The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-04-28

fare work. The statement publish
ed shows how the Company has
accepted this opportunity.
While the year 1921 in the pop
ular mind is put down as a year
of dull business, life insurance has
been an exception. The Metropoli-
tan again held the record among
all the companies in the world in
1921 with 1854, 789,607 new in
surance placed on the books. It's
assets increased more than one
hundred and thirty million dollars
and its income was S38, 462, 919
more than it was in 1920.
For many years the Company's
principal business was Industrial
small policies, generally held by
the working men of America am
their families. But lately the So
called Ordinary insurance, where
the premiums are paid quarterly,
semi-annually or annually, has so
increased that this branch of the
business now exceeds the Industl'i-
al in amount.
In accepting the opportunity for
health and welfare work, the
Company extended the free nurs-
ing service given to Industrial pol
icy-holders so that last year it was
effective in $500 cities and towns
and the nurses made more than
100000 free visits. Arrange
ments have been completed by
which employers, insuring their
employees under group policies,
receive the benefits of the nursing
service and welfare literature.
In making their weekly calls to
collect premiums, the 10000
agents distributed booklets and
pamphlets dealing with health and
and disease, telling in simple Ian
guage how tc avoid preventable
diseases and what to do if the pol
icy holders arc sick. More than %
millions of these pamphlets were
distributed in this way last year.
In connection with the Society
for the Prevention of Tuberculos-
is, the Company is conducting a
great experiment at birmingham,
Mass. This city was selected as a
typical American city with a pop
ulation of about the average char
acter. The Company financed the
tuberculosis Society in demon
stration to show what proper mu-
nicipal health regulation can do
toward wiping out this disease.
Practically all the population were
examined for signs of this disease,
and then measures were taken to
improve the conditions and for the
general betterment of the health
of the city. The experiment is
watcher by health authorities
through the country One result
has been that deaths from tuber-
culsosis in birmingham during rhe
three or four years that the eX-
pertinent has been in progress
have dropped from the rate of 121
per 100000 to 40. The health au-
thorities and the people of the
city have been so impressed with
these beneficial results that they
have greatly increased their own
municipal appropriation for the
health department.
The lack of housing space in so
many cities of the country, due b
the lack of building during the
war, caused the Metropolitan to
make a systematic and widespread
effort TO build new moderate prize
ed houses and apartments. During
1920 and 1921 the Company loan
ed. and pledged itself to loan
$68,080, 900 on new dwellings, and
apartment houses providing homes
for 17,744 families.
In 1921 the death rate among
Industrial policy holders reached
its lowest point--31 per cent. low
er than it was ten years previous.
The rate from typhoid fever de-
creased II per cent; from tubercu-
losis, 40 per cent; from Bright's
disease, nearly 80 per cent and
from infectious diseases of chill
dren nearly 81 per cent. The re-
cords kept by the Company show
that compared with 1911 there
were in 1921, $4,000 fewer deaths
than there would have been if the
1911 death rate had prevailed.
IpIouo5 uooq sgq 71oql 7UQ.M
public health movement and not
able progress in medical science
and sanitation, which contributed
in part, there is evidence that a
considerable factor in reducing the
death rate among policy-holders
of the Company has been the
widespread health campaign car
ried on by the Company.
The Metropolitan announces it
will continue its best efforts for
the improvement of health and the
consequent saving of life, recog-
nizing that the confidence which
the Amrican people have in the
Company gives it still greater OPP
portunity to serve them, not only
in insurance protection, but in the
prolongation of life. Those who
have the management of its finan-