The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-12-13
LIFE INSURANCE
FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

'AN+s =" tNN INV SHuOil AoA SitdtCI co
operation between policyholders ant
agents, to the end that there shall be
a better adjustment OF the policy tc
the needs of the individual This was
developed at todays session of the
Sixth Annual Convention of the Assoc
iation of Life Insurance Presidents
The entire days proceedings were de
voted TO consideration of the problem
of Fitting the Policy to the Policy
holder" State supervisory officials join
ed with company presidents, actuaries
and agents, in trying TO evolve some
standardization of insurance require
ments, from the viewpoint of the pol
icyholder. both as the kind of policies
and the amounts. 1t was pointed out
that thoroughly scientific writing OF
| life insurance for the individual invol.
we'd accurate knowledge as to his in.
come, property interests, nature of bus
mess, number and age of dependents,
kind and amount of insurance hither.
to obtained and now carried, etc. II
was therefore urged that the estab.
lishment of more confidential relat.
ions between agents and policyholders
such as exist between lawer and client
physician and patient, was essential
to the solution of the problem of fitting
policies to polieyholders' needs.
The Honorable Frank II. Hardison.
of Boston, Insurance Commissioner OF
Massachetts and President of the Nat
ional Convention of Insurance Comiss.
ioners, said:
When a man applies to a physician
for advice he, if he is wise, discloses
every symptom to that physician, tell
ing him about things he never breath
ed aloud before perhaps, and making
him a pardner in a knowledge of the
innermost secrets OF his body as far
as he knows them. The physician is
then in a position to apply his skill by
resting his diagnosis on the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth.
So too in legal matters, the lawyer
who does not get the details of the
case is in no position to advise wisely.
But to what physician and to what
attorney does a person give up all this
private and secret knowledge? Only
to one in whom he has confidence
The wiser the one wanting advice the
wiser counselor he seeks. No youth
in his teens will be sought for advice
on these subjects. Hence those who
wish to practice law or medicine must
not only prepair themselves for it by
4 long course Of study, and then pass
certain tests of knowledge which the
State requires, but must spend years
of waiting for maturity in thought and
Judgement Then men turn to them
and not in vain.
Can you expect that a person will
take the opposite course when life in
suranee is the object of his attention?
True it is that he may take a policy
from a person whom he has not select
ed with the same care as he has his
doctor or his lawyer; but think how
many times greater are the chances of
a misfit than would be the case were
the agent person in whom the appli-
cant had as much confidence as in the
doctor or lawyer--a person whose
knowledge and Judgement he felt to
be sound and to whom he could tell
in confidence all his personal, family
and business affairs in order that he
might obtain insurance fitted to his
needs by one trained as an expert in
such matters. But you need not think
hat a man is going to give his conf
1ence to a boy or girl in his teens
such as | have been vainly importun-
I'd to license, the Importantly coming
rom agency directors whose thought |
seemed to be that here was chance
o get perhaps few applications from
he relatives or friends of the agent. |
Such agents are not suitable for advis- |
rs, they cannot give worthy council |
r the one reason if for no other that |
hey will not be given the same full
upon which to come to a |
conclusion which shall result in a pol
cy which fits the policy-holder. What
have predicted of the youthful agent
S almost as true of the unscooled and
Il adapted one, whose efforts to fit
he poliey-holder would be bunglng
t best
Now what is the moral of all this
simply that fitness tends to reduce
rietion which result in loss and waste
Il every field of which we have any
To conserve this loss and
taste by reducing the friction through
ting the policy to the policyholder
hould be an aim of every insurance /
ompany; but it will be done consist