Continued from page 9

jectiye. You invited comparisons with dollar values offered by other companies. You got yourselves into selling habits which haye little effectiveness when the Company's net cost position is relatively unfavorable. Please understand, I am not criticiz-

ing   I would haye done the same
things myself.

However. it seems to me that the net result of these years of stress and difficult. is on the right side of the ledger: the profit and loss account is in black rather than in red. Much of our poorly sold or improperly sold business has gone off the books, and the unsoundness of the sales methods which put that business on the books is recognized. Our competitive position today- as far as net cost is concerned, makes it necessary to sell life insurance for what it will do rather than for what it will cost. The Mutual Benefit must be sold for the kind and quality of service which it renders its policyholders. This is all to the good. As far as I am concerned. I hope the Mutual Benefit will never he the lowest net cost company.

The wisdom of the Company's attitude and action during the years of special stress is now becoming crystal clear. The very conservatism which you criticized some years ago is now working out to your benefit. because the Company has avoided many of the ills which beset other companies today. Is there any agent here who wishes that the Mutual Benefit had adopted the standard disability plan which is today costing companies millions of dollars? Is there any agent here who wishes that the Company had maintained a competitiye position all along on annuity contracts? \V 'hat thinking agent isn't proud of the fact that the Mutual Benefit today hasn't a contract on its books which guarantees more than a 3~ rate? Our Company stands practically alone in this position.

There are many other factors, of course. which go to make up the Company's present favorable situation. These are to be discussed later

by others, more competent than I to present them.

I just want to say that, insofar as I can judge the situation, the good old Mutual Benefit. by sticking to her course and refusing to follow the crowd, or engage in various attractive but doubtful dissipations, has kept her health, her good constitution, and her moral fiber, and is in an extremely favorable condition to outdistance her competitors—who are likely to suffer from a protracted morning-after headache.

Equally important with the Company's favorable position, is the presence of a loyal, veteran sales force, tested and proved by the trials and difficulties of the last six years. ( I just wonder if you know that the average length of service of the men in this room who have been with the Company more than a year, is something over thirteen years.) You have refused to be led astray, you have continued to believe in the Company even while you damned it at times for its short-comings. I honestly believe you are going to receive

your reward   a rich reward. and a

thoroughly deserved reward   in a
decade of progress—of good husi-

ness   which is coming as a result of
the fact that you and the Company have ridden out the storm together and are stronger than ever before.

I consider myself particularly fortunate to have come into the picture at this juncture, when all faces are set forward, when all the signs indicate better sailing ahead. I said in the beginning that I intended to dedicate myself to the objectives which have already been laid down by the Agency Department. but I want to. go farther and give you some idea of my personal attitude toward you, your problems, and your welfare.

The Mutual Benefit has always been, and prided itself on being, a Policyholders' Company. That is fine. I hope the Company will al-ways live up to that ideal. But I propose an ideal which I consider equally important and not inconsistent with it. I propose that the Mutual Benefit shall become equally well known as an Agents' Company,

and I propose to organize the activities of the Agency Department with that ideal in mind. This is merely the formulation of a principle which I find already in practice in the Company. I have already discovered that the personal success and welfare of each individual connected with the Company is a point of first concern in any problem which comes up for discussion. So it is not difficult to promise you that the first concern of the Agency Department is going to be the success and happiness of every agent who is devoting full-time to the service of the Company.

The Agency Department proposes, as time goes along, to have only well-qualified, successful agents within its ranks. We hope to see the time come when there will be no full-time Mutual Benefit agent, with more than a year of service, who is not making a good living. We propose to promote such training and supervision as will give our field men a good chance at success, but we also propose to bring about the prompt elimination of those who, after sufficient trial. prove that they can not hope to be creditable representatives of the Company.

When I say that the Agency Department, in fact the entire Home Office. is going to be deeply concerned with your success. I can see some of you old-timers sitting back and saying, "That's a lot of hooey. At least, we are going to wait until we see some concrete evidence—something practical and useful. Give us some proof."

I am glad to answer that challenge. I will be direct and concrete. When I reached the Home Office on March 16, I found that this attitude which I have just announced. was al-ready at work. An Agents' Commit-tee had been appointed to run this convention. It was to be a convention of agents, by agents, and for agents. The Convention Committee had been in session with Officers of the Company, had urged certain things, and had received a favorable response. Stepping into this atmosphere, and taking my cue from what had transpired, I went to work with the Committee and Company Offi-

12   THE PELICAN