The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-14
Life Insurance.

The news of the troubles of the Mas
sachusetts Benefit Association has caused
uneasiness among the members of similar
organization throughout the country The
association referred to was organized
eighteen years ago, and has about $4,000
members and insurance in force amount
ing to the enormous sum of Sl12,0OO,OOO. The
assessments were from 81 to S2.25 for each
death. so long as the members were young
and the deaths few; but as the associa-
tion grew older and the membership like
wise increased in age, the deaths and the
assessments became painfully frequent
until at last the policy holders have be-
gun to protest against the associations
exactions. and meetings are being
held by them in various towns in New
England, in which the management of the
association is denounced.
The fate of this association is not sur
prise to those who look carefully into the
subject Of life insurance. The basis of all
well conceived systems of life insurance
is the accumulation of reserve funds,
either by capitalization or surplus earn
ings, or both, in which funds the persons
insured have a guarantee against policy
holders who become tired of paying their
premiums, and would thereby bring ruin
upon the company were it not for its re-
serve fund, in cash or Its equivalent. Ben
eft, or assessment, associations have no
such safeguard, and when the death rate
gets heavy there are only two courses for
a policy holder to pursue. One is to die
as soon as possible, and let the admins
traitors get the share of the insured be-
fore it Is too late, and the other is for
the insured to quit paying and loose mem
bership and all that has been paid in.
There is nothing that has SO much adj
hesiveness as a surplus. This fact is evil
dent in every line of life. A surplus will
keep men together in any of the institu-
lions of the day. But when there is no
surplus, and one has still to pay in his
share, and the prospects for getting any
thing back grow beautifully less each time
he pays an assessment, he is very apt to
quit, unless he is very old, and thinks
the concern will probably last a little
longer than himself. The only chance one
has to get the full amount of the insur-
ance in such associations is to die early,
in the heyday of the association.
In this age there is hardly an excuse
for a man to leave his family penniless.
Every man should lay up something
through life insurance against the inevita-
BILE day of his death. Insurance can be
had of legitimate companies, in which fair
rates give real security. There are dozens
of life insurance companies that are as
solid as the rock of Gibraltar, and which
| issue policies in almost every form that
the human mind can conceive. Such COM
| panies cannot compete with the assess
ment concerns in low rates. but they can
| and do give what those who insure want,
and that is insurance. This class of in
surance means the undoubted assurance
that the amount named in policy will be
1 paid according to its terms. In assess
ment companies the amount paid depends
upon the collection of small sums from
thousands Of people scattered over a large
territory. whose willingness TO meet their
obligations usually gets less as the assess
ment company grows older.
]