True Life Values 



By Larry Williams 



WHAT guarantee has the farmer 

 that the vast program he has 

 outlined for himself will be 

 carried to full fruition? 



Mortgaged farm, children to raise 

 and educate, a sum of money to ac- 

 cumulate for retirement some day, and 

 maybe jjarents of either his own or 

 his wife's to help along mean in total 

 a sizeable contract for one man to take 

 on. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 years ago saw the need of farmers for 

 protection of a reliable kind, protec- 

 tion whidi would provide funds for the 

 various specific needs suggested here. 



The farmer's program could likely be 

 carried out if he lived. Difficult as times 

 may be for a farm operator in good 

 health, there is always the more serious 

 problem of the wife and family, as 

 well as the program to pay off a debt 

 should he suddenly be taken away. 

 Without protection the full brunt of the 

 load falb on the mother's shoulders. 



It was this common problem of pro- 

 tecting the important life values of 

 farmers and providing funds to carry 

 out farmers' plans which prompted the 

 I. A. A. to give serious thought to life 

 insurance as a service to Farm Bureau 

 members. 



It was in 1928 that the long debated 

 and investigated subject of life insur- 

 ance for Farm Bureau members found 

 its answer at the now famous Decatur 

 meeting. Country Life Insurance Com- 

 pany was definitely determined to be 

 the Farm Bureau life insurance project 

 at this meeting, and by the last day of 

 the year in 1928 the corporation was 

 set up to produce legal reserve life in- 

 surance that would answer the deman<} 

 for reliable protection for farmers' 

 specific needs. 



Here Was a company which, when set 

 up and going, would merit the support 

 of farmers, for it would not only oper- 

 ate under legal reserve laws, but be 

 guaranteed as owner by the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association. 



What a service it has proved to be 

 for the thousands of farmers whose 

 families share in its protective policies 

 and provisions! 



The earlier idea of life insurance 

 was merely the carrying of some kind 

 • of insurance in some kind of a com- 

 pany so that dependents might have 

 a thousand or t^wo dollars in case the 

 bread winner was taken by death. 



Today's idea of luxury and need is 

 vastly more ambitious than that of yes- 



MR. WILLIAMS POINTING TO CHART SHOWING REMARKABLE GROWTH IN VOLUME 



of insurance, now more than $70,000,000, wriHen in ihe Farm Bureau owned company — - 

 Country Lif*. 



teryear. The necessities of today are 

 ofttimes the luxury of that earlier day. 

 Novf we are forced to answer the ques- 

 tion, "How much life insurance should 

 a farmer carry?" This brings us to the 

 question of life values. 



Life Has a Value 



Life insurance has no magic except 

 that of its practical plan for dividing 

 the burden of one risk and providing 

 accumulations through regular pre- 

 miums that are available and certain 

 to the insured, even though he may 

 outlive his dependents and need an 

 old age income himself. Just carrying 

 a thousand dollars of life insurance 

 would not replace his earning power 

 for even one year. 



He has a more ambitious program 

 than just the making of one year's in- 

 come. The farmer wants his farm paid 

 for to enjoy and to hand down clear to 



his children. He wants leisure time 

 some day in the future to relax and to 

 enjoy his older years. He wants his 

 children to be educated and have their 

 chance in life. 



So he now attempts through life in- 

 surance to guarantee the carrying out 

 of his program as far as his ability to 

 pay premiums will permit. 



He therefore may plan a cash sum 

 through life insurance to be paid to his 

 wife to settle the cost of his funeral 

 and last illness, and enough to permit 

 the family to readjust on a basis of hir- 

 ing certain work done, and to pay off 

 the mortgage. 



He would have, if he were more am- 

 bitious, a monthly income provided for 

 his wife of $50 or $100 a month, so that 

 she should not come to penury or have 

 to depend on her children in her old 

 age. 

 .-..^ (Continued on page 9) ■ .;■ 



I. A. A. RECORD 



