Invisible Force (1963)

[Music] listen the homie sounds of the town waking up [Music] there's Tommy Cassidy jr. delivering the same paper his dad used to yes this is my town it could be the place where you live too we have a pretty good cross-section of America at first only families like the hunters in the Witherspoon's then came to check arenas and the Schmidt's the Feld burbs and the O'Grady's and many more together we've built a town to be proud of this monument is to one of the founders of our town he was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence I knew him quite well I come here often permit me to introduce myself [Music] my name is John Hendricks Oh I've had other names too throughout history don't let my magical appearance bother you I can disappear just as easily it's all in the signet ring which is going to help me tell you a remarkable story three hundred years ago all this was a plain stretch of beach from this barren shores who then could have looked ahead and visualized our world today movies [Music] radio and TV and TV dinners the miracles of modern surgery even to the repairing of a human heart to prolong life automobiles jet plane Space Flight [Music] yet it took more than just work an imagination to create all the things we now take for granted one of the factors that have made our way of life possible is still a mystery to a good many people I call it the invisible force it's all around us right now but we can't see it it's like electricity we can't see that either but we can see what it does let's visit the harbor shall we ships always draw me like a magnet our story is closely associated with shipping that's why I see a connection between this modern father and a certain ancient Phoenician port [Music] ah good morning sir good morning according to the proposition you present it to me yesterday the cargo bond yes the bond you will advance me the money for a cargo if the ship I send reaches I didn't yell with my goods safe I repay you but if the cargo is lost the loan is canceled correct in return for which I must share my profits with you and I also share your losses if any yes but I must also hit here in Sardinia pirates Lian wake yes this is the season of storms yes and navigators sometimes they follow their noses instead of the stars well I know it where they spawned I am assuming your financial risk with you yes but I must add your fee to the price of my goods which is better to have Goods at higher prices or to have nothing I accept to bear alone the total loss would ruin me a wise decision yours is an interesting signet the helmet it symbolizes protection a good omen there's your bond regardless of what the fates may decree you can be assured that on this voyage someone else is sharing your risks with you and a good feeling it is it also means that now I can afford to undertake it my thanks to you go with honor may all the gods grant us a fair voyage by this time you probably realize you've seen the beginning of the insurance business and that insurance is the invisible force as early as 1000 BC it was helping extend commerce and with its civilization throughout the known world the invisible force continued to grow and expand for the next 2,000 years to meet the needs of shipping [Music] welcome to London town and the 11th century you see me as a transplanted banker from Lombardi over in Westminster King Edward the Confessor is building a church and Abbey that he hopes will stand as a monument to his reign for a thousand years to come and you know something it will but to explain my presence a few of us Lombards came from the northern Italian coast to England to expand our business of ensuring maritime traders and we are doing very well tonight a group of us are considering the application of a Swedish sea captain pray continue sir from Marseilles I sail to Genoa where I exchanged by silk trial thanks to Alexandria where I take on spices brought in by Caravan from there I returned to London Thank You captain autumn shield in general we approve your plans however our examination of your ship shows a need for some new timbers and caulking for it you take care of that and will guarantee your voyage against loss agreed you're the first French pit captain to come to us we'd like you to tell the others that we Lombard stand ready to help you in two ways because we have an interest in the vessels we ensure we make certain they're safe and by using the law of large numbers excuse me what law is that why sure I should say the principle of large numbers for instance suppose we ensure only two ships and one of them founded then the loss would be high on the other hand if we have insured 100 ships and one of them sinks then the loss is relatively small compared to the large number of safe voyage is completed by spreading the risk in this way we can provide insurance protection for each ship including yours at a lower cost will you please carry our cordial greetings to your countrymen that I will I could die gentlemen could dice your worthiness you see how we are constantly extending the invisible force it is now helping take ships to the far corners of the earth and back and in one of the corners men are going to discover the new world meanwhile close to home the need for another kind of insurance will grow born out of one of the most terrible disasters [Music] a Great Fire of London in 1666 13,000 homes and buildings are lost and many lives the city burns for four days and nights I observed the tragic suffering and the financial despair of the small homeowners after this crushing loss will London ever be rebuilt as dr. Nikolas Bob on I do something very simple to extend the invisible force and make it possible for London to rise again as a result I will become down as the father of fire insurance fire insurance on buildings and homes I never heard of it before well the ideas new insurance on land of course we've insured shipping in the high seas for many years yes well if it works so well on water why should it not be equally valuable against hazards on land and fires one of the worst exactly because we are insuring so many of your neighbors against that kind of loss again we can provide protection at a rate low enough for you to afford this is the period when thousands of Hardy Englishmen become colonists setting forth of their wives and their children to build new homes and new lives in America those who have turned their back from the old world are determined to create a new one where their ideas can flourish and freedom one of the concepts they carry with them is insurance protection in 1752 the people of Philadelphia remembering London's great fire organized companies of volunteer firemen among their membership are many famous names Ben Franklin yes child before we disband the meeting gentlemen now that we have a board of directors and they're going to get a charter I feel we need to change our name well I've always rather light hand-in-hand go for a bucket brigade yes but for a fire insurance company it's not it's not impressive enough have you a suggestion well no maybe John John well what about the Philadelphia contribution ship for the insurance of houses from lost by fire hmm look John suggests has a nice sound to it as poor Richard would say names should be like mirrors reflecting the true picture come along John we go over to the Gazette office and we clicked on this one okay Ben I think John Hendricks has given us a very good sound idea after all that's exactly what we're trying to do if each of in the company is so chartered others soon follow the idea of ensuring that spreads the young nation is reaching out beyond the mountains into the valleys of the Ohio the Mississippi [Music] ribbons of Steel following the trail of the Conestoga wagons helping to create cities and industries agents for the young insurance companies travel across America by any means they can operating father and father from their home offices and carrying the invisible force Westwood and deeper into the lives of the people [Music] in the late 1800s by the time this traveling salesman makes a call at a customer's plant the workers are protected by what is called employer's liability insurance the next step workmen's compensation with medical benefits for injured employees and financial help during recovery but even that isn't enough for instance this man is not an employee here fortunately for everyone concerned there is a new form of insurance public liability to protect you against accidents to other people on your property teams of horses cause accidents too for them we devised teams liability yet we have no idea how difficult insurance problems can become until the automobile arrived in the scene we thought we had problems in the good old days but they were nothing to what they would do in the future today we watch skyscrapers tower higher than the world has ever known bridges reaching farther than the world has ever seen industry and commerce are expanding beyond belief [Music] in the climate of freedom that fosters America's industrial expansion the privately owned insurance companies have been growing along with the country and at the same time helping the country to grow new forms of coverage and services are developed by the competing companies to meet new needs and to provide low-cost protection for our way of life my town USA has its full share of these things so does yours in this day and age the protection of insurance is all around us in more ways than anyone can number listen I love the Sunday morning concert at the bells don't you no doubt where you live you've learned to tell the bells apart too now that one is the nuisance Stevens church [Music] do you know how the invisible force helped to make a building like this possible from the first day of construction the unseen force was at work that's Carrie Donald I remember his great great grandfather the canny Scotsman carries the general contractor first of all to guarantee that the building would be finished in accordance with the contract Carrie put up a performance bond and required similar bonds from his subcontractors like Jeb Harris the plumber if Jeb doesn't finish his job properly Carrie's protected against financial loss Carrie also has workman's compensation on all his employees if any one of them is hurt you'll be taken care of in addition he took out policies for public liability just as it removes the uncertainties from the building of this one church the invisible force safeguard America's total construction program in so doing it contributes to our economy in other ways we may not always see consider for a moment the money being paid to the many construction workers the cost of all the different materials used and the salaries being paid to all the thousands of people in all the plants that produce these materials multiply this by the millions of buildings large and small across the face of our continent and you begin to feel the power of the invisible force power for our nation this giant hydroelectric dam also required insurance including a huge surety bond to guarantee its completion here another kind of unseen force is being born atomic energy new forms of insurance are meeting the needs of the Atomic Age [Music] our mass production and distribution system embraces the entire spectrum of risks and many forms of insurance are required to cover them all without such protection our complex business organizations would not function so smoothly and as individuals we could not have our high standard of living this is Eric Anderson and family on the way home from church one of their greatest possessions is their home they could buy it on credit because of insurance without this protection they either could not have borrowed the money or the interest rates would have been more than they could afford the Andersons know that if anything should ever happen to their home wind stalled fire burglary or even if someone should be injured on their property they will be protected against financial loss the man who helped them buy this low-cost carefree assurance whose business it is to help select the type of protection to fit any given need is Tom Cameron tom is an insurance agent but right now as a member of the local board of education he is concentrating on other things by adding a wing to the East End we can take care of the increased enrollment we know is coming now I've summarized the idea in these brochures you have in front of you shall we read and discuss them now there are about two hundred thousand independent agents and brokers in this country like Tom Cameron they contribute something more than just insurance advice to their communities they look for ways to serve his citizens it's a natural outgrowth of their business for service is a very heart of the invisible force watchful eyes and research and testing laboratories supported by insurance companies are constantly observing tests of all kinds of materials the more safety that can be built into things the less insurance protection will cost few are aware of the contribution our industry is making every year to fire an accident prevention [Music] in the continuing campaign against fire our inspectors work with the town and city fire departments to study the adequacy of the water supply for firefighting the location of hydrants the efficiency of alarm systems and other fire defense measures in the field of accident prevention trained men called safety engineers go everywhere looking for ways to stop accidents before they happen [Music] millions of dollars every year are spent on safety education one of the biggest efforts of all deals with safety on the highways thousands of accidents are prevented but more must be done the growth of America's huge auto industry has been aided by the invisible force because the majority of car owners could not have obtained the credit to buy their cars without insurance and few would dare to drive without it [Music] what can we do about auto wrecks this car was skidded into a ditch by a drunken driver we can impose heavy penalties for drunken driving and this one was run through a red light by a woman who had 10 traffic tickets we can take driving privileges away from people with bad records her teenager was speeding studies show that more accidents are caused by male drivers under 25 than by any of the group so insurance cost them more on the other hand it is also a fact that teenagers who take driver education in school have fewer accidents so most companies give them the discount [Music] the average car owner is more conscious of the cost of his automobile insurance than he is of most other forms he sometimes wonders by what mysterious process the rates or premiums are set Auto rates in any given area reflect the number of accidents and their cost the process is not mysterious really it's all quite scientific [Music] most rates are computed by rating Europe these experts are called actuaries they work in all fields automobile fire liability tests and so forth they are specialists in the assembling and analyzing of facts and losses which are then run through computers in this way rates are established which will be sufficient to pay for losses but will not be excessive here again the principle of large numbers apply on the basis of experience insurance men know that about one out of four automobiles in the road today will meet with an accident in a given year and we have drivers by the millions there are hundreds of competing companies selling all types of insurance these companies are owned by millions of people stockholders and policyholders this makes it a typically American business of the people for the people [Music] the big wins leave as suddenly as they come born in the storms of the Seas 3,000 years ago insurance protects us today from the storms of the land and as quickly as the tempest dies the insurance adjusters are there to pay claims fairly and promptly in addition to homeowners insurance may also reimburse store owners for the visits they have lost because of fire or other catastrophes yes the invisible force enables the victims of disasters like this to build again to pick up the pieces and to go on with their lives [Music] well we've come to the end of our day and the end of a three thousand year journey through time I've shown you the invisible force how it began how it grew and how it works today you'll recognize it all around you a penetrating and far-reaching force that means better living for us all you