The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-12
INSURANCE ON A BIG SCALE.
The Ez-Postmaster General Heads the
List of the Heavily Insured.
From the New York Times.

4 rom the New Y Ork INES.
John Wanamaker's life is insured for
81 200, 600, by far the largest amounto Of in
sur1nce carried by any American, and,
with one or two exceptions probably the
largest amount carried by anybody in the
world. The premiums on this enormous
sum amounts to 10000 annually, which
OF itself would be pretty good line Of in
surance for the ordinary mortal great
deal OF Mar. Wanamaker's insurance IS IN
creasiug from year to year by the accu-
mutation Of dividends, and it is alto
gether probable that when he dies the
companies will pay to his heirs something
over -, 100000.
MIR Wanamaker is insured in every rep
utabie American company for an amount
. representing the limit " that is the maxi
mum amount which each company will
write on a single life In addition, he is
insured in many foreign companies. On
the whole, therefore, il is not surprising
that on the occasion of the shrewd Phlla-
delphian's birthday anniversaries the
companies which must one day pay the
insurance should write wishing him
many happy returns of the day
A great deal has been said from time to
time about the large amounts of insurance
which certain notables carry, particularly
the mem oers of the English nobility.
Many of these stories are pure fiction. At
any rate, the English companies will not
reveal the amounts carried by their
patrons, and so these stories can have no
real foundation in fact. In England.
large lines of life Insurance figure prom
inently in the settlement of estates. mar
riage portions and similar contracts, and
1t is said that in this way the English
companies do the larger part of their
business.
The Prince of Wales was very heavily
insured at one time, his motive in secur-
ing the insurance being, it was stated. to
protect the money lender Farquhar, with
whom he was implicated before the Duke
Of Fife cleared up the Prince s obligations
by marrying into the royal family. Just
how much insurance the Prince carried
at that time is not known, but it is GER
tain that he got as much as the British
companies would give him and then ap-
piled to one of the companies in this city.
Being a person of high estate, he refused,
however, to permit the companys medi-
cal examiner TO inspect his royal person,
prOtfering instead certificate from his
personal physician, which certificate the
company refused TO accept, and so the in
| surance was never effected.
The Duke of Devonshire is another very
heavily-insured man, and the Duke of
Marlborough. on the occasion of his mar
riage to Mrs. Hammersly, was said to
| have taken large line of insurance to in
| demnify his wife, in event of his prior
death, against loss of the good Ameri-
can money which she used to rebuild his
| depleted estates The King of Portugal
is said to have applied for 81 100000 of
| life insurance only a few days ago, and
about the same time one of the New York
companies received an application from
| certain statesman who figures very prOmi-
| nently In European politics Just now, and
| who at the time of making the appliCa-
ton was more than 20 years old. His ap~
| plication was approved.
A New York publisher of insurance lit
| erature recently compiled a very interest
ing list of prominent insurers in the
| United States, which may be said to be
| reasonably accurate since he got his facts
| from the companies and verified them by
| letters from the insured. From this GER
| titled list it appears that Chauncey M.
| Depew carries a larger line of insurance
| than any other New Yorker, his many
| policies aggregating S50O,000 There are
hundreds of New Workers whose lives are
! insured for 100000, and $4,000 policies
| are not at all scarce. Cornelius Nander-
| bilt's life is insured for 900. Russell
Sage carries no insurance at all.
MIR. Wanamaker's example in taking all
the insurance that money can buy APP
pears to have been infectious in Phiadel-
| phia, which, like New York city, is the
home of several life companies. Hamil-
ton Disston carries 100000; William p
| Clyde, the steamship man, $500 600; the
Horstman brothers, $3.50, 900; Daniel K
Miller and ID. X. Mills, $270000 each {;
John B. Stetson, S750,0 600; j. F. Sinnott,
$3.50, 600, and so on through a long list
Large lines of insurance are also to be
found in Western Pennsylvania. The
companies would have had to pay 1910, 900
to Fl. c. Tricks heirs if the assassin who
| attacked him had succeeded in his work
Louis Norris who died at Mayville, Pa,
fortnight ago one of the great oil oper-
ators, was insured for $500, 600. The re-
doubtable 'Chris" Magee carries S375. 900,
and John NJ. Patterson is insured for
$4,000.
The idea became prevalent a number of
| years ago that women were not insurable.
| The companies were very conservative in
those days, needlessly So in fact, when
one considers the more liberal methods
employed to-day in selecting risks. AS
an evidence of the folly of excluding
women from life insurance the fact may
be mentioned that several very eminent
actUaries and medical men have been
studying the subject OF late, and the re-
suits of their observations, embodied in
an interesting report, go to show that
women are at nearly all ages almost as
good risks as men, and at some ages they
IRE better risks than men. AT present
there are very many American companies
| that will insure women, though the gene
|