The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1869-10-08
Insurance of Women.

IL seems that the hallway Passenger
Company insures only against death. and
will not compensate them for accident, rs
It does men. The ticket Of insurance
states this In It's conditions. Thereupon
some jealous people have rushcd Into
print and denounced tho insurance COM
pany rs .mcan," "swindling," discriminn-
ting against women. etc. Women are
not insured as men are, simply because
they arc women. There Is no doubt that
such Is the fact. The insurance compa-
nies are not charitable. but business con-
Germs, and they take risks that will pay.
on the whole average, and not those that
will consume their capital In tho least
possible time. 1t Is fact, which the In.
surancc companies have learned At consid-
crable cost, that It don't pay TO insure wo-
men against accident and mako compen-
sation therefor, on anything like the rates
fixed for men.
When the accident companies first start
cd. they wrote policies for women and
children indiscriminately. They tried II
for some years they lost money, and
abandoned thefeld to anybody who want
ed to enter Il. They say that thero arc
good many reasons why they can not af.
ford TO insure women against accident.
some are external, some physiological.
some moral, none Of them have been ar
rived at by theorizing. Woman's dress
renders her moro liable TO accident than
mans In travelling. getting In and out OF
cars or wagons, In mills among machin-
cry, In domestic work from clothes catch
ing fire, etc. Then again slight accident
that nihn would not feel will disable her,
rude Jar, even fright at times, which
would have no effect upon mans entire
" different organization. Women have
received some internal injury which
would keep them In bed q week. from
stepping down from carriage. where .
man would not have been Jared. Then,
again, the companies found great difficult
ty In ascertaining what injuries did ''in.
capacitate women from business" Many
of them hadn't any business except to di.
rect about house keeping. and itiwas found
that II such were injured( though II might
be something that man wouldn't mind
they were quite apt to lie the permitted
number of weeks upon the sofa and draw
their compensation. They had no special
motive to get well and be abroad, as men
have, and Il was fonnd that they were no.
honester than men /; In fact, that Il was
very difficult to tell what did all n wom-
an In great many ofthc cases Of claims for
compensation. With women Il seemed
impossible to get o proper dcination Of tho
word accident.
II Is true also that none Of the life In
surance companies are especially anxious
to write policies for women. The larger
portion OF losses paid on lives goes to wo-
men and children. 50 that they arc tho
beneficiaries, and In this case, have no
cause to complain of the companies rs q
rule. But the risk of insuring women, In
tho present state Of feeling about insur-
ance, Il greater than In insuring men.
This ought not to be true. for women arc
rs longed.liycd n men. and II Is only ex.
planned by remarkable fhct which the
companies have learned by experience.
If all wamen would insure, that Is as gen.
orally rs men do. the risks on them would
pay. But It Il a fact that, rs q rule, health
y womerf don't apply for policies. II Is
when woman feels u premonition OF
some disorder, or has some trouble that
may or may not be apparent to tho exam.
liner, that she applies, and the companies
say that In such cases neither she nor her
husband Is aptto disclose tho real state OF
thu case