1930-04-25—Tarrytown NY Daily News—Lights of New York

Lights of New York

Tarrytown NY Daily News, April 25, 1930, p. 8

Lights of New York

by Grant Dixon

HEALTH AND FLESH

THIN MEN—and by that I mean those who are so attenuated that they are in a class popularly known as "skinny"—will be tendering a vote of thanks to Heber J. Grant, president of the Mormon Church, some day.

President Grant visits New York frequently. He is a business man who represents large corporate interests, and is frequently seen in New York's financial district. I met him the other day, and in the course of a chat he related these facts which will be of interest to the men who are in the "bean pole" class:

President Grant himself is well over 6 feet tall and weighs less than 140 pounds, some thirty pounds of which he only put on in recent years. For many years he battled unsuccessfully to have his life insured. He was active and healthy—and still is, in spite of his 73 years—but was always rejected on account of being "underweight."

"I'll live to see the day when you fellows will be glad to accept thin men as risks," President Grant would always retort to the insurance men who turned him down.

The other day he was informed by a great life insurance company that a long investigation had been carried on, with respect to thin men as life insurance risks. A "skinny class" was studied and the result of the investigation proved that this class averaged a little better in the matter of longevity than the general class which had been accepted by the insurance company. As a result—largely due to President Grant's long battle in behalf of the clan of the "lean and hungry Cassius"—the "under weight" objection no longer has its old significance.