Am'M°ay^905arm'}  Tke  Importance  of  Insurance,  231 
so  much  to  the  point  and  so  logical  and  forcible  that  I  cannot  refrain 
from  quoting  part  of  it  here : 
"  Want  soon  destroys  the  innocence  of  children,  the  chastity  of 
women,  the  honesty,  loyalty  and  self-respect  of  men.  Its  victims 
become  worse  than  savages.  The  history  of  every  community 
shows  that  the  vicious  and  criminal  come  chiefly  from  families  left 
unprovided  for  before  they  were  capable  of  self-support.  The  poor 
widow  has  to  struggle  for  her  children's  bread.  She  cannot  train 
or  educate  them.  So  they  are  likely  to  become  the  prey  of  chance, 
which  is  usually  evil.  While  this  country  abounds  in  employment 
and  opportunities  which  are  open  to  all,  yet  nearly  all  our  people 
are  dependent  on  their  personal  efforts  from  day  to  day  .  . 
The  small  number  who  possess  the  ability  to  gain  a  competence 
must  have  the  time,  and  this  may  be  cut  short.  And  what  are  those 
who  manage  to  lay  something  by  from  their  savings  going  to  do  ? 
There  is  a  visionary  or  a  rogue  after  every  dollar,  and  if  those  are 
escaped  it  is  hard  to  invest  small  amounts  so  as  to  make  them  both 
safe  and  productive.  The  purchase  of  life  insurance  furnishes  the 
solution  of  the  problem,  and  thus  far  the  only  satisfactory  one.  No 
one  for  whom  insurance  is  possible  has  now  any  excuse  for  neglect- 
ing to  secure  it,  when  his  life  is  a  risk  to  others.  If  one  does  neglect 
it,  when  that  is  the  only  means  of  covering  the  risk,  what  Paul 
wrote  to  Timothy  may  well  be  applied  to  him:  «  But  if  any  provide 
not  for  his  own,  and  especially  "or  those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath 
denied  the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel.'  "  The  above  is  the 
observation  and  comment  of  a  keen  observer,  who  is  a  student  of 
the  economic  and  sociologic  conditions  of  the  past  and  present. 
After  you  have  been  in  business  long  enough  to  learn  whether 
.  your  location  is  satisfactory  or  not,  and  you  feel  that  you  would  like 
to  remain  permanently  where  you  are,  the  best  investment  you  could 
make,  outside  of  life  insurance,  would  be  to  purchase  the  property 
you  occupy  for  yourself  and  family,  providing  you  can  buy  it  at  a 
fair  price  and  on  satisfactory  terms. 
I  will  also  call  attention  to  another  very  substantial  opportunity 
for  investment,  which  I  understand  yields  a  good  interest  and  has 
some  other  incidental  advantages  attending  it,  to  those  whose  savings 
are  small,  namely,  "the  various  building  and  loan  associations." 
They  are  handy  and  convenient  for  the  small  investor  and  they  are 
generally  considered  safe,  if  well  managed.    Occasionally  we  hear 
