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Article GENERAL ASSUEANCE ADVOCATE. ← Page 5 of 6 →
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General Assueance Advocate.
We do not mean to contend that all other conditions being alike , years of distress would necessarily be years of improvement in Assurance business ; such a conclusion appears to us to be illogical , because it would be in effect saying , that provision for the future will be greatest , when the means of making that provision are at the lowest ebb ; but still there is the startling fact before our eyes , forbidding doubt or denial , and we
know that it must have a logical cause . That cause appears to us to be the difference in the conditions of Assurance itself . It must be recollected , that in the past year greater efforts than at any previous time have been made to extend a knowledge of the principles and powers of Assurance , and that its practice has heen rendered more equitable and advantageous , and its attractions placed in a fairer light towards the
public ; and that men , thinking men , by the very failing of those springs from which they expected to draw a provision for themselves and their families , have been rendered more accessible to considerations of a wise and prudent forethought , and by this accumulation of causes have heen led to recognize and act upon a moral duty , which they owe to society , of providing immediately and securely for the comfort of their families .
We hold , that if Assurance had remained what it has too long been , merely a commercial speculation for the benefit of the capitalists engaged in it , that these conditions would not have existed , and that 1848 would
if it had not witnessed a great decrease in Assurance , at least have furnished no evidence of its extension ; and we are encouraged to hope that men ' s eyes being once opened , a return of commercial prosperity , an extension of the means of the assuring classes will lead to a great and permanent extension of Assurance itself , that all , both masters and employed , will provide for their families , to the utmost extent of their
means , and that the business of Assurance offices will be as unfailing a test of prosperity , as the returns of the national revenue . While the new offices may find in all this abundant matter for self-gratulation , we cannot sympathize with the happiness of their seniors , that they have maintained their position . They arrogate to themselves the superiority of age . Do they not know that per se age is a disadvantage ? . Are they
not aware that all things have at their birth the seeds of decay ? That youth is more vigorous than age , which hut barely compensates for its loss of freshness and primeval strength by greater knowledge ? Are they not aware that the most valuable attribute of age is experience , and that when Time does not bring that , it takes away all ? And if they know this , if they have acquired knowledge and experience , do not those
qualities teach them , that not to gain , when all around are gaining , is to lose ? That to stay behind , when all others are advancing , is relatively to fall back ? If not , then their time has been sadly misused . They may depend upon it , that those benefits which have attracted men in
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
General Assueance Advocate.
We do not mean to contend that all other conditions being alike , years of distress would necessarily be years of improvement in Assurance business ; such a conclusion appears to us to be illogical , because it would be in effect saying , that provision for the future will be greatest , when the means of making that provision are at the lowest ebb ; but still there is the startling fact before our eyes , forbidding doubt or denial , and we
know that it must have a logical cause . That cause appears to us to be the difference in the conditions of Assurance itself . It must be recollected , that in the past year greater efforts than at any previous time have been made to extend a knowledge of the principles and powers of Assurance , and that its practice has heen rendered more equitable and advantageous , and its attractions placed in a fairer light towards the
public ; and that men , thinking men , by the very failing of those springs from which they expected to draw a provision for themselves and their families , have been rendered more accessible to considerations of a wise and prudent forethought , and by this accumulation of causes have heen led to recognize and act upon a moral duty , which they owe to society , of providing immediately and securely for the comfort of their families .
We hold , that if Assurance had remained what it has too long been , merely a commercial speculation for the benefit of the capitalists engaged in it , that these conditions would not have existed , and that 1848 would
if it had not witnessed a great decrease in Assurance , at least have furnished no evidence of its extension ; and we are encouraged to hope that men ' s eyes being once opened , a return of commercial prosperity , an extension of the means of the assuring classes will lead to a great and permanent extension of Assurance itself , that all , both masters and employed , will provide for their families , to the utmost extent of their
means , and that the business of Assurance offices will be as unfailing a test of prosperity , as the returns of the national revenue . While the new offices may find in all this abundant matter for self-gratulation , we cannot sympathize with the happiness of their seniors , that they have maintained their position . They arrogate to themselves the superiority of age . Do they not know that per se age is a disadvantage ? . Are they
not aware that all things have at their birth the seeds of decay ? That youth is more vigorous than age , which hut barely compensates for its loss of freshness and primeval strength by greater knowledge ? Are they not aware that the most valuable attribute of age is experience , and that when Time does not bring that , it takes away all ? And if they know this , if they have acquired knowledge and experience , do not those
qualities teach them , that not to gain , when all around are gaining , is to lose ? That to stay behind , when all others are advancing , is relatively to fall back ? If not , then their time has been sadly misused . They may depend upon it , that those benefits which have attracted men in