Life — June 2, 1904 — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

ot ed er he ke yn. is “LIFES that could not fail to produce a wonderful esprit de corps. There is no place where one fecls the great- ness of the Prudential quite so much as in the vast granite piles which have been raised They y meadows as Gibraltar for the company’s home buildings rise above the Jer does above the . a convincing witness, surely, to the growth and to the strength of he Prudential. But they are not a cold, ray rock, but a living organism throbbing from vital contact with millions of policy holders. There are now four of these great uildings, all occupied by the company. In of the Di Section of One one of them is the Prudential’s publishing plant, which, in equipment, surprising as this y seem, is equal to that of almost any pub- lishing house in the country. Millions of booklets, two publications for the company— one, * The Prudential,” with a circulation of more than two millions—and the policies are all printed here, besides no end of commer- cial printing for the home office and for the The big composing room, the press-room with its eighteen presses, the district. agencie binde| wing and y with its folding, cutting, 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 build- ings. In every way there has been, in the arrangements, a conservation of energy and time to produce economy and cfiiciency in carrying on the company’s vast business. As indicating how vast that is, the mail coming to and going from the Prudential is nearly large as for all the rest of Newark, a city with more than 250,000 population and of great industrial importance. The mailing depart- Life adv, ment is really a big city post-office. And in ail the departments one gets the feeling of size that comes in the enormous government buildings at Washington. And it is as a na- tional institution that the Prudential alwa fixes itself on the mind—its fundamental idea of democracy in insurance, its nation-wide organization for spreading the idea tially American spirit throughout, all make the compzny worthy of its name, the Pruden- tial Insurance Company of Ameri To-day the Prudential is paying over 3co claims a day, or about forty each working etUement is made hour. On many policies within a few hours by the superintendent of the d sent immediately to the home office and set- rict; on the large policies a report is tlement authorized by telegraph. And on over forty-five 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, whether in dealing with the family where the policy is kept in the bureau drawer, or with the estate of the millionaire. It would be broad activities that hum in the great build- ing require an entire article themselves. So, too, interesting to describe the in Ne rk, but they would more than with the cquipment and furnishings of the buildings which, in the way of complete ad- justment to their particular work, are proba- bly unequalled in the world. For example, in the actuarial department isacard machine, invented by the actuary of the company, which can do all but think, But many of miniature, will be these things, seen by the nds who go to the World's Fair at St. They will find in the Prudential ex hibit in the Palace of Education a fine model of all the buildings, and also the fullest data concerning life insurance that have ever been brought together. But the last word about the Prudential is not told at any Exposition, It is found in the 5,500,000 policies which form a stupen- Entrance to Main Offices, dous exhibit on the value of life insurance in developing thrift, safe investment, and home protection in a nation. Of course, such an ble if the Prudential had not worked out safe policies exhibit could never have been poss that would mect the broad needs of the American people. ; STRENGT i H OF ‘3 GIBRALTAR Vero comicbooks.com