The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-24
INSURANCE RISKS AND WAR
Profits Not Seriously Anseted by the
Casualties Of Battle.
(From the New York sum-

(from tne New YORK buu.l
The large proportion Of casualties
among the Brltiih officers In the battles
with the Beers In South Africa has at
tractsd particular attention among life
Insurance. men, and even some Of the In
sured have been led to ask whether these
losses, II continued ct their present rate.
would not materially Affect the
profits OF the insurance companies for the
next year or two, should the war last
SO long. Inquiry among the leading In
suranos men of this city seems to make It
certain that no one need feel any anxiety
on this SCORE, ana, In fack that war and
It's risks have bscome so small fnctor In
the general risks to life In these modern
days that great Insurance companies hav-
ing risks OF sll kinds widely distributed
all over the world. can either afford en-
tirtly to ignore war as q special source
of danger, or elfe carry war risks at
very small additional premiums. AL
though tho big American life insurance
companies have all Considerable at Risk
among British officers now In South
Africa, or likely soon to he there, their
OIIlO6T8 IpOk upou bhokN kRAtV onoaoAhy AsSs
after each battle there without concern,
ana pIediot that, In spite II the special
attentionswnich the Beers are paying to
British officers, the insurance iossss will
probs bly, be NO greater In proportion than
those among American army omeers
during tbs Spanish war.
IL Is well known that even under the
mesi favorable circumstances toe losses
of an army are always mnoh greater
| from exposure and d1ses So than from
wounds, and It Is pointed out that
whereas our bs.es IN battle with tho
spanish were comparatively small, the
e. n of deaths in Cubs, Porto Rico, the
Philippines and the oamps was large.
Further. IL 10 declared that there are
without doubt many Insurance. risks
among the meh who went into the vol.
q ert ut deal earlier than they would
other " Use have done, and still 1t Is fact
that although there were taousands OF
insured men In our army, TIE risks OF
life insurance are now 30 widely spread
that the stalls les tf the big companies
do NOT show any indication that this
| country has Just been through war in
which we put 500 men or more into
the tieid. Careful tnSt sdgation would
| show, without doubt. that the compan-
| les met with large loss' among the men
who were wearing tho uniform, tut the
| ukuTcS Ol 1b II ioSncn AoA oao yoof WcAo
nc Aafft cksd.
The general healthfulness OF tie South
African country is expected fully TO Of
set the desire of the Beers to shoot Biitis
| OH GERS Tbs chances Of wsr In Europe
are com idered 30 much greater than such
chances hero that an American has a
decided advantage In this respect when
he applies for life insurance.. One big
American company considers war risks
exactly as it does the risks OF infectious
disease and takes risks on the lives OF
ordinary citizens on policies which hold
good whether man soes out to light his
oountry's BATTLES or not. AID with no
e1 ira charge II he does 60. kvsn officers
In the regular army. and navy are insured
| in time OF peace at regular rates, and the
only difference between their policies and
those Of the civilian 10 that they 60 into
olass by themselves, with which sepa-
rate account 10 kept, and they may lose
the usual profit ON dividends declared
from year to year on their premium pay
ments II the Loo SEES happen to be heavy
amcng them. Now that We have sropt-
| cal ooun tries as part OF the nation, an
extra olause Is beiny added to the policies
Of rrmy officers requiring them to get q
permit before going into the tropics. and
to pay q special fee Of $50 for, saoh $1,000
for which they are insured. This pay
ment 10, however. final for that GLASS Of
| risk Naval III ,ers are not required %
nay extra for going to the tropics. be-
oauss they take their houses with them.
| During the Spanish wsr the companies
whose policies did not cover tie r!ak
90 a oitizen soldier made their insured
men who yolu sered take out permits
and agree TO pay an extra fee fer the risk.
hut he sum Of this extra fec was not TO
sxoesd so per $1,000 Insurance.. 1he
actual loss from the risk has not been
figured up yet, but II 10 believed to have
bseE only a small part Of this extra fee.
Every man OF our volunteer forces may
carry insurance, but none Is taken on
| the lives If the enlisted man In the reRu.
lar army. No company writes more than
q SlO. 600 risk on an officer. Our officers
arr sa!d to bs more generally insured than
those Of for eign armies, although the EE-
glsh officers carry considerable Insurance.
on their lives.
The rates and manner Of insuring the