GIFT or Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/fiftyyearsprovidOOashbrich FIFTY YEARS The Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia 1865-1915 SAMUEL R. SHIPLEY FIFTY YEARS The Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia 1865-1915 by William S. Ashbrook PHILADELPHIA 1915 The Holmes Press philadelphia 0^ Sit •••;:••...; Table of Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. The Formation of the Company: Its Founders and Early Officers 11 II. The First Twenty Years 20 III. The Struggle Against Deferred Dividends . . 34 IV. The Present Organization of the Office ... 44 V. The Agency Organization 58 VI. The Past Decade 65 33931G Illustrations Samuel R. Shipley . Fron tispiece OPPOSITE PAGE Thomas Evans .... 12 William C. Longstreth 14 Joseph Ashbrook .... 16 Rowland Parry 18 Dr. Thomas Wistar 20 Joseph B. Townsend . 22 Office for Organization 24 Second Office. 24 Third Office .... 24 Facsimile of Check No. 1 26 Facsimile of First Policy issued by The Provident 28 Fourth Office, Company Building 30 Henry Haines .... 32 Richard Cadbury 32 Richard Wood .... 32 Joshua H. Morris 32 Charles F. Coffin .... 34 Jeremiah Hacker 34 William Hacker .... 34 Francis T. King 34 Murray Shipley .... 36 Charles Hartshorne 36 John B. Garrett .... 36 Philip C. Garrett 36 William Gummere 38 Benjamin V. Marsh 38 Frederic Collins .... 38 J. Morton Albertson 38 Israel Morris .... 40 James V. Watson 40 Justus C. Strawbridge 40 Frederic H. Strawbridge 40 OPPOSITE PAGE William Longstreth Edward H. Ogden Thomas Scattergood J. Preston Thomas Marriott C. Morris Frank H. Taylor John T. Emlen . Morris R. Bockius Henry H. Collins Charles H. Harding J. Whitall Nicholson Parker S. Williams Robert M. Janney John B. Morgan Joseph B. Townsend, Jr. Levi L. Rue . George Wood Samuel Dickson ..... Agents' Meeting in Philadelphia, in 1883 First Meeting of General Agents' Association, 1912 The Philadelphia Agency in 1913 Present Provident Building .... Present Vaults of Company Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking South. Present Appearance Present Directors' Room .... Fireproof Building for Storage of Records Northwest Corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets prior to 1890 Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking North, about 1880 Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking South, about 1880 . Boston Office in 1876 ..... Northwest Corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets in 1821 North Side of Chestnut Street West of Fourth in 1851 "Franklin at Home" .... "The Young Franklin" .... Meeting House and School in Fourth Street Preface The task which has been laid upon me, and which I have felt it an honor to undertake, has been to prepare a simple and untechnical narrative of the history of the Company which, for those of its friends who were familiar with its earlier days, might freshen their own recollection, and for those whose acquaintance with it has been more recent, might link the past with the pres- ent in a clearer understanding of how worthily the Company has fulfilled the expectation of its founders. William S. Ashbrook. Philadelphia, Eleventh month 10th, 1915. CHAPTER I THE FORMATION OF THE COMPANY: ITS FOUNDERS AND EARLY OFFICERS THE Provident Life and Trust Company of Phila- delphia had its origin in the minds of several Phil- adelphians, members of the Society of Friends, who, while traveling in England, had been attracted by the success of the Friends' Provident Institution of Bradford. This institution, established in 1832, had confined its operations to insurance on the lives of birthright Friends, and had experienced a surprisingly low mortality, owing to the exceptional longevity among members of that Society. From letters from T. Wistar Brown, John E. Carter and Anthony W. Kimber, we learn that a num- ber of men who had been associated together in other benevolent causes, were invited to meet early in 1865 at the house of Thomas Evans, on Arch Street near Eighth, in Philadelphia, to establish, for the benefit of American Friends, a company on the Mutual plan somewhat similar to the Friends' Provident Institution of Bradford. A committee was appointed to investi- gate the legal aspects of the proposed movement, to arrange details, and to propose to a future meeting such steps as might be necessary to carry into effect the [ii] FIFTY YEARS general conclusions of the conference. This committee discovered that if the company were to extend its oper- ations beyond the borders of the State of Pennsylvania, the laws of several states necessitated a capital stock, and it recommended that a joint stock company should be incorporated, substantially on the basis of the present charter of The Provident Life and Trust Company. This recommendation was adopted, and the company incorporated, Third month 22nd, 1865. The charter, in addition to the authority to insure lives, conferred authority to act as executor, adminis- trator, guardian, etc.: that is, to transact what is known in Philadelphia as the trust business. The duties arising from this branch of the business are of such a delicate and sacred character that only a com- pany managed with the highest skill and integrity could hope to command public confidence. The rela- tions of the two departments of the business were fixed by the provisions of the charter, with some early amendments. It was provided that the entire surplus in the insurance department was to accumulate for the benefit of the policyholders, so that the only advantage, direct or indirect, which the stockholders could at any time have from the union of the two features of the business, would result from the fact that the manage- ment of the trust business, from which they derived their profit, would be done for them without charge. Experience has shown that the additional cost of conducting the trust business jointly with life insurance [12] THOMAS EVANS FIFTY YEARS has been an inconsiderable extra charge, viewed in connection with the advantages secured, nor has it had the effect of increasing the Company's general rate of expense. On the contrary, the Provident is conceded to be one of the most economically managed companies in the country. At a meeting of the stockholders, held Sixth month 28th, 1865, Samuel R. Shipley, T. Wistar Brown, Henry Haines, Richard Cadbury, Richard Wood, Joshua H. Morris, William C. Longstreth, Charles F. Coffin and Jeremiah Hacker were elected Directors, and the Board thus constituted proceeded to elect Samuel R. Shipley President. The new company was to be singularly fortunate both in its Directors and in its first President. The Friends who composed the Board were known not only for their high sense of the fiduciary responsibility which they were assuming, but also for their sagacity and wisdom in affairs, and for their enlightened view of what constituted fair dealing. Well known to one another personally, and striving harmoniously for the success of their new undertaking, they gave to it a service which was as generous as it was painstaking and conscientious. Their presence upon the Board was an earnest of their best endeavor that the new enterprise should reflect their own views of probity and integrity. Samuel R. Shipley, whom they had selected as President, was to show to a rare degree a faculty which always marks a great executive. He knew how to [13] FIFTY YEARS choose for his lieutenants men upon whom he could devolve a freedom of action which called forth their best efforts, while he retained in his own hands an over- sight which guided with a sagacious prevision of the future but did not hamper in matters of detail. Attrac- tive in person and winning in manner, he inspired an affection which was as real as the confidence felt in his ability. When, forty years later, owing to ill health, he was retiring from the Presidency, and his associates on the Board were reviewing his service to the Com- pany, they noted that "his subtle sense of a situation, his resourcefulness, his courage, his exactness, his quickness, his attractive affa- bility, had largely accounted for the prosperity of The Provident Life and Trust Company." His reputation as a financier was not confined to Phila- delphia but was wide-spread. The first office of the Company was in a basement at No. 247 South Third Street, but Tenth month 1st, 1865, the building at No. Ill South Fourth Street was leased, which had previously been occupied by The Press. The first investment of the capital authorized was in United States Government 5-20's. Rowland Parry was elected Actuary, Seventh month 18th, 1865. His mathematical attainments enabled him at the age of fifty-nine to acquire readily the knowledge required for the performance of his duty. Modest and unob- trusive, his high standard of conduct and his honorable character, joined to his delightful personal qualities [14] WILLIAM C. LONGSTRETH Director, elected 1865. Died 1881 Vice President, 1867 to 1881 FIFTY YEARS and his real ability, won the warm attachment of all who came in contact with him. He retired in 1882 and died Eighth month 21st, 1890, at the ripe age of eighty-four. Dr. Thomas Wistar was elected Examining Physi- cian, Seventh month 18th, 1865. He was to serve the Company actively until 1904, when he became Chief Medical Examiner Emeritus. He died in 1913. The Provident had been founded to secure to Friends and "others of like careful habits" the lower cost of insur- ance attaching to their superior longevity. It is true that the agents of the Company, themselves carefully chosen, were called upon to exercise some degree of preliminary selection, but this in no sense militates against the truly remarkable success of Dr. Wistar as an examiner. He had a soundness of judgment, a spe- cialized common sense, a freedom from prejudice which prevented unnecessary rejection, while keeping the Company's mortality so low as to make it favorably commented upon all over the world. Joseph Ashbrook became General Agent in Sixth month, 1866, and shortly after, Superintendent of Agencies. In 1881 he was elected Manager of the Insurance Department, and in 1906, Vice President. He retired in 1911 to become Insurance Advisor to the Company. His grasp upon the essentials of good agency management was exceptional and noteworthy. From the start, an exceedingly high standard for agents was inaugurated by him. Only men of ability and [15] FIFTY YEARS character as well as energy were permitted to represent the Company, and they were carefully instructed and trained by him in the business. They were imbued with a sense of the professional nature of their calling, namely, that they were not only responsible to the Company for the character of the risks which they presented to the Company, but also responsible to their clients for the character of the service which they rendered these clients. They were encouraged to can- vass each case intelligently, in the effort to fit the policy to the real needs of the insurer. The agents had in the first instance satisfied them- selves as to the character of the Provident. They had confidence in its management, and approved of the prudence and skill which subordinated a too rapid growth to security and a low cost of insurance. They converted their clients not only to a belief in life insur- ance but also to a belief in the Provident. During the dark years between 1873 and 1879, when the total of life insurance in force as reported to the New York Department dropped from $2,086,000,000 to $1,440,- 000,000, the business of no other company showed so great a stability. During this period, the record of the Provident was unique in the steadiness of its growth. William C. Longstreth was elected Vice President, Sixth month 3rd, 1867. From its organization, he had given the Provident, as a Director, the benefit of his experience, which had been large and varied, espe- [16] JOSEPH ASHBROOK Superintendent of Agencies, 1866 Manager of Insurance Department, 1881 Vice President and Director, 1906. Insurance Advisor, 1911 FIFTY YEARS daily in connection with railroads. His diligence in the performance of his duty and his affability in its exercise contributed largely to the success of the Com- pany until his death, fourteen years later. The Company had also been fortunate in its Legal Adviser, Joseph B. Townsend, of whom at the time of his death, in 1896, the Board was to say: "For more than thirty years he had been the constant friend of the Company. His wise counsel and steady interest in its affairs contributed greatly to its success." In 1865, the Provident had applied for permission to do business in Massachusetts. No other Pennsyl- vania life insurance company had yet been admitted to do business in that state, and "the fact of so young a company's taking the initiative, and submitting itself to the official scrutiny of a depart- ment conceded to be so severe in its requirements, gave the Provident an immediate footing in the best insur- ance circles everywhere." On Seventh month 15th, 1868, the Provident was ad- mitted to New York, being here, too, the earliest among Pennsylvania life companies ; it was not until 1869 that it was joined by one other. In 1871, the capital of the Company was increased from $150,000 to $500,000. On First month 1st, 1873, the Company moved into its new iron-front building at No. 108 South Fourth Street, three stories high, with a front of 44 feet and a depth of 64 feet, Addison Hutton being the architect. [17] FIFTY YEARS On Fourth month 7th, 1873, Asa S. Wing, who had been connected with the Company since Third month 16th, 1867, was elected Assistant Actuary. Upon the death of William C. Longstreth, he became Vice Presi- dent, Fifth month 9th, 1881, continuing with the Vice Presidency the office of Actuary, vacated somewhat later by the retirement of Rowland Parry, and in 1906, when Samuel R. Shipley declined a re-election, he was elected President. It was a peculiarity of the organization of the Com- pany that it did not have a Secretary or Treasurer until 1899. In the Provident, the duties of the Actuary com- prised not only the onerous task of computing premium rates, calculating dividends and valuing policies, but, in addition, the exceedingly delicate duty of passing upon all assignments and of settling all claims; and it also included the responsibility for all the accounting of the Company and for its statements, for the safe- keeping of its securities, and for the receipt and pay- ment of all monies. It was in this Spartan school that the present executive of the Provident received a many- sided training which was invaluable both to him and to the Company, since it afforded him an intimate and first-hand acquaintance with details, while at the same time it gave him a comprehensive grasp of the general policy of the Company. It has frequently been remarked of Asa S. Wing that he possessed to an unusual degree the faculty of instantaneous concentration upon each new problem [18] ROWLAND PARRY Actuary from 1865 to 1882 FIFTY YEARS that confronted him, and then of turning his mind with immediate detachment as a search-light upon the next question presented, constantly guided by a scru- pulous sense of his responsibility. Succeeding a president who had, so to speak, cre- ated the Company, President Wing has been judged by an exceptionally high standard of achievement, but has given abundant proof of his ability to keep the Company true to the principles of the founders, while alert to apply these principles to new and changed conditions, and thus to maintain continuously the vig- orous growth of the Company. [19] CHAPTER II THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS But to return to the earlier days. The first Finance Committee, composed of Joshua H. Morris (soon to be succeeded by William C. Longstreth), Richard Wood and T. Wistar Brown, was elected Seventh month 18th, 1865; and on Seventh month 24th, an Insurance Com- mittee composed of Richard Cadbury, Henry Haines and William C. Longstreth recommended forms and tables and a provision that the "profits" of the life insurance branch should inure to the benefit of the policyholders, less the expenses of the corporation. The first mention in the Minutes of an agency force is on Eighth month 14th, when the President reported the employment of Eusebius Townsend as Agent for West Chester, Pa., and of Caleb W. Kimber for Phil- adelphia. On Tenth month 9th, 1865, there is a report of "the engagement on trial of Joseph R. Smith as City Canvasser," and a month later that he had given up the position "for physical disability after a trial of one and a half weeks." The economy of those early days is seen in "the purchase on very favorable terms from the North American Transit Insurance Company of the desks and office furniture required for the new office at 111 South Fourth Street." It was in this new [20] DR. THOMAS WISTAR Chief Medical Examiner, 1865-1904 Emeritus, 1904-1913 FIFTY YEARS office that the first annual meeting of the Stockholders took place, First month 2nd, 1866, with Jeremiah Hacker in the chair, when they learned that seventy policies had been issued, insuring $324,000, involving premiums of $1 1,220.73, and that the deposits amounted to $78,109.69. The first dividend of three per cent, on the capital stock was declared Sixth month 4th, 1866. Elizur Wright, the eminent Actuary of Boston, was called in for consultation in Eighth month, and later in the year, an arrangement was entered into at fifty dollars per annum with the Fidelity Insurance and Safe De- posit Company, for safe-keeping the chest containing the securities of the Company, which had previously been kept in the vault of the Central National Bank through the courtesy of its officers. The General State- ment of First month 1st, 1867, showed insurance in force of $1,658,400, premium income of $82,531.70 and death losses of $13,000. The deposits had risen to $246,792.82. The issuance of policies on the premium note plan was abandoned Sixth month 25th, 1867, and on Eighth month 5th, the premiums on limited payment life and endowment policies were reduced. At the same time it was decided to commence to pay dividends, Seventh month 1st, 1869, on all policies on which two or more annual premiums had been paid, applicable to the next annual premium and annually thereafter. The Statement of First month 1st, 1868, showed insur- ance in force of $4,027,250, insurance income of [21] FIFTY YEARS $139,574.80 and death losses of $16,500. The Presi- dent's Report contained the incisive explanation that "the cost of insurance depends solely on the selection of good lives, the economy with which the affairs are managed and the judicious investment of the funds accumulated," and went on to say: "We think it will be evident that these conditions are fulfilled in this Company." During the year, William C. Longstreth was given six months' leave of absence to travel in Europe, and Anthony W. Kimber was elected to serve as Vice President pro tern. It was decided that the dividends to policyholders should be paid upon the "contribution" plan. It is curious to note that for some months the meet- ings of the Board were held at seven o'clock in the evening "at such place as the President shall judge expedient," that of Twelfth month 14th, 1868, being held at the President's then residence, 1623 Filbert Street. For the computation of its first dividend, the policies were valued upon the American Table with 4j^% interest, and on Sixth month 4th, 1869, a divi- dend to policyholders of $28,364.02 was declared, which in the case of life policies approximated twenty- five per cent, of the annual premium. Reversionary additions were provided for on Eleventh month 8th, 1869, and at the following meeting of the Board, the amount which would be carried on one life was raised from ten to fifteen thousand dollars, with provision [22] JOSEPH B. TOWNSEND Counsel. Died 1896 . ' FIFTY YEARS for further increase to twenty thousand with the ap- proval of the Finance Committee. The policyholders' dividend which was declared on Sixth month 6th, 1870, was $51,689, as compared with $28,364.02 for the previous year. At the same time, it was resolved "that in accordance with the action of the special meeting of the Stockholders held on the 24th ult. at which it was agreed to increase the capi- tal stock to the amount of $500,000, books of subscrip- tion be opened in which each stockholder may subscribe for his pro rata share of the whole amount to be issued," and "that an instalment of $5 per share of the new stock shall be paid at the time of subscription, and that a further instalment of $10 per share shall be called for the first day of Eleventh month next." On Eleventh month 7th, 1870, it was resolved to take the necessary steps to enlarge the Board of Direct- ors to fifteen members. The Sixth Annual Report, dated First month 1st, 1871, cited upon the cover the following General Agencies : William Smedley Office of the Company Robert Lindley Murray No. 15 Broadway, New York David N. Holway No. 33 Arcade, Rochester, N. Y. Samuel L. Baily No. 13 E. State St., Trenton, N. J. Gilbert C. Hoag No. 33 Old State House, Boston Walter K. Halstead No. 134 W. Fourth St., Cincinnati with Joseph Ashbrook as Superintendent of Agencies [23] FIFTY YEARS Although Paris was in a state of siege when this report was written, it is interesting to note that no men- tion is made of the Franco-Prussian War, but "the general depression and decline in trade and manu- factures" is adverted to, and satisfaction is expressed that new insurances had increased and "our anticipa- tions in regard to the maintenance of the policies here- tofore issued have been more than realized." The total insurance in force had now reached $9,388,400, with insurance income of $503,902.43, and insurance assets of $1,158,939.25, inclusive of the capital stock of $500,000. On Tenth month 6th, 1873, it is reported in the Minutes that "the President made an oral statement of the position of the Company and how it had been affected during the recent financial troubles." This, of course, was the panic resulting from the Jay Cooke failure. One month later, provision was made for a valuation of the securities of the Company at market values as of Twelfth month 31st, and the charging off to interest account of any depreciation from cost price as hitherto listed, but this valuation showed that market values, so far as the Company's securities were con- cerned, differed so slightly from the cost prices at which they had been listed, that no change was necessary. The Annual Report stated that, although "the temper of the times has been adverse for several months past, and the year throughout has been far from prosperous with the general community, . . . policies for the sum [24] ' j 1 If • 'j 1 1 J 1 iypJR.ll Office for Organization 247 South Third Street Second Office, 1866 to 1872 111 South Fourth Street Third Office, 1873 to 1879 Company's Building, 108 South Fourth Street FIFTY YEARS of $4,582,726 have been written, making an increase of more than fifty per cent, over the business of any previous year; ... an omen of yet larger figures in the near future." Early in 1874, provision was made that "the Board of Directors shall go into Committee of the Whole at least once in each semi-annual period, when sub-com- mittees shall be appointed out of the members of the Board not serving as officers of the Company or as members of the Finance Committee, who shall care- fully investigate the securities belonging to the Insur- ance, Trust and Stock Departments, and report the result of their examination at the next stated meeting of the Board." Leave of absence for eight months was granted the President, who sailed for Europe in Eighth month. The full significance of the continuous growth of the Company cannot be fully appreciated without re- calling the nature of the period within which it took place. The Provident was incorporated eighteen days before Lee surrendered at Appomattox. It was unaf- fected by the "Black Friday" panic of Ninth month 24th, 1869, when the gold market was cornered and its price rose to 162*4, and by the greater panic of 1873 which was felt the more acutely in Philadelphia, since it was brought on by the failure of the Philadelphia firm of Jay Cooke & Co. The Provident had been in existence fourteen years when the United States Gov- ernment resumed specie payment in 1879. The dangers [25] FIFTY YEARS of the period, however, were not all inseparable from the general financial conditions. The public had no just conception of the nature of the life insur- ance business. No wholesome public sentiment had arisen in regard to it. The expansion of the business which occurred in the sixties was phenomenal, but it was attended with few of the safeguards which a later generation has come to regard as essential. In 1860, seventeen companies reported to the State of New York 56,046 policies insuring $163,703,455; in 1865, thirty companies reported 209,392 policies insuring $580,882,253. In 1873, the number of companies had risen to fifty-six, the number of policies to 817,081, and the amount in force to $2,086,027,178. What fol- lowed might well be termed an insurance panic, for in 1879, the companies reporting to the New York De- partment were only thirty-two in number, with 595,486 policies insuring $1,439,961,165. The Provident Report for 1877 commented upon the situation as follows: "Certain other companies had their rise in personal greed and ambition. Men of no moral standing ob- tained the control, and, as the receipts were large and the outgo for a long period moderate, their aims were of easy attainment. In the face of this difference in the character and standing of the companies, little or no examination into their relative merits was practiced. It was sufficient that a company paraded a long display of names in the list of its officers and managers, and that it claimed to be possessed of large assets, and to be [26] a £ o U FIFTY YEARS doing an enormous business whose limits were only bounded by the continent. Men took policies in com- panies which they had never even heard of until the day of decision. The glamour of a promise to pay large sums in return for the moderate premium de- manded seemed to have overcome all the consideration of prudence which men are prone to regard in their business affairs. For nearly a generation all discrimi- nation in matters affecting the integrity and well- being of the companies has been thought unnecessary or neglected in too many cases. Is it any wonder that this unwise confidence has bred a plentiful crop of disaster? "The control of such institutions surely ought to be in hands clear of all reproach. Those who manage them ought to be not only experienced and able, but men full of the solemn responsibilities of their calling. It follows equally that those who insure should be clear that the companies chosen by them for so long and delicate a trust are controlled by men of whom they already have or can obtain intimate knowledge. In view, then, of these considerations, is it fair to inscribe fraud and failure upon a system which has answered a beneficent end in many thousands of cases, because the community has unwisely trusted a few worthless and irresponsible institutions? To those who have the most intimate knowledge of its workings, the system needs no defense." [27] FIFTY YEARS Statistics show that of the companies which sur- vived the panic, twelve years was required on the average to bring up the insurance in force to what it had been when the decline set in. During this period, as has already been stated, the experience of the Provi- dent was unique. Only one year, 1877, showed a de- cline, from $20,847,199 to $20,707,581, which was made up in 1878 with insurance in force of $20,984,554. Such a showing was not fortuitous, nor was it based merely upon the confidence which was rightly felt in the officers and directors of the Company, of whom a large number of policyholders had a personal knowl- edge. It was due also to the unexceptionable methods which had been employed in the Agency Department of the Company. Life insurance had been sold upon its intrinsic merits. The leaflets of the Company had not overstated the advantages of insurance, and had clearly defined its function. The President in his reports had carefully explained that the so-called "profits" were merely the savings which might be de- rived from economy in management, careful selection of risks, and prudence and sagacity in investments. The wisdom of such a course was amply demonstrated by the result. The policy of the Company had been vigor- ous and energetic, at the same time that it had been conservative. It entered upon the second phase of its career, tried in the severest test, and not found wanting. "The Mortality Experience of the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia for the Years [28] *¥» m* k I 9 ^ i: x h v Si 5 v. \ 3^3 i'lN ^s ■5 -v.. -w # s w SN *tf X' J fffl -•Ss < I ! § | w»-l^^.« ** I i ^i v. . £ \ (^ *. K 1ft SO 1^ £,. ? = 9 V, I i g i -i K* s i lis 5 lit 111 i J 1 I 5 f 1 * g 1 1 5 1 1 "2 1 B .= }25 ,2 £ a i . £ Cm .- t=> §■ ••- 1? i i 13 "s ■= a a a 2 I o £ J -^ I -, J j | a 1 i I J ss S w - o f. « 1 1 1 1 J I* = 1 I 'M if IJIlli o ;S "- *i 's a " "2 "l"^' 2 « » t he amount insured. his Policy shall cease and det 11 profits for which scrip has £ '1 p 1 K © v f N i % in 3k a *SX \ -~v Seat est r | « * S «g III 11 1 1 ~ ^ 1 -I S 1 | J? >j» S "i 2 3 a 1 - • -5 £ t I frl .f ' f 1 5 1 i 1 1 5 ^? JMI Jill f^i^ll i-11 1 1 f! * LeJiK El's •! -/. ^+ - - ^ & E ~ *2"8 I 1 I _- I J «» * r* ft? s. *3 O ^ 2 i .■ ■ . ■ I «. E Kl»f i'iiil^S si < f ?f. FIFTY YEARS 1866 to 1877 inclusive, as compared with the Probable Experience by the American Experience Table of Mortality, computed by Asa S. Wing, Assistant Actu- ary," was published in 1879. This showed by years, on an average amount exposed aggregating $136,730,- 437, a probable amount to be terminated by death of $1,517,908,002, whereas the actual amount terminated was only $996,159, being 65-6/10 per cent., the figures by number of policies showing the total number of policies to be 46,539, the probable number to be termi- nated by death 511 and the actual number 331, being only 64-7/10 per cent. Further tables gave the fig- ures for each age, and also in groups of five ages, both by policies and by amounts, the latter illustrated by colored charts. Commenting upon this, Elizur Wright, the famous Massachusetts Actuary, said that it was "a remarkable and interesting document. . . . It indicates that either the selection of lives has been careful and judicious, or that the business has been sought chiefly among people of peculiarly good sani- tary habits. I am inclined to think both causes have operated." There is a proverb that the happiest nation has no history. It is true of the Provident that its history is singularly lacking in salient points which can be taken by the historian as decisive or epoch-making. Its basic idea had been that careful living promoted longevity, and that those living careful lives were entitled to have the cost of their insurance reduced by the greater mor- tal FIFTY YEARS tality savings resulting from their superior longevity. To obtain policyholders of this class it was seen to be necessary to employ a superior class of agents. The task was not an easy one. The calling had fallen into disrepute. There had always been agents distinguished alike for probity and for ability, but the wild scramble during the previous decade had witnessed the enlist- ment of too many who discredited the business, so that the sins of these had obscured the virtues of the better class of able and upright men. It was a notable achieve- ment of the Provident, that from the beginning it insisted upon a conspicuously high standard for its representatives. The Company conceived it a duty to those whom it hoped to insure, that the agents whom it sent out to represent the Company should be men of integrity, ability and force, who had been well grounded in the business and who regarded their work as a profession worthy of their enthusiastic devotion. The conception was not novel, but the consistency with which it was carried out has won a recognition among life insurance men which has been generous and wide- spread. Attention has already been called to the re- sponsibility placed upon its agents. It was required that each risk presented should be accompanied by a personal recommendation, and this had the effect of a preliminary selection by the agent, and thus favorably influenced the mortality of the Company. The agent was also charged with the responsibility of advising the form of policy which would most nearly meet the [30] Fourth Office, Company's Building (Completed Third Month 1st, 1879) 409 Chestnut Street FIFTY YEARS needs of his client. The result was reflected in the low lapse rate of the Company to which the President fre- quently referred in his earlier reports. To the enthusiastic and devoted work of a small but growing force of agents was due the exceedingly rapid growth of the insurance business of the Company. In 1880, the amount in force had been $25,755,451. In six years it had approximately doubled, the figures for 1886 being $50,914,268, and in eight years more it had again doubled, the figures for 1894 being $103,- 671,924. In the six years which elapsed since 1873, the growth of the Company had been so rapid that larger quarters were required and in Third month, 1879, the office was removed to the striking building at No. 409 Chestnut Street, which had been designed for its use by Furness and Evans. With the election of Asa S. Wing to the Vice Presi- dency in 1881 and of Joseph Ashbrook to the Manager- ship of the Insurance Department, J. Roberts Foulke was elected Trust Officer. The latter had been con- nected with the Trust Department since Fifth month, 1873, and the title now conferred was merely an appro- priate recognition of the responsible duties which the growth of the Department involved. Genial in his understanding of the clientele of the Company and with a remarkable capacity for painstaking work, he combined with this a comprehension of the fiduciary nature of his task and a watchfulness which enabled [31] FIFTY YEARS him to safeguard the best interests of the clients of the Department, winning confidence in his probity and in- tegrity. He is still at the head of the Department, the continued growth of which has necessitated much spe- cialized subdivision to maintain an effective service. In 1883 the capital was raised from $500,000 to $1,000,000, the additional amount being paid in in full. First month 14th, 1884, T. Wistar Brown was elected Vice President. He had been largely respon- sible for the organization of the Company, had been an active member of the Board from the beginning, and had rendered invaluable service as Chairman of its Committee on Finance and Accounts. Deeply interested in the success of the Company, he has always given generously of his time throughout his fifty years of service, for not only has he put at the disposal of the Board his financial ability in a consci- entious and painstakingly detailed supervision of its investments as Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Accounts, but he has also allowed himself to be called on constantly for advice upon other matters of more general policy, so that he has always had a large share in shaping its destiny; and no history of the Company would be complete without insistence upon the value of his service. On Fourth month 6th, 1885, Samuel Dickson was elected Associate Counsel, and on Third month 8th, 1886, Lewis P. Geiger was elected Auditor. On Eleventh month 4th, 1889, the Board marked the [32] HENRY HAINES Director, elected 1865. Died 1905 RICHARD CADBURY Director, elected 1865. Died 1897 RICHARD WOOD Director, elected 1865. Resigned 1910 JOSHUA H. MORRIS Director, elected 1865. Died 1885 FIFTY YEARS twenty-fifth anniversary of the Company by asking Mr. Shipley to permit his portrait to be placed upon the walls of the office. On Twelfth month 7th, 1891, a resolution was passed to establish safe-deposit vaults. At the same time, J. Barton Townsend was elected Assistant Trust Officer. In 1892, the Insurance Department was moved to the corner of Chestnut and Fourth Streets, in the first floor of the large and commodious building which had been erected in 1890, adjoining the office at No. 409 Chestnut Street, and which has since been considerably enlarged, so that it extends through to Ranstead Street. On First month 9th, 1899, Samuel H. Troth was elected Treasurer, David G. Alsop, Actuary, and C. Walter Borton, Secretary. f33] CHAPTER III THE STRUGGLE AGAINST DEFERRED DIVIDENDS The twenty-year period beginning in 1885 was crucial in American life insurance. The worst effects of the insurance panic had worn off, and an enormous expansion ensued. As a result of the disasters in the seventies, a rigorous supervision as to solvency had been instituted in the various states, which performed its original function admirably. But this original func- tion was soon lost sight of. It had been thought that if the several states, through the requirement of an annual accounting, confirmed by periodical examina- tion, should certify to the solvency of a company, public opinion could be relied upon to discriminate between companies which, by economy, wise selection of lives and sagacious investment, afforded insurance at minimum cost, and other companies less economically managed, less careful in their selection of risks, and obtaining less favorable results upon their investments. This theory, however, broke down. Public opinion did not discriminate. It ceased to think of supervision as concerning itself solely with solvency, which had been the original intention, and deluded itself with the idea that the official approval of a company's solvency carried with it an approval of the practices of the com- [34] CHARLES F. COFFIN Director, elected 1865. Resigned 1879 JEREMIAH HACKER Director, elected 1865. Died 1866 WILLIAM HACKER Director, elected 1866. Died 1898 FRANCIS T. KING Director, elected 1871. Resigned 1877 FIFTY YEARS i pany in matters not concerning solvency, an idea which was foreign to the intention of the law. This delusion was fostered by the surprising growth of the practice of deferring dividends. With dividends payable annu- ally, policyholders could test each year for themselves the actual net cost at which they were obtaining their insurance. With dividends deferred twenty years, such a test was impossible, for the policyholder could not ascertain until the end of the twenty years of deferment whether the results were in keeping with the estimate upon which his policy had been sold. The estimates were based not only upon the abnormally high rates of interest which had prevailed in the preceding twenty- year period which followed the war, but also upon the abnormal lapse rate which had prevailed during the insurance panic; for under the deferred dividend plan, those who died or lapsed before the completion of the deferred period, were not entitled to their accu- mulated dividends, which were divided among the per- sistent survivors at the end of the period. The public failed to discriminate between the guaranteed value of the policy, which the law protected through its pro- vision for solvency, and the estimated surplus value at the end of the deferred period, over which the law exercised no jurisdiction. Not only were the estimates impossible of fulfillment, but the unnecessary accumu- lation of dividends led to an increasing extravagance in agency management. [35] FIFTY YEARS This explanation is necessary to a comprehension of the position occupied by the Provident during the period beginning in 1885 and ending with the Insur- ance Investigation of twenty years later. It is difficult to understand the laxity of public opinion during this long period. The abuses which were prevalent could have been checked much more satisfactorily by an enlightened public opinion than by the legislation which ultimately found its way upon the statute books. Public opinion, however, refused to take cognizance of the fact that the enormously increased expenditure would ultimately have to be paid for by the policy- holders themselves, and that this would still further reduce dividends which had been estimated upon for- mer conditions which could not again be realized. The deferred system seemed to be carrying all before it. Its prodigious growth seemed an answer to criticism. For those who felt that the disadvantages of the deferred system to the insured much more than counter- balanced mere rapidity of growth, it was a trying period. The management of the Provident had from the first decided that the deferred system was repug- nant to the fundamental idea of life insurance, and held resolutely to the annual dividend principle. It required courage and no mean order of ability to adhere to this resolution. The insuring public seemed determined to take deferred dividend estimates at par. The compa- nies had entered into a race for volume, and the com- petition for agents forced up the rates of commission [36] MURRAY SHIPLEY Director, elected 1871. Resigned 1886 CHARLES HARTSHORNE Director, elected 1874. Died 1908 JOHN B. GARRETT Director, elected 1871. Resigned 1879 PHILIP C. GARRETT Director, elected 1882. Died 1905 FIFTY YEARS to an indefensible figure, which led to rebating. To obtain agents at a much lower rate of commission, to sell what seemed a less popular form of insurance with- out rebate, was a task which might well have seemed hopeless. The Management of the Provident, however, did not despair. The agents were of no common fibre, and had been exceptionally well trained. They were thor- oughly convinced that they were on the right side, and were filled with an enthusiasm which was invincible in competition. Their pulses still quicken as they think of those stirring days ; the contest evoked all that was best in them. With redoubled effort, they refused to be dismayed by the odds against them, for the number of companies which were opposed to the deferred system was so exceedingly small, and the growth of the cham- pions of the system was so exceedingly rapid, that this small group seemed to be losing ground. The Provi- dent had taken eight years to increase its insurance in force from $50,000,000 to $100,000,000. To increase, however, from $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 was to take fourteen years. That is, the actual annual growth was somewhat more rapid than it had been, although rela- tive increase in the rapidity of growth had been largely checked by the decision of the Management that the interests of the policyholders forbade any yielding to the prevalent demand for deferred dividends. During this period, the annual reports of the Provi- dent contained exceptionally able expositions of the [37] FIFTY YEARS reasonableness of the course adopted by the Company. They stated the case in language that was at the same time lucid, vigorous and dignified. The prognosis of the danger entailed by the then-prevalent abuses was remarkably accurate. Turning back today to those now almost forgotten reports, the reader is strongly im- pressed by their grasp upon the real essentials of the situation, by the fairness with which these were stated, and by their clear-sighted prevision of the future. For instance, in the Report for 1885 it was said: "The (deferred) system is innately bad, and is a distinct deviation from those principles of equity which, by their adoption, had redeemed the business of life insur- ance from the errors of its earlier history. When the craze for speculative insurance shall have spent its force, the sense of justice in the community will demand that the laws affecting the non-forfeiture of both reserves and dividends shall be re-established in all their force." Again, in 1888: "The Provident Life and Trust Com- pany has, from its origin, strongly discouraged specu- lative insurance. . . . There is no legerdemain by which profits can be made. Those methods which are open to careful and capable investors are the only safe ones." Again, in 1890: "Believing that these alien specula- tive features were inequitable and unfair, and that the innovations could not be permanent; that they were subversive of the best interests of the business, and that they would bring in their train extravagance and dis- [38] '• • !> » J » » * J ■. ' ' 1 ' 1 ^ WILLIAM GUMMERE Director, elected 1877. Died 1897 BENJAMIN V. MARSH Director, elected 1878. Died 1882 FREDERIC COLLINS Director, elected 1878. Died 1892 J. MORTON ALBERTSON Director, elected 1879. Died 1889 FIFTY YEARS appointment, they found no place in the business of this Company." In 1895 it was urged "that a false standard of deter- mining the successful management of life insurance has been set up during the last few years. It has resulted in a plentiful crop of evils, and threatens to be attended with more mischievous and dangerous consequences in the future if it is not checked by popular opinion. It has come to be accepted only too generally that the prosperity of a company is dependent upon its rapid increase in size. So far is this from being true, it is susceptible of demonstration that too rapid growth lowers the standard of security and increases the cost of insurance. The increased cost in some companies would long since have become evident to the public if the practice of annual dividends as opposed to de- ferred or semi-tontine dividends had been continued. When dividends are paid annually, the policyholder is able to detect the consequences of unsuccessful man- agement. But if, under the temptation of possible gains, he consents to forego his dividends for a period of twenty years, the consequences of extravagance and injudicious management are not likely to come to his attention." In 1897: "Nothing is so much needed today in con- nection with the business as an aroused and watchful public opinion. If it were the fact that the manage- ment of companies claimed the attention of the vast number of persons directly interested in their safety [39] FIFTY YEARS and prosperity, the business would be surrounded by a powerful and conservative influence. There has never been a period in the history of American Life Insur- ance when this influence was so essential to the safety and well-being of the business as now." In 1902 it was pointed out that "an examination of the reports made to the several State Insurance Com- missioners discloses the remarkable fact that for the last fifteen or twenty years the average rate of expense of many companies, including several of those which have been distinguished by a rapid enlargement of their business, is much greater than those of other well- known and successfully managed companies. In this, there is certainly food for reflection. That so grave a condition has not challenged inquiry is due to the fact that the companies referred to, whose rate of expense has been so abnormally high, defer the payment of divi- dends for a long period, usually twenty years. The con- sequence of extravagance, of an increased rate of mor- tality, and of any other lack of skill in management, are thus concealed from policyholders. Confidence in the safety of the assumptions upon which the mag- nificent system of life insurance rests is well deserved, but the considerations above named suggest whether there is not another factor which those directly inter- ested in the system as policyholders must supply. The safety of the Company and a low cost for the protection afforded depend upon faithful and skillful administra- tion. It is a truism that the business should be man- No] ISRAEL MORRIS Director, elected 1879. Resigned 1901 JAMES V. WATSON Director, elected 1886. Died 1910 JUSTUS C. STRAWBRIDGE Director, elected 1886. Resigned 1898 FREDERIC H. STRAWBRIDGE Director, elected 1906 FIFTY YEARS aged in the interest of the policyholders. That this will be accomplished depends in great measure upon the establishment of a correct standard in the public mind. A low expense rate and a low mortality rate constantly maintained, and safe, conservative business methods, are better guides than results which are merely spectacu- lar." Again, in 1903 : "It should be the business of every policyholder to familiarize himself sufficiently with the principles of life insurance to judge intelligently of the management of the company or companies in which he is insured, and not to fall into a blind confi- dence or indifference. Confidence is necessary, and without it life insurance would not exist. But equally necessary is an enlightened public opinion, the result of intelligent observation and judgment." Finally in 1905, just before the New York Investigation, it was urged : "The best way to popularize life insurance is to cheapen the cost of protection and to demonstrate to the public that the persons who are entrusted with the administration of the companies are imbued with a proper sense of responsibility and are not influenced in any degree by selfish motives. Life insurance has such a hold upon the confidence of the public, and its benefits are so widely known, that the methods of the bargain counter* are not necessary to stimulate the business. It is much to be desired that the expenses, both of administration and of procuring new business, *The allusion is to the rebate evil. [41] FIFTY YEARS shall be promptly reduced, as they can be, if an un- seemly rivalry shall cease and companies be satisfied with a gradual instead of a rapid, forced growth." The long struggle, however, was to come to a sud- den termination in a popular outburst which, in some of its phases, was as indiscriminating as had been the previous laxity of opinion which had permitted the growth of abuses. It was not to the credit of an Amer- ican business man who in his own line of business would not have granted a $100 credit without investigating the standing of his customer, that in too many instances he had purchased a $100,000 policy for the protection of his family with so little scrutiny that in a week he was unable to remember the name of the company in which he was insured, or the kind of policy he had selected. It was a madness of confidence, suddenly translated into an equally blind outburst of wrath. In response to the popular demand, the New York Legislature appointed an Investigating Committee empowered to recommend legislation, which was voted in the follow- ing year, 1906. Deferred dividends were forbidden by law, and drastic restrictions were elaborated as to expenses, while the production of new business was limited upon a sliding scale, and standard policy con- ditions were enforced. It was a gratifying recognition of the economy with which the Provident had always been managed that the Armstrong Committee, in urging the legislation in the State of New York aimed to limit expenses, should [42] WILLIAM LONGSTRETH Director, elected 1889 EDWARD H. OGDEN Director, elected 1893. Died 1903 THOMAS SCATTERGOOD Director, elected 1897. Died 1907 J. PRESTON THOMAS Director, elected 1897. Died 1905 FIFTY YEARS have specifically named the Provident as a company which, as a matter of good practice, had always vol- untarily kept its expenses within the limitation sought to be made compulsory by law. Summing up the situation, the Company's Report covering the operations of the year 1906, said: "it is interesting to inquire, now that there has been time for sober second thought, what was brought to light by the many severe investigations to which the business in general . . . has been subjected. Primarily, policy- holders are interested in the security of life insurance. ... It must be a source of intense gratification, that the Armstrong Committee and all other committees have announced in very emphatic terms that even the com- panies that most incurred their censure were perfectly sound, and that policyholders need feel no concern respecting the safety of their policies. Second only in importance to the question of security is that of the cost of insurance. Money was expended by these companies for the procurement of new business without reference to the effect upon the cost of insurance to their members. This effort was kept from notice by the system of de- ferred dividends. Happily, the system of deferred dividends is abandoned, and a policyholder taking out a policy now will have each year the means of judging of the faithful management of the company in which he is insured." [43] CHAPTER IV THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE OFFICE In the Report for 1904, it was explained that "the expression Trust Company' outside of Philadelphia has no fixed definition, and is therefore not descriptive of the kind of business transacted here. A trust com- pany may be a bank dealing in commercial paper, or may have been organized for the promotion of large business operations, or for 'financing' large transactions. There would be an incongruity in combining such a business with life insurance, while the trust business, as it is understood in Philadelphia, is perfectly homo- geneous with life insurance: the assets of the life insurance company represent the savings of men who are living; the assets of a trust company represent the savings of men who are dead. As a Trust Company, the Provident demands from the Courts of the City of Philadelphia a careful scrutiny of its methods, and an examination of its securities from time to time by skillful experts. It has also upon it always the watch- ful eye of the community. The union of the two kinds of business in one organization places life insurance on the high level of the trust business." This state- ment is sufficiently important for amplification. We have seen that in the seventies a number of life insur- [44] MARRIOTT C. MORRIS Director, elected 1900 FRANK H. TAYLOR Director, elected 1901. Resigned 1911 JOHN T. EMLEN Director, elected 1907 MORRIS R. BOCKIUS Director, elected 1908 FIFTY YEARS ance companies failed through lack of the most ordi- nary safeguards. Public opinion then compelled legis- lation for the strictest supervision of life insurance as regards solvency. But public opinion as yet failed to grasp clearly the fact that the fiduciary responsibility resting upon the management of a life insurance com- pany as to expenses, was in its essence very similar to the responsibility resting upon those who, either in an individual or in a corporate capacity, are managing the estates of persons deceased, as executor, adminis- trator, or in any other fiduciary capacity. The record of the Provident for economy in its life insurance branch was not fortuitous. Had the Company shown any symptom of extravagance in its Insurance Depart- ment, it would have reacted unfavorably in a lack of confidence in its Trust Department from which the stockholders derived their profits, for even at a time when public opinion was singularly lax and indulgent in its conception of life insurance, it was already hold- ing the trust business to a standard higher than that known in any other business, and this standard was embodied in the law and scrupulously maintained by the Courts in its interpretation of the law. The history of the Trust Department of the Provident must of necessity, therefore, vary from the history of the Insur- ance Department, since, in the nature of the case, it can record no struggle against an unenlightened laxity of public opinion. The figures which reveal the steady growth of the Trust Department in the amount of the [45] FIFTY YEARS trusts committed to its care, are the most eloquent recital of a constantly broadening confidence in its adminis- tration, as the admirable efficiency of its service be- came more widely known. The assets belonging to Trusts in custody of the Company were, at the end of the years mentioned, as follows : 1874 $1,148,078.58 1884 17,341,372.66 1894 42,135,225.23 1904 59,412,548.32 1914 85,134,905.27 Analyzing the figures for the year 1914, we find the assets classified as follows: Bonds $22,147,650.42 Mortgages 19,676,276.88 Real Estate 930,638.38 Miscellaneous 492,070.15 Unassigned Balances 798,639.08 Corporations 40,734,833.71 Uninvested 354,796.65 $85,134,905.27 The record is the more impressive in that it lacks salient features. It is simply a record of constant ex- pansion, and of the evolution of highly specialized organization to meet increasing needs. J. Roberts Foulke, as we have seen, had become identified with the Company in 1873, and eight years later had become the head of the department with the [46] HENRY H. COLLINS Director, elected 1908 CHARLES H. HARDING Director, elected 1912 J. WHITALL NICHOLSON Director, elected 1912 PARKER S. WILLIAMS Director, elected 1915 FIFTY YEARS title of Trust Officer. J. Barton Townsend, after six years' service, was elected Assistant Trust Officer in 1891, and in 1911 Vice President. In 1907, William C. Craige, who had been in the service of the Com- pany twenty-two years, was elected Title Officer, and in 1913 Assistant Trust Officer, positions which he has filled with conspicuous prudence and ability, and to which he brings a notable legal training. In 1912, Frank H. Weed, after thirty years' service, was elected Manager of the Mortgage Loan Depart- ment. Henry Longstreth, after nineteen years' service, was in 1892 appointed Manager of the Western Mort- gage Department, and Barton G. Lester, Special Loan Agent in Denver. It must be borne in mind that the Trust and Mortgage Loan Departments not only handle the mortgage investments for trust estates, but also all the mortgages for the Insurance Department. On First month 1st, 1915, the amount of the insurance mortgages was $24,557,480.68, and of trust mortgages $19,676,276.88. It is evident that so large a volume of mortgages could not be handled without the perfection of system. From the time when the application is first submitted, carefully examined by the Mortgage Loan Department, referred to the Title Department as to title, referred to the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors, and inspected personally by a rep- resentative of the Company before final approval, every precaution is taken which fifty years of experience have suggested. Equally careful precautions are taken [47] FIFTY YEARS with the fire insurance protection and with the col- lections of interest. Foreclosures have been rare, and have in the aggregate shown a profit rather than a loss. Another well-organized sub-department takes the nec- essary steps when trust estates are first submitted to the care of the Company, and when settlement is finally made, including the distribution of the principal of the estate. Another has charge of distribution of in- come, another of the management of real estate. Col- lection of rents, etc., for estates is another department. Corporate trusts have departments for transfer and for payment of interest and dividends. Other functions, too numerous for mention, such as filing of wills, are carefully grouped in competent hands, and the book- keeping has been carefully studied to insure accuracy and avoid duplication. The whole organization is imbued with a thoroughgoing sense of the character of the responsibility which is involved and of the loyalty which is due to the clients of the Company. The present organization of the other departments of the Home Office is a matter of interest. It has al- ready been shown that the training of the President, Asa S. Wing, gives him an unusual grasp upon the nature of the problems of the several departments, which enables him to guide the general policy of these departments intelligently, while permitting the depart- ments to work out matters of detail for themselves, his entire comprehension of the detail allowing him to see the larger aspect of the problem. [48] ROBERT M. JANNEY Director, elected 1898 Committee on Finance and Accounts FIFTY YEARS Associated with the President upon the Committee on Finance and Accounts is the Vice President, T. Wistar Brown, whose invaluable service to the Com- pany has already been emphasized. The other Di- rectors who make up the Committee of Seven are, in order of seniority, Robert M. Janney, John B. Morgan, Joseph B. Townsend, Jr., Levi L. Rue and George Wood. The service rendered by the Committee on Finance and Accounts is peculiarly valuable. Meet- ing regularly every week, it supervises the general investment policy of the Company, and, in addition, examines each investment with the most careful scrutiny, bringing to its advice a breadth of view and a sagacity which renders its function of the first importance. Emphasis should be laid upon the quarterly exami- nation of the assets of the Company by the Committee on Audit of the Board of Directors, who in person check up and satisfy themselves of the physical pres- ence of each individual security called for by the statements which have been made to the Board, except for the fourth quarter, when it is their custom to employ a reliable firm of certified accountants. Even from the earliest days, when the assets were still com- paratively small, it had been the policy of the Com- pany to anticipate in its methods of examination a system which would later be rendered necessary as the Company grew in size, rather than to allow a system which had answered every purpose under older [49] FIFTY YEARS conditions to become inadequate before making a change. J. Barton Townsend, in addition to his duties in the Trust Department, is, as Vice President, empow- ered to act for the President in his absence, his legal training in the office of his father, Joseph B. Town- send, and his long service in the Provident, having furnished him with a wide experience. The duties of the Manager of the Insurance De- partment and of the Trust Officer are mentioned elsewhere. The Actuary, David G. Alsop, entered the service of the Company in 1881, was elected Assistant Actuary in 1891, and Actuary in 1899. His experience has been unusually broad. A Fellow of the Actuarial Society of America, and held in affectionate esteem in his profession, he has brought to his intricate duties in the Provident a trained intelligence which has been of the greatest value not only to the Company, but to its clients. To pass upon a given case, however, the Actuary must have before him the data pertaining to it, and to obtain these data promptly a highly per- fected system is necessary. No effort has been spared by the Actuary and his assistants to perfect the system of the Provident. Accuracy is, of course, the first essential. The detail is so voluminous, however, that simplification of method is necessary to attain accu- racy. This has been the subject of constant investiga- tion and study, conducted with an alert appreciation of [50] JOHN B. MORGAN Director, elected 1905 Member Committee on Finance and Accounts FIFTY YEARS any improvement which presented itself, and of the possibility of avoiding unnecessary duplication. Not only is it possible to answer immediately an inquiry which a policyholder may make concerning his policy, but, notwithstanding the Company has over 120,000 policies on its books, insuring considerably over $300,000,000, it is possible on the last night of the year, after the close of the business day, to complete the necessary valuation so that an accurate statement of the reserve liability of the Company may be in- cluded in the Annual Statement which is published in the Philadelphia papers upon the first day of the year. Without the most loyal and efficient co-opera- tion of the twenty-six assistants in the Actuarial De- partment, operating upon this carefully devised system, such a result would not be obtainable. Mention should be made also of the important and responsible duties of the Associate Actuary, M. Albert Linton, a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of America, and of the (British) Institute of Actuaries, who entered the service of the Company in 1909, was ap- pointed Mathematician in 1913, and elected to his present position in 1915, and who is charged with the investigations necessary to enable the Actuarial Depart- ment to test the formulae employed by the Company. The Treasurer, Samuel H. Troth, was elected in 1899, after fifteen years' service, to perform the duties usually appertaining to that office, which had, under the earlier practice of the Company, been performed [51] FIFTY YEARS by the Actuary. To these he has brought intelligence and a keen sense of the responsibility entailed by the office, a responsibility which with the rapid growth of the Company has imposed a searching investigation of improved methods which would afford greater facility in the transaction of business without surrender of the security enjoyed under earlier conditions. With him is associated the Assistant Treasurer, John Way, who was elected to the position in 1910, after seventeen years' service. Mention should also be made of Louis Ashbrook, who entered the service of the Company in 1868, and of Murray Gorgas, who entered in 1872, and who occupy the positions of Paying and Receiv- ing Teller respectively. The Secretary, C. Walter Borton, was elected in 1899, after ten years' service. In addition to his duties as Secretary of the Board, and the usual duties of Secretary of the Company, he is charged with the responsibility of keeping a daily record of the status of each investment of the Company other than mort- gage investments, and the recording of the latest in- formation concerning it, for the benefit of the Com- mittee on Finance and Accounts, and the Treasurer. Charged also with the duty of passing upon the candidates for employment, he has greatly interested himself in the efficiency problem and meets with the delegates appointed by each office group. The Manager of the Insurance Department, J. Thomas Moore, who had entered the service of the [52] JOSEPH B. TOWNSEND, JR. Director, elected 1904 Committee on Finance and Accounts FIFTY YEARS Company in 1886, was elected in 1911 in succession to Joseph Ashbrook. His duties are of the most exten- sive, as he is Superintendent of Agents, and therefore charged with the production of the new business of the Company, as well as with the formulation of the policy of the Insurance Department under the guid- ance of the President. He brings to the performance of these duties a thorough knowledge of the field and its requirements, and an equally thorough knowledge of what constitutes good management at the Home Office. Thoroughly trained in the traditions of the Company, and loyal to the fundamental principles which have always guided its practice, he is particu- larly alert to the constant change in field conditions, and his grasp upon essentials enables him to meet these changes intelligently without a surrender of principle. Under his leadership the business of the Company has shown a gratifying expansion. Associated with the Manager of the Insurance Department is the Insurance Supervisor, J. Smith Hart, who entered the service of the Company in 1884, and was elected to his present position in 1911. His responsibility is for the supervision of the risks pre- sented to the Company for acceptance, for which his long service under Joseph Ashbrook had peculiarly fitted him. To his intelligent co-operation with the Medical Department is due the continuation of the low mortality of the Company, an achievement which is notable, when the expansion of the field is taken into T53] FIFTY YEARS consideration. To the exceedingly important duties entrusted to him, he brings an unusual faculty of get- ting at essentials in passing upon a risk, and an ability to form a clearly reasoned decision, which commands the confidence of the agency force. Associated also in the Insurance Department are William S. Ashbrook, Agency Secretary, and Paul Loder and Franklin C. Morss, Assistants to the Man- ager. The Philadelphia Agency which, under the mag- netic leadership of Matthew Walker, who has been Superintendent of Local Agents since 1908, after twenty-six years' previous service in the Company, comprises sixty agents and is located in the Home Office Building. (A photograph of the Agency taken in 1913, is reproduced opposite page 64.) This Agency wrote $7,750,000 of new business in 1914. Admirably organized, and not forgetful of the best traditions of the Company, while alive to modern conditions, it has grown with the growth of the institution ; and the rep- utation of the Provident in its home city today is largely due to the skill, intelligence and high standing of its Philadelphia agents, between whom and the agents in the field there has always been a keen though friendly rivalry in maintaining the Provident standard. The Medical Director of the Company, Dr. Charles H. Willits, was elected to that position in 1905, after thirteen years' service, and has had associated with him Dr. Herbert Old, as Assistant Medical Director, since [54] LEVI L. RUE Director, elected 1910 Committee on Finance and Accounts FIFTY YEARS 1914. The Medical Department is charged with the most important duty of appointing Local Medical Examiners, as well as of passing upon applications. The success of the Medical Department is attested by the remarkably low mortality, to which attention has already been drawn. To the ability to make a correct decision in a case, Dr. Willits adds the faculty of being able to show the agent the reasonableness of a decli- nation, so that the Medical Department enjoys to a remarkable degree the confidence of the field. Other departments are the Auditing Depart- ment, headed by Lucius M. Allen, as Auditor; the Agents' Commission Department; the Book- keepers' Department; the Correspondence Depart- ment; the Development of Trusts and Deposits, headed by Benjamin F. Jones ; the Policy Loan Depart- ment, William G. Rhoads, Manager; the Premium Department; the Purchasing Department, headed by Alfred G. Scattergood, Purchasing Agent, and includ- ing the Printing Shop; the Safe Deposit Department and the Tellers' Department. The Insurance Record Department, which is mentioned last, is the largest of all the clerical departments. The Manager, Thomas J. Richards, who entered the service of the Company in 1881, has under his supervision no less than sixty- five clerks. Here the applications are received from the Insurance Supervisor and verified, and the policies prepared for signature, each containing a photograph of the original application, and a record of each policy [55] FIFTY YEARS is commenced, upon which is noted from time to time each premium received and dividend paid, each change of beneficiary or assignment, and each change of address. Here, too, the premium receipts are pre- pared, as well as premium notices in many instances, together with other details too numerous to mention, but each requiring great accuracy, and so voluminous in the aggregate as to necessitate great nicety of sys- tem. Mention should be made also of the Dining Room, where a simple but abundant luncheon is served to the officers and employees, thus minimizing the absence of each from his desk and not only preventing delay in attention to clients, but also preventing the likelihood of error in the necessity which would otherwise exist for important matters' being handled by a substitute during the absence of his principal. The relationship between the officers and employees of the Company has always been cordial and agree- able. This arose in the first instance from the small- ness of their number, permitting a closeness of associa- tion in the service of the Company, which of itself engendered a friendly feeling. With the growth of the Company and the further specialization of duties, it became important that this friendly bond should not be lost sight of. In 191 1, a "Get Together" movement was inaugurated, the success of which is rapidly passing the experimental stage. Its primary object, as has already been indicated, is to maintain that traditional [56] GEORGE WOOD Director, elected 1911 Committee on Finance and Accounts FIFTY YEARS friendliness of relationship between fellow employees and between officers and employees, without which real efficiency is unobtainable. Frequent Educational Meetings are held in which various phases of the busi- ness are explained by those best qualified to do so. It is an interesting commentary upon the value of these addresses that one of them upon the subject of "En- dowment Insurance" by M. Albert Linton, then Mathe- matician of the Company, should have been extensively quoted by Professor Huebner of the University of Pennsylvania in the text-book on "Life Insurance" which he prepared at the request of the National Asso- ciation of Life Underwriters. Suggestions as to effi- ciency in matters of detail which have been discussed by the delegates from the various groups are presented to the Cabinet at stated conferences, and once a year the whole force of officers and employees spend the evening together, a collation affording an opportunity for better acquaintance, followed by interesting and appropriate speeches. A quarterly paper, "Between Ourselves," is issued by the Home Office force "to disseminate information and to promote efficiency, loyalty and good-fellowship," with a correspondent from each departmental group forming an Advisory Board to the editors. This paper, while giving personal news and office notes, has con- tained a large number of exceedingly instructive articles upon business topics, which have caused it to be very favorably commented upon. [57] CHAPTER V THE AGENCY ORGANIZATION The earlier reputation of the Company as to its agency force has been well maintained. The number of General Agencies has now reached forty-three, and the Company is licensed to operate in California, Colo- rado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mary- land, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia — in all, thirty-one states. There is a generous rivalry between the General Agencies, not merely as to the amount of business, but also as to its quality and the quality of the men who produce it. Men of character and ability are sought as representatives, who are carefully instructed in the principles of life insurance and in the traditions of the Provident. Agency meetings for discussion are held at frequent intervals in the General Agencies. The meetings of the General Agents' Association at the Home Office are felt to be of such value through the able papers which are read, that the attendance is [58] SAMUEL DICKSON of Counsel for the Company. Died May 28, 1915 FIFTY YEARS exceedingly large, although the General Agents attend at their own expense. The loyalty of the General Agents and of the Local Agents to the Company is proverbial, and this feeling has always been reciprocated by the Management. It was no figure of speech when the former Vice Presi- dent, Joseph Ashbrook, said at the Twenty-fifth Anni- versary of the Philadelphia Agents' Association that the tie which bound him to them was not a mere busi- ness tie, but a tie of real affection, growing out of a peculiarly intimate relationship which had been ren- dered possible only by the high character of the men with whom he had been associated. Nearly twenty years before, in addressing the Life Underwriters' Association of Western Massachusetts at Springfield, Fifth month 3rd, 1895, he had said: "With the profound respect which I have for the other departments of the business, I am at least conscious of no discourtesy when I claim that in view of what has been accomplished by the agent, and especially in view of the difficulty of its accomplishment, he is entitled to the proudest place in the business. It was his courage and faith which made life insurance possible. To him as an educator belongs the credit of the astounding revolution in public opinion brought about in the short space of the last thirty-five years. Instead of universal doubt and distrust, there now exists universal faith in the scientific basis and the safety and permanence of life insurance. Instead of ignorance [59] FIFTY YEARS and coldness and indifference, the moral obligation to protect dependents by life insurance is now everywhere admitted." Six years earlier, the ^Annual Report of the Com- pany had contained this paragraph: "The Company has done, perhaps, more than any other to redeem the methods employed to get business (through personal solicitation by agents) from the odium which for many years attached to it. Recognizing the occupation as legitimate, and as intrinsically dignified and honorable, a high standard of qualification for agents was adopted. As the result of this, men of character and intelligence have sought its employment, and they have been care- fully trained and instructed for their particular duties ; the fruit has been seen in the better service the Com- pany has itself secured, and in the moral effect upon the agents themselves." In his Annual Report for 1913, President Wing had urged that "too much cannot be said in commendation of the loyalty and faithfulness of the Agents who rep- resent this Company. Probably no life insurance company has such a group of men. Mostly they have chosen to work for this Company because, after care- ful examination, they have become convinced of the fidelity and skill with which it has been managed. They give their whole hearts to their work. Offers of larger commissions from other companies seldom swerve them — they believe in the Provident and show their belief by their untiring zeal for it. [60] a IS a. 5 -a J3 - c c a 5c < FIFTY YEARS "We believe that the high character of the Agents representing this Company is one of the largest factors in making the Company what it is today, — certainly it has had much to do with producing its very low rate of mortality; all of our Agents realize their responsi- bility for the character of every risk which they sub- mit. They have the confidence and regard both of the men whom they insure and of the officers of the Com- pany." It is possible in these quotations to see clearly that mutual respect and confidence which has in an unusual degree characterized the relationship between the management and the field force of the Provident. To win deservedly the confidence of the agent in the field, to appreciate his function at its real importance, and to exclude from that function men who did not measure up to the high standard which it entailed, has been the tradition of the Company. Interest attaches to the photograph which is repro- duced opposite page 60, of a group of the earlier Phila- delphia Agents of the Company. These were the men who under the leadership of their Manager formed the splendid tradition which still animates the field force of the Company. Seated in the front row with Samuel R. Shipley, President, Asa S. Wing, Vice President, and Joseph Ashbrook, Manager of the Insurance De- partment, are Allen Flitcraft, James M. Price, Richard Griffith and Nathaniel H. Brown, now all deceased, who brought to their calling an enthusiasm which [61] FIFTY YEARS heightened their conception of its responsibility. Among those standing behind are James W. Janney, who entered the service of the Company in 1876, and who for twenty-nine years has been the Company's General Agent in Chicago, bringing to his profession qualities which have won for him a unique position in the affectionate esteem of the life insurance men of that city, — the much loved Charles D. Hammer, forty years in the service of the Company, formerly a part- ner in the Chicago Agency, and more recently General Agent in Boston, until ill health compelled his resig- nation from the more active duties of the position, — William D. Yerger, still active in the management of the General Agency in Cincinnati, whose high prin- ciple has won for him a deserved confidence not only at the Home Office, but with a still widening circle of clients, — William M. Scott, recently deceased after thirty-seven years' service, latterly as General Agent for Eastern Pennsylvania, devoted to the Company, active in the Philadelphia Association of Life Under- writers, and lamented by Provident Agents everywhere who valued his friendship and counsel, — Benjamin H. Lightfoot, until his death General Agent at Pittsburgh, much esteemed for his sense of duty and loyalty to the Company, — Samuel C. Eastburn, General Agent for Central Pennsylvania, and still displaying the same energy and resourcefulness which marked his earlier personal canvass in the field, where he secured for him- self and for the Company the lasting friendship of his [62] < FIFTY YEARS policyholders, — Frank LeBar, still active as General Agent for New Jersey, and manifesting in his present duties the same magnetism which was characteristic of his earlier service in the field, — Charles Mason and Joseph Lippincott, now deceased, — Thomas Briggs and William H. Walker, both still conspicuously suc- cessful in the Philadelphia Agency, and the latter chosen the first president of its meetings in 1889. Miss- ing from this picture are William Smedley, one of the earliest of the Philadelphia Agents of the Company, then deceased, and Jonathan K. Taylor, General Agent in Baltimore after thirty-seven years of particularly active and loyal service, whose mastery of the business and forceful eloquence in its exposition has won him alike success in the field, esteem at the Home Office, and affection and admiration from his brother General Agents. Opposite page 62 is reproduced a photograph of the General Agents of the Company assembled at their First Annual Meeting. The scope of this sketch, unfortunately, does not permit detailed mention of all the General Agents, whose names will be found in the list which is ap- pended ; and not to mention all would seem invidious. In their several cities, they have deserved the esteem of their clients and of the life insurance fraternity. Many of them have performed notable services in their local life underwriters' associations, and have not in- frequently been called upon to represent their associa- [63] FIFTY YEARS tion as delegates to the National Convention, in which some have borne a particularly distinguished part. They have brought to their profession a dignity and an ability which has been welcomed by all who have had the best interests of life insurance at heart, and which is a happy augury for the second half-century of the Company. [64] FJ r —■——"————■"»— "(*0£- i r ~~-~ WBr^^^' ^ ) w* * ifj^\0^^> PMh - ~ iHH • |t -a /- uraffi jl \ ■'.' 0* j£*S^ . «*** "W— ""J^». '.*' **** ■ 4JNfc ^. #*%** 'Wtofr & \ r *^*r 4 : ■ ■ — #*h— - tf*RK^' / .'•**>• M- dthw^ 1/ 0* S J^" if c } > 1. . » - "•• ',»>•*, u FIFTY YEARS The problem which has occupied the Management during this last decade of the Provident's history has been to hold fast to the principles which distinguished the Company during its earlier career, while frankly recognizing that the extension and development of the life insurance business has been such that these earlier principles must be applied to new phases of the busi- ness. Entering the period with insurance in force of $177,778,748, this amount has been steadily increased to $316,615,000, while the insurance fund has risen from $58,696,148 to $86,509,727, and the trust funds (which are kept entirely separate from the Company's assets) from $59,412,548 to $85,134,905. It is true that the experience of American companies has now attained a scope which permits the tentative dicta of the earlier days to be replaced largely with data of scientific accuracy. This is particularly true of med- ical selection for life insurance. But it is also true that with the universal acceptance of the theory of life insurance, the agents' opportunity for a sufficient obser- vation upon which to base a well-considered opinion of the risk is often less favorable than formerly, al- though where the opportunity is availed of, the Com- pany reposes the same amount of confidence as formerly in such a well-considered opinion. The task which falls upon the Insurance Department and the Medical Department, therefore, is to meet these changed con- ditions frankly with an adaptation of method which [79] FIFTY YEARS shall perpetuate the original purpose laid down for the Company by its founders, namely, to obtain for persons living careful lives the cheaper cost of insurance result- ing from their superior longevity. How well this has been done is demonstrated conclusively by the mortality of the Company during the decade under consideration. It is still true of the Provident that its mortality ratio has been since 1865 smaller than that of any other com- pany for the same period. By amounts, the actual mor- tality experienced by the Company during its fifty years' history has been only 65.3 per cent, of what was to have been expected under the authoritative Ameri- can Table, and the saving in mortality is reflected in the large annual dividends which reduce the cost of insurance. In its agency management, the Company has the most loyal co-operation upon the part of its agency force in maintaining that high professional standard which has always characterized its agency organiza- tion. It has been very clearly realized that upon the agent who induces the insurance there is laid a respon- sibility which is closely akin to the fiduciary responsi- bility imposed upon the Management. Such a respon- sibility carries with it the obligation that the policy contract shall be clearly understood by the purchaser and that the so-called rule of caveat emptor shall have no place in the transaction. Under modern conditions, the insured not infrequently makes up his mind in haste. The conscientious agent requires an unusual degree of [80] FIFTY YEARS skill and ability to be able under these conditions to "fit the policy to the needs of the insurer" and, by making sure that the latter understands the contract, to bring it about that this contract shall give continued satisfaction. The Agents have loyally supported the Company in its avoidance of canvassing devices, which, while they might meet with temporary popularity, would eventu- ally prove to have been misleading and to have excited the reprobation of the insuring public. The Company has always been distinguished for the large proportion of its business upon the Endow- ment plan. Fifty years' observation of the practical working out of insurance has shown conclusively that the policy which covers the most needs in the largest number of cases, and covers them to the greatest satis- faction of the insured, is a policy which protects the whole period of the insured's expected active career and then becomes payable to him for its face value in cash (or, if desired, in instalments, which may be made continuous) should he survive that period. The pre- mium for such a policy in the Provident is for the younger ages actually less than the premium usually charged for an Ordinary Life policy, which is payable at death only. Not only does this policy give all the protection of a Life policy, but should the insured sur- vive, it absolutely guarantees the payment of the policy upon a stipulated date, thus entirely eliminating any question of estimate as to when the policy shall mature. Such an endowment is actuarially only a slight modi- [81] FIFTY YEARS fication of the Life policy, while the added conve- nience is very great. The decade has witnessed an increase of taxation upon Life Insurance, which has arisen from the failure of the public to appreciate that the taxation of Life Insurance is essentially a species of direct taxation. When the insuring public shall have learned that a tax upon life insurance is a tax which increases the cost of insurance to each individual insurer, it will properly view such taxation as in the nature of direct taxation, and will be guided accordingly. One of the most interesting developments of life insurance during the decade has been the rapid assimi- lation on the part of the business world generally of the fact which had already been seized upon by a few of the great creative geniuses in business, namely, that life insurance is not only a necessity for the protection of the family, but is in the great majority of cases equally necessary for the protection of business inter- ests. Space prevents the elaboration of the point. Suffice it to say that there is every indication of the growth of this form of life insurance until it shall have become as pervading a factor in business as is fire insurance. The Agents of the Provident have borne a distinguished part in this development, and one in par- ticular, Warren M. Horner of Minneapolis, has ac- quired a national reputation for his skillful presenta- tion of the subject. For such insurance, the low cost and security of the Provident has rendered its policies [82] ? Boston Office in 1876 Old State House Building FIFTY YEARS peculiarly attractive, while the character of its Agents has won the confidence of their business clients. The Fiftieth Anniversary date, Third month 22nd, 1915, was fittingly celebrated by a meeting in the New Century Drawing Room, which was crowded with the Officers and Home Office force and Agents, together with their wives or other members of their families. Joseph Ashbrook had been chosen to present the Anni- versary Tablet which was to be placed in the Main Office. Asa S. Wing spoke with feeling of his early recollections of the Provident, and of the changes inci- dent to its growth, and of his aspiration that the future of the Company should be worthy of its past. Jonathan K. Taylor followed with reminiscences of the earlier days in the field. In speaking of these addresses, "Be- tween Ourselves," the paper published by the Home Office force, said: "It is difficult to set down in black and white the spirit of this anniversary meeting. All of the addresses were of a high order which would have commanded the interest and attention of any audience, but this was a Provident audience, singularly in unison with the speakers, filled with the same appre- ciation of the occasion, stirred by the same affectionate memories of those no longer with us, and animated with the same high resolve for the future. Each felt his loyalty quickened, his sense of responsibility deepened, his pride in his service heightened ; and none can pos- sibly forget this Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of The Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadel- [83] FIFTY YEARS phia," and in an editorial: "It is only right and proper that we should seek to measure the success which has been achieved in fifty years of growth and progress. In honoring the founders of the Company and in noting the uprightness and wisdom which governed them in their management, we should earnestly resolve that in the years to come the Company shall continue to deserve its present reputation for security, for ability and for fair dealing. We have in the reputation and the tradi- tions of the Company a splendid heritage, in which each member of the Home Office force and each representa- tive of the Company, whether in Philadelphia or at a distance, has a very real part. The future of the Com- pany depends upon the spirit in which each recognizes this responsibility to its full measure. Many men have given their best endeavor to make the Provident what it is and inspire us to give likewise of our own best endeavor. The Provident deserves not only the best that is in us, but an effort to make that best better still. We want to bring a useful and forceful enthusiasm to our work for the Company, guiding ourselves by the lessons to be learned from those who have preceded us, and zealous that our Provident of the future shall deserve the reputation of their Provident of the past." [84] Appendix I List of Directors fife'cled NAME 0F DIRECTOR 1. 6/28/65 Samuel R. Shipley 2. 6/28/65 T. Wistar Brown 3. 6/28/65 Henry Haines 4. 6/28/65 Richard Cadbury 5. 6/28/65 Richard Wood 6. 6/28/65 Joshua H. Morris 7. 6/28/65 Wm. C. Longstreth 8. 6/28/65 Charles F. Coffin 9. 6/28/65 Jeremiah Hacker 10. 11/5/66 William Hacker 11. 3/21/71 Francis T. King 12. 3/21/71 Murray Shipley 13. 3/21/71 Wm. R. Thurston 14. 3/21/71 Augustus Taber 15. 3/21/71 Henry T. Wood 16. 4/10/71 John B. Garrett 17. 1/13/73 Henry Dickinson 18. 4/6/74 Charles Hartshorne 19. 2/5/77 William Gummere 20. 1/7/78 Benjamin V. Marsh 21. 1/15/78 Frederic Collins 22. 1/13/79 J. Morton Albertson 23. 3/21/79 Israel Morris 24. 6/6/81 Asa S. Wing 25. 11/6/82 Philip C. Garrett 26. 1/11/86 Justus C. Strawbridge 27. 12/6/86 James V. Watson 28. 8/5/89 Wm. Longstreth 29. 1/7/93 Edward H. Ogden 30. 6/7/97 Thomas Scattergood 31. 11/15/97 J. Preston Thomas 32. 3/23/98 Robert M. Janney ELECTED TO SUCCEED Jeremiah Hacker (9) Augustus Taber (14) Henry Dickinson (17) Wm. R. Thurston (13) Francis T. King (11) Henry T. Wood (15) John B. Garrett (16) Charles F. Coffin (8) Wm. C. Longstreth (7) Benjamin V. Marsh (20) Joshua H. Morris (6) Murray Shipley (12) J. Morton Albertson (22) Frederic Collins (21) Richard Cadbury (4) William Gummere (19) J. C. Strawbridge (26) Ceased to be ■a a Director 4/22/08 Died 40 12/22/05 Died 38 3/13/97 Died 30 1/10/10 42 12/23/85 Died 26 4/25/81 Died 24 2/10/79 Res'd 23 10/— /66 Died 10 3/11/98 Died 33 12/10/77 Res'd 20 11/8/86 Res'd 27 1/8/77 Res'd 19 9/9/72 Res'd 17 12/10/77 Res'd 21 1/6/79 Res'd 22 4/6/74 Res'd 18 10/30/08 Died 41 6/14/97 Died 31 10/30/82 Died 25 11/27/92 Died 29 6/17/89 Died 28 6/10/01 Res'd 34 12/9/05 Died 37 2/7/98 Res'd 32 12/21/10 Died 43 3/24/15 Died 46 12/9/03 Died 35 4/18/07 Died 39 11/20/05 Died 36 [85] FIFTY YEARS Directors — Continued First Elected 33. 9/10/00 34. 6/10/01 35. 1/11/04 36. 12/15/05 37. 2/5/06 38. 2/5/06 39. 7/8/07 40. 12/7/08 41. 12/7/08 42. 1/10/10 43. 1/9/11 44. 2/5/12 45. 9/9/12 46. 5/10/15 NAME OF DIRECTOR Marriott C. Morris Frank H. Taylor Jos. B. Townsend, Jr. John B. Morgan Fred. H. Strawbridge Joseph Ashbrook John T. Emlen Morris R. Bockius Henry H. Collins Levi L. Rue George Wood Charles H. Harding J. Whitall Nicholson Parker S. Williams ELECTED TO SUCCEED William Hacker (10) Israel Morris (23) Edward H. Ogden (29) J. Preston Thomas (31) Philip C. Garrett (25) Henry Haines (3) Thomas Scattergood (30) Samuel R. Shipley (1) Charles Hartshorne (18) Richard Wood (5) James V. Watson (27) Joseph Ashbrook (38) Frank H. Taylor (34) Wm. Longstreth (28) Ceased to be a Director 12/4/11 Res'd 45 11/6/11 Res'd 44 Officers of the Company Entered Service Held Office President 1865 Samuel R. Shipley 1865—1906 1867 Asa S. Wing 1906— Vice President 1865 (Director) William C. Longstreth 1867—1881 1867 Asa S. Wing 1881—1906 1865 (Director) T. Wistar Brown 1884— 1866 Joseph Ashbrook 1906—1911 1885 J. Barton Townsend 1911— Trust Officer 1873 J. Roberts Foulke 1881— Actuary 1865 Rowland Parry 1865—1882 1867 Asa S. Wing 1882—1899 1881 David G. Alsop 1899— Asst. Actuary 1867 Asa S. Wing 1874—1882 1881 David G. Alsop 1891—1899 [86] FIFTY YEARS Officers — Continued Entered Service Held Office Treasurer 1884 Samuel H. Troth 1899— Secretary 1889 C. Walter Borton 1899— Mgr. Insurance Dept. 1866 Joseph Ashbrook 1881—1911 1886 J. Thomas Moore 1911— Insurance Advisor 1866 Joseph Ashbrook 1911— Asst. Treasurer 1893 John Way 1910— Insurance Supervisor 1884 J. Smith Hart 1911— Chief Med'l Examiner 1865 Dr. Thomas Wistar 1865—1904 Ch. Med. Ex. Emeritus 1865 Dr. Thomas Wistar 1904—1913 Medical Director 1892 Dr. Charles H. Willits 1905— Asst. Trust Officer 1885 J. Barton Townsend 1891— 1885 William C. Craige 1913— Title Officer 1885 William C. Craige 1907— Agency Secretary 1896 William S. Ashbrook 1911— Supt. Local Agents 1882 Matthew Walker 1908— Auditor 1880 Lewis P. Geiger 1886—1912 1885 Lucius M. Allen 1912— Mgr. Mtge. Loan Dept. 1882 Frank H. Weed 1912— Mgr. Policy Loan Dept. 1895 William G. Rhoads 1912— Mathematician 1909 M. Albert Linton 1913— Associate Actuary 1909 M. Albert Linton 1915— Asst. Med. Director 1909 Dr. Herbert Old 1914— Asst. to Med. Director 1904 Dr. Samuel Rhoads 1910— Mgr. Ins. Record Dept. 1881 Thomas J. Richards 1910— Asst. to Mgr. Ins. Dept. 1909 Paul Loder 1914— Asst. to Mgr. Ins. Dept. 1905 Franklin C. Morss 1914— [87] FIFTY YEARS Growth of the Company Figures derived from Pennsylvania Insurance Reports (Amounts stated to nearest $1000) Beginning of Year ASSETS LIABILITIES SURPLUS Assigned and Unassigned Including Capital 1865 (Company incorporated Third month 22nd) 1875 $2,587,000 $1,850,000 $737,000 1885 9,127,000 7,173,000 1,954,000 1895 27,049,000 23,736,000 3,313,000 1905 55,465,000 47,181,000 8,284,000 1915 83,018,000 76,793,000 6,225,000 Beginning of Year BUSINESS IN FORCE Amount NEW BUSINESS OF PREVIOUS YEAR Amount 1865 (Company incorporated Third month 22nd) . . . 1875 $17,714,000 $4,452,000 1885 41,692,000 7,611,000 1895 103,672,000 12,917,000 1905 163,897,000 17,427,000 1915 316,615,000 41,963,000 1. Boston, Mass. 2. Cincinnati, Ohio 3. Cleveland, Ohio 4. New York, N. Y, 5. Buffalo, N. Y. 6. Philadelphia, Pa. 7. Pittsburgh, Pa. 8. Toledo, Ohio 9. Chicago, 111. 10. Baltimore, Md. 11. New Jersey 12. Eastern Penna. General Agencies Merchants Bank Building 30 State Street 312-15 Union Trust Building 706-10 Garfield Building 414 Singer Bldg. , 149 Broadway White Building Home Office 401 Chestnut Street 618-21 Oliver Building 328 Nicholas Building 1905 Harris Building 914 Fidelity Building Home Office Home Office Frank J. Hammer Vernon B. Swett Yerger & Ellis Saffold & Evans William T. Ferris W. Miller Scott Matthew Walker Supt. Local Agents Graham C. Wells James W. Crook James W. Janney Jonathan K. Taylor Le Bar and Kennard Abram Stratton [88] FIFTY YEARS General Agencies — Continued 14. Minneapolis, Minn. 15. Indianapolis, Ind. 16. St. Louis, Mo. 17. Detroit, Mich. 19. Denver, Col. 20. Omaha, Neb. 21. Topeka, Kans. 22. South-Eastern Penna. 23. Franklin, Pa. 24. San Francisco, Cal. Los Angeles, Cal. 25. Worcester, Mass. 26. Grand Rapids, Mich. 27. Wichita, Kans. 28. Kansas City, Mo. 29. Hartford, Conn. 30. Central Penna. 31. Portland, Maine 32. Portville, N. Y. 33. Seattle, Wash. 34. Norfolk, Va. 35. Wilmington, Del. 36. Richmond, Va. 37. Washington, D. C. 38. Albany, N. Y. 39. Syracuse, N. Y. 40. Portland, Oregon 41. Rutland, Vt. 42. Brooklyn, N. Y. 43. Greensboro, N. C. 44. Peoria, 111. 45. Atlanta, Ga. 1147-54 McKnight Building 1001 Hume Mansur Building 410 Boatmen's Bank Building 1218-20 Ford Building 911-15 A. C. Foster Building 552 Bee Building 516 New England Building Home Office Bleakley Block Warren M. Horner Edwards & Osborn Michener & Williams Nathaniel Reese Irving R. Cowles Thomas R. Hill Richard W. Deaver Louis F. Paret Charles R. Galbrath g -}vail&Eldredge 316 Merchants National Bldg 420-22 Slater Building 301-2 Ashton Building 907 Schweiter Building Bryant Building First National Bank Building Home Office 702 Fidelity Building City Building American Bank Building 323-29 Dickson Building 926 Market Street 707-9 Va. Ry. & Power Bldg 613 Bond Building Albany County Bank Bldg. 320-22 University Block 513-14 Corbett Building Wright & Young Building 164 Montague Street Dixie Building 220 Jefferson Building Connally Building O. W. Gaines A. H. Bennett J.R.Engle, Dist.Mgr. Ellis & Segur Charles E. Stockder Samuel C. Eastburn Freeman M. Grant Olin A. Devore Abraham L. Hanbey McLean & Egerton Frank Sheppard John Moyler Albert Stabler Landon & Coffin Guilford Tobey Dallas J. Sidwell Henry C. Farrar John S. Tunmore Paul W. Schenck George L. Humphrey Wallace W. Daniel [89] Appendix II In the columns of the Sunday Dispatch, during the year 1858, there appeared a series of articles from the pen of Caspar Souder, Jr., which record in considerable detail the successive occupancy of each property along Chestnut Street from the Delaware to Broad Street. These articles are preserved in an extra-illustrated scrap-book by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and are a mine of curious infor- mation. Thanks to the courtesy of the Historical Society, it has been possible to make an abridgment of the articles dealing with the properties now occupied by The Provident Life and Trust Com- pany, as likely to prove of interest to the friends of the Company. "The northwest corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, which is now graced by a lofty iron structure, built in intensely modern style* (see illustration opposite page 66) , is the spot where many years ago Plunkett Fleeson, Esq., upholder (i. e. upholsterer), magistrate, patriot and trainband captain, etc., lived and did business." His father was an early immigrant from Ireland, possessed of consider- able means, who gave his son, born in the city in 1712, a good education. In 1749 this son was an Ensign of the Second Com- pany of Associators, and in 1752 was one of the founders of the Hibernia Engine Company. In 1765 he was a signer of a remon- strance against the taxation of the colonies. Though retired from business, he was an active patriot throughout the Revolution, and in 1780 was commissioned President Judge of the City Court, which sat in the old Court House in Market Street at the intersection of Second. During his business activity, he was a consistent adver- tiser of his upholstery business "at the Sign of the Easy Chair," offering "maple chairs as cheap as from Boston" and "ready money for Horse hair and Cow tails," and in 1769 "American Paper Hangings, manufactured in Philadelphia of all kinds and colours, and *Built in 1853 and sometimes called the " Chrystal Building." [90] c s o 3 o a II PL, C ti o 09 u h "5 O C PL, H 5 FIFTY YEARS not inferior to those imported," explaining that "there is consider- able duty imposed on paper hangings imported here, and it cannot be doubted but that every one among us who wishes prosperity to America will give a preference to our own manufactures." In 1775 the advertisement is of "drums, colours and other military instru- ments of the most approved kinds, and will endeavour to execute distant orders with the utmost despatch." He was a contributor to and a director of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and died in 1791. His son, Thomas Fleeson, for many years blind, was a Baptist minister, living in Roxborough, whose daughter married William Fry and was the mother of J. R. and H. B. Fry, as well as of William H. Fry, one of the editors of the New York Tribune, and the composer of the opera "Leonora." Probably about 1800 "a three-storied brick store and dwelling was erected at the corner, on the site of Fleeson's old house. This building was remarkable for an extra- ordinary steepness in the lower pitch of the hip-roof. Above this steep portion of the roof was a comparative level surrounded by posts and rails peculiar to 'flats,' used for drying clothes. The plate which represents the Butchers' Procession, in 1821 (see illustration opposite page 90), gives not only a correct portrait of this house, but also of the picturesque medley of respectable three- storied brick and small frame shanties which then formed the north side of Chestnut Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets." After the death of Plunkett Fleeson in 1791, the property was tenanted as follows : 1794 Rev. Thomas Fleeson, Baptist minister 1798 Thomas Kingston, fruiterer 1801 Morris & Whelan, grocers 1810 James Cook, paperhanger 1811 to 1839 William Whelan, grocer 1848 Lindsay & Blakiston, booksellers 1854 F. H. Smith, manufacturer of pocketbooks, etc. 1859 E. W. Williams, fancy goods S. Frank, umbrella manufacturer (upstairs) [91] FIFTY YEARS "The building immediately west of the corner was originally a one-storied frame, painted white, and presented much the appear- ance of a respectable lime box. The old frame was afterwards demolished and a three-storied brick was erected on its site. This building in turn gave way to the four-storied brick store which now (1858) occupies the spot. The occupants of the property, whom we can trace, have been as follows : 1791 Susannah Boon, spinster 1794 Elizabeth Boon, seamstress 1798 Samuel Rickey, broker 1801 James Riddle, bookbinder 1806 J. Carter, painter 1809 John Black, plasterer 1813 Michael Keppelle, alderman (his office)* 1816 Harrison Hall, editor and publisher of the Port-Folio 1832 Harrison Hall, bookseller Fuller & Barstow, lottery brokers David P. Jones, hatter 1840 Coffin & Clifton, hosiery, etc. 1843 A. W. Bolenius, importer 1859 R. Hey wood, gentlemen's furnishing goods " The next property is now formed of two very narrow three- storied brick structures, which are numbered 405 and 407. The original buildings upon the site were mean affairs which gave way in the progress of improvements for a neat three-storied store and dwelling, which, still standing (1858), has been converted into two narrow stores, of which the easternmost has had the following occupants : 1791 Thomas Bradley, coppersmith 1794 Dr. Le Breton 1801 Robert Brobston, tailor *" Here was decided the famous case of the slaves of Langdon Cheves, Esq., whom the abolitionists attempted to carry off from his service." [92] FIFTY YEARS 1804 Richard Harding, dwelling Zalegman Phillips, attorney 1805 Stephen Clayton, boot and shoe maker 1806 Joseph Reed, attorney-at-law 1816 Miss F. Papegay, artificial flower maker 1834 Louis Brechemin, jeweler 1835 Charles M artel, hairdresser 1854 J. F. Fouladoux, hairdresser "Upon the site of the buildings just described there were the following tenants in addition to those named above : 1791 William Anderson, weaver Daniel Gosner, tailor 1794 Daniel Gosner, coachmaker 1798 Cary Anderson, widow 1801 John Rea, upholsterer Widow Gosner, shopkeeper 1809 John Dyke, hairdresser Mrs. Crossman, grocer 1816 Chevalier & Tanguay, jewelers "The western half, now numbered 407, has had the following tenants : 1827 T. T. Osh, bookseller 1837 S. M. Stewart, stationer 1843 Hymen M. Lipman, stationer 1859 Joseph Hufty, stationer and engraver "Joseph Reed, attorney-at-law, at one time had his office upon this spot. Mr. Reed, who married a sister of the late John Ser- geant, was Recorder of the City from 1810 to 1829. He was the son of General Joseph Reed of Revolutionary fame, and the father of the late Professor Henry Reed and of William B. Reed, late District Attorney and present (1858) Minister from the United States to China." [93] FIFTY YEARS "We come now to a lofty and wide four-storied building num- bered 409. The building which stood upon this site many years ago was an old-fashioned three-storied brick, which receded some dis- tance from the line of the street. The lower story was afterwards built out to the line of the adjoining buildings and handsomely fitted up for a store. The property has had the following tenants whom we can trace : 1791 Benjamin Peters, bootmaker 1801 Thomas S. Anners, perfumer 1843 Martin Rice 1846 H. F. Anners, bookseller 1848 Zieber & Co., books and periodicals 1852 McMakin's Model Courier* J. Smith Harris, tailor 1859 R. H. DeCou, tailor J. Spissall, engineer T. G. Andrew, engineer Benton & Brother, gold pen manufacturers Morris H. Traubel, lithographer." Mention is also made of the fact that at No. 405 there resided in 1820 the Rev. Abner Kneeland, originally a Baptist preacher, who had become in 1803 a convert to Universalism. Later, leaving the ministry, he became a zealous champion of infidelity at Salem, Mass., but in 1818 returned to Philadelphia, where he served as pastor of the Lombard Street Universalist Meeting House until 1825, when he once again relapsed into infidelity, forming a Society at the old Federal Street Theatre in Boston and publishing a paper called the Investigator. Indicted by the Suffolk County Grand Jury for blasphemy, he was tried, convicted and imprisoned. After his release, he left Boston with a few of his followers in 1839 to found the settlement of Salubria on the Des Moines River in Iowa, * Originally the Saturday Courier y of a large circulation and profitable. A lawsuit as to partnership rights turned out disastrously, and the paper became merged with the Weekly Bulletin, published by Cummings & Peacock, the forerunner of the present Evening Bulletin. [94] "THE YOUNG FRANKLIN" The statue is the work of Professor R. Tait McKenzie of the University of Pennsylvania, the pedestal having been designed by Professor Paul P. Cret of the Archi- tectural School, and has been placed by the Class of 1904 in front of the Gymnasium as a memorial of the Class. It represents the Founder of the University as he came to Philadelphia at the age of seventeen seeking employment. FIFTY YEARS where he died. He is represented as having been a man of ex- cellent moral character, although exceedingly erratic. He published in 1822 his own translation of the Greek Testament, and lost all his savings in a scheme to recover the treasure of Captain Kidd. ' 'The three-storied structure which occupied this site (411) is the same (with some alteration, to keep pace with the times) as was built and occupied by Harvey Lewis, a silversmith of bygone times. We have the following-named tenants : 1791 Ann Gibson 1798 John Read, merchant 1801 Matthew McConnell, broker 1809 W. S. Biddle, attorney Mary Curry, boarding house 1814 Edward Earle, bookseller Rachel Martin, boarding house 1819 Harvey Lewis, silversmith 1820 Widow Kempton, boarding house 1833 Edward Lownes, silversmith 1843 Margaret Christie, upholsterer George W. Watson, dwelling 1859 Fame Fire Insurance Company William D. Kelley, attorney* J. H. Randall, attorney George H. Coffey, attorney C. S. West, attorney H. M. Sturdivant, engraver Washington Granville, watchmaker." * William D. Kelley was the able and justly celebrated protectionist leader on the floor of the National House of Representatives in later years, to whom was given the affectionate soubriquet of "Pig Iron Kelley." A native of Southwark, and apprenticed first to a printer and later to a jeweler, he was of studious habits and read law in the office of Col. James Page. He entered politics and also became a noted temperance orator. Raised to the Common Pleas bench, his decision of the once famous contested election case of Reed vs. Kneass led to partisan resentment which, however, reacted in his favor and he was re-elected. In 1855, upon the formation of the Republican Party, he became a warm sup- porter of its principles and, resigning from the Bench, was a candidate for Con- gress, but was defeated. [95] FIFTY YEARS Immediately to the west of the Provident Building at No. 409 Chestnut Street stood the then-famous United States Hotel, where Charles Dickens stayed. Reaching Philadelphia late at night, Dickens said: "Looking out of my chamber window, before going to bed, I saw, on the opposite side of the way, a handsome building of white marble which had a mournful, ghost-like aspect dreary to behold. I attributed this to the sombre influence of the night, and on rising in the morning looked out again, expecting to see its steps and portico thronged with groups of people passing in and out. The door was still tight-shut, how- ever ; the same cold, cheerless air prevailed, and the building looked as if the marble statue of Don Guzman could alone have any business to transact within its gloomy walls. I hastened to inquire its name and purpose, and then my surprise vanished. It was the Tomb of many fortunes, the Great Catacomb of investment — the memorable United States Bank. The stopping of this bank, with all its minor consequences, had cast (as I was told on every side) a gloom on Philadelphia, under the depressing effect of which it yet labored. It certainly did seem rather dull and out of spirits." To counteract this gloom, it is interesting to note that it was on a property now occupied by the Provident Building, at No. 52 South Fourth Street, that John B. Stetson had the workshop which has now expanded into the enormous and successful plant of the John B. Stetson Company at Fifth and Montgomery Avenue, which is known the world over. The antiquarian will find in Watson's Annals a curious account of the Duck Pond at Fourth and High (Market) Streets, which was famous for its shooting in the early eighteenth century and formed the proper head of Dock Creek. Chestnut Street crossed this stream by a bridge, near Hudson's Alley, the present Orianna Street, which was rebuilt of brick and stone as early as 1699, but which needed frequent repairs, as the presentments of eighteenth century Grand Juries prove. In digging the foundations for the present Provident Building, great difficulty [96] FIFTY YEARS was had with quicksand which marked the course of one of the branches of this stream. When Franklin first came to the city as a lad of seventeen, in 1723, he relates that he walked up High (Market) Street as far as Fourth and then down Fourth to Chestnut. It is interesting to think of the young Franklin, with his scanty baggage, and his loaf of bread under his arm, passing the site of the Provident Building. On the opposite side of Fourth Street formerly stood the famous Indian Queen Inn, where Jefferson stayed for some time as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, which led to a per- sistent legend that it was here that he wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, notwithstanding it was authoritatively proved that the great document was written in a dwelling at Seventh and Market Streets. But another legend, which seems inherently probable, relates that Washington, after having assisted at the inauguration of John Adams, marked his return to private life by walking down Chestnut Street, with several of his friends, from Congress Hall and up Fourth Street to the Indian Queen, where he was to spend the night, thus passing the site of the Provident Building. The weather-vane on the ample stables of the inn had shot-holes in it made by the " Paxtang boys" in 1755, who had been lodged there after they had been dissuaded from further revenge upon the Indians. Across Chestnut Street stood the Cross Keys Inn, a quaint old double hipped roof house, which was torn down in 1803 to make way for the Philadelphia Bank Building. To the west of this, on the site of the United States Bank, stood the Norris mansion, which was occupied by several British officers during the winter of 1777 and 1778, and where Admiral Howe was a frequent visitor. On the east side of Fourth Street below Chestnut, and conse- quently upon the site of the building where the Provident had its office from 1866 to 1873, stood the Friends' Meeting House erected in 1763, and the Friends' Public School which had been built some years earlier, the latter since removed to Twelfth Street and known as the * 'William Penn Charter School." [97] Index Actuarial Department, 50. Actuary, early duties of, 18. Agency Department, 28, 30, 58. Agency Department, formation of, 16. Agents, 16, 30, 37, 60, 61, 80. Agents' Commission Department, 55. Agents' Meeting in Philadelphia, in 1883, opp. 60. Albertson, J. Morton, opp. 38, 85. Allen, Lucius M., 55, 87. Alsop, David G., 33, 50, 86. Annual Report, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 60, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75. Annual Statement, preparation of, 51. Armstrong Committee, 42, 43. Ashbrook, Joseph, 15, opp. 16, 23, 31, 53, 59, 61, 66, 83, 86, 87. Ashbrook, Louis, 52. Ashbrook, Wm. S., 54, 87. Auditing Department, 55. Baily, Samuel L., 23. "Between Ourselves," 57, 83. Bockius, Morris R., opp. 44, 86. Bookkeepers' Department, 55. Borton, C. Walter, 33, 52, 87. Boston Office in 1876, opp. 82. Briggs, Thomas, 63. Brown, Nathaniel H., 61. Brown, T. Wistar, 11, 13, 20, 32, 49, 85, 86. Business insurance, 82. Cadbury, Richard, 13, 20, opp. 32, 85. Capital increased to $500,000, 17, 23. Capital Stock increased to $1,000,000, 32. Carter, John E., 11. Central National Bank, 21. Coffin, Charles F., 13, opp. 34, 85. Collins, Frederic, opp. 38, 85. Collins, Henry H., opp. 46, 86. Committee on Audit, 25, 49. Committee on Finance and Accounts, 47, 49. Correspondence Department, 55. Craige, Wm. C, 47, 87. Curtin, Governor, 75. Deferred dividends, estimates of, 35. Deferred dividends, struggle against, 34. Development of Trusts and Deposits, 55. Dickinson, Henry, 85. Dickson, Samuel, 32, opp. 58. Dining Room, 56. Directors, first Board, 13. Directors, increase of Board to fifteen members, 23. Dividend, computation of first, 22. Dividend to policyholders, resolution to pay first, 21. Dividends to policyholders, resolution of Board as to "profits," 20. Eastburn, Samuel C, 62. Educational Meetings, 57. Emlen, John T., opp. 44, 86. Endowment insurance, 81. Evans, Thomas, 11, opp. 12. Expansion of life insurance prior to in- surance panic, 26. [98] FIFTY YEARS Fidelity Insurance and Safe Deposit Company, 21. Fiftieth Anniversary, 83. Finance Committee, first, 20. Fireproof building for storage of records, opp. 74. First Meeting of General Agents' As- sociation, 1912, opp. 62. Flitcraft, Allen, 61. Formation of Company, 11. Foulke, J. Roberts, 31, 46, 86. Fourth Office, Company's Building, opp. 30. Franklin, Benjamin, 70. "Franklin at Home," opp. 92. Friends' Provident Institution, 11. Furness and Evans, 31. Garrett, John B., opp. 36, 85. Garrett, Philip C, opp. 36, 85, 86. Geiger, Lewis P., 32, 87. General Agents' Association, 58. "Get-Together" Movement, 56. Gorgas, Murray, 52. Griffith, Richard, 61. Growth of Provident, 31, 37, 77, 79. Gummere, William, opp. 38, 85. Hacker, Jeremiah, 13, 21, opp. 34, 85. Hacker, William, opp. 34, 85, 86. Haines, Henry, 13, 20, opp. 32, 85, 86. Halstead, Walter K., 23. Hammer, Charles D., 62. Harding, Charles H., opp. 46, 86. Hart, J. Smith, 53, 87. Hartshorne, Charles, opp. 36, 85, 86. Hoag, Gilbert C, 23. Holway, David N., 23. Horner, Warren M., 82. Hutton, Addison, 17. Incorporation, 12. Insurance Committee, first, 20. Insurance Department, 33, 53, 79. Insurance panic, comment upon, in Annual Report, 27. Insurance panic, effect of abnormal lapse rate on deferred dividend esti- mates, 35. Insurance panic, recovery from, 28. Insurance Record Department, 55. Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking north, about 1880, opp. 78. Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking south, about 1880, opp. 80. Interior 409 Chestnut Street, looking south, present appearance, opp. 70. Investigation of life insurance in New York, 42. Janney, James W., 62. Janney, Robert M., opp. 48, 49, 85. Jones, Benjamin F., 55. Kimber, Anthony W., 11, 22. Kimber, Caleb W., 20. King, Francis T., opp. 34, 85. Le Bar, Frank, 63. Legislation in New York, 42. Lester, Barton G., 47. Life Insurance Investigation, 42. Life insurance panic, 26. Lightfoot, Benjamin H., 62. Limit raised to $15,000, 22. Linton, M. Albert, 51, 57, 87. Lippincott, Joseph, 63. Loder, Paul, 54, 87. Longstreth, Henry, 47. Longstreth, William, opp. 42, 85, 86. Longstreth, Wm. C, 13, opp. 14, 16, 20, 22, 85, 86. [99] FIFTY YEARS Marsh, Benjamin V., opp. 38, 85. Mason, Charles, 63. Massachusetts, entry into, 17. Medical Department, 55, 79. Meeting House and School in Fourth Street, opp. 96. Moore, J. Thomas, 52, 67, 75, 87. Morgan, John B., 49, opp. 50. Morris, Israel, opp. 40, 86. Morris, Joshua H., 13, 20, opp. 32, 85. Morris, Marriott C, opp. 44, 86. Morss, Franklin C, 54, 87. Mortality, 80. "Mortality Experience, 1866 to 1877," 28. Mortgage Loan Department, 47. Murray, Robert Lindley, 23. National Convention on Policy Loans, 73. New York, entry into, 17. New York Investigation, 42. Nicholson, J. Whitall, opp. 46, 86. North American Transit Insurance Company, 20. North side of Chestnut Street west of Fourth in 1851, opp. 90. Northwest corner of Fourth and Chest- nut Streets in 1821, opp. 88. Northwest corner of Fourth and Chest- nut Streets prior to the erection of Provident Building in 1890, opp. 76. Office Building at Fourth and Chest- nut Streets, 33. Office, first, 247 South Third Street, 14. Office, second, 111 South Fourth Street, 14, 20. Office, third, 108 South Fourth Street, 17. Office, fourth, 409 Chestnut Street, 31. Office for Organization, opp. 24. Ogden, Edward H., opp. 42, 85, 86. Old, Dr. Herbert, 54, 87. Orianna Street Building, 69. Panic, the Jay Cooke, 24. Parry, Rowland, 14, opp. 18, 86. Philadelphia Agency, 54. Philadelphia Agency in 1913, opp. 64. Philadelphia Agents, 61. Policy Loan Department, 55. Policy Loans, 70. Premium Department, 55. Premium Note Plan, abandonment of, 21. Present Directors' Room, opp. 72. Present Provident Building, opp. 66. Present Vaults of Company, opp. 68. Price, James M., 61. Provident opposed to deferred divi- dends, 36. Public opinion, laxity of, 36, 42, 45. Purchasing Department, 55. Rebating, 37. Reduced facsimile of Check No. 1, opp. 26. Reduced facsimile of first policy issued, opp. 28. Removal to Fourth and Chestnut Streets, 33. Report, Annual, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 60, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75. Reversionary additions provided for, 22. Rhoads, William G., 55, 87. Richards, Thomas J., 55, 87. Rue, Levi L., 49, opp. 54, 86. [100] FIFTY YEARS Safe Deposit Department, 55. Safe-deposit vaults, 33. Scattergood, Alfred G., 55. Scattergood, Thomas, opp. 42, 85, 86. Scott, William M, 62. Second Office, 1866 to 1872, opp. 24. Shipley, Murray, opp. 36, 85. Shipley, Samuel R., frontispiece, 13, 33, 61, 65, 76, 85, 86. Smedley, William, 23, 63. Smith, Joseph R., 20. Stability of Provident business, 28. Statement, 21, 22. States in which Provident is licensed, 58. Stockholders' dividend, first, 21. Stockholders, first meeting of, 13, 21. Strawbridge, Frederic H.,opp. 40, 86. Strawbridge, Justus C, opp. 40, 85. Supervision by state as to solvency, 34. Taber, Augustus, 85. Taxation, 82. Taylor, Frank H., opp. 44, 86. Taylor, Jonathan K., 63, 83. Tellers' Department, 55. Term insurance, 68, 74, 75. Third Office, 1873 to 1879, opp. 24. Thomas, J. Preston, opp. 42, 85, 86. Thurston, William R., 85. Title Department, 47. Townsend, Eusebius, 20. Townsend, J. Barton, 33, 47, 50, 67, 86, 87. Townsend, Joseph B., 17, opp. 22. Townsend, Joseph B., Jr., 49, opp. 52, 86. Troth, Samuel H., 33, 51, 87. Trust business, 76. Trust business, inclusion of, in Char- ter, 12. Trust Department, 31, 45. Trust Department, analysis of 1914 figures, 46. Trust Department, growth of, 46. Walker, Matthew, 54, 87. Walker, William H., 63. Watson, James V., opp. 40, 85, 86. Way, John, 52, 87. Weed, Frank H., 47. Williams, Parker S., opp. 46, 86. Willits, Dr. Charles H., 54, 87. Wing, Asa S., 18, 29, 31, 48, 60, 61, 83, 85, 86. Wistar, Dr. Thomas, 15, opp. 20, 87. Women, insurance of, 69. Wood, George, 49, opp. 56, 86. Wood, Henry T., 85. Wood, Richard, 13, 20, opp. 32, 85, 86. Wright, Elizur, 21, 29. Yerger, William D., 62. Young Franklin, The, 94. 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