The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-22
WILSON IS R|D|CULED IN DARING ID STAND
 UP FOR HIS IDEALS, STATES HALEY F|SKE
In Ringing Speech, Presi- dent of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
 Tells of Activities.
 IndOrse Underwood

In a speech delivered to the superin-
 tcndents and agents of the Metropolitan
 Life Insurance Company and several ] scores. of guests at a dinner given in
 the ballroom of the Tutwier hotel last
 night, president Haley Fiske of the
 Metropolitan discussed the welfare work
 inaugurated by that company several
 years ago and the results in improve
 ment in health conditions as a result
 thereof
 | MT. FisIe is a forceful speaker. and knowing his subject. which apparently | he has at heart, he made deep impress sion on his hearers. He told the agents l that they were not merely statesmen, sell | ing insurance, but that their relation 1 ship with the policy holders was intf-
 mate and more of personal nature; that 1 it was their duty to aid the policy holders | in safeguarding their health and in con- | tributing to the general betterment of | the communities.
 ] He told of the sanitarium built and maintained by the Metropolitan Life In surance Company at Mt. McGregor, near l Saratoga, N. Y, where employees of the l company, suffering with tuberculosis. are sent and treated at the expense of the | company; of the welfare work done in l the homes by the representatives of the company, and of the visiting nurses em- | pioyed by the company and whose serv- ices are at the disposal of policy holders 1 who need them without cost.
 l MT. Fiske stated that in the twenty | five years he has been president of the Metropolitan he has made visits to the various districts to confer with the rep | resentatives of the company once every l three years, and declared that this policy | had resulted in a closer relationship be- tween the company and it's agents and the policy holders.
 You represent the policy holders, not l the company" he told the agents. "and l it is your duty to look after their n- 1 terests. The Metropolitan is one great | family of sixteen and one-half million individuals, representing five and a half billions of dollars of insurance and | $S64, ,000,0oo of assets"
 CLASS RELATIONSHIP | He stated that one person in every ten l in Alabama and the United States is policy holder in the Metropolitan, and that he and the officers and the agents of the company are trustees for these policy holders with responsibilities to them.
 He stated that the company has over s, 600 GOO invested in Alabama and S2, ,500 = 900 in Birmingham.
 UNDERWOOD ENDORSED Over s200,00O000 of the assets of the com pany, MT Fiske stated, are invested in railroad securities which were considered | high grade few years ago. For a time 1 the officers of the company were un- l easy because they were uncertain what was going to happen to the railroads when the government turns them back | to their owners, but Mir Fiske stated that they were gratified when the rail- | 1.I 1 ] zoning the systems and directing the | interstate commerce commission to make 1 rates that would guarantee 51A per cent net on the capital invested. That, he said, would make the securities good 1 "One of the most stalwart figures that stood up for the 16,50o,000 policy holders was Oscar Underwood of Alabama We are all democratic here together and l have the courage and have gratitude enough to ask this company here tonight to re-elect Underwood to the United States Senate" MT. Fiske declared, and his remarks were greeted with vigorous applause.
 Mir. FislSe explained the system of wei fare work; of the interest the agents are required to take in the policyholders Of the maintenance of nurses; of physicians provided, and of care at hospitals where needed; of instructions given to policy holders in hygiene. sanitation, care of 1 the sick, first aid; of the millions of cop ies of pamphlets printed and distributed every year by the company giving in- structions on the subjects of health and hygiene.
 He stated that through the welfare
 work of his company the mortality rate had been largely decreased, diseased per- sons restored to health and husbands and fathers saved to their wives ad children. You and I have seen the first citizen of the land rdiculed and abused because he had an ideal and dared to stand up 1 for it." declared MT. Fiske. What mat {, ters it if the women and children of the near east and of other countries die? | These men must ridicule and abuse that great man, Woodrow Wilson. They dc not spare him even in his sick room" ILLUSTRATED LECTURE Following MT. Fiske's talk. Dr. Frciikel gave an illustrated lecture on the welfare work conducted by that company. | Officials from the home office of the 1 company who were at the dinner were l Haley Fiske, president; Frank 0. Ayers, second vice president; Robert L. Cox, | third vice president: Lee K. Frankel, | Ph. D., third vice president; James E. l Kavanaugh, third vice president: Will | liam H. Stewart superintendent of agen- 1 cies; Frederick C. Remington, agency | supervisor; Miss Minnie H. Bridges, field supervisor. nursing service.
 | And these district agents: District superintendent. Wade H. Nichols of Bir- | mingham and deputy superintendents. | w. F. Barron, M. L. F. Bluttman, J. B. Cobbs, C. E. Dixon, J. H. Guire and H.
 W Hawkins. all of Birmingham; super
 l intendent, William F. Price, and deputy
 1 superintendents, J. l.. Aldrick, W. E.
 | Horsley and J. NJ. Thornton of Annis-
 ton: superintendent, Andrew NJ. McFalls
 and deputy superintendents, c. H. Cook
 and w G. Goree Fof Montgomery; super