LIFE INSURANCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8242, 11 September 1905, Page 3

LIFE INSURANCE.

" Man is, and always was, a blockhead and dullard," delcared Carlyle, "much readier to feed and digest than to think and consider." No man knows the truth of this declaration better than an insurance agent. It is always difficult to get a man to think about anything which concerns his duty as a citizen, it is still more difficult to get him to think ab'jut anything which concerns the future welfare of himself and family. In fact, the average man is a real animal; he eats, drinks, and sleeps with the regularity of clockwork, and doesn't care for anybody or anything. His life is entirely selfish. If you write him a letter suggesting an endowment assurance,he hasn't even the common courtesy to reply to it; if you speak to him, he is always ready with the cock-and-bull story, " I can't afford it" ; if you S3e him in the street he tries to give you the slip ; if you buttonhole him in his ofibe, he giggles at you, and talks as though insurance companies were a gang of thieves and rogues. In fact, it is hopeless to try to educate that type of man. A blockhead and a dullard he is, and a blockhead and a dullard he will remain.

Ttun to a higher type of man. His face reveals, his character at once. Open, manly, straight-forward, self-reliant, it is a pleasure to grasp his hand. No humbug about this young man. When asked to take out an insurance policy, he didn't plead poverty, or teli the agent to " come again another day," but he filled up a proposal at once. He recognised the contention that the life policy should come before the wedding ring. A life assurance policy should be

the first thing in the mind of a young * man. In feet, it ought to be compulsory by law. The wedding ring is a sign of mar-

riage ; the life assurance policy is a proof of

duty. Moreover, it is a proof of sound health. "Any father," wrote Charles Dickens, in " Household Words," " who permits his daughter to be married without insisting upon the husband insuring his life

is doing a wrong which may cost her a lifetime of sorrow and trouble." The same truth was emphasised by the late Max Muller, who wrote, " It is difficult to prove what is self-evident—namely, that every man who has not a sufficient capital of his own ought to insure his life before he marries." Why should not a young man who thinks of marrying bo obliged to prove that he is able to support a wife and maintain a comfortable home for her? And why should he not only be able to prove his ability to support her while he lives, but also give evidence of husbandly qualities by insuring his life for her support should he die ? " Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust," was the sage advice of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Where can I invest my money safely and remuneratively? You may invest it in railways, banks, mines and in building societies with more or less success ; but there is only one institution in which you run no risk of losing your money. Where is that, ? In a trustworthy Life Insurance Office.