Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-04-13

| Company Of America, is widely known
Throughout the insurance and banking
wcrld. His cwn company is che of
tie greatest financial institutions in
the world. His explanation Of what
| Is done with the millions that pour
| into the insurance company each year
| is an enlightening article that gives
to the public a new conception Of in
surance and it's results.
Stand some morning in the office
of a large insurance company when
the mail is opened See the great
stacks of letters brought in and en-
ptied on the receiving tables and let
your imagination busy itself with the
stories that lie behind these envelopes.
Here is a money-order from 8 cross
roads post office-only few dollars,
yet a husband and wife have sacri-
| feed for month to purchase the
protection it represents. Here is a
check for thousands-a great corpora
ton has insured the life Of it's presi-
dent, in order that the business may
| be protected in the event of his loss.
| Stiff, formal envelopes, and poor,
shabby envelopes-some addressed in
! typeWriting, some in ink, some with
lead pencil in letters hardly legible-
but every one a magnificent testimony
to human faith. For the people from
whom these envelopes come have new
err seen the Office of the insurance
company nor met its officers; they are
entrusting the dearest thing in the
World-the protection of their wives
and children-to men whose names
even are almost unknown to them.
Surely there is no more solemn trust
than this. | pity the insurance man,
| no. matter how familiar the sight may
be to him, who can watch the morn
ing mail being opened without feeling
renewed and deepened sense Of OBJ
| legation at this vast silent ritual of
Confidence and Faith
Where the Money Gees
| Now what becomes of these mil
lions that are sent to the insurance
companies from families all over the
world? Are they kept piled up in
banks? Some of them are, for sound
insurance practice dictates that the
company shall always have a large
reserve in cash. No one knows when
a catastrophe or an epidemic may
come, making thousands of families
suddenly dependent-th insurance
company must be always prepared.
But what of the rest-the millions
and millions which will not be need
ed by the policy-holders for years?
In St. PauPs Cathedral in London
there is single slab marking the
burial place Of Sir Christopher Wren,
the architect of the great edifice Up
on it is this inscription in Latin-''If
you would see his monument look a.
| bout you" The same inscription
might be written of the dollar which
you, and you, and you, have entrusted
to your insurance company as a pro-
lection for the future If you would
see that dollar you have only to look
| about you. It is not lying idle in
some vault far away; it is invested
and at work close at hand.
Dollars at Work
You pick up the telephone receiver
and are connected with a friend in
another part of the city. 1t is a
miracle that would amaze you if it
were not so common. Your insurance
dollar has helped to work that mir
acle.. For the telephone system has
been constructed by the proceeds of
telephone bonds-and millions of dol
lars of insurance money are invested
in these and other utility bonds.
You step into train III New York,
eat dinner, go to bed, and wake up in
Buffalo. Another miracle-and again
the insurance dollar has helped. For
the railroads could never have been
stretched across the continent except
by the sale Of railroad bonds. And
the insurance companies are large
investors in those bonds.
You pass beautiful park or fine
public school-they too are built By
bonds-municipa bonds an invest
ment which is heavily owned by in
surance companies. You pass row
Of houses, each the home of a family
that is paying few dollars a month
and looking forward to the day when
it can call that home its own. Who |
furnished the money to erect this |
home, and took a mortgage as Sc
curity? Very likely an insurance COM
pany-another place where your dol |
lars are at work.
Even on Farms
And farms-here your millions have |