The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1908-04-25
Tbs views of the writer with rsfSse

tie people of Mississippi, is very vel
known to q majority of u people,
Three years ago a campaign was made
for the organization of a mutual com
pany to be located in this state and
owned and organized by citizens of the
state. The laws of the state were such
that the effort to organize a mutual
company failed, but a regular stock
company was perfected and is doing an
excellent business. 1t is gratifying to
note the success of Mississippi's first
lie insurance company, its sucC SIS max
ing it less difficult to organize the sec.
ond one.
The ideal company is one tnat is mu-
tual in every sense of the word, the
policyholders being the power that Sc.
lects the management and dictates the
policy to be pursued; one in which the
people who pay their premiums and
thereby furnish the sinews Of war,
have the sole right to say how its af-
fairs shall be conducted. A great ma.
lOrity Of the companies doing business
are purely stock affairs, whereby the
owners of the stock are the sole dicta-
tors of the conditions on which policies
shall be issued and the plans for pay
ment of sO-called dividends. Ten men
may W the capital stock of one hun
dred thousand dollars and ten thousand
men who hold insurance in the concern
and pay into it more than $500, 900 per
annum, have to depend upon the ten
stockholders to say how tshall be man
aged and how much of the profits are
to be returned to them. When any
amount is returned to pOlicyholders il
means just hat much less for the
stockholders. Admitting that the
stockholders are good business men all
right as the world sees them, at the
same time it might go against the
grain 70 4 considerable extent for them
to say that we have participated in the
profits long enough, and we will now
let the policyholders participate for a
while. When will they do that?
Mississippi pays millions of dollars
annually for life insurance, now a ne
cessity and not a luxury, and there
should be a company in the state that
was strictly mutual in every respect
that issued policies at the rates deter
mined by mortality tables based upon
an experience of more than half a cen
fury, and that gave the man with a
thousand dollar policy a voice in the
management of its affairs. The trouble
experienced three year ago in securing
the capital stock for a strictly mutual
company will not be experienced this
time, the writer knowing one man who
VIII furnish the necessary capital TO
place the company on its feet.
One thousand trst-class applications
are necessary to give the movement
life. The rates can and will be made
as low as consistent with good business
methods and as determined by the ex-
periencc of years, minus large salaries
and ~cXtravagant expenses that have
characterized the management Of COM
panies in the past. This is a movement
for the general good of the people of
Mississippi, and deserves the hearty
of those who would carry
for the protection of their
families at the least possible cost and
in a company where the will of the pol
lcyhClders was absolute.
1t is imperative that the press, the
and good citizenship of our state
take a decided stand for the Enforce
of law and punishment of its vio-
.ators. The greatest compliment that
could be paid any state or any commu-
atty is that its people are God-fearing
law-abiding. Let's have it said
hat Mississippi is the most law-abiding
state of the union. The Farmers
JniOn has an organization in almost
community of the state, and it is
n their power to exert a powerful in
luence for good along the line OF strict
of the law. 1t is founded
equity, justice and the golden
ule, and its members are of the hest
,eOple in u state. They are law ,
bidding themselves, and it is their duty
8 citizens to see that the laws are .,
enforced. Some friend has .
aid: mo country without respect fer ,
IS laws can rise above the a who =
nows no form of government and has ,
o conscience to prick him for his sins; .
nd unless our laws are respected and :,
pheld by the people u country is un- y
afe, our homes in peril and the founda- "
upon which the government stands =
5 a guarantee OF equal rights TO all, is q
upon the brink of destruction.
.narchy will follow where our laws are r
isregarded." And this is all too true.
Mississippi must be the banner state
,r enforcement OF the law in the union
nd the citizenship can easily make it II
a
The article on corn selection for seed il
two weeks since has brought q
.veral replies and considerable inter. c.
It has been aroused among the people. C.