The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-04-01

eraoiy longer than Is shown by these
standard tables Human life is length
/ ening, as the statistics show. But. f,l~-
'thsr than this. II is the fact that nos a
single American life insurance company
for the average OF any three coDse,u-
i've years n its history has suffered
\ death losses as high as 50 per cent 81
I the number of deaths which should
J have occurred upon the proportions in
/ the English tables which are the basis
/ upon which life insurance Is computes.
/ Here - a permanent factor making for
! The safety companies IN their expseta-
4 tons IN regard 70 the amount Of death
I losses which they must pay. and l. a
I a TaItor which Is probably destined ID
I increase and favor the companies Stll
more. Il : the fact. though it Is said
+ that the fortunate company does nos
i care to speak ~ 81. that one of our Mas
+ sachuSetts companies has Just Rad one
Z year IN which the actual number of
I deaths was only $ per cent OF whar
/ should have occurred on the basis oc
4 the tables. 50 here - one factor wA.ca
( tends 20 make the companies safe with
/ out charging the policy holders for q
surplus
l The other factor IS the better invest
/ mentS of The companies than their basis
! OF computation. This basis is per
cent Ne; The yield Of the snves tnests
+ of the Massachusetts companies for the
last Official year was ~ per cent Here
I IS a considerable comparative margin
which. though = may not De as perms-
nent as The margin due 70 longer lives.
yet is ma teriai factor on the side oc
safety for the companies and may Ia
expected - continue in some degree.
Il IS said by good authority that fha
real benefit Of surplus now 20 an old
line lie company Is for advertising
purposes, Il reads well 20 De able -
advertise surplus Of 50 many solid
millions. and the company which can
do this Is likely 20 get some additional
policy holders on that account But
is IS declared 20 be q perfectly safe step
70 require the companies 20 charge no
more taan they need for losses and eN-
penses without this surplus. that 10 Is
money taken needlessly from the stock
holders. and that the cost OF insurance
might well be reduced by just that
amount
I, is nc: believed that there will oc-
cur any crisis, at least for many years
!n the remaining assessment companies.
for they are apparently able % cont.nua
long enough 70 pay the policies OF many
men who are now n them Who have yes
q considerable term OF life before them.
These men VII continue 70 pay their
assessments and thus the companies
VIII be able 10 meet their obligations.
IL IS not believed that any hostile poll
icy-holder could secure an Injunction
from any court. as long as the company
continued % pay sts policies and as long
as there were a large number OF policy
holders who wished 20 have ~ continus,
IN business. But the old idea that an
organization could b. kept intact for an
indefinite time which Tad no money ca
hand and made assessments after tho
death Of a member IN order 20 meet the
obligation. has been completely eNpiod-
ed. II was some twenty years ago that
this system first began 20 take hold &c
the average mind. But there was m
obligation upon the man who dropped
out after any term of years.
n was In. but n he evaded an aHsees-
ment by dropping out. he could not 20
held for H. Then began the l~gfsia-
zion for the protection ~ the assess
eut idea. The companies were allow
ed 90 hold the amount 90 one asssvHrnrlt
in reserve. hut thar was not sufficient.
Then tncy came % see that thry must
have an emergency fund and the law
gave them that additional power Tn.
legislature continued tp pass laws stF-
ing The AssrsEmeut companies the a3-
dItionai powers which were found uer-r-
sary for them % D. able to collect their
assessments and o. accumulate fund
sufiCient 20 act ss bond f1 ho,l tr-
poI.cy-holdcrs I'm the company. Eui tie
inability Of most of the c1mpan.ss -
keep up with their obligations iet 30
the abandonment of their charters aut
caused the gradual reduction until twp
only. Of any magnitude. are ieft T1-
problem has been how t1 get iu nss-
blood. and even orr This point ther. has
been a calculation lu 40 la4st ONE M
stance. IL was argued that al thtt was
necessary o. DO O. keep up new blood
was 10 get ln "a many men each year
as dropped out. with the Uamce averags
age.
Hut there was this fsUacy IN ~hat
computation. that though thr new blood
might make good the Joss hy lapae. yet
the average age OF those who remained
in was. % course. Just one year creates
By The end OF the year. aud that. IN
order % keep The true average 0G the
lives the same from year % year, ths
average age % the new blood must D
considerably lower than the average aEs
of those who suffered their policies 20
lapse or cDurae. the apparently easy
way of iuEuriug iife which was pro-
posed when the aRses srnent system waa
introduced Jed many inrxpevt men iu;o
the business. and g suffered greatly
from .ncapacity az well a. from down
right dishonesty on the part o. mauag-
err
The chapter upon aHrerT Tnent iu1uT-
ance-UoulI be- cKceedinF.y inrtruct.F.
n u chuli De written up in detail. with
the operation of the causes. Bar M
Judgment II good authority in !nsuf-
suee 5 that rhe system % aHseaaiss"lt
Insurance has been proved % b" a faii-
ure. and that this has been dcmou7tra'-
81 thoroughly ga Epite q the CONTINUED
existence q the companies which aFs
fortified Tor a long time % come. Ihs
old-llac system ls found o. hs fhe oniy
safe orc. cave fhat % has no n~~d y
taxing the g,ol.cy-ho1ers rnpuey iJT TIE
rake ~ arc1mulatlgE surplus
A.iEn~s's ~sis-
4. r TTe,lar. asEigaee - ne saw
10 Rank of - B~hira. VII cn Saturday.
An-I tr- IIth. fsas on Ftrst FifHS1 s1