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millennium which will be ushered in when life insurance shall have been brought to every fireside and the ills of society resulting from thriftlessness and poverty shall be

no more.

He is loyal to his profession because of its personal advantages, in that he is in business for himself, master of his time and largely of the amount of his income, in that he requires no capital invested subject to the accidents of business, in that his renewals build up for the future an income, which is the equivalent of the interest on a large investment: Therefore, he is most careful that his freedom does not lead to his own undoing. He faithfully and systematically plans his day's work and insists on its accomplishment.

His faith in insurance makes him a missionary, gives him initiative, courage and persistency, inspires him to labor and wait when things look dark. It brings him to ignore the unpleasant features of his work. It keeps him from being tempted by large salaries offered him to engage in other occupations. It makes him a constant student of insurance and of reasons for insuring.

His loyalty to insurance leads him to be fair in competition and to aid the underwriter's association in raising the standards of his profession.

His faith in insurance impels him to hasten amply to protect his own family, therefore, men do not find hypocrisy in his arguments. It aids him in appreciating the duties of citizenship and by reason of his knowledge of men and his control of his time, peculiarly fits him for leadership in movements which make for civic right

eousness.

His loyalty to his company is based on carefully investigated facts, convincing him that it has no superior in results to policyholders and on a fair contract profitable to him on the good, persistent risks he procures.

Loyalty leads him to avoid debts to his company as he does all other debts. It makes him most careful in the selection and retention of desirable risks and good agents. It inspires him to be jealous of his company's good name. It moves him to a mastery of its rules, methods and policies and to courtesy and faithfulness in his dealings with its representatives, who will, therefore, naturally help him to greater success.

Loyalty prompts him to aid his company and the state in stamping out rate discriminations, which are unfair as between applicants and unprofitable to the company.

Loyalty results in length of service, which increases his own and his company's standing in the community. The man who would become a successful agent is so loyal to his company that he does not fear to call the attention of home officials to faults in its management, if any be found, and to urge their correction. If he fails in this and the faults be sufficiently serious, he will resign his agency, because there is a higher loyalty, that which he owes to the insured for whose service the companies exist.

He recognizes that he represents not only the company but also the man he insures and he endeavors to secure a perfect understanding and equity between them.

Loyalty to his clients cures him of timidity in approaching men, because he realizes that each failure of his may mean distress and disaster to a home, each success may be the sole provision for food, clothing and shelter for a family. It leads him to cultivate the infinite tact required for success in an economic doctor who offers advice, generally unasked for advice which if heeded will relieve the diseases most common to man, thriftlessness and poverty. It teaches him carefully to inquire into his client's circumstances and to advise the policy best suited to his needs. It inspires confidence when he points out how a moderate annual deposit with his company can relieve a man from anxiety for his family, leave his capital free, serve as collateral, protect his business in times of depression and furnish comforts in his old age when his other property may have been lost. It wins him respect and brings him friends who will greatly assist him in building up a large and growing clientage.

President Dolph-Mr. Baker will now read Mr. Hoyt's

essay.

The essay of Mr. Hoyt was as follows:

The sale of life assurance is business, but differs from other business in this particular: the agent must sell something which is neither a necessity nor a luxury, but a duty. Commercial in its application, it is founded upon

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sentiment and has a special value to society. It is thus distinctively and inherently on a higher plane than the average occupation. The agent is not only a salesman, he is an educator, a public benefactor, and under the cloak of salesmanship does a great work of service.

Business is war, although not always according to the definition of General Sherman. The agency forces of a life assurance society are a great army, seeking, not evil, but good. As with any army there is demanded harmony of action, courage, persistence, singleness of purpose, confidence, industry-qualities which, intelligently directed, will win success in any field of human endeavor. There must be secured from the agent a loyal co-operation rather than drudging routine forced by the necessities of existence.

What is loyalty? In actual war it is elimination of the individual for the good of the whole. In life assurance it is the consecration of self to a life work, with full faith in the society and absolute confidence in those in command, not for the good of the whole primarily, but for the welfare of the individual.

This distinction is important. In business self interest is the strongest motive force. The development of an agent depends upon the degree in which this force operates. To do successful work, the agent must feel that in loyalty lies his own welfare. The society is his opportunity; the function of the manager is to keep him in touch with this opportunity.

At the outset, then, the agent must be made to feel that he has chosen his life work. In no other way can he properly develop. The growing process is constant; success is not something which can be put on or off at pleasure. We thus find as the first essential loyalty to the insurance idea, both as a public blessing and as a means for a livelihood. The successful and honest agent must believe in that which he wishes to sell.

Here we have a young man who believes in the principles and mission of life assurance and feels that under proper conditions he can develop into a proper salesman. Where lies his opportunity? Where can he best grow? A life assurance society, while founded on sentiment, is amenable to all the laws of the commercial world. If our agent's development is to be constant, the society he

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