Eastern times., 1853-04-14
Life Insurance

Mr.. EDrToR Some time since you pub
lished an article from the Tribune relating to
Life Insurance. Since then the iaclosed arti-
Gle has been published in the Tribune in reply
to the first, and hope you will give the in
closed place in your columns, as it is but fair
that both sides should be heard VER1rAs.
We believe the public are not posted I'D
on this subject. Will any Of The Mutual
Life Insurance Companies tell The commnni.
" what they mean by talking abou, a guar
dntee capital 10 provide against all possible
that this so much advertised capital is no
capital whateverI But consists of The sim
pie notes of individuals entrusted TO their
of The concern And suppose it could be
shown that few men, who give these notes
10 themselves, obtain six per cent. per an
nun for permitting their notes to lie in The
safe keeping of their own agents, and when
Ihe collector Of taxes calls, their notes are
shown 10 be no capital, but are advertised as
a large guarantee capital TO the insured
But the Chief objection we have is, that
Life Insurance will not PAYS not a good
investment, we mean. And this fact we dis
covered accidentally. We throw out of the
question the numherless Contingencies and
exceptions which come in TO break up pol
icy, even after one has paid large sums on it,
intemperance, suicide, and death in riot,
and other causes which vacate apolicy, leay-
ing the door open for any amount of lilisa-
ton after one has departed this life. We
throw out all The chaDces Of the failure of
these concerns, and assume them to be per-
cacr ,k,,c 49, ~,
10 come, as they must be 10 be of any value.
We pass over The fact that they are some
times clique or family, concern, eminently
calculated by salaries and commissions TO
enrich the few at The expense of the many
who pay the annual demands on the policies.
We pass over the chance of fraud now, or
prospective fraud in another half century,
We omit all the chances Of mlsmanagement
and failure wlich for year would be slght,
but for long series Of years would be large.
We omit, also, The fact of enormous profits
made, and made necessary, TO pay all the
agents and officers. These expenses may be
guessed when we affirm that the local insur-
Ing agent has ten ger cent. of the money he
receives, as his own, and five per cent. per
annum for what are called renewals. e.
annual payments. These things and much
uIONC VIC UlIpnt uCu. Dut llIe CIHClleT-tDdt
which fixed US, was the calculation we once
made after having been insured for a few
thousand dollars, and paying therefor the
stipulated premium. We were insured with
entire simplicity, and without the remotest
idea OF cheating ourselves. Indeed. that is
a proclivity in which we are not inclined. 80
We became insured on the strength Of rep
reservations that if we should be SO lucky as
10 die in year or so, certain heirs apparent
would make money out Of their paternal's
death, and some lonely widow TO be, would
ind hope in the insurance funds for another
set up. HOW much we have confessed and
done penance for placing such temptations
in the way Of feeble human nature. Now
we think Of it, we might have suspected, (for
even Othello,was suspicious) that The cher
ished policy might have divided the stream
Of regard. But these we're after Thoughts
We found by calculation Of interest COM
pounded, that unless we fastened TO throw
off this mortal coil, we had made a mighty
mean trade. And we include TO the concu-
sion that the saving banks are the true plac-
es of small deposits. We found il was man.
ifesly against our interest TO live--or against
our interest 10 be insured land choosing the
cheaper remedy, let the policy slide. '''