Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1881-05-14
PREMIUM ON DEATH.

The SPECULATIVE INSURANCE MANIA IL
PENNsYLvANIA.-ASro Ik:ELA-
IIoNS.
In its Sunday Issue the Philadelphia
Press gives striking sketch of the growth
of the life Insurance or rather the death
insurance mania in Pennsylvania. The
business is carried on by companies regu-
larly chartered under the laws OF the
State, W hich profess TO insure lives upon
the mutual plan. A premium is paid 10
the company when policy is issued, ami
when death occurs pro rata assessment
i made on each surviving policyhold"T.
There is nothing particularly ohjectiona-
bic in this method of insurance n long as
the contract is confined 10 the beneficiary
named in the policy and the company
which issues il. When policy Is assigned
for valuable consideration, such rs nat
ural affection, dependence or Indebtedness
the transaction il legal and proper. Ii Is
only when third parties, who are strang-
! e:S 10 the original contract, and who have
/ no insurab.e interest in the asSignOr, are
I permitted 10 claim a. a>Siguees that the so
called mutual Insurance companies be-
come dangerous TO society.
MUTUAL AID SOCIETIES.
Among the first of these companies
started IN Pennsylvania Was the /. b.
I Mutual Aid Society OF Lebanon. This
society furnished the model for Il large
4 number Of mutual Insurance companies
which have grown up in the same neigh
hOrhoOd. There are said 10 br loo OF these
companies i'm PcuuSy lNIuia, most OF them
being locatediu Lebanon. Dauphin, Berks,
Iemgh, Lancaster, Snyder aud York
counties.
BAD EFFECTS or THE CRAZE.
In some neighborhoods The mania-for
speculative insurance has taken such "A
hold upon the masses al thc people that IL
has actually paralyIcd business. Even
laGOriug men invest their earnings ip spec
u-atiVc policies, and when The person u-
sureG lives longer than was anticipated,
the aS,iguccS are ,orcly pressed for the
means 10 support their families. Many
of the spectators have hrnR reduced To
want, and are obliged Ia use the trans
fcITcd puiCitS as u sort of currency Ia pay
their debts. These companies are often
presided over by gentlemen who sIaud
well i'm the community, and who try Ia
persuade themselves that they are ConduC-
ting legitimate aud honest business.
Harrisburg j. one of the centres from
which policies are distributed, aud IL
seems that gentlemen connected with the
State government do not hesitate tO lend
/ the weight of their names aud influence
/ 10 the promotion of "dCath-bcd" insur-
anoc. The following ale the officers of
T commonwealth Company, located at iIar-
/ riSburg; Hon. John &. Evcrhau, prcsi-
[ dent; Lane =. Hart, STATE printer, vice.
/ president; Edward lIcuick, chief clerk
auditur-gcncral' office, secretary; Geo.
NJ
D., medical director aud commissioner;
! ). Boyd Martin, general agent. In its
| advertisement the company refers 10 the
following gentlemen 10y pcrmis-ion EN-
/ ccllcncy Henry VI. lloyt, Governor: Hon.
! VIM. L. Schcll, audltor-gcucral; Hon.
/ samuel Butler, State treasurer; Hon.
/ William y. Wallace, cA-uniled States
J Senator.
LEGISLATORS As SPECTATORS.
1t is charged that members of the Penn
/ sylNania Legislature are engaged la tho
/ business, aud in the course of n Conycrsa-
tiOn with a reporter an agent of the Cum-
! monwcalth Company said that three syn
dicatcs had been formed by Legislators
for the purpose Of iusuring diseased aud
| dying people with Il view OF prohtmg
thereby. There H. an old man" he con-
( tinucd, "liying near Sicgcrsvillc. LcLigh
county, named BcilenlIngcr, 20 years OF
age, n WORKOUT man. Representatives
Scigcr, Of LchiSh, Higgins aud SchIichcr
/ of Schuylkill, lave ordered policy on
! him. They have already paid me $50 for
! other cases, Mr.. Schlichcr drawing the
/ check. other members are after ne, aud
| will have To accommodate them"
"Ihcn there j. not much hope for the
! passage Of the bill now before the House
! designed tOprcycnt the speculation Z" was
/ asked.
"N0t the slightest II has no more show
! than have Ia bc President Of the United
! states. tell you, sir, everybody Is Ia
| the business, from the highest tO the low
! est, but there are none that take kindicr to
! il than physicians. There l. no trouble
TO get doctor to pass doubtful ease II
! YOU give him share In polio, OIL rot
/ ten subject
"What Mind OF n case do yOu recommend
rs the safctcst aud quickest paying in-
/ ycstmcntI'
zone with the heart disease, my boy"
with cautiou, look around; "it takes
! them of 80 quick, you know, aud they
J dOr't lust long once they gst ". But 4
! must be or; ! have an engagement to
! write up on old suOOzcr in the country.
| lie l. 80 years old and III put bin IN the
Peerless OF Shamokin. IL l. the only COM
! paliy which takes them at that advanced
age
ASSIGNED IL ADVANCE.
! Some Of the country companies main
/ tain agencies IN Philadelphia, but a. vet
/ the mania has not made much Leadway IN
/ the cities aud larger towns. Most OF the
J "subj jcc,s' are found la rural ncighbor-
| hoods. The spectators general pay t.,e
''subjacts" t2 for every 81 600 which lac
/ allows them la put on his life." For in
! stance, aD aged man vino will consent TO
/ sign an application for policy for $780,
/ 600 on his life gets 500 from tiic spccula-
/ tors, who undertake 10 pay the cash pre-
( MUM aud all tlIe assessments made by the
| company. When tl,e application is nlada
the subject signs transfer la blank, by
( which all his Interest In the policy l.
| yeste'l IN the assigpccs, who Of course arc
J the persons who solicit the insurance.
| From tlls li-t Of aged and infirm ptr.Ons
upon whose lives large iHyuTahc,s have
! been effected the following specimen
I eases are taken:
/ John Mease, Of Lebanon county, S. yrs.
4 Of age, and bcd-riddeu for sixteen wears.
has been insured; has risks upon bis Iifo
in various companies amounting IN Tho
aggregate TO $2yD,O,U. The policies hayc
been traded around by persons Tor whose
benefit they were issued, aud are now In
the hands Of bankers, siOFekeepers and
farmers, who were obliged 70 take them In
Dayment Of deDts owed tlIeID bg the sn,,r