The young company of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was growing with vigor. Not a local or a sectional, but a national service was envisioned. At the close of 1879 the company had 124 agents in its service. By the end of the next year the number had increased to 637. At the close of 1884 there were 1,566 Agents operating in 56 different key centers.

The vast tenancy of busy cities of the United States and Canada had been opened to industrial insurance. Many of the pioneer superintendents who served this new territory were to become leading figures in the company, not only as great producers but as trainers of men. Over the years, some had the satisfaction of "graduating" a great many trained superintendents.

The speed with which the business grew reflected the real need of the people for this type of insurance. The existing old line organizations had afforded them neither the insurance nor the service that they required. Yet the need for protection was urgent, and the company was obviously able to meet it. In no other way can we explain the fact that a business with limited resources, which had barely survived the panic difficulties of the 1870’s, could in a decade have attained major size.

The firmest kind of a foundation had been laid. When the company moved from its home office in Park Place to the new quarters on Madison Square in 1893, there were in operation 146 district offices with nearly 8,000 superintendents, assistants, and agents serving a clientele whose industrial insurance in force included nearly 3,000,000 policies for close to $350,000,000, not to mention the potential future policies for health insurance providers.()

It was not that the Metropolitan alone enjoyed such extraordinary expansion. The Prudential, operating from Newark, soon got into vigorous stride, as did the John Hancock. An increasing number of companies subsequently began to cultivate the field, because of the insistent demand of wage earners everywhere for insurance they could afford and on a weekly basis. Its availability in small units—a policy could be bought for a minimum weekly premium of 5 cents or less—and its method of servicing made it unique and desirable.

Throughout the years this form of insurance continued to spread, reaching all parts of the Nation. Eventually in the United States and Canada there were 90,000,000 industrial policies in force in more than 100 companies, for a total of $22,000,000,000. About 50,000,000 people were insured, more than twice the number owning ordinary insurance. A large proportion of the country’s total industrial clientele, more than 22,000,000, are insured in the Metropolitan.

It must not be supposed that this has been an adventure without its trials and difficulties. Many companies failed in their effort to write industrial insurance and opted to move on to other areas of insurance, such as insurance for pregnancy. Furthermore, there is little doubt that in the case of some other companies the insurance would have been lost to thousands of policyholders had not the Metropolitan come to their rescue by assuming the business. But, as shown in earlier chapters, the company survived its own difficulties and continued to grow, so that by the end of 1909 it had more aggregate insurance (ordinary and industrial) in force than any other company, a position which it has held ever since.

In tracing the major developments in the industrial business during the course of the 60 odd years since its inception, one sees that the change in the policy itself has been primary. The contracts of today, with their wide range of privileges and benefits to the policyholder, are related in name only to the policies first issued. Step by step the Industrial contract has been liberalized, resulting in a revolutionary change in this branch of the business. The lack of experience in this country made the inauguration of industrial insurance a venture into the more or less unknown, so that it was natural that the early policies should be hedged about with restrictive clauses.

For any misstatement in the application, the early insurance could be voided by the company at any time during the life of the insured. A policy once lapsed for nonpayment of premiums carried no provision for reinstatement and no cash or paid up values. However, as experience was gained, such restrictive clauses were eliminated or liberalized, and policy provisions and practices were adopted which provided more and more benefits and a wider range of services to the insured. It is gratifying to note that this development has taken place not alone in the Metropolitan but in the business as a whole.