should be a man of sound judgment, good character and well versed in his profession. The banker must be skilled in finance; the judge must be trained in law; the teacher must have something to teach, and the clergyman must be trained in religion, and in like manner on this foundation of character; the agent must be trained, and a lawful member of his profession. An underwriters' association should be so conducted as to aid in raising the moral standard of our business, but only to that degree in which it is careful in the selection of its membership, will be successful. The member who lacks character, exerts an unholy influence upon those about him, lowers the moral standard of the association, and creates in the minds of the laymen an impression that the whole business is degraded to the level of the bad agent. The man who draws an advance from the general agent who teaches him the business, then when he has learned enough about it to enable him to make money, leaves that general agent and goes to another without first repaying the advance to the man who taught him the business, and was his benefactor, should not be admitted to membership in a life underwriters' association. "An honest man is the noblest work of God"; therefore, I shall not attempt to fully define him; but my candidate must be commercially honest enough to pay his honest debts, and especially the advance made him by the general agent who went to the trouble and expense of teaching him the business. A life insurance company to be successful must be careful in the selection of its risks; so a life underwriters' association, to be successful, must be careful in the selection of its membership. John W. Schell, Philadelphia, Pa—Mr. President and Gentlemen: "What Qualifications Should Be Considered Indispensable in a Candidate for Membership in a Life Underwriters' Association?" Before attempting to give an answer to this question, I would ask you to note the condition of the life insurance business previous to the starting of these associations and what have been considered the necessary qualifications for membership in the past. If we can believe the reports which have come down to us, nearly every man then connected with the sale of life insurance was an Ishmaelite. "Get business, was his motto, whether by fair means or foul, no matter, and if he failed to get it he did not fail to so blacken the reputation of every other agent and company that the prospect came to believe like the psalmist that "All men are liars." The selling of life insurance as a business had sunken to such a low level that the very name of life insurance agent had become one to be sneered at. It was at this critical stage of the business that a few of the better agents joined hands for the correction of these gross evils and organized the first life underwriter's association. Their task was one almost herculean, and it was justifiable that they at that time admitted very few besides general agents, and those only after the most searching inquiry as to their character and the character of the company they represented. With the condition of affairs which then existed even the most sanguine were skeptical of accomplishing much and it is not suprising that they had failed utterly to conceive the great possibilities for good of life underwriters' associations. But, as the years went on and it was found that the lamb could lie down with the lion without fear of being eaten up, efforts, I believe very weak ones, were made to increase their numbers by trying to get more general agents, those who were congenial and who had never been very aggressive to become members. Taking into account the small field in which they have tried to work it is indeed remarkable what great results have been accomplished. I use the term small field, because no apparent effort has been made to get into these associations all the general agents and least of all effort has been made toward getting into them the real, live, active force it is necessary for them to control, viz.: the men in the field. When I say that every general agent has under him ten or more fieldmen, I think it is well within the average, so that we witness the strange spectacle of an army of generals and but few privates; and yet it is these very privates who are causing nine-tenths of the trouble life underwriters' associations are trying so hard to remedy, and without whose co-operation at most, but partial success only can be attained. But a new era has dawned, and it is now generally admitted that the work of life underwriters' associations will not be fully accomplished until every man carrying a rate book and representing a legal reserve company is enrolled as an active member of an association. It is the dawning of this new era which has brought forth this question, "What Qualifications Should Be Considered Indispensable in a Candidate for Membership in a Life Underwriters' Association?" I believe the mission of life underwriters' associations are not unlike that of the Christian church in the sense that they should be organized for the purpose of converting the bad man into a good man, or at least into a better man. The prime requisite today for membership in the Christian church, is an open declaration on the part of the individual that he at least is going to try to live a better life, and he joins the church, not that this act alone will make him a good man, but that he may have the power of a good example always before him and enjoy the bnefits of meeting men who are known to lead upright lives and profit by their example. It would be a strange church today, which would restrict its membership to those only who are perfect, and it seems to me it is a strange life underwriters' association which restricts its membership to those only whose past conduct from an insurance standpoint has been absolutely above suspicion. The fundamental principle of the church today is to save that which was lost, and the fundamental principle of life underwriters' associations today should be to gather within their folds every man connected with the sale of old line life insurance. Until such principle becomes a living fact we cannot expect rebating, twisting and maligning to become obsolete. I am firm in the belief that we can do more with a man in an association than out of it, and it seems to me here is our opportunity to show just what these associations are good for. So, in order to accomplish this hoped for result, viz.: the elimination of the rebater, the twister and the maligner, the only qualifications I think necessary for membership in a life underwriters' association, are, first and above all, a good character, and I use it in the sense in which Webster defines it, "One possessing those qualities which are esteemed and respected and which are ascribed to a person in common estimation.” Second, that he represent a legal reserve company whose solvency is unquestioned. Third, that he shall have served a probationary period of not less than six months in the field as it will generally take this length of time to find out whether a man has a true love for the life insurance business, without which no man will permanently continue in it. I would not make this period over six months because I believe many men who now become discouraged would take renewed hope, have a more exalted idea of the business and ultimately succeed if they were quickly brought into personal contact with the best men connected with the life insurance work, and these men will be found to be connected with life underwriters' associations. Fear has been expressed that we will by letting down the bars which up to this time have been, in my judgment, placed entirely too high, get in more men than the associations can assimilate, but I doubt whether the time will ever come when men will stand at the door of our associations and beg for admission. At least "let us cross that bridge when we come to it. From my experience, instead of men crowding each other to be at the front in association work it is the hardest duty devolving on the president of a local association to get men who will conscientiously perform the smallest of duties. I believe the infusion of this new blood into our associations will work wonders. The healthiest societies of which I am a member are those where men seek the offices and where they are given out as a reward for faithful work done instead of the society being compelled to re-elect the same officers year in and year out because no one else can be found who will serve. May the day soon come when election night in a life underwriters' association will bring out every member in good standing and I predict that when that day does come, as come it will unless we sit supinely by with hands folded, the public will have a better opinion of us as a body and we will then be able to sell more life insurance and policies better adapted to the insured's needs because in competition every agent will have for his motto that which should be our motto, "Do unto others as you would like others under similar circumstances to do unto you." R. A. Clark, Pittsburg, Pa.-"The Possibilities of Development in the Business of Life Underwriting. The possibilities of the business of life underwriting are beyond the power of any man living to comprehend and determine. Life insurance is not a present day fad or a passing fancy, or a society craze, nor is it limited (like some silly women's calling lists) to the people who ride in automobiles. Life insurance is the product of our modern civilization. In the dawn of civilization the interests of the family and the individual were lost in the overshadowing interests of their Feudal Lord, and always sacrificed to his advancement, welfare, safety and existence. In times of peril the Feudal Lord gave forth the order: "Sound the tocsin from the tower, And fire the culverin. Bid each retainer arm with speed, And it was done as ordered, for the safety as well as the triumph of the Overlord. His happiness and protection was the chiefest aim and joy of all his vassals. But by and by there grew up a feeling among his vassals that there was something more than loyalty and devotion to the interest of the Overlord, and a feeling arose in the mind of the vassal that he was an individual with rights and feelings and impulses just as real, and just as sacred as those of his Overlord, and later this feeling took hold upon the masses and made itself felt among them, and |