The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-03-18
HORRORS OF CHILD INSURANCE.
Very Common Among the Poor-Hearins
Before the Massachusetts Legislature.

! pfoughG out regarding the practice of In
surfing the lives of children at the hear
ing before the Legislative committee on
insurance at the State House in Boston
Friday. The bill under consideration is
an act forbidding the insuring of the
lives OF children less than 10 years old.
| The attendance was large and pretty
equally divided between the advocates
OF the bill and the representatives and
employees of the three insurance com
panles. The formidable array of counsel,
nassed in solid phalanx against the SOL
itary lawyer representing the numerous
charitable associations that are sponsors
for the act was augmented by the pres
ence of ex-Gov. Long, TO whom was as
signed the duty of cross-examining wit
nesses by the counsel for the companies.
The first witness was Richard II. Dana
of Cam bridge, who said that the sinsur-
ance on the life of very young child is
of different character fec-a the insur-
ance OF everything else. The law does
not permit the insurance of a vessel by
a person who has no pecuniary interes,
in 1t Or the cargo, because ii is a gam
| bling Contract 1t permits the insur-
| ing OF the life Of Il father or mother, or
| even child that can be OF use in the
way OF supporting the family, because
there Is pecuniary interest ia the life
| insured. But ill this baby insurance, be
said, we corle right down to the border
| line OF gambling contract. There is
no truth in the claim that these com
| panies do not insure in the slums. Their
| canvassers, many CT them INSCRIPTIONS
and unreliable men, go wherever they
! think they can make a dollar There
are ways in which the expenses of
| child's funeral can be met without put
| ting in the way Of poor people the
temptation to neglect their children and
deprive them Of the necessares of life
when they are sick. While the amount
of money required weekly is small, it is
enough to furnish milk to a child that
! is dying for the want of it. Ten cents is
not large ssum. but it might save a
| life. The S28SWhich the parent receives
at the death of his child is to him an en-
ormous sum, larger than any he ever
| saw, and it affords a great temptation
for desiring the death of the child. The
| funeral expenses of the poor are already
| too large, and anything that encourages
greater expenses is bad, and societies
are oragnized for the purpose of prevent
ing them. There cannot possibly be
case where worthy person would have
to submit to pauper burial, as there
are societies aud individuals always
ready to pay these expenses.
In reply to questions ny Mr.. Long, the
witness said that be believed that the
savings banks conducted by: charitable
organizations answered all the purposes
| of these insurance companies. at 4i 81
but" said Mr.. Long, IF they pay 10
cent week to these organizations, does
it not deprive them of food just the same
as If they were paying it to an insurance
company"
"Yes, sir" was the reply" but they
are not compelled TO lose all they have
paid in case of failure to pay, nor are
they encouraged to pay, when they need
t he3money for food"
| Scan they draw out the money when
they wantgit?"
'Yes, and they do not have to wait
till the child dies, Gov. Long"
The next witness was DR.. Florence c.
Leach, who has had experience with
more than 10000 patients during l6
years of practice. She said that it
would take the rest of the week to de-
scribe the thousand cases she has had
among the poor whose children are iu-
sured. She gave instances in her own
practice till the memb ers of the commit
toe said that they were satisfied and did
not care to hear more. One case was
that of three young children who were
| insured; the family was in starving
condition. The mother said, when asked
| why she paid 25 cents week insurance,
that if the child died she wanted it to
have good funeral. One bright boy of
eight in family that depended on beg
| cling for support, and where IS cents a
week were paid for insurance, remarked
when another child was born:
"One more to beg for!"
A woman who had paWned her furni-
ture to obtain money TO pay the iusur-
ance on the lives of her children said
that her reason for doing SO was that if
child died she would have good
funeral and ride in hack. The mother
of poor family that the witness visited
professionally the night before expressed
| regret that she had not been requested
to sign the petition for the bill. because
she knew the evil of it from experience,
as her children were insured.
| "We have paid in SO much that we
can't get out Dow." she said
The witness said she knew it to be a
fact that child III this family was less
| than year OLD when it was insured
| The strong Induce :s3 Iii Bed cut to fne
people to JUS 'i~ G.e.g eA .4Gren g that
they will have rs snowy a funeral as any
| OF their neigh hors.
| DR.. Leach tod G a case where sour
milk had been given to an insured child
suffering from cholera infantum, from
which il died, the milk being The direct
cause 1t Was done in violation of her
intructions, bet size would not say that
| is was administered TO cause death. She
left the committee to draw its own con-
clu5ions.
You must remember" she said. that
! the maternal instinc: is almost extinct
in these people, and that children are re-
garded as encum hranees, taking the
bread from their mouths and imposing
0 bllgations which they are only TOO glad
TO be rid Of. )"
N. E. Mann, for Is years a policeman
in South Boston and for three months an
agent of the society for the preventing of
cruelty to children, said that he had in
| vesGigated 70 cases among the poor with
! In the last three months. Almost all of
these children were insured and many of
the policies had lapsed and the people
had lost all. Ii is among the poorest in
the lowest districts that the agents go.
Dove street, one OF the slums of South
Boston, there live 175 families, nine
teuths Of whose children are insured.
The witness said that ne considered
it great wrong to insure the lives of
young children. although formerly he
had believed in the system. His change
L.