The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-08
E Great American Life's Headquarters. WILL TAKE ENTIRE FLOOR
 { OF BELL BUILDING Officers Will Come With Fifty
 Clerks. The Company is Capitalized at One Mnrioa Dollar. and Has as om-
 cers Leadiss Insumace Men of the west.


 Because of it's ,inequaIled, facilities as a central point and accommodations .wont@omery has been chosen as South srn headquarters for the Great Amer tcan Life insurance Company" re- cently organized in St. Louis, Mo. with : capitalization of more than $l, 900, 900.
 c. B. Reynolds. vice-president of the company, is in the city making arrangenents for the opening of the ofices here and has secured an entire 1oor of the Bell Building, Montgom- eryss new sky scraper." Orders are being placed for furniture and other fixtures and very shortly the actual work will be started. A stan of near fy half hundred clerks and assist ant c1erks4 will be employed here, some of them being chosen from insurance workers of Montgomery and Alabama.
 Tn speaking of the company Mir. Key. holds said Thursday:
 'T am now able to state that the southern Headquarters of the Great American Life will be located at Mont gomery, I have come direct from St Louis with this news We shall prob ably cover five Southern States at once and possibly seven or eight later from this point.
 '.1he reason of this decision was that Montg omery Is the most aeces- I 2 and Is really more advantageously To- cated than such points as Birmingham, { which is at one edge, and Atlanta at afiothep Montgomery is one of the most promising cities Of the South and will undoubtedly realize its promising future quickly.
 .'1fr. Quinn, President of the Great American Life, is also of this Opinion.
 "Railroad facilities are splendid nfty-hve trains a day. Heretofore the natural advantages of Montgomery great though they were, could not be seriously considered because of the lack of accommodations and modern office buildings Now that these are here the location of Montgomery will help fill them rapidly. other large compa- nies probably making this their South ern headquarters. too.
 sFaThere is another feature about our coming here which should gratify the Commercial Club: The fact that the club has been doing such broad-guage work in the. past fifteen months is what ultimately fastened our attention upon the city, the matter having re- nained unsettled until few days ago. The work of the Southern Commercial Congress, managed as 1t was from Montgomery, may be regarded as the final influence that led to the decision to locate here, The Great American life intends to loan in the States where the premiums originate the money aris- Ing from this source, thus keeping fin the Soufh, to help 1pbuild 1t. the money that originates In the South"
 Mr 2 Reynolds will for several months be very much on the road completing the. effective organization of the Great American Life, at ali important points through the South. Mir. Reynolds will immediately move his family here and become an important participant In the commercial and social life of Mont gomery. There are several prominent business men of Montgomery connect ed with the company as directors. counsel. etc There are others of the city who will, in all likelihood, be as- sociated with the company in various capacities. The company writes all of. the latest, revised, up-to-date limited pays and endowments and expects to write not less than ss0.o00.000 during the year 1903.
 The Great American Life of St. Louis has been licensed in Alabama georgia. Arkansas. Illinois, Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennes- see. and plans to enter other States shortly.
 The Great American Life stated in the beginning that 1t would raise a million dollars in assets and surplus before opening its doors for business. The examination discloses the fact that the amount has been exceeded by $25,- 0O0.
 Stockholders. feel jubiiant over the expense rate for organization purposes. Although the stock was placed in forty different States, thus forming many valuable nuclei for getting business, the cost was only IS per cent. No bet ter showing was ever made for sirni- lar work.
 Undoubtedly the conditions, business wise, that confronted the company in its inception were far from encourag- ing or hopeful. <-
 Lack of confidence, and capitalists on all sides tended to throw cold wa ter upon any attempt to promote new enterprises. The effects of the panic last fall had by no means passed away, and the Great American Life was launched at a time when there was extraordinary stringency in money matters.
 The men behind the movement had not made a blind plunge, but knew exactly the sum of their strength and the temper of the people of the South and West towards new life insurance institutions. Hence every apparent Encouragement only tended to kindle afresh the fires of determination to had not known before, in point of size and aggresslveenss.
 Tn just six months the work was consummated and the stock books Of the company closed.
 While securing stock subscriptions the matter of applications for life in- surance in the new enterprise were not neglected. Merely as an incident to the soliciting of stock the agents of the company turned in over two mill lions in advance applications for insur- ance.
 The Western Insurance Review of