The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-07-06
history Of Life Insurance
4 Traced For ROtarians Here
lsurance Official Gives In
tereStlng Talk on Its Va
lue and Development.

becomes a part of the general
consciousness. When it finally
ses to the popular imagination,
= rush forward to make use
It," said w. H. Trentman, vice
sldent of the Occidental In
ance company of Raleigh, who
pke to the Jefferson Rotary
10 on Thursday.
MIR. Trent who was introduced
]. F. Neal, program chairman
aced the development of mo-
/, I'm life insurance, from the
ne when the Romans adopted
simple form Of insurance, down
the present.
William Shakespeare, in the
Ierchant of Venice, told of an
inverted insurance transaction.
The policy holder, Antonio re-
ceived the face of his policy from
the underwater, Shylock, before
he occurance of the event
against which he desired insur-
ance," he said.
He explained that the first in
surance policy similar in princi-
pie to those of today, of which
history has any written record
7as written in London in 1888.
was term policy of $4,000 for
ne year written on the life Of
BILL Gibbons. History relates
hat the man died 20 days be-
vOre the expiration Oh Tie pUliUJ
and that there was some conten-
ton about the payment of the po-
Icy, which, when settled, show
ed men that there were many de-
tails regarding insurance which
must be worked out to make it
function properly.
Mr. Trent then traced the de-
velopment of life insurance from
a mere bet, or gamble, to a
science today in which all the
predictions can be made with the
certainty Of mathematical calcu-
lations.
Life insurance was developed
much earlier in England than in
America, Mr.. Trent explained.
He added that it was not until
1850 that life insurance compa-
MES became firmly established in
America. He related how in those
earlier days, rates were high, and
exemptions were many. Life
was cheap in those days and men
and people did not buy much life
insurance., he said and explain
ed the many risks of an unde-
veloped country and the fact
that some people had some re-
ligious scruples against it had
much to do with this.
A bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal church answered these
objections in 1856 when he said. Il
claim that life insurance is not
only humane, but I might almost
say a Christian institution. The
average risk on human life is
based on tables made in different
countries upon a series OF calcu-
lations and observanvces extend
ing through years so that it is not
such game of chance as may be
imagined"
Mr.. Trent then showed how the
field of insurance has become
one of the most important in the
country today. He pointed out
the value of a trained agent as
we'll as the men at the head of
insurance companies. Upon their
shoulders rests the final respon-
sibility for the proper handling
of the countless details connect
ed with the legal questions, fl
nancial problems, and complicat-
ed situations in human relation
ships, he said, and added, "To-
day the great masses of people
respect life insurance and use 1t
as it was designed to be used .. e.
for beneficent ends"
The speaker then quoted a
number of people who praised
life insurance, and conclude with
this: "Those of us engaged in the
business of life insurance are
spectators of a vivid panorama
of human existence. We come in
to close contact with its TRACE
dies and comedies, its hopes and
dispairs, its greed and generosity,
its defeats and victories, and its
virtues and crimes.
eve witness the stabilizing in
fluence of life insurance money
which is available to policyhold-
ers-seventy millions of them
and to the general public for
sound loans. We see daily how it
helps our business machinery to
function more smoothly and how
it softens tragedy and heart
aches.
.oTruly the idea of life insur-
ance which lay dormant in the