The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-11-14
INSURE THE M
Bill Asp Does Not Understand Why
Life Insurance Companies DO MOI
Take Risks ON Women.

Bill Asp Does Not Understand Why
Life Insurance Companies DO Not
Take Risks ON Women.
Atlanta Fonst tuition.
Once more / rise in behait OF the
women. My recent letter on life In
surance has provoked some correspon-
depce with young men, married and
unmarried, who desire to insure their
lives and ask for further information.
I have no ak to grind and no special
companies to favor, but w letters re-
ceived from ladies provoke me TO ask
some questions myself, for until re-
cently i did not know that life insur-
ance was only for men and horses and
other cattle--women are generally X
cluded. They can't even get an acci-
dent policy that will provide a weekly
allowance in case they are injured.
This was a revelation to me, and /
made inquiry OF an intelligent agent Of
a life company and he said that 1t was
presumed that men supported the
women and therefore women did no.
need insurance as long as the father or
the husband lived.
That'reasoning will not do in these
days. No such charitable considera-
ton moves the companies to mako the
distinction. Life insurance is u bust
ness-not a charity-and business rules
govern it.
Another agent told me that females
were o great a risk on account of the
perils Of childbirth and thai women
would not submit to the critical exami-
nation that was required, and still
another agent said his company
would insure them, but had to charge
a higher rate.
None OF these reasons seemed suffi-
cient to me, and at last I did find @
company that had ignored all these
objections and was in the field as the
champion Of women and insured her
life upon equal terms with our sex.
Well. why not" The embarrass-
to nothing, for the old family doctor is
near at hand and knows his patrons
and his patients. The men may do
ceive him, but the women will not try to.
AS to the perils that environ mater
nifty, they will not compare with the
perils that environ the majority of
young and middle-aged ~men-perils of
occupation, perils Of im~prudence, in
discretion and Indulgence of passion
nor chew, nor smoke nor handle guns
or pistols, nor climb trees nor build
houses, nor run on the trains, nor COM
nit suicide. If l was an insurance
company, l would prefer women to men.
The risk Is not SO great, and the rate
ought really to be cheaper. L would
employ women for agents to solicit in
surance, and in cities 1 would have fe-
male doctors to Xamine the applicants.
Here is a wide field for an interesting
company. Thousands of young ome
would embrace the opportunity of in
surfing their lives il it was offered to
them. The time was when the neces-
sity did not exist, for woman was al
most universally supported by man
not 80 now Everywhere we see wo.
men struggling to earn their own liv.
ing. They are in the stores and print
ing offices and box and candy factories
and book binderies. They are the
typesetters, typewriters, photogra-
pliers, secretaries and bookkeepers-
everywhere they are advancing and
~encroaching upon such occupations Of
the men as are fitting to their sex.
The number of these busy women in
Atlanta is already up in the thousands,
not including those whose home is in
the cotton mills. Almost all the wo-
men nave somebody to work for-sOme-
body dependent upon their daily labor
and, therefore, they should have
their lives insured for at least one
thousand dollars.
Last night while Illuminating upon a
letter from a young widow who wishes
to insure her life for the benefit of her
child, I inquired of my family how
many widows there were in town. l
wished to compare them with the
widowers. We made u list of those
who were within the circle of our ac-
quaintance, taking them street by
street, and counted forty-nine. OF these
only four were made widows by the
war. Then we numbered the widowers
and there were only ten. What does
that signify? | thought that maybe
the climate had something to do with
it, for they told me in Texas that that
but mighty hard on women n steers.
Maybe it Is the reverse up here. Again
thought that, perhaps, it signifed
that widOwers married again, while
widows remained loyal to the memories
of their first and only love. This did
explain it in part, for we found nine
widowers who had married again and
only II of them married a widow. The
greedy fellows seem to want d young
girl every time. So it will be seen thai
the women outlive the mon. If they
are sick q good deal, they don't die but
live on II on and on The difference
is manifest and decided. Then why
should an insurance company hesitate?
Why not break through these old rules
n ~prejudices and keep up with the
progress of the times in other things.
lney insure horses ana horned cattle
in Atlanta. Why not women? Now
this Young widow has an income of $40
a month that came from her husbands
life policy and she wishes to invest SIS
q month in u policy that will go to the
child hen she dies or revert to her if
she survives the child. What better
investment a IL company make; what
better investment can she make? and
yet women are left out or are charged
as extra hazardous by most all of the
life companies. 1t is a mistake. 1t is
more than that. 1t is a wrong, an in
justice one to the female sex. Now
let the insurance companies rise and
explain, IL they car
Last week [ visited the good old
Dutch town of Newberry in South Car
DINA. 1t was a delightful trip of sun
ny days n moonlight nights and over
one of the best roads in the South.
People used to say that the Georgia,
Carolina n Northern was just one
road too many, but they don't say 80
now. Its traffic is increasing all the
time and its service is firs.-olass. From
Athens to Newberry is a bright and
productive country, and the people
seem happy over their abundant crops.
Newberry expects to handle her usual
allowance OF $4,000 bales Of cotton.
There il q mill there tina consumes