The Portland daily press., 1885-02-21
OFFICIAL OPINIONS.
What is Thought Of Cooperative
Life Insurance by the Men
Who Understand 1t.
Testimony Of Insurance Commissioners
and Ex-InsuraBce Commissioners
of the United States-Fr0m
Their OficiaI Reports.

knowledge and experience with them gives me
no faith in their stability.
do not view them as being really life insur-
ance companies fit TO be compared in RESPONSE
bility and likelihood of fulfilling their promis-
es to the well known old line organizations.
They cannot give insurance as cheap for any
reasonable length OF time as the old line compa-
Mes The opportunities for dishonest manage
ment in them are greater than in the old or
ganizations."
Opinion of Hon. julius L. Clarke of Massa-
chuSettS.
"As substitute for pure and genuine life
insurance. the whole cooperative scheme is q
wretched failure, unworthy moments con-
Hideration."
Opinion of Hon. w. S. Relfe, Insurance Com.
missioner of Missouri.
From their very nature, leaving out of
view all questions of fraud and mismanage-
ment, they must be short lived, and hence on
ly those members comparatively soon after be.
coming such may reasonably expect to have
their death losses paid. No society doing life
business, which ignores or disregards the NOR
tality tables and interest accumulations as
these do, can hope to be successful. In the
matter OF levying false and fraudulent assess
ments, and in swindling their members in the
settlement of death losses the opportun-
1ty is unlimited, and there is absolutely
no check upon or protection against dishonest
management"
Opinion Of Hon. John W. Stedpaor er-Insur-
Gace Commissioner of Connecticat.
Assessment life insurance societies are un-
sound in theory, and their tenure of life but
temporary"
Opinion Of Hon. Elizur WRIGHT. e1-Iasuronce
Commissioner of Massachusetts.
"If the cooperative scheme is to be called
insurance at ell, it is merely temporary insur-
ance on credit. just as sure as the down-hill
road OF life grows sleeper and sleeper, and the
demands on the living members become CORE
spondingly heavier, this credit will prove
failure. The hale members will cease to nav.
The moribund will be disappointed They have
been thus far apparently insured to the full
| value OF the money they have paid. If the
Insurance had really been of good quality, it
might be said they enjoyed all they paid for.
But the insurance has been miserably imper-
| feet, because it all the while ran the risk of
what has now happened. They have con-
| tributed largely to the indemnify of others,
aud are now, when health has failed, and no
sound company will admit them, left in the
| lurch as to their own"
| Opinion of Hon. Oliver PiUsbury, Insurance
Commissioner of New Hampshire.
similar companies, after brief existence
have proved disastrous failures, enriching
lew officers only, and leaving their deluded
victims to claw at the air."
| Hon. Henry @. Kelsey, Insurance Commissioner
Of Neac Jersey.
Reports that no outside assessment company
| is permitted to do business in New Jersey and
that he is happy to say there is little prospect Of
| change in the law in that respect"
| Opinion of Hon. Joseph II. Wright, Insurance
Commissioner of Ohio.
| At meeting of State Insurance Commits
sioners in Massachusetts,, Mr.. Wright said
that the multiplication of these societies was
| the result OF the people not informing them
| selves concerning the laws and experience of
| life insurance; that if they should 80 inform
themselves they would soon see that the CO.
| operative plan was the more costly one in the
end
| Opinion Of Hon. a. r. MGiN, Insurance
| Commissioner of Minnesota.
II consider the existence of these societies to
be at al times precarious; that the history of
| the co-operatives condemns both the theory
| and its practice; that they lack the adhesive
ness, stability, financial strength and other ele-
ments OF permaDence, which the old system 80
| eminently possesses"
| Opinion of Hon. Thomas B. Needles, Insurance
| Commissioner of Illinois.
| "ln my Judgment, cooperative life insurance,
| as offered by the various mutual aid societies
| now in operation, is unsound and fallacious,
| full OF errors, and sure to bring disappointment
| aud loss to those who trust to their protection
Ihey are money-making concerns, intended to
Dement, their orlginators, officers and managers
while their real object is disguised under
various benevolent and mutual aid titles.
| The bond of union is so weak that,
should the societies fail to fulfill the large
promises of their agents, should the NOR
| tality increase and the assessments multiply
| more rapidly than was anticipated, and the
| members find that it does not pay to remain,
! and there is no loss in withdrawing, they will
crop out IN large numbers The rate of NOR
| tality changes from year to year. The average
| age OF the members advances and cannot be
| Offset by the accession of new members; and
| ia consequence the rate of mortality is certain
to increase. The assessments for death losses
| soon become burden which the members, dis
| appointed in their expectations of cheap iu-
| surance, will no longer bear.
Those whose health has becom impaired,
| and who are no longer insurable, will be COM
PEELED to remain or forego the benefits OF any
| kind of insurance
regard them as utterly Irresponsible and
have no confidence in their permanence, and
believe their large promises will result in
nothing but disappointment and loss to those
who trust to their protection"
| Opinion Of Hon. OrTin T. Welch, Insurance
Commissioner of Kansas:
| This plan OF insurance, so far its working
has come to my knowledge, managed assit is,Iis
deceptive and dangerous to the welfare of the
communities where operated. The persons
who organize these associations do not invest a
| dollar of their own money in them; their pa.
| irons furnish all OF it,"
Hon. j. M. Forster, Insurance Commission
or OF pennsylvania, says: Experience has de-
monstrated the fallscies of the COT. .eratiye
system. For limited time these companies
nave an apparent prosperity; but their decad-
| ence is as marked and rapid as their rise. The
principles by which they are governed will not
stand the test OF examination. and it is impos-
| sible to find an actuary of ability and charac-
ter to sustain them If the managers Of these
| companies expect to commend them to the pub.
lie as economical substitutes for regular life
insurance. they must produce better record
| than they have.'
A Massachusetts Report says: "Claiming to
be mutual in name and character and in the
distribution of promised benefits, these socie-
ties are only practically mutual in the interest
| OF managers and agents."
A MiaH0uri RapOrt saw tsTha nj v>lop
OF cooperative life insurance demands some
| action by the Legislature. In two former re-
| ports the superintendent has alluded to it
briefly, but emphatically. 1t is mentioned
| again because in the West it is making head
way, seriously to the detriment of the public
good. 1t bears the relation to the regular bus
mess OF life insurance that the wildcat fire
companies OF former years bore to legitimate
| fire insurance.
An Ohio Report says; "A more transparent
delusion and snare for the unwary and for the
Ignorant could scarcely be imagined
A Kentucky Report says: "These concerns
are called cooperative perhaps because prac-
tlcally the officers get the money for their sal
aries and expenses in advance, and leave the
members by voluntary cooperation to pay each
other in case of loss.
A New York Report says; "These institu-
lions are we'll calculated to deceive the unsus-
pecting. They are put in operation without
capital, and are, for the most part, lawless ir-
responsible and dangerous concerns."
Kansas Report says: PAY as you go, or
cooperative companies few of which, outside
OF those that confine their business to insur-
ing members of particular societies, are any
thing more than a lot of wildcat associations
organized for enriching managers
Opinion Of Hon. d. w. Paine, Es- Insurance
Commissioner of Moine
Upon careful reflection and a full hearing
OF the companies, the Commissioner could
come to no other conclusion than that system
30 unsafe, and at the same time so deceptive
and ilusive, could not justly, with proper re-
gard for the best interests of the people OF this
State. be permitted to do business. He accord
ingly refused the applications of the several
companies applying, and authorized the an
nouncement that none could be permitted to
practice the system in this State"
ODtraion Of Hon. Joshua Nye, e1-Insurdnce
Commissioner of Name
Cooperate or assessment companies are
great humbug, cheat and snare, usually or
ganized to give Office to individuals. Built
UPON the sand, they cannot stand the test of
the true principles of sound and reliable life
insurance.
Steamer Movements.