The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-01-23
LEE AAURANCE.

er.1lsisg hat tLssensssl character q
he article is quito untasorable to Lite
insurance - ct present conducted, we
will call attention to these statements
and figures.
In 1872 the first life company was
in America; in 1861 there
we're sixty thousand policies, .i in forcs,
assuming one hundred and seventy
million. Of Soiisr4t Hfhs ten Years fol-
loving .ls6l-ysars characterized by. o
pletHora OF paper money. the rise Of
tspid and stnpeudous fortunss' Lavish
outlsy and the prryalencs OF lspeouls'l
tion.-.were remarkable for the steady
and large increase Of thsbasiness. by
the end Of 1871 there were in force
over eight hundred thousand poh-
ciea, gusrsnteeing more than two thou-'
sand millions of dollsrsl~ In 1911 alone
there were issued by'authorised conn
psnies of New York nearly two hum
dred and ten thousand policies. In
1854 tho total income ofthe companies
vas less than seyen millions, and their
total assets under thirty mil ions; in
1871 the income must have been one
y y H = a. D D
hundred and twenty-five millions, and
the assets considerably above three
hundred millions. Nothing more strlk'
ing than these figures can be adduced
to show tie favor life assurance has
me. With, the great power it has se-
cured 10 itself, and the trust that has
been placed in its management, But
there is another side to the picture
which il not so Aattering. ....
When . policy il issued, the contem-
plated method Of its termination is the
death OF the holder or the expiration OF
the term for which he was assured
Under the heads Of death" and "ex-
piry" ought to be found, therefore oil
or nearly all'.he policies terminated in
any Z given year. How nearly the facts
correspond with the reasonable e1pec-
tation may be learned from the
supual reports Of ths New York In
sursnce Department. These reports
deal merely With the companies au-
thorised to do business in that State
bu. they sover, nevertheless, a very
large proportion Of the business OF the
country. From them it appears that in
1864 (tbe frat year tor which returns
were classified, Of the policies terminHa-
ted Excluding those changed and
"not tsken.") but fifteen per cent ceased
through death" aud "e1piry." and that
; even this small percentage had shrunk
in 1871 TO less than seven and a hali'
The decrease in the number terminated
in the natural and proper methods has
proach 10 the uusrrseep - -
here referred to are surrender and
lapse" Unjust be understood that in
surrender the policy is delivered up to
the com any for small consideration
and is cancelled and that in lapse the
company con6seates to itself all, be it
much or little. which the unfortunate
holder has paid uponit it. With this un-
derst.nding, the significance Of the
following facts will be apparent. The
figures are taken. as before, from the
New York reports, and policies
changed" and mot taken" are not
considered. In 1864 twelve per
cent Of terminated policies were
surrendered, and ssventy-three per
cent lapssd-and lapse and surrender
swallowed up eighty-five per cent OF the
whole; in 1871 tventy.one and third
per cent were surrendered, seventy-one
and a third per cent lapsed-aud lapse
and surrender took the lions share of
nearly ninety three per cent. Verify.
something is rotten in the State Of
Denmark." In view Of the average ex-
perience Of the last eight years, it may
be said that Of every ten policies which
cease. but one will do so by death and
e1piry, while one and a half will be
gwen up for q slight compensation,
pud se,en and half will be yabso-
lutely thrown away by the holders.
The number OF policies which fail Of
their proper use would, perhaps. surprise
the general reader more even than the
statement Of percentages. In 1871 the
number Of policies really terminated in
companies Of New York was 124.275;
Of these 9O63 were. By death aud ex.
piry; H52l2 lapsed and were surren-
dered, Of which So 7O6 were by lapse
alone Wien ne1tt the com papies issue
their circulars and expatiate upon the
blessings bestowed by lite assurance on
the widow and the orphan, let them de
vote paragraph or two to the loss,
disa ppointment and vexatiou which in
some way or other. through it, are in-
dicted upon The thousands who wish to
ava | themselves Of its benefits and are
excluded
rHE HARPER'S FERRY PROP.
ERrY.
-.6 49, h"y