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Piscator-Then thy angling is of a kind with which I have had naught to do. Nevertheless, all fishing is alike in many ways; and such advice as I can give thee I shall willingly impart.

Venator-From my heart I thank thee, kind master; and now I am impatient for thee to begin.

Piscator-Well then, in the first place, remember that it is not enough to be a fisherman-thou must be a catcherman as well. Venator-Hah! That is shrewd counsel, good master. But what next?

Piscator-In the second place, it is one thing to hook thy fish, and quite another to land him.

Venator-True again! It is one thing to secure an application, and another to deliver the policy.

Piscator-Then must thou be diligent and patient.

Venator-That too is well said. I have sometimes repaired the ill fortune which has stuck by me throughout the day by continuing on into the evening, or by going forth early in the morning.

Piscator-Nor must thou forget thy bait. Few fish are to be caught with the bare hook. .

Venator-That surely is true likewise. One must use arguments that will attract. Piscator-Yes, and the converse is truethe best of bait is useless unless it be fastened to the hook.

Venator-I see thy meaning; an argument to be convincing must be sound. But may I not hope for good results by distributing tracts and leaflets, and by sending out letters?

Piscator-Yea, verily.

Ground bait has its uses. Distribute thy tracts and leaflets and letters; but remember that the fishes thus lured are only to be caught thereafter by means of hook and line.

Venator-That is a distinction I fear 1 have not duly regarded.

Piscator-Curb also thy impatience. Thou canst not land every fish with a jerk. Thou must give line to many a fish, and after playing him deftly for a season, thou canst draw him surely into thy net.

Venator-The truth of that I have learned by bitter experience.

Piscator-And remember that it is worse to lose a fish once caught than never to have got him on the hook; for if he flop back into the stream he will not willingly be caught again. Besides the water will be troubled and his fellows will be frightened away.

Venator-Is it not true that much depends upon the wise choice of argument in dealing with men of different temperaments?

Piscator-Indeed it does! Oftentimes I have caught with a worm a fish that would not rise to a minno or a fly.

Venator-I have noted that some men who follow my craft never vary their arguments, and offer the same policy to all men however their circumstances may differ.

Piscator-True enough. And there be those who fish always with so large a hook, or so bulky a bait, that if there be no great fish at hand, the little fishes cannot take the hook. Nor is it possible, on the other hand, to catch great fishes with a bent pin.

Venator-I see thy point. It is foolish to ask a poor man to do what a rich man may easily compass, or to try to satisfy a rich man with that which will content the poor

man.

Piscator-And remember that there are many kinds of fish. Thou must strike a trout quickly, but some fish must be given time to gorge the bait.

Venator-What next, kind master?

Piscator-Be diligent. Never stay in the

house through fear of a wetting, for fish bite eagerly if the sky be overcast. The successful fisherman must never refuse to wade into the river, if thereby he can find room to cast his fly so as to drop it lightly upon the smooth bosom of some distant pool.

Venator-I take it that the successful man must have great patience.

Piscator-Yes, and besides that, he must not be discouraged by failure. Experientia docet. Search out the meaning of every blunder, and thereby shalt thou teach thyself success.

Venator-Is there aught of truth in the saying that anglers are idlers?

Piscator-Not if they fish to catch fish. Success comes only with toil. The true fisherman is expectant, watchful, persevering, and when the moment for action comes he is keen and alert.

Venator-Is it not well to think and plan before setting forth?

Piscator-Truly it is. The wise fisherman is thoughtful and resourceful. He must know in advance where fish are to be found; what bait will tickle their palates; their times of feeding, etc. And the bait and hook and line and rod must be adapted to the kind of fish he seeks to catch. All this he may study out through the watches of the night; and he must be up before day to dig bait, and to gather his tools about him, and to put his tackle in good working order.

Venator-What is the significance of the old saw that it matters not what bait be used in fishing for mermaids?

Piscator-Simply this, that one bait is as good (or rather as useless) as another, if you go afishing for what can never be caught. And that suggests the thought that as there are some fish that will not bite at any hook, so there are some men with whom thou canst not reason, and who can only be secured as a man spears a fish. Thou must bring the force of thy will to bear upon such a man's mind, and thus force him to yield consent.

Venator-Is it true that shrewd men will often have the most success where bunglers fail?

Piscator-That also is true. Where others have failed, I have often filled my basket, for their very failure has left for me fish

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that would otherwise have been taken by them.

Venator-The main thing, after all, I take it, is perseverance?

Piscator-Truly. If one kind of bait or one fashion of fly fail, persevere until thou hast hit upon a taking bait.

Venator-Thanks, kind master, all this wise counsel I shall store carefully away in my heart.

Piscator-Do so, and, with thoughtful care and painstaking diligence, thou shalt become a cunning angler. And now farewell!

Venator-Farewell, and may we meet soon again.

DINNER IN TOLEDO.

Given in Chapin's Charming Home. F. P. Chapin gave a dinner on April 25 to his agents. Messrs. Tarbell and Cerf being also present. Instead of having the dinner at a hotel, Mr. Chapin gave it at his beautiful home, thus giving a very unique home-like character to the proceedings. It wasn't so home-like, however, but that plenty of business talk was indulged in. About twenty-five were present, but what was lacking in numbers was made up in enthusiasm, and Mr. Chapin announced that he had increased his business very largely this year and would at the end of the year show a still greater increase.

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FRANK A. McNAMEE.

Mr. Frank A. McNamee, whose picture appears above, is manager of the Society's Albany agency, and, while one of the youngest, is one of its most successful managers. Under his management the Albany field has been transformed from a somewhat unproductive one into a well organized, firmly established and prolific agency. The effect of this is that his agency leads those of all other companies in that district, and the Society has, on more than one occasion, extended his territory.

Mr. McNamee was born in Albany on May 14th, 1866. At an early age he entered the service of the D. & H. R. R. and stayed with that Company for about fifteen years. In fact as late as 1895 he was making fifty dollars per month as a telegraph operator. Wishing to increase his income he arranged to spend his evenings soliciting life assurance, and wrote thirty-four applications in one month, for which he received five dollars each. His contract with the Equitable dates from June, 1896, and his agency has, almost from its inception, ranked high among our fifty leading agencies, and his name very frequently occupies a prominent position among the fifty leading personal writers.

THE EQUITABLE NEWS

An Agents' Journal.

FRANK F. EDWARDS, Editor.

JUNE, 1900.

Lives there a lover of books whose heart does not burn within him when the name of dear old Izaak Walton is mentioned in his hearing? We warrant not!

Hundreds of editions of The Complete Angler have been printed, and new editions are appearing every year. And fishermen, and lovers, and parsons, and bankers, and poets, and philosophers still take delight in Piscator's quaint discourse.

This being so, the Equitable News enjoys a proud distinction in being able to publish a recently discovered chapter of The Complete Angler. (See page 4). The manuscript was found, so our informant assures us, under the false bottom of a seventeenth century chest recently repaired by a cabinet maker of London.

Why this chapter was omitted from the printed book, we leave our readers to guess; but that it is as full of wise counsel as an egg is of meat, every reader of the News will admit.

The following announcement was made by the President at the quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors:

It is most gratifying to the officers of the Society to be able to report that in all departments our business is prospering, exhibiting most satisfactory results.

At the beginning of this year we inaugurated a new method of compensating our agents, involving less expense than formerly to the Society on the initial premiums paid on policies, and designed to influence greater persistency on the part of policyholders. We never had any doubt as to the intrinsic merits of the change, although the new departure was made with a full knowledge that one of the results might be a diminution in the volume of our new business. As a matter of fact, however, our new business is not only of improved quality, but is greater in volume to date than it was last year. Moreover, our gain in the amount of assurance in force during the first quarter of 1900 was $3.000,

ooo greater than our gain for the first quarter of 1899, the gain for the quarter being larger than in any year since the panic of 1893.

The principal brunt of the change fell upon the agents of the Society and they have not only been loyal, but zealous in the prosecution of their work, and are most enthusiastic over the outlook.

The report submitted to the Board today shows a reduction in the percentage of expenses over the same period of last year.

In spite of the general tendency downward in the rate of interest on first-class securities, and notwithstanding the caution which has been exercised by the Executive and Finance Committees in the selection of investments, the average interest on bonds and mortgages during the year 1899 was over 4.73 per cent. and that on stocks and bonds over 4.48 per cent.

Substantially the whole of the life assurance business of the Society is now transacted on tables of premium rates based on the assumption of obtaining only 3 per cent. average interest on investments. It is obvious that this very conservative basis must operate greatly to the advantage of the Society, both in the way of security and in the way of profit to be made in the future on account of interest over and above the rate assumed, as all such profits will be credited to Surplus and thus tend to increase dividends to policyholders.

By thus changing the basis on which our premiums are calculated for new business, we are gradually changing the status of the whole of our outstanding assurance, because a very large amount of assurance based on a high rate of interest goes off the books every year, to be replaced by business done on the new and more conservative basis.

It is my opinion, with a pretty general knowledge of the condition and methods of the various companies, that there is no life assurance company in this country, or, for that matter, in the world, which is conducted with a more severe adherence to those fundamental principles than the Equitable, and this statement will meet with your intelligent indorsement, because most of you are in one way or another constantly made familiar with the operations of the Society.

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WANTS A STATEMENT DEMONSTRATED. What your correspondent says about the Rock of Gibraltar is very true. But it has often occurred to me that there is a serious weakness in that advertisement. It is a mere dogmatic assertion to say that any financial organization is as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar. It may or may not be. If it is, some evidence should be produced to demonstrate the fact. When, on the other hand, the Equitable claims to be the strongest in the world and publishes a group of mountains, the height of each indicating the amount of surplus held by each company, it is seen that the Equitable peak must necessarily overtop all the rest because of its surplus of sixty millions.

ONLY ONE ADVERTISEMENT DESIRED.

In my judgment the suggestion that one short advertisement should be used everywhere all over the world is sound, and I suggest that when that one form has been adopted, it be put on the back of every pamphlet issued by the Society; on the back of all pads and letter sheets, and in the corner or on the back of every envelope, including that in which the Equitable Record is sent out, so that every business man in the community will, after a while, have branded on his memory that one thought or picture in association with the Equitable. Secretary Alexander has said that the best motto for the agent is This one thing I do. Why is not that the

best motto for the advertiser? If the Society issues one advertisement to-day, and another to-morrow and another next week, and if Woods prints something else, and Wisdom & Levy something else, and Shields something else, and Hazelton something else, not even one of these many things will be fixed in the memory of the people, but if this one thing that we propose to do is done by the Equitable and every representative it has, this one thing, that the Equitable is the strongest and best in the world (if you please), will never be forgotten, and when an Equitable agent goes to a man to assure him, he will say, "Oh, yes; I know that company," and then he will listen to what the agent has to say.

WANTS "STRONGEST IN THE WORLD."

In any advertisement that is used, does not the eternal fitness of things suggest the name of the Society-"The Equitable, the Strongest in the World?" Or a picture of the building, accompanied by the same or like words? I think such an advertisement kept continuously before the public would result in much good.

Of course, in life assurance you do not see the direct results, but you get the public interested in you and your company, and the seed is thus sown for a good harvest. Then when the agent calls he finds a ready audience.

MUST BE CONTINUOUS.

In my opinion, there is only one way for successful, that is, paying, advertising; namely, to bring a name or a decisive word continually before the public. Let people see continuously a short sentence with the word "Equitable" in it, as, for instance, "The Equitable is the Strongest Life Assurance Company in the World," "The Equitable has $61,000,000 of Surplus," "The Equitable Gives Protection That Protects," etc. Have sentences like these printed day by day, week by week, and the result will be that to 500 out of 1,000 readers, life assurance and Equitable will be identical ideas. Like the Mohammedan and his creed "There is only one Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." So this one word will become as an article of belief-"Life Assurance Is Great, and the Equitable Is Feerless."

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