Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-04-03
ALL MAY BE INSURED
1T is NO LONGER DIFFICULT TO
GET A POLICY.
Few Persons Are Now Excluded from
the Benefits of the Life Com panies-
Deep Water Divers Follow the Only
Avocation that Is Positively Barred.

There is a saying current in life in
surance circles to the effect that moth
ing but an autopsy makes man III
eligible for life insurance to-day. Only
a few years ago the list Of the ineligi-
BILE was long one and host OF occu-
patiOns shut men out from insurance,
while here litary disease or symptoms
Of serious chronic ailment were insur-
mountable bars. Now, there Is just
one profession to whose followers an
insurance policy Is inevitably denied,
even by the most liberal companies.
The submarine diver must go unin-
sured. He enjoys the rather depress-
ing distinction of belonging to the only
profession which Is considered too hnz-
ardous for even the most elastic sub
standard risk"
Before 1896 he had plenty Of COM
pany. Now tiremen, harbor pilots. po-
licemen, engineers. glassblowers, men
In the life-snving service, bartenders-
all those who lead the strenuous life
and court an untimely end, are taken,
the insurance companies. Naturally
the terms of their policies differ as the
problematical uanger of their Occupa-
tions varies In several Of the larger
companies the electrical llneman Is con-
sidered the biggest risk for whom a
policy is written, but If he is willing
to agree to the companys terms he
can get his insurance.
The scale upon which these terms
are adjusted differs in the various COM
panies. The company which was the
first to adopt the substandard policy,
and Is now the most far-reaching In
the carrying out Of that policy. adjusts
the extra risk penalty by means Of a
lien ON the policy. The man insured
pays no larger premium than he would
under ordinary circumstances. but the
agreement into which he enters pro
vides that If he dies within year the
amount of his policy Is cut down by
the amount which represents the extra
risk in his case. If he lives two years,
less Is subtracted. When he has, so tc
speak, outlived the amount Of the lien
his disability Is wiped out and he has
his full policy at regular rates. Other
companies arrange the matter by writ
ing the policy ut the risk rate Of Ger
tain considerable advance in years.
In the matter Of physical disability
things have changed as radically ms
In the matter Of professional disabil
ity. The medical examination is as Sc
we're as ever, and to obtain a regular
policy a man must pass this examina
ton. but a physical condition which
five years ago would have made it im
possible for man to obtain insur
ance now merely means that he must
secure substandard policy. He cal
get his insurance II he Is willing tC
pay literally for the extra risk the
company is taking. OF course there Il
limit to this possibility. Men ovel
80 years of age are seldom insured I'M
less conditions are exceptional and the
thing Is considered "gilt-edged risk.
Men In the most advanced stages OF
chronic disease, whose lease Of life car
be definitely determined as short. are
of course, debarred from insurance
But serious chronic disease in its ear
lier stages does not mean rejection.
The insurance companies studied sta
tistics in regard to disease and NOR
tality until they satisfied themselves
that they were turning away good
money on an illogical assumption. They
found that a man may have weak
lungs or kidney trouble or a trouble
some heart at rs and die of humps OF
measles at 90. Statistics for a certain
number Of years showed that the mum
Der of deaths among the rejected was
not 80 large in proportion as the mum
Der among the accepted.-New York
Sun.
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