LIFE INSURANCE 



More than a thousand policyholders, 

 agents, and others came out Jan. 27 to 

 hear the report of Country Life Insur- 

 ance Company's record-smashing per- 

 formance during 1936 at the annual con- 

 ference in the LaSalle Hotel. 



Reports by the field men, Mieher, 

 Ramler, Graham, and Masching started 

 off a busy morning, then followed dis- 

 cussion of mortality trends and the an- 

 nual statement by Dr. Boland, medical 

 director, and Howard Reeder, actuary. 

 Manager L. A. Williams rounded out 

 the meeting with an inspirational address 

 in which he recounted the progress of 

 Country Life to a $100,000,000 company 

 in less than eight years. 



Mortality experience for the year, Dr. 

 Boland said, was only 26.7%, which 

 keeps the five-year average at approxi- 

 mately 26.5 per cent. This record is at 

 least 40 per cent lower than the average 

 of other companies of comparable size. 

 Most companies have a mortality exjseri- 

 ence running 40 per cent or more of the 

 American table of mortality on which 

 rates are based. 



About 64% of the company's business 

 is non-medical. Mortality experience on 

 this business is 25.9%. On the 36% 

 of medical business, the mortality figure 

 was 28%. This higher rate is due to the 

 fact that the medical group includes per- 

 sons in three classifications as follows: 

 1. Impaired risk; 2. large amounts of 

 insurance; 3. applicants beyond 50 years. 



Seventy-six per cent of Country Life 

 policy holders are males, 24% females. 

 Mortality in the male division was 

 29.8%, female only 16%. "This low ex- 

 perience is unusual and is due in large 

 part to very strict underwriting rules;" 

 Dr. Boland said. Mortality experience in 

 the 12 year term group ($3,615,000) was 

 34.9% — substantially higher than in 

 the permanent insurance plans. 



Following are the age groups, the 

 amount of insurance in each, and mortal- 

 ity experience: Age 0-14, over $15,000,- 

 000 in force, mortality 19.7%; 15-30 

 yrs. about $33,000,000 in force, mortality 

 24.3%; age 31-40 $22,000,000 in force, 

 mortality 29.6% ; age 41-50, $16,500,000 



in force, mortality 25%; age 51-60, $3,- 

 500,000 in force, mortality 41.1%; age 

 61 and over, $243,250 in force, mortality 

 experience 58.7%. 



Death claims of $221,920 were paid 

 during the year. Expected mortality last 

 year was $831,586.33 showing a mortal- 

 ity saving of $609,666. Causes of death 

 to policyholders were as follows: diseases 

 of heart, blood vessels, kidney, 27.8% ; 

 accident 15.8%; pneumonia 11.4%; 

 acute infectious diseases (scarlet fever, 

 diptheria, small pox etc.) 8.2%; ap- 

 pendicitis 7% ; cancer 7% ; suicide 

 3.8%; miscellaneous 19%. 



AUTO INSURANCE 



Breaking all records of service and sav- 

 ings to Farm Bureau members of Illinois, 

 the Illinois Agricultural Mutual Insur- 

 ance Company wrote 13,884 new policies 

 in 1936, Earl C. Smith, president of the 

 company reported to more than 1,000 

 policyholders and agents at the annual 

 meeting January 27, in the LaSalle Hotel, 

 Chicago. 



This new business brought the total 

 policies in force to 55,691 at the end of 

 the year. President Smith revealed. Since 

 1927 the company has enjoyed a steady 

 increase in both the amount of business 

 written and total assets. Three types 

 of services offered by the company are: 

 complete automobile insurance, employers 

 liability insurance, and protection of 4-H 

 Club calves. 



A. E. Richardson, manager of the com- 

 pany, showed graphically how each pre- 

 mium dollar is spent. The major portion, 

 65.1 cents, goes back to policyholders to 

 meet losses or as dividends. Last year 

 59.3 cents went to cover losses incurred 

 by policyholders; 5.8 cents were returned 

 as dividends; 12.6 cents were saved as 

 surplus; 9.3 cents paid for administrative 

 services; investigation and adjustment in- 

 cluding legal services took 11.5 cents of 

 the premium dollar; corporate manage- 

 ment cost only .7 cents of the total in- 

 come of the company. Manager Richard- 

 son pointed out that this last charge is 

 extremely low when it is compared to 

 similar costs of other companies in the 

 same business which often run as high as 

 331/^% of their total income. The re- 



maining .8 cents was spent to pay per 

 diem expenses of the directors, and for 

 re-insurance. 



Summing up the total expenditure of 

 the premium dollar, Richardson con- 

 cluded that the Farm Bureau members 

 of Illinois pay only for the service they 

 receive. Premiums to the extent of $890,- 

 837.70 were paid into the company by 

 policyholders last year. Of this amount, 

 $527,882.13 were paid back to policy- 

 holders who suffered losses. 



L. C. Drake, superintendent of the 

 company's claims department, reported an 

 increase in the number of claims handled 

 during the year. Higher farm income 

 was given as the main reason for this in- 

 crease. Farm folks are buying more cars, 

 taking out more policies, and travelling 

 more and farther, Drake pointed out. 

 With 17,971 claims filed during the year, 

 the total loss experience of the company 

 remains at a satisfactory level. Thirty- 

 four per cent of the policy holders filed 

 claims in '36 compared with 13.9% the 

 first year of the Company. 



C. M. Seagraves, director of the I. A. A. 

 department of safety, told the policy- 

 holders that 66 per cent of the cars tested 

 in the state during the year by the I. A. A. 

 Safety Lane equipment were found to be 

 in an unsafe driving condition. He said 

 that 83 percent of the cars rejected did 

 not have adequate brakes. 



"It behooves the policyholders to co- 

 operate in controlling the volume and ex- 

 tent of accidents, as premiums of insur- 

 ance are in the long run determined by 

 the loss experience of the company," 

 Mr. Smith said. 



In the discussion which followed the 

 business meeting there were several re- 

 quests for personal accident policies. 

 When Donald Kirkpatrick, secretary of 

 the management board showed that it is 

 impossible to offer satisfactory policies of 

 this type for less than $20 annually, the 

 group voted to postpone consideration. 



Less than 7 percent of the farmers 



of Maine and Massachusetts are tenants. 

 The highest percentages are found in 

 the South, with about 70 percent of the 

 farmers of Mississippi classed as ten- 

 ants. Cornbelt states such as Iowa, 

 Illinois and Nebraska, have a higher 

 than average percentage of farm ten- 

 ants. I ■ ' 



L A. A. RECORD 



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