The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-10-03

refusal 10y pay theso-clNed eserNcs
t:na.ed cash value Of surrendered policie
according to the tables, the companies
hare always insisted that men in good
health. are most likely to go out, while
sickly ones Say IN; 30 that, II retiring
amembefs should Stake With them their
ayeragspr compdtsas harso Of the eohrQpn
fund, the larger mortality among the re-
naming members must weaken-and per-
.haps destroy the c6npaayJ Admits all.
this, say the obiectors, and still it does
misunderstanding the yalueof policies bef
longing 70 mepRhp can not pay their pre-
miums, to swell The dividends Of tie more
fortunate policy.holders. The only just
and faiF rule f6f alrfs / withhold enough
of this valneiSitosj sscnte0 ia new
member, as good as the n who with
draws, and % appropriate ,hs money thus
withheld sacredly 70, thisspecial purpose.
lit Is not thus hsello r.Sqpetate the'in.
,jured vitality ofthe sverige membership,
but is spent in other ways, or contiscated
to thspse Of the; uainiugPOlies.tbl1ers
the company is open to the charge OF logi'
calinc9nsistensy in It's plans, i not q an
injustice 70; the members&h 6 cannot keep
up their payments.
1t does not appear that any practical
way of avoiding this reproach has been
found until the announcement just made
Iby one otthe oldest and strongest Of these
Companies, that It is ready tocarry out the
principle in question to oil its logical IT
suits. This company has, like all Others,
lost n large number Of policy-holders dur.
ing the recent hard times Unable TO
pay their premiums longer they have
abandoned their policies or sold them to
the company. Recognizugthe TACT thatthe
los OF healthy lives impain the strength OF
the company the managementhave Paidtnr
these policies u portion otthe reserve held
against them, and have set apart the rest
as a special vitality inndn to be used only
lin obtaining new and carefully selected
Lives, to recruit and restore the average
condition Of health among its members.
And now, in order to do this, they olerto
all personsot unexcepionable health who
will insure with them Immediately, the
use OF a proporionate part of this vitality!
fund in the payment OF their premiums
for the tirst two years. The plan thus re-
Id1ces the immediate outlay Of healthy!
men insuriing their lives, by thirty per
cent Of thcir payment and does this who'll
Ily at the cost OF these whose breach Of con
tract with the company hal made the new
lives necessary. ~ .s,ud al b,aE ,sus1.
II will he remembereditha tue same In
lstitution, the Mutual Life Insurance Com
Ipany Of New York, having found by the
Experience OF a generation that ordinary
premium rates / are higher than are
necessary tor1safetyI prepared in lsI3
Ito reduce theirs largely, but was debarred
from, so doing by the opposition OF
many Of its members, who believed that
their own interest in the company would
be impaired in value. by exacting lower
rates from persons entering later. The
new plan, however, avoids all objections
iof this kind, since the insurance now
granted to new applicants is charged at
the same rates which tho present members
pay; and the allowance of reduction
made to the latter is at the expense, not OF
the company or It's presen. members, but
solely Of those who have retired from it
As it is largely for the interest of all old
insurers that the validity Of the company
shall be reinforced by freshly selected
i1ives, they share in the benefits Of the
transaction, and that is the only way In
which it is iustior them to receive such
benefits; by restoring the average health
Efulness Of the whole membership, as II
would have Been had no one withdrawn.
The public willlook withinterest on the
practical working OF this plan, as a long
and memorable step toward the compile.
ton Of the application OF theory TO prae-
tice.in this important branch of business.
Should the company in question succeed,
before exhausting the special fund held
Tor this purpose, in restoring its member
Iship to the full number ii had before the
late long period Of depression began, and
Eby Introducing q selection Of the most
healthy lives among; our business men,
this brilliant successwil mark an epoch
lin the practice Of life insurance in Ameri-
ca, and will be q guide to all well managed
companies Of the kind for the future, in
the. regulation Of their surrender values
and in the appropriation Of the funds left
with them by retiring members.