The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-27

sistent attitude toward women is at last
explained by the actuary of well-known
life insurance company in a paper pub
hshed In the official organ OF the Actuarial
Society. In this he acknowledges that all
tables known to him giving the relative
mortality of the sexes show that the NOR
tally OF women is decidedly lower than
that Of men--until after they are insured.
Among insured lives it appears that the
death rate OF women exceeds that Of in
sured men of equal age by three in every
thousand. This phenomenon has been the
subject of much discussion by insurance
men and their general conclusions are
summed UP by the author of the paper.
They believe, for one thing. that it is
practically impossible to secure satisfac-
tory medical examinations Of women. The
medical examiners express their belief that
women do not answer questions about
themselves frankly. and that existing mall
aides or weaknesses of constitution are
often concealed willfully or uncon-
sciously. The Insurance gentlemen as
scribe TO women the interesting honor
of presaging, through their finer sensi-
bilities and instincts. the result Of in
firmities to be or illness existing. thus
being able to select against the compa-
MES" That is. they feel premonition of
danger, and in consequence are impeled
to insure their lives, understanding better
than men how to conceal the true state of
their health. 1t is further observed that
wives. and that in companies which accept
only those married women who are self-sup-
porting or who are in receipt of an income
which will cease at death. the excess Of
female over male mortality is not notice
able. No inference is drawn by the actu-
airy from this last phenomenon, and the
reader Of the article is left to assume that
the wife who pays for her own insurance
is not so prone to premonitions as the
woman whose husband pays the premiums;
also. that the husband of woman with
an income which ceases at her death is
likely to see that she does not suffer from
the neglect and i'll treatment which some
times shortens the lives of her insured mar
tality is among wives who are not self
supporting, it might be assumed by some
ribald persons that the husbands are also
possessed of an instructive knowledge that
early death is hanging over their respective
spouses and are not unwilling to partici-
pate in the swindling of the insurance
companies
But, Notwithstanding the conclusion that
women are ready to conceal illness from a
medical examiner and have the occult
knowledge of impending death along with
disposition to perpetrate fraud, the COM
panies are slowly opening their doors to the
suspected element of the population. They
have become aware that business women
exist in large numbers and have money to
invest which it is not we'll TO turn away
Out of thirty-five companies in Canada and
the United States, twenty have made their
ratio for men and women uniform, though
of these not all solicit female patronage
Thirteen charge an extra premium; two
do not insure women at all. In time, prob
ably, women will be an equal footing
in all companies. Meanwhile, the vagaries
of the actuaries and other managers in
their efforts to regulate matters and to
understand women are likely to be more
or less edifying to members of the latter
sex.