I 
42 
American Agriculturist, January 2t!^1923 
At the Crossways of the World 
Broadcasting Thrift and Health 
By JOHN W. HARRINGTON 
HERE all the world may meet is the busiest 
crossing on this continent. It is the heart of a 
eat city, this junction of the streams of tralRc, 
where a tower flashes colored fires and streams 
of vehicles pause or move at the note of the 
police-whistle. The patient and impatient, 
the idle and the busy, all halt at the curb 
at signal, eager to be on their way again; 
for if they did not hurry to make room 
for more there would be no space 
for anyone to pass at Fifth Ave¬ 
nue and Forty-second 
A Crowded 
City’s Most 
Crowded 
Crossing 
Street. It must have 
been that two men, who 
stood silent in the 
crowd, saw a vision, 
for they did not move nor stir for 
a moment; although the signal to 
let go the sluice-gates of travel 
had been sounded. 
“You are right, Kent,” said the 
older of the two. “It is ours. Of 
TwoBanUr, ^ourse, I know, as well 
View Their everybody else does. 
Building action, all 
" that advertising, had to 
come from a definite place, and now 
I recognize it by the pictures.” 
“I had almost forgotten that our 
Insurance Company had moved,” 
rejoined Wilson, of Wyoming. 
“That was five years ago. What 
a wonderful site for such a Com¬ 
pany! It could not have just hap¬ 
pened; it must have been by de¬ 
sign. Why, man, here is a regular 
broadcasting station, sending wave 
after wave of ‘Safety and Service’ 
to all America ! A matchless adver¬ 
tisement, itself generating adver- 
Reaching the reaching a whole 
A Place 
Where the 
Public Feels 
at Home 
People 
by Business 
Radio 
Postal Life Building 
Awarded Gold Medal by 
Committee of Architects 
approved by the Fifth 
Avenue Association. 
people.” 
“It does that,” com¬ 
mented Kent. “In this 
wireless age, what less 
could be expected, and what is bet¬ 
ter than agentless policies avail¬ 
able to everyone?” 
That was how the memorable 
visit of Kent of Keokuk, and Wil¬ 
son of Wyoming, who had gone 
to New York as delegates to the 
Bankers’ Convention, brought them 
right to the very doors of the Com¬ 
pany into whose keeping they had 
given the protection of their fam¬ 
ilies—the Postal Life Insurance 
Company. 
“What better location for adver¬ 
tising and selling insurance than 
right here?” proudly remarked 
Wilson. “Here is all mankind in 
endless procession, reminding one 
that there is no time 
like the present'. With 
banks and trust com¬ 
panies and two great 
railroad stations as 
neighbors, our Company has placed 
itself at a center where it can 
easily reach out in eyery direction 
A Location 
Which 
Exemplifies 
Publicity 
with its messages. All roads lead 
to it, for the mail pouch is a uni-' 
verse in itself.” 
They had entered the building. 
“I think, now that we are here,” 
said Wilson, “it would be a fine 
thing just to take a look around. 
We may find some one who can 
spare us a little time and show us 
through headquarters. What do 
you say?” 
Whatever Mr. Jason Kent may have 
had in his mind to say, it vanished ; for 
at that moment an attendant had asked : 
“Do you wish to see the President?” “If 
he is not too busy," answered Wilson, “al¬ 
though I am sure he would hardly know 
us, considering that we 
came in by the mail route.” 
“Most of us do,” rejoined a 
smiling person who had 
stopped for a moment to 
glean some of the new liter¬ 
ature from the ever-ready 
rack. "There are a good many residents 
of New York who come to get their 
policies over the counter ; but, all the 
same, we are all converts of printer's 
ink—not captives of the zealous agent.” 
Did you ever see, in one and the same 
enclosure, the office of the President and 
the conference room of the Board of Di¬ 
rectors? That's an innovation. And it 
shows just how ciosely everybody co¬ 
operates in the management of the Postal 
Life Insurance Company. If the walls 
had tongues with which to speak, they 
would not have needed them, for every¬ 
where were the eloquent signs of the 
ideal for which the Postai stands. A 
portrait of Lincoln and another of Roose¬ 
velt revealed the sound Americanism 
that is the basis of all public service. 
On the panel near a Fifth Avenue win¬ 
dow was an “Address to the Flag,” and 
from another angle could be seen the 
benign and dignified face of John Mar¬ 
shall, once Chief Justice of the United 
States, the very epitome of the law that 
guides every operation of the busy or¬ 
ganization conserving the welfare and the 
future of so many thousands of Americans. 
The President, who had just concluded 
a conference, came forward to greet the 
visitors. 
“You don't see many of ns at our face 
value,” laughed Kent, “so we thought, if 
it did not take too much 
time, that we would just 
drop in and view the orig¬ 
inal home of our policies.” 
"It is a great pleasure, in¬ 
deed,” returned the Presi- 
ident, “to have the opportunity of seeing 
our policyholders face to face. And it is 
surprising, considering the fact that our 
business is conducted through correspond¬ 
ence and advertising in its various form.s, 
how many of our policyholders do us the 
honor of visiting us.” 
‘■'Now that we are here,” suggested Wil¬ 
son, “we might state that it is often won¬ 
dered at that you are able 
to reach so many people 
in the United States with¬ 
out personal solicitors.” 
“There’s no mystery about 
it,” was the reply. “Every 
man wishes to assure the future of his 
family. He also dreads to be the quarry 
of canvassers and agents. If the argu¬ 
ment for taking out a policy can be pre¬ 
sented to him when he is in the mood to 
receive it—say through the pages of his 
favorite magazine or newspaper—and the 
terms are within his means, there is no 
real difficulty to overcome. It is a mat¬ 
ter of plain, every-day common sense. 
There i.s nothing more expensive than 
forcing the average American to take 
even what he thinks he ought to have 
Policyhold¬ 
ers’ Home 
Office 
President 
Greets 
Policyholders 
The 
Postal Life 
Way 
at a time when he does not feel inclined 
to take it.” 
“You issue a great deal of direct ad¬ 
vertising literature,” remarked Wilson. 
“We send that when the interest of 
the inquirer has been aroused. Having 
once written the Company, he always 
has some kind of an interest ; and we 
keep on sending suitable literature, if 
we feel that something has interfered 
with ,his giving the matter the needed 
attention. When his application has 
been received, the balance of our task 
is routine. Like you, he has become 
one of us by that time. 
The details welcoming him 
into the Postal family soon 
follow, as you will soon 
see by making an inspec¬ 
tion of what we call the 
Home Office. In a true sense, it is the 
home of the policyholders, whether they 
are. present with us, as you are, or are 
here by proxy in the flies.” 
Through well-lighted, thoroughly ven¬ 
tilated rooms, the visitors made their 
way, as they followed the orderly course 
toward the division of policy-issues. Cor¬ 
respondence experts with their assistants 
ranged in long lines were seen answering 
the inquiries of men and women from 
all parts of the country asking for par¬ 
ticular information after they had read 
an advertising announcement. Many 
had sent the amount' of their first pre¬ 
miums. The reports of examining phy¬ 
sicians were in hand. The applications 
' " pass to the Medical De- 
An Institution Partment, where they are 
U7I.:.L I— J: carefully scrutinized. Here 
Which Irradi- jy department which ir- 
ates Health radiates health, for it 
sends out periodical bul¬ 
letins of practical-advice to policyholders, 
for their guidance in keeping "tit.” 
And the visitors availed themselves of 
an annual privilege of every policyholder 
-—that of being ''examined” by the Com¬ 
pany. They passed the medical muster 
with colors flying, as they were bound to 
do : for had they not had the advantage 
of sound counsel for years, as to the 
guarding of their health? 
One of- the features of Postal Life 
management is the despatch with which 
an inquiry about a policy is answered. The 
promptness with which all claims are met 
is known in every part of th? country. 
“It only takes a look through your 
tiling and distributing departments,” 
commented Wilson, “to be impressed 
with the Importance with 
which the facilities for 
transacting business quick¬ 
ly are regarded. I have 
never seen such efficient handling of 
business anywhere.” Sometimes' with 
watch in hand he was making himself 
sure that there was no lost motion in 
the progress or movement of the work. 
The experiments were most convincing. 
The methods by which a well-geared ma¬ 
chine functions are interesting to every¬ 
body, hut especially so when the beholder 
is personally interested in the net result. 
Conservation is the keynote of the ad¬ 
ministration of the Postal Life. It says 
it '‘enforces economics." It is evident 
that, in every detail of the management. 
. ^ . , it remembers that the 
A National money in its keeping is 
Institution in trust for the benefit of 
all who are on the books. 
As at any time the examiners of the 
State Insurance Department are likely 
to make a visit, there is the extra in¬ 
centive to keep the business of the Com¬ 
pany in order, up to date, and showing 
evidences of Postal economy. 
The experience of I he two policy¬ 
holders from the West on that autumn 
day not long ago confirms the impression 
so many have gained : that the Postal 
Life Insurance Company is an institution 
looming large in the life of the Nation.' 
Business 
Efficiency 
Safety, Saving, Service are its Watchwords 
To find out what you can save call at the Company’s Office, send in the Coupon, or simply 
write and say: 
‘ 'Mail me Official insurance-informatimi as mentioned in The American Agriculturist for Jan. 20th.’* 
In your letter he sure to give 
1. Your Full Name. 2. Your Occupation. 3. The Exact Date of your Birth. 
No agent will be sent to visit you. The Postal, as stated, has no agents and the resultant com¬ 
mission savings go to you, because you deal direct. Its insurance in force is $43,000,000; Assets, 
$10,000,000; Annual, Income, $2,000,000. 
Postal Life Insurance Company 
Wm. R. Malone, President 
511 Fifth Avenue (Cor. 43rcl St.), New York, N. Y. 
Am. Ag. 1-2U.'23 
Postal Life Insurance Company 
511 Fifth Avenue, New.York 
Witliout obligating me, plea.se .send ful 
insurance-particulars for my age. 
Name -- 
Addres.s- 
Occupation- 
Exact date of birth 
L... 
