The Portland daily press., 1896-12-28

London Assurance Corporation was es-
tablished soon after the Amicable, but
for 30 years received only 10, 9l5 pounds
in premiums, or about sos, coo. The
gross sum insured on the average for
years was not more than 500 pounds per
annum.
Tracing tho history of life insurance
to more recent times, tho write says:
THE SCIENCE OF INSURANCE.
The Actuaries' or combined Experience
Tables, now geneIniy used, were deduced
from the experience Of II English COM
papies, and have supplaDted largely the
Mortality Tables This table begins at
age 10 with 100, COG living and GIG dying
the first year. with the expectation OF
life 49, SO years, and the table ends at age
80 with one living and one dying, and
the expe citation OF life six months. The
expectation of life at age 20 ls Al. ~
years; at age 30, "a. 43; age 4, 7.2S age
So, 30. IS; age 60, 1877; age 70, S.54 age
so, 4.7S age 80, ELL or, in other words,
the verage age attained by men living
at age 90 is 81. 40; at age 30. "a. 10; age 40,
81. %: age so, 70. IS; age &C, 70 II; age 70.
IS. 81; age 50. BATS; age 90. Gall
Having such a basis, reliable and
trustworthy, tested by ths experience Of
hundreds OF years, it becomes simply a
problem in mathematics for tie COM
panies to evolve the science of rate max
ing. From the above tables it is very
easy to ascertain the exact cost for one
years insurance per $1,000 at any given
age. For instance, at age 90. the net cost
is 1878.
There are hundreds of plans but ali
policies can be placed under two general
clnssi6eations, this first payable only at
death or at the maturity of u certain
period of years, Endowment policies are
much more popular as they afford very
desirable means Of investment. To pro-
vide competency for advanced age, as
well as protection for those who are de-
pendent upon the life insured is exceed
ingly wise and commendable. Statistics
show that only one out of 100 attaining
the age of 80 have sufficient competency
for sustenance during the balance of life.
Four out of five dying leave practically
insolvent estates.
A few words as to the application for
insurance and some things worth know
ing regarding the disposition of life in
surance. Every applicant for insurance
is very thoroughly examined by physi-
clan employed by the company, In
quiries are made in great number to pro-
duce information regarding every PAL
ticular which may bear to any degree
upon the risk. Special Importance ia
to the family history of the APP
plicant and II consumption or any other
hereditary tendencies are discovered, the
applicant is declined. Rejection also is
the fate of the seeker for insurance If he
is disproportionate in height or weight,
or In chest or waist measurements, or if
he has any constitutional or chronic dis
ease, or if he has habits that will under
mine his health. Among other causes
for rejection is an abnormally slow,
quick or intermittent pulse, OF rapid res
LII lnCe oil Uhu Ol6oAS Al 0oo
show a normal condition and the appli-
can't must be as good life for insurance
as the average OF persons of the same age
who are Of sound constitution, In good
health, and whose family history is good.
II a person has ever been rejected by any
company. as a rule, no other company
will consider his application.
INSURANCE OF WOMEN.
l ought not to close this hastily pre-
pared and most unsatisfactory paper,
without trying to answer Queries which
/ know are In all of your minds, regard
ing insurance upon the lives of women.
In discussing this phase of our subject
can do no better than to quote from
very excellent paper recently read by
liss Ransom, Of Boston before the
Wumen's Congress of the Atlanta Expo
sition, on the subject of Life Insurance
for Women" Of the 90 companies
business in Massachusetts,
all but three, the Provident Savings,
Mutual Benefit and Northwestern Mu-
tual, accept fewale risks, the TWO latter
companies stating that while in their
early history they had accepted women,
the practice had been discontinued many
years since. The principal reason for
which action on the part of the North
western was the difficulty, at that time
very much greater thar now, of securing
medical examinations. OF
the 20 companies writing female risks all
save three have insured women from the
date Of their organization, although none
If these companies have really solicited
suoh risks in the same sense that they
have solicited male rieks. Very few COM
panies have Kept the records of the two
sexes separate and thus are not able to
furnish definite information touching
the business of this character. Another
difficulty arises from the fact that what
over average q company might have ar
rived at as to the comparative longevity
Of men and women, it was OF very little
value, since while men have insured
their lives in large mum beTs and for
large amounts these many years, very
few women, comparatively speaking,