The Sociology of Life Insurance© 1928
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CHAPTER VIII

LIFE INSURANCE: A PROMOTER OF THRIFT

Thrift is the foundation upon which the success of
an individual or a nation is built. It is one of the
distinguishing marks of civilization, since it manifests
man’s providence for the morrow. It is the exercise
of prudence and foresight in the accumulation of
goods or their equivalent for future use and is a habit
which distinguishes the civilized man from the sav-
age. Under our present organization of society, it is
imperative that every individual be thrifty, at least
to some degree, to prevent his ultimately becoming
dependent upon society for a living. For the vast
majority of people, the degree of their thriftiness
measures their success in life, at least financially or in
terms of material measures.

Measures of Thrift
Though the thrift of a nation is usually measured
in terms of its aggregate amount of annual money
savings, it applies just as fully to time and energy.
He who is prodigal of the time he wastes or the en-
ergy he expends uselessly is just as much of a spend-
thrift as he who spends money lavishly on extravagant
luxuries.
It is practically impossible to measure the extent
of even our annual money savings, since the full sig-
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