greater than ever. we shall move forward
to new victories and new achievements"
MI ueeuS speech.
An address similar lines was made
by William Reed. He said. in part:
I'm the onward march of American civ
ilization during the last half century two
of the most potent factors have been the
public press and American life insurance.
The press. In forming and building public
opinion. and life insurance, In intoxicating
the habit OF saving. the protection of de-
pendent ones, and the lessening of poverty
and crime
The power of the press for good or Ill
Is transcendent. The benefcence of life in
surance is measureless. While 1t Is possi-
Die Tor any movement to live for a time
without either the support or the opposition
OF the public press. no great movement can
De carried to a successful conclusion when
the aid of the press is withheld. The DOW
er OF the press in the hands of men moved
by high motives is irresistible, while
Venal press cannot work untold injury for
the present day only, but its bltehtfnR
influence may be felt on generations yet to
come
1t follows. therefore that the press has
a high and mighty duty to perform, and
ITS obligations to the public are almost linz
3tess. The press should be friendly to life
insurance, because life insurance teaches
the fundamental doctrine of our twentieth
century ciyihzation-the care for ones own
The true history of American Life Insur-
ance can never be written. The man Of sta
tistical turn of mind may compile its trans
for a given period of time. but 1t is beyond
the ken of any man to trace the dollars as
they flow beautifully from the treasures of
American life insurance companies.
1t Is evident. therefore. that II the public
press of the land performs Its duty to man
kind it must lend It's help and encourage
ment to the business of life insurance. Its
relation to this benehcent institution shali
be both fair and friendly. 1t is the duty Of
the press to inform itself on life insurance
and be able to eraighten its readers as to
its plans and purposes During the past
twenty months We have seen the danger Of
an uniformed press. While It Is true that
during the turmoil the press of the land
printed much faulty Information, II was not
generally due to desire to discredit life in
surance. but rather to lack of proper
understanding of the business. In this is
not included that element OF the public
press solely given to sensationalism.
In times past life insurance has been
looked upon by the public as a complex
business, intricate in its features and be-
yond the comprehension of the ordinary
individual. This has had much to do with
the general lack of information concerning
the workings of life insurance. We have
seen the power of the press for evil in the
way It has attacked the business of life
insurance during the trying times, happily
now passing The press has not yet