The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-06
Managers of the Great Life Insur-
ance Business of the Country
Can Safely Challenge Compare
son with any Other Business.
PUBLIC HAS FAITH IN
INTEGRITY OF OFFICIALS
Recent Investigation Has Shown
the Absolute Soundness of the
Companies, and Has Had an Ed
ucational Value to the Public.
BY HERBERT vANDERHooF.

were the special objects OF scrutiny nave
leaned their houses, it is probable that
there will be a lull in the agitation over
this subject until the investigation COM
mittee has made it's report to the legis-
lature. In the meantime some amend
ments to the New York law are being
discussed, and it is said that one of the
recommendations will be that companies
be restricted to writing 1 1000, 900, 900 of
insurance. III ."."." -
How such a restriction is going to bene-
fit the life insurance companies or their
p~olicyholders is not explained. If a COM
pany is ably and honestly conducted 1t
would seem that it might with perfect
safety and propriety as well write two
billion dollars of insurance as one. The
contention seems to be, however, that
the effort to write such enormous sums
has developed a spirit of competition be-
tween the great companies. and that II
this competition can be eliminated the
business will be conducted more economl-
calIy. That the ZEAL, the pressure. the
competition, and the strife for magnitude
have resulted injuriously not only to those
companies so engaged. but to other in
terests also. there can be little question.
The real issues presented for cons1dera-
ton are how the injury can be best re-
paired. how the confidence of the public
that has become unsettled can be re-
stored, what safeguards should be en-
ployed to check the tendency to extrava-
gance and waste incidental to mere mag.
nitude, what remedies are adequate to
prevent injurious and wasteful competil-
ton in a race in which one company is
quite as anxious to surpass another as
to achieve substantial. conservative, and
healthful results.
P~oIIcyhoIders Not Alarmed.
AS a matter of fact. the average
~policyholder is not at all alarmed by the
magnitude. to which certain companies
posed to worry over the safety of his
risks. To many men the very magnitude
Of some Of the companies is looked upon
with pride and satisfaction. and this mag
nitude is supposed to carry a certain
degree of safety that the smaller com
panies cannot provide. This idea is a
mistaken one, of course, because the
along such scientific lines that the smaller
company can give the same assurance OF
safety that the larger one does.
Out of all these months of agitation,
however; one fact looms up conspicu!ously'
and that is that every dollar. of insur-
ance that has been placed with, any OF
the companies is absolutely safe: De;
wastefulness} that have been made, the
life insurance companies have gone RICH;
along paying every obligation as it be-
cam n die; and md at add the same qeii tims h ia W
OOO4i AAAAi up N"Nk
year for the future benefit of their policy
holders. ..- -
And this is the fact that appeals most
forcibly to the public. It is this fact thai
every man takes into consideration wher
wants to know that when he has ,~investet
his money for the protection Of his wife
:! and children they will get it when theil
hour Of need comes. -.
!: no other fact than tbs: it ala '' 500
ever, it did develop some other facts tina
have already been productive Of reform!
l In the business and that are bound to ad
vance the welfare of the companies ant
, ing therefore, is certain to result ii
good.
A Necessity Of Life
The business of life insurance Is no
!. going to stand still: It has become on
5, Of the necessities of life, and the abilit
with which 1t has been conducted in tn
! United States has intrenched, 1t III tn
l hearts Of the people. Therefore, as tn
, the life Insurance business IS destine
. to grow with it. With most people it
t the only means that ever presents itsel
dition will always exist.
It is we'll for the public to bear i
e mind that economy in management an
I I funds intrusted to them are the ru1
4 among the life insurance companies {
the country. Extravaganza is not tn
rule, nor as a rule are exorbitant sa
the case. and the life insurance CON
panies of the country, taken as a Who'll
can safely challenge comparison with an
other class of business in the land as
= the fidelity Of their officials.
i The average man com%prehends- thes
} facts. But there are other men WI
have never given the subject any consit
into neglecting to take out a polio
These men should take second though
on this most important matter. The
= should realize the fact that the safe
their surplus earnings is in the shape
a life insurance policy, and that tn
money if they live will come back
them with considerable additions. viii
d from want. = r.
e Simply a Saving.
Money invested ir life insurance
simply a saving, with the added bene
that It assures a mans family fro
3 a man. viii say: Il don't need ed any I Pc
70 son or corporation to invest my none
is self IT, pellses'' e'pA''e - o0l"s ma y ="
g Perhaps one man out of a hundred
Al but experience has taught. that the 9th
d ninety-nine are not. The life insuran
st company is a trustee. and the mon
placed IN Its hands cannot be WlthdraN
at will. This is one feature that max
it safe and certain: With the mon
in bank, where it can be withdrawn
will, there are always arising opportul
ties that look tempting and appeal
mans desire for gain. First one lit
Z speculation and then another, until the
y is no money in the bank. n nothi
to show where it has been invested.
crash comes in the stock market.
instance, and the man with a few tho
sands hastens to withdraw his mon
le from the bank and invest it in the be
e. gains that can be snapped up on w
Il street. The first thing that man kno
&c he has a bundle of securities that defa
r. in interest payments n that are /
worth 10 cents on the dollar. If
y policy it would still be there. with
II, addition of several hundreds more that
IT would have earned.
70 Advantages to the Young.
- TIC no person should the advantages
NC life insurance appeal with such TO
es as to the young man starting in L
re Then the rates for insurance are
he lowest. and the few hundreds that
ey may be able to put away each year ii
Nv policy will come back to him before
az TONS. The money thus invested by /
may enable him to max a start in br
ness for himself. but even if he d
not need it for that purpose the hal
of %frugality and industry that he /,
liz liz have formed in making his yearly p
nc ments will have the most important
Of fuence upon his character. and, are DO,
Of Il nave their effect upon hts career
lifa.