The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-03-11

a good business proposition, there
were excellent men heavily interest
ed in it-but they were faced with
one problem that seemed a serious
one. Who was going to manage the
company and get the volume of in
surance necessary to make the COM
pany profitable?
Some of the stockholders were for
getting an experienced nan from a
big eastern company. Others
thought of Montana insurance men
who might make the Montana Life
profitable, but there was much I'M
certainty. Finally a small group of
those most heavily interested adj
vanced the name of a man. He had
just completed a term as state audi
tor, in which capacity he had been
in charge of the states insurance de-
partment. He knew a good deal
about the M in which compan-
les operated, but he had never sold
a nickel's worth of insurance. His
name was Harry R. Cunningham.
Cunningham Takes Hold
The judgment of the group who
suggested Cunningham was accepted,
and those who knew him best be-
lieved their troubles were at an end
if they could secure Cunningham.
They felt that Cunningham was an
organizer first, and that was what
they needed most. They knew he
was keen and quick of mind, that his
vision was broad and his judgment
sound.
Cunningham was sent for. He
took the proposition under considera-
ton and gave every angle of it
thought. Then he accepted the man
agement, and when he took off his
coat and went to work the momen-
tum of his vitality, confidence and
enthusiasm was simply irresistible.
The old eastern companies operating
in the state smiled indulgently and
gave the Montana Life a couple of
years to go out of business or become
absorbed by a bigger company. Cum
bingham smiled, too, and said little,
but he kept plugging, getting his
agency force organized and inject
ing his own spirit of enthusiasm into
every man on the force.
Cunningham's theory was a sound
one. Montana, he said, is a great
state-going to be the greatest in
the union. We are getting in at the
right time to grow with it. We are
going to make a great company out
of this.
100 Per Cent Enthusiasm
Last spring and early in the sum-
mer, when things were looking dark
and dry, the croakers told Cunning
ham that he was up against a ter
ribly tough game. Yes, said Cum
I'm so thick-headed I can't see it.
This year may be a bad one but we're
going to write more insurance than
have ever written in one year.
The new insurance placed On the
company's books last year, paid for
and delivered, amounted to S12,150,-
300, of which $6,400,0O0 was placed
IN Montana. Not a bad record for
1919.
The company operates in the two
Dakotas, Wyoming, Washington,
and Montana, and will enter
Oregon, Utah and California during
he current year. In September the
company was subjected to a most
borough examination conducted by
he insurance departments Of South
Dakota, wyoming, Idaho and Mon
ana. Statements in the report were:
From the facts as~certained dur
ng the course of the examination,
our examiners have arrived at the
GLOWING conclusions:
"There has been a constant growth
nd progressive improvement in the
f4osu -funn /
Is inception. The company has a
ubstantial capital and surplus over
IL liabilities and its affairs are upon
sound financial basis. :
"The business methods being pur-
ued by the company are mature,