The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 102

BROOKLYN EAGLE CENTENNIAL EDITION, SUNDAY, OCT. 26, 1941 16G Life Insurance Began In Boro Century Ago Continued from Pate 15 to policyholders, Becau.se of cloao family ties of many Brooklynites, agents who have served one mem-ber of a family well often have sold and serviced the policies of eight or ten or more in the relationship. 2,100 Life Agents in Boro There are approximately 75 life Insurance sales agencies In Brooklyn, with a total of about 2,100 agents. About 55 of these offices confine their efforts largely to Industrial Insurance, the basis of which is weekly premiums collected by the agent in person; the remaining offices confine themselves to "ordinary" Insurance, which Is sold in units of $1,000 and premiums are mailed in to the' offices. The work Continued on Page 26 elevated railway was the perfect solution to problems of traffic congestion, "Supplementary provisions and new forms of policies have brought the institution of life Insurance as up to date as the latest lightweight streamliner." Years ago life Insurance came to replace those early Brooklyn societies formed usually among people living In a single neighborhood lor the purpose of providing for funeral expenses.

Mr, Dykeman recalls that they were called "burial societies," the first syllable of the word being pronounced as the first syllable of "bureau." A point on which all long-time Brooklyn agents are In agreement Is the Importance of agent service jjo 0 "vy g) carrying total insurance under $5,000. Many substantial citizens had only $2,000 or $3,000 of Insurance. When they came Into the insurance market in the years Immediately following the war, sales went ahead with great strides. An interesting view of the agent of the last century was given by George A. Kederick, recently retired, who went into the life Insurance business around 1890.

Philosophizing on the changes that have come Into the business in 50 years, he observed that the agent In the gay '90s does not, In retrospect, seem to have been an effective life insurance underwriter. "But that is not true," he said. "Programming as we know It today had not been thought of and men bought insurance mainly for one purpose the protection of their families. Agents sold Insurance In packages, the kind of insurance that was most popular In the city at that time. Through the years they became better educated and the public did also.

New policies were invented to meet new needs and there were liberalizations to accommodate the contracts to public demand. Progress in Life Insurance "There's been as much of evolution and progress In life Insurance as there has been in the sciences or in engineering. The city is clearing the elevated railways from Its streets because they have become obsolete. The steel structures are accused of holding back progress and they must go, yet when I was a young man we were convinced the ance. Mr.

Edwards became president of the National Life Underwriters Association. All have passed on with the exception of W. F. Atkinson and Mr, Dykeman, who have retired. Misinformation Was Widespread In the early days misinformation about life insurance was widespread, all the older agents agree, largely because there was no general understanding of the foundations and objectives of insurance.

It was perhaps result of educating the public, that the agents have observed changing styles in life Insurance. For periods of years certain types of policies were most popular. The blacksmith bought an endowment policy because the alderman had one and so did the superintendent of the elevated construction Job. H. A.

Homan and Hyman Ber-man, two agents who have served the Mutual Benefit Life for many years, recall the development over the years of new policy plans, The first addition to the original ordinary life policy was the endowment policy. Then came 20-payment and 30-payment life. The most recent development Is various plans for providing income during the old age of the policyholder, though all kinds of policies are employed by the modern underwriter in building programs to carry out special wishes of the assured. The greatest spur to the sale of life Insurance, all agents agree, was the offering by the United States Government of $10,000 of Insurance to every man and woman In service during the First World War. This added 40 billion dollars to the insurance in force but its -greatest influence was an appreciation of insurance by the service men and by the people who stayed at home as well.

Millions of people who knew these soldiers and sailors their relatives, fellow workers and bosses too were Chas.F.NOYES Inc. REAL ESTATE BROKERS SPECIALISTS IN BROOKLYN and LONG ISLAND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY MAIN OFFICE 40 WALL NEW YORK CITY HAnover 2-7000 FRANK B. MORRELL, Vice-President CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME IN THE BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN brings such priceless scenes as this for the enjoyment of the thousands of Brooklynites who visit it annually. Its 50 acres of grounds include a former city dump. Sons, Inc.

982 Fulton Street Real Estate in All Its Branches Serving Brooklyn Sine 1881 Botanic Garden Is Visited By Nearly 2 Million a Year The present garden Is so rich horticulturally that It has been fittingly designated as "gardens within a garden." It contains about 20 different kinds of gardens including rose, rock, wild flower, Japanese, children's, water, wall, herb, iris, general systematic and other types of gardens. Division of Brooklyn Institute Grew From Proposal in 1896 From dumping ground to garden spot is the story of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, an educational institution with an annual attendance of more than half the population of the borough and an important factor in the cultural life of the community. During the past year it drew approximately 1,798,000 visitors. a' HfflW.i. Henry A.

Kent, $25,000 and land, and William C. Langley, $5,000 and land. The site lay between 5th and 6th Aves. and 57th and 60th Sts. No available records tell what happened after an apparently successful opening meeting, with an address by the Rev.

Dr. Francis Vinton, for the garden never advanced beyond the "blue print" stage, and the donated land reverted within one year to the grantors. The third Brooklyn Botanic Garden never existed except on paper. The report of Egbert L. Viele dated Jan.

15, 1861, to the Commissioners for the Improvement of Prospect Park, refers to the Botanical Garden, which Is clearly shown on a map that accompanied the report. On Vlele's map' the approach to the present Botanic Garden from Eastern Parkway, known as the Horticultural Section of the garden, is prophetically designated as the JW I 1 1 ri would develop and maintain thereon a botanic garden, organized and conducted along the lines specified In the act of 1897, and would further provide $50,000, "which sum or the Income thereof" was to be used exclusively for botanic garden purposes. The Institute since has provided more than 34 times that amount for the 31 annual budgets of the garden, in addition to an endowment fund of $1,382,543. The present Brooklyn Botanic Garden really is the fourth botanic garden in Brooklyn. The first one was the Horticultural and Botanic Garden of Andre Parmentier, scion of the famous French family of that name, one of the members of which Introduced the potato as a food into France.

The second TotanIc garden In Brooklyn was the Brooklyn Hunt Botanical and Horticultural Garden of the County of Kings, incorporated by an act of the New York State Legislature on April 9, 1855. This garden began with a subscribed endowment of $87,500, or $37,500 more than the initial endowment of the present Botanic Garden. Its chief subscribers were Thomas Hunt, who gave It was the former director of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Prof. Franklin W. Hooper, who first proposed the present Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

To him, more than anyone else, Brooklyn Is indebted for its Museum and the magnificent building which houses It on Eastern Parkway. This building was planned with Its main entrance at the south, facing what used to be known as Institute Park. Beta? both a scientist and an educator. Professor Hooper in 1896 conceived the idea of having this land south of the Museum building developed as i botanic garden. it was his suggestion that the proposed garden be conducted by the Commissioner of Parks for Brooklyn.

Bill Introduced by Brush In 1897, the late George W. Brush introduced into the New York State Legislature a bill authorizing and requiring the Park Commissioner of the City of Brooklyn to set aside and appropriate about 40 acres of the so-called East Side lands "for the establishing and maintaining thereon of a botanic garden and arboretum for the collection and culture of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees, the advancement of botanical science and knowledge, and the prosecution of original re Flower Garden. This area was added to the original site of the present garden In 1912. A second tract, then a dumping ground of the Department of Parks, was added on the south in 1914, thus extending the present garden from Eastern Parkway on the north to Empire Boulevard on the south, and resulting in a total of approximately 50 acres. The report of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for 1940 was the 30th annual report presented to the board of trustees of the Institute by the first and present director, Dr.

C. Stuart Gager. Joining SERVICE and PROGRESS Together 7 CHEVROLET AIDS NATIONAL DEFENSE Today, more than ever before, CHEVROLET ECONOMY is a Personal Advantage and a National Asset SAVES OIL SAVES GAS SAVES UPKEEP DESIGNED TO LEAD IN STYLING Chevrolet a Ions of all low prlod can hai new "Leader line" Styling, diitinctlv new 'Door-Action" Fenden and Body by Fisher with No Draft Ventilation. DESIGNED TO LEAD IN PERFORMANCE Chevrolet alone comblnet a powerful, thoroughly proved Valve-In-Head "Victory" Engine, Safe-T-Speclal Hydraulic Brakes, Unitized Knee-Action Ride, and Extra-Easy Vacuum-Power Shift at no xtra cost. DESIGNED TO LEAD IN ECONOMY Chevrolet Is the most economical of all the largest-selling low-priced cars from the all-round standpoint of gas, oil and upkeep.

Giving efficient service and keeping that service geared to the swift pace of changing conditions 'was the policy adopted by the People's National Bank in 1908, its starting year, and invariably followed up to the present date. Thus, our depositors have at their command the advantage of authentic, timely business information plus complete banking facilities to adequately serve their many modern demands. searches therein and In kindred subjects; for affording Instruction i in the same, and for the prosecution and exhibition of ornamental and decorative horticulture and gardening, and for the entertain- 1 ment, recreation and Instruction of the people, and said lands so set apart shall be used for no other purposes than those authorized by this act." With remarkable wisdom and grasp the nature and scope of the present Botanic Garden thus was determined. It was to be, not merely 1 a pleasure park, but an educational and scientific Institution, affording education for all in every aspect of plant life and gardening, and making contributions to knowledge by original research. And it was further provided that the funds necessary for the carrying out of this progam should be provided for in the annual tax budgets of the city.

$50,000 Gift From White Nothing was done but about in 1905 the late Alfred T. White, then commonly referred to as "Brooklyn's mast useful citizen." announced to the board of trustees of the Brooklyn Institute that two friends had authorized him to offer the Institute $25,000 to be used "for equipping a scientific botanic garden, whose primary purpose should be educational, provided the garden be established on the grounds of the Museum building." The pledge finally was increased to $50,000. It was an Integral part of this plan that the garden should be administered by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Mr. White thus is appropriately known "the father" of the present Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

One of the last orficlal acts of Mayor George B. McClellan was to sign, on Dec. 28, 1909, an agreement between th City of New York and the Brooklyn Institute leasing to the Institute the old Institute Park on the condition that the Institute Ask any typically enthusiastic Chevrolet owner, "Which is the most economical of all the largest-selling low-priced cars?" and he'll tell you without a moment's hesitation, "Chevrolet, of course!" For upwards of 30 years.the familiar Chevrolet trade-mark has been "the symbol of savings" In automotive transportation. And when you realize that The Finest Chevrolet of All Time brings you trim new "Leader Line" Styling new Body by Fisher of the same type and size used on higher-priced cars a powerful, thoroughly proved Valve-in-IIead "Victory" Engine and Unitized Knee-Action Glider Ride along with Its low price and low operating costs then you know what we mean when we say that, under today's conditions, Chevrolet economy Is both a personal advantage and a national asset. Ml nY IT PAYS BUY THE LEADER AND GET THE LEADING BUY PEOPLE'S NATIONAL BANK OF BROOKLYN 880 Quincy Street, Brooklyn, N.

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