The National tribune., 1885-05-21


policies in force to divide up ST, ,765, 733. of
which $10335. 500 would be the reserves and
surplus properly growing out of their own pre-
miums, and S7,433, ,SS4 would be the product of
reserves and surplus forfeited by other people.
That 81 ,433 8S4 of forfeited reserves and surplus
ought to have yielded to the families of those who
paid it in and had to lapse their policies at least
S17.OO0000 of paid-up insurance; that is their
"judicious penalty y for lapsing; the equivalent
of $1,000 apiece of paid-up insurance for 8, 400
families! Think of what that means. men with
families to protect who can look only to you
who called them into being for protection.
Isn't that a cruel looking pool? Is it right for
you to needlessly expose your families to such
lossi Do you wish to share the profits from
such losses by other families?
Seventeen millions at least of paid-up insur-
ance out of every hundred million written must
be forfeited. needlessy lost to the families Of the
multitude who have to lapse over $50, 600, 900 to
make good the estimated" profits which are
held out to attract Iontine insurers. The Equi-
table and New York Life wrote together over
S140,000.000 last year; it is safe to say that
good deal more than S100,000G00 was Tontine
or semi-Tontine, and the estimated" results
on semi Tontine are only about 10 per cent less
than those on full Tontne.
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE GAME.
Just imagine this business carried forward on
this scale year after year, until the results of
the old and the taking of the new travel side
by side in full view; over 100000, 900 new
business each year. and over 100000 of
lapses; and over S17, 100000 yearly of paid-up
insurance that ought to come therefrom, taken
from the families that need it, to make up the
more than 800 900 of profits to be then yearly
divided to the members of the pools! Where
in human history has so enormous a game been
attempted or conceived? And the one thing
played for is the paid-up insurance that ought
to protect unfortunate families! At least Si7,-
100000 year. when the game is at its full On
the present scale, taken from these families and
its price given to the players who can stay in I!
And now comes the Mutual Life with its
semi-TOntine "five-year distribution policy"
on which it has advanced its premiums % per
cent. to meet the increased risk" (of which
risk" by the way. there has appeared, as yet,
no explanation whatever;) and the Northwest
ern with higher estimates " than any others;
and several others with their own forms Of the
same thng-al inviting men to come in and
put at hazard all part of that protection
which is sacredly due to their families, and to
give which in its most simple, just, and abso-
Lutte form ought to be the sole ambition, as it is
the sole reason of its being, of life insurance
company. What colossal gambling it will be! !
For what a peculiar stake-the protection the
living of widows and childreni
= AN INsIEUATING PARAGRAPH ANSWERED.
AsIwas writing the last paragraph the follow
ing paid notice of the Equitable, from the World
of April 90 was handed me:
TOntine Agatn.
Gone days new business of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society for April % was nearly
n million and a quarter of dollars Has Presi-
dent Greene, of the Connecticut Company, been
hired to advertise Tontine?"
AT that rate they would write over $3.50, ,000,-
600 in a year. And just translate that fact into
the language of their " estimates" and repeat
it year after year for 20 years, and what would
it mean in Just that company alone? 1t would
mean that on every years such business there
would be over S2ll 100000 of lapses, whereby
would be lost to families full $60.000,OOO Of
paid-up Insurance. in order that they might
give S26,000.000 additional profits to the Ton
tine pool That is precisely what it would
come in time to mean every year in that COM
pany alone at least S60,000,000 year of what
ought to be paid-up insurance for families, who
have to lapse at least $241 100000, taken from
them to furnish at least S26, 900 900 year to
the Tontine pool! That is what the new busi-
ness of April % would mean to the world in
the light of their authorized " estimates" or
call it all semi-TOntine and throw off IL per
cent What an astounding scale Of specula-
ton!
AN APPEAL FOR THE FAMILY.
Dono5 misunderstood the President Of the
Connecticut Company" He we'll knows that
he is advertising Tontine; that to certain men
the very figures he has here given will prove
an irresistible attraction-men who are entirely
confident of their own ability to pay through,
and who care little or nothing where money
comes from, so it comes legally. He is not
speaking to them; he is speaking only TO the
men who have families to protect and who
mean to really protect them, and to men who
may not have seen the true character of Ton
tine. He is speaking in behalfo of families that
need protection. to those to whom alone they
can look for that protection, that it need not be
put at needless hazard to loss that the unfortu-
nate, the poor, aud the weak be not made the
prey of the Fortunate the rich, and the strong.
He is speaking for the pure benefcence of sim
pie life insurance so administered that every
family may get every dollars worth of protec-
tion the premiums paid by its own head can be
made to buy. He does not think that the ulti-
mate judgment of a clear understanding and
good conscience will turn upon a million and
quarter of new business in day. True success
is something else than assuming obligations.
The results by which life insurance is to stand
at the last will be the amount of protection
given to families, not the amount of which they
have been robbed. not the profits it has been
made to yield to game of chance nor the
magnitude of the game which has been set
going in its name. Yours truly.
JACOB l.. GREENE.
H,prEopn Nov n 1S0S