New-York tribune., 1875-08-06

Great Britain. That has proved even moro
Improbable than the management Of the tele-
graph by a paternal Government. Its busi-
ness has been so slender that receipts
have scarcely covered expenses. Various
are the theories of explanation. One is that
workingmen in England do not care to pro-
vide for their famiics-a proposition put
forth by Mr.. ScudamOre. which We are
not uncharitable enough to accept. An
other suggestion is that the forms and
tables are too cumbrous and complicated
this explanation seems both sensible and
probable. In the fact that the Government
employs no canvassing agents to 90 among
wOrkmen and solicit insurance is, however, TO
be found the essential cause of failure. IL has
been seriously proposed to add this business to
the duties of the pOst-Oiiice messengers. III
that is ever attempted there Will DO no lack
for a while at least of comic pictures in Pnnch.
Think of p0stman. while delivering letter,
stopping to cxpOund to Mrs. Mullooncy the
advantage of insurance in the event or
her husbands death 1t was not great
while ago when the complaints of 0verwOrkd
post office employees additionally burdened by
the telegraph, found utterance in The LOad0n
working class during nine years of experiment,
has fortunately for the British po't-oice,
added little to its labors; to have to explain
the system to all corners, would fill to the
brim the cup of misery of Mr. Scudam0ro5
wards.
The same difficulty interpOses in this coun-
try between wOrklngmcn and life insurance
the absence of canvassing agents from the
field. The policies that workmcn take at best
are small, and the payments OF premium are
divided az much as possible. Hence the shop
and the factory offer comparatively unproht-
able ground to the canvasser, who gets COM
mission on the paid premium only. Consequently
insurance is not brought home to workinGmen
by personal effort, as it is to other classes in
this country. This, then, is the difficulty to be
s,lrmounted. That it is not insuperabc is
shown by the enormous business Of an English
company which makes workingmcn's policies a
speciality. One of tho causes alleged for
the slender business Of the British Post
Office Insurance was that the psiyate companies
having the field, kept it, and got all the appli-
cations for policies from the better and more
proydcnt workmcn. The rates of insurance in
Great Britain are generally higher than here,
especially if "liyi,lends" be considered: hence
it has been argued that English suc-
ces, in workingmcn's insurance - no crl-
ttaion for ours, and tho fact that the British
companies do little business in America is
cited as an evidence of the effect OF these
higher rates hore. But on the other hand, the
expenses of conducting insurance business in
Great Britain have i'll recent years become
,,ir,tnr than i'm this country, and hence only
two of or largo companies continue to take
many policies there. Tho increased rates
abroad may be regarded as about equalizing
the larger expenses. The fact, therefore,
remains that in Great Britain the insurance
companies have found out how to insure
thc wOrhingmGn; our companies nave not.
In these times. while the business is dull and
agents find it hard work to earn living. it
might be worth while to study the system
adopted abroad. Insurance for workingmcn in
this country offers an opening into fresh fields
and pastures new.