Judge — June 4, 1904 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SECTION OF MAIN OFFICE. sonal endeavor should be used as comple- mentary forces. The Prudential publicity is accompanied by wise promotion from a field force of over 12,000, some of whom have been with the company for over a quarter cen- tury, working in almost every State of the Union. They have the zeal of Crusaders, and it is kept at ardent pitch through an organiza- tion that could not fail to produce a wonderful esprit de corps. After all, there is no place where one feels the greatness of the Prudential quite so much as in the vast granite piles which have been raised for the company’s home buildings. They rise above the Jersey meadows as Gibraltar does above the sea, a convincing witness, surely, to the growth and to the strength of the Prudential. But they are nof a cold, gray rock, but a living or- ganism throbbing from vital con- tact with millions of policy-hold- ers. There are now four of these great buildings, all occupied by the company. In one of them is the Prudential's publishing plant, which, in equipment, sur- prising as this may seem, is equal to that of almost any publishing house in the country. Millions of booklets, two publications for the company—one, “The Pru- dential,” with a circylation of more than two millions — and the policies, are all printed here, besides no end of commercial printing for the home office and for the district agencies. The big composing-room, the press- room with its eighteen presses, the bindery with its folding, cut- ting, sewing, and numbering machines, are models of cleanli- ness and light. But, for that matter, all the buildings are as spick and span as a man-o'-war. There are subways, well lighted, under the streets, connecting the different buildings. In every way there has been, in the ar- Tangements, a conservation of energy and time to produce ‘economy and efficiency in carry- ing on the company's vast busi- — Again it was vision and pru- dence and again the result was ™ progress with strength.” The Prudential grew intoa place of foremost importance, known in every part of the world. The printed announcement — al- ways attractive and suggestive —had never gone ahead of men bearing the insurance message until sent by the Pru- dential, and this conjunction marked the epoch in_ business in which advertising and per- "Gl ness. As indicating how vast that is, the mail coming to and going from the Prudential is nearly as large as for all the rest of Newark, a city with more than 250,000 population, and ot great industrial importance. The mailing department is really a big city post-office. And in all the departments one gets the feeling of size that comes in the enormous government buildings at Washington. And it is as a national institution that the Pru- MAS THE STRENGTH OF BRALTAR HOME OFFICES, THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO., NEWARK, NX. J. dential always fixes itself on ‘the mind—its fundamental idea of democracy in insurance, its nation-wide organization for spreading the idea, its essentially American spirit through- out, all make the company worthy of its name, The Prudential Insurance Company of America. To-day the Prudential is paying over 300 claims a day, or about forty each working hour, On many policies settlement is made within a few hours by the superintendent of the district ; on the large policies a report is sent immediately to the home office and settlement authorized by telegraph, And on over 45 per cent. of the claims more money is paid than the policy calls for. From the beginning the Prudential has followed lines of great liberality. It would be interesting to de- scribe the broad activities that hum in the great buildings at Newark, but they would more than require an entire article themselves, So, too, with the equipment and furnishings of the buildings, which, in the way of complete adjustment to their particular work, are probably unequaled in the world. For ex- ample, in the actuarial depart- ment is a card machine, invent- ed by the actuary of the com- pany, which can do all but think, But many of these things, in miniature, will be seen hy the thousands who go to the world’s fair at St. Louis, They will find in the Prudential’s ex- hibit in the Palace of Education a fine model of all the buildings, and also the fullest data concern- ing life insurance that have ever been brought together. But the last word about the Prudential is not told at any ex- position. It is found in the 5,500,000 policies which form a stupendous exhibit of the value of life insurance in de- veloping thrift, safe investment and home protection in a nation, Of course, such an exhibit could never have been possible if the Prudential had not worked out safe poiicies that would meet the broad needs of the American people.