The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-30
ON THE QUEENS LIFE.

! Insurance Policies by the Hundred /
| Not by the Thousand.
! The financial effects of the queent
death will be widespread and in the ag
gregate enormous. The most direc
penalty falls on the insurance compa,
MES, nearly all of which suffer. They
have, however, no real reason to com
plain, because, owing to the queens
advanced age, they received more ir
premiums than they must now dis
burse.
The queens life was never insured ir
American fashion for the benefit of he1
children. 1t was, however, insured by
hundreds, probably thousands, of per-
sons in no way connected with her, but
whose business would suffer by hel
death. 1t Is possible to insure against
almost any imaginable contingency In
England If sufficient premium is paid
The current rate on the queens life a
few months ago was II per cent. for one
year. Many theatrical and other
amusement managers and the proprie-
tors of many fashionable shops were
accustomed to insure the queens life
at the outset of the season in order that
they might recoup the heavy loss her
death would entail.
Practically every theater in England
will remain closed until after the fun
eral, and the attendance thereafter will
be seriously affected for a long time.
The blight descends on several branch
es of trade, which will continue
throughout the year of mourning.
oIa WI, tvs
the queens life quite heavily were
those who are dependent upon the pri-
Wy purse, either by direct payments or
as tenants of the many royal estates,
such as Hampton Court Palace All
these privileges cease unless the king
sees fit to renew them. There is also
the queens numerous personal entour-
age, who will mostly be supplanted, as
the king already has his own.
Lastly, there are those among the
poor who insured the queens life as a
speculation. There are many such.
This practice was fostered by the ben
eft societies, whose ordinary business
is to insure children's lives for small
sum for a penny week. Their agents
were everywhere among the poorest
classes. and their custom was, where
there were no children to insure, to In
duce the ignorant to pay penny a
week to insure the life of the queen,
1t is difficult to understand the motive
appealed to, but certainly the solicita-
tions were successful in thousands of
cases. The losses that all these COM
panies must meet largely account for
the weakness of consoIs, which they are
compelled to sell.
This practice of insuring lives with
out a medical examination or knowl
edge of the person insured Is entirely
opposed to American practice, Ameri-
can offices here continually received Of
fers of such business. The late Duke
of Edinburgh once sought to obtain
forty thousand pounds insurance from
an American company, but the compa-
ny declined to without medical exam
nation. His application was refused.
Many other financial and commercial
lapse through the queens
death. These are matters in which the
queen had not the remotest concern,
and it is difficult to understand why
they were made terminable upon such
a contingency unless it was peculiar
of loyalty. There are
many private leases expiring in this
way, and also partnerships, etc.
There Is an exaggerated idea of the
queens private fortune. She was, of
course, rich woman, but was not fab
ulously wealthy as was often assumed.
IT was stated few months ago that
she had just invested a million pounds
in London ground rent properties. The
queen caused the statement to be con-
with the gratuitous addition
that she did not possess million
pounds to invest.
It is the general impression in parlia-
circles that the allowance of
the king will be fixed at five hundred
thousand pounds annually, which, If he
the crown lands to the gov
will be entirely covered by the
income there from.
Only the British companies are af-
fected by the insurance placed upon the
queens life. Insurance men here say
neither the Mutual, the Equitable nor
the New York Life, which are practi-
cally the only American companies do
ing business in London, have under
taken any such highly speculative risk
as the queens life, but they have
watched the practice of the English
in that respect and their Off
GERS agree that the losses of these COM
panies by Victorias death will be very
heavy A million dollars, in their
opinion, win he very modest compu-
tation of the amount to be paid out
The practice Of insuring the queens
life became general at the time of her
golden jubilee way back in 1887. I'M
mense sums were expended in advance
Of the celebration by London trades
men, particularly by those in the West
End, for decorations and in materials
FOR bright summer costumes. If the
queen had died before the jubilee-and
she was then nearly seventy years old
there could have been no jubilee and
half of the London dry goods mer-
chants would have been bankrupt.
They went to the insurance companies
and the companies made it their bust
ness to learn the state of the queens
health from her medical advisers. On