The Argosy, June 1904 — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

ture tests seeds at the government’s experiment farms. Here was where ee kept the large vision in proper focus. Gradually the idea took root and grew. Year after year the Pruden- tial added to its number of pohiey hold. ers. And all the time the company was working out a more liberal basis for Its democratic idea. But each time a more Jiberal policy was offered, it Was ke tested. * Progress with strength.” is the way Pr esident Dryden describes the company palma of erowth—the results, clearly, of vision and prudence. At the end of ten years of this method of growth, the company reached the point Wy here, it was be- lieved, insurance could be safely offered for any amount with premiums payable on any plan, either in weekly install- ments or at longer —— Within the five years 1886 to 1890, inclusive, the company’s ‘Ss assets increased nearly fivefold, from $1,040,816 to $5 084,895, and the amount of insurance in force from $40,266,445 to $139,163,654. The Prudential had found itself. The idea of democratic insurance had been fully tested and adjusted to the needs and conditions of the American people. Then. with a boldness which only large vision could have quickened, the plan was formed to make the Pru- dential’s idea known in every section of the country. Gibraltar was chosen as ihe svmbol of the company s streneth, and advertising—the telling of the Prudential idea to the people— was begun. At that time msurance ad- vertising Was a sca as unknown as the Atlantic when Columbus set sail from Palos. But, with a map of the United States for chart anda live idea for com- pass, the Prudential took passage in nearly every important magazine in the country, and thus safely made port in millions of homes. As the insurance idea was earricd broadeast in this wide publicity, it was followed up by the well-drilled army of Prudential agents. Again it was vision and prudence, and again the result was“ progress with strength . ‘The Prudential grew into a place of foremost importance, known mn every part of the world. The printed announcement—alwars attractive and sugevestive—had never gone ahead of PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG GOnnGsoo THE ARGOSY—ADVERTISING SIECTION. men bearing the imsurance message until sent by the Prudential, and this conjunction marked the epoch in busi- ness in which advertising and personal endeavor should be used as ecomplemen- tary forces. The Prudential publicity 1s accom- panied by wise promotion from a field force of over 12,000, some of whom have been with the company for over a quarter century, working in almost every State of the Union. There is no place where one fvels the greatness of the Prudential quite so much as in the vast granite piles which have been raised for the com- pany’s home buildings. They — rise above the Jersey meadows as Gibraltar does above the sea, a convincing wit- hess, surely, to the growth and to the strength of the Prudential. But they are not a cold, gray rock, but a living organism throbbing from vital contact with millions of policy holders. There arc now four of these great buildings, all occupied hy the company. In one of them is the Prudential’s publishing Section of one of the [ypewriting Rooms. plant, which, in equipment, surprising ax this may seem, is equal to that of almost any publishing house in the country. Millions of booklets, two pub- lications for the company—one, “* The Prudential.” with a cireulation of more than two millions—and the policies are all printed here, besides no end of com- mercial printing for the home office and for the district agencies. The big com- posing-room, the press-room with its cighteen presses, the bindery with its folding, cutting, sewing, and number- Ine machines, are models of cleanli- (CO@ ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED