The Irish standard., 1886-07-10
THE IRISH sTANDARD SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1886
MANS DUTY TO HIS FAMILY.
Taking rhought for the Morrow

III
Rev. Lyman Abbott, LII. D., of the
Christian Union, in a recent edl-
toriaL writes on this subject as
follows: We have more than once
expressed our opinion in favor Of life
insurance. 1t is the duty of every man
to provide for his family. He ought not,
If by any reasonable precaution he can
avoid it, leave his widow and children
to know the poignancy of anxiety and
possible poverty in addition TO personal
bereavement. Nor is there, on the whole,
any better way to guard against this
catastrophe than by life insurance 1t is
true that even into life insurance COM
panies thieves sometimes break through
aud steal; that even life Insurance riches
sometimes take to themselves wings and
ily away. But this is rare. We have not
the statistics ut hand, but it is our strong
conviction that no investment is safer
than GIL investment in q legitimate life
insurance company. It's directors feel &
certain degree of personal responsibility
as guardians of the widow and the father
less. The state exercises a constant
supervision over these companies, and
requires an annual statement OF their
receipts expenditures, and investments
1t is true that If the insured were to put
his premium out at interest every year,
and compound the interest," at the end OF
long lifetime he would probably have
more than the life Insurance. company will
give him. But it is also true that few
men will do this unless they put them
selves, as it were, under bonds to dc it, as
one does by taking out !: policy; and 1t
Is also trae shat 1t is only in case ones life
is prolonged that his family will be pro-
vided for by his savings, while by life in
srrance it will be provided for ii he is
suddenly cut off.
But II legitimate life insurance Is g
blessing to tie family and duty Of it's
natural protector, llegitimare life insur-
ance is a deIusion for the one and blum
der Of the other. This gambling mania
has siezed life insurance also; and be-
tween the legitimate and the illigitimate
torn; there is difference as great as be-
tween legitimate trade and iuigitimate
speculation; and also, unfortunately, a
resemblance as speciou~ What is called
the Tontlne plan is, in its simplest form,
substantially as follows; A group OF ten
Or more combine, pay in their premiums
for 4 definite period, say twenty years;
agree that If any one member defaults in
his payment he shall lose all that he has
paid if he dies before tile twenty years,
his heirs shi.u receive the face of his policy
"a sum considerably less than the same
annual premiums would give his family
on an ordinary life policy; and that the
amount remaining in the pool at the end OF
twenty years shall be divided among the
survivors. IF the reader will attentigely
consider this he will see that it scarcely
deserves the name of Life insurance
1t gives little to the3 widow and the
fatherless, much to the living husband
and father. Life insurance is q co-opera
tive scheme by which many nt n agree to
contribute TO the support OF each others
families III case OF death, the considera-
t1on of each mans contribution while he
Lives being the amount his family will re.
ceive wlen he dies The Toutine plan is
q cooperative scheme by which many
men agree to contribute q little to the
family Of the dying, the bulk to the wealth
o. the surviving. One supports the be-
reaved at the cost Of the survivors; the
other enriches the Survivors ut the cost Of
the bereaved.
There are several forms Of modified
Tontine, but they are all built On the same
general ground plan; all start from the
same base, and all divide an accumulated
fund among survivors after q term 0t
years.
In the controversy which has been go
ing on for some time past in our adyer
tising columns and elsewhere we take NO
part. The companies represented in this
controversy are ali companies Of good
standing in the community. We have no
personal interest In any Of them. The
charges which have been imported into
this controversy by third party as a kind
Of amicus curie against one OF these com
panies we believe to be utterly unfounded.
They look very like an ingenious attempt
to divert public attention from the real
issue. OF that issue we have been a net
uninterested spectator Nor, if we may
Judge from letters received from CORES
pondents, have our subscribers been indif~
ierent to it. We cannot undertake to tell
them what is the best life Insurance coln-
pany. Ru5 we do not hesitate to advise
them to leave severely alone any policy Of
insurance, however framed, which prom
isas small returns to the wife and family
In case CT the early decease Of the husband
and father, and makes UP TOR it by prom
ising him large return if he lives long
enough to participate in the division Of
the pool at the end Of the allotted term;
we advise them to recognize no life in
surance as legitimate which is not framed
and conducted in the interest Of the widow
and the fatherless in the event of the
death OF theiy natural supporter. This
alone is life insurance; the other, how
ever skillfully it may be disguised, is not
euJitled to that honored name.
About HORSE Racing.
Taking up the question Of pool selling,