Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-11-05
TOTAL ABSTAINERS.
Life Insurance Companies Urged to
Favor. Them.

Life Insurance Companies Urged to
Favor Them.
Efforts are being made abroad to or
ganize total abstainers into what Is
known as a "super-standard" class OF
life risks. The movement is the result
of careful investigation into the death
losses of life companies. with the result
that much valuable data has been ac-
cumulated to show that persons who dc
not use alcoholic beverages make al
together the best class Of policy-hold-
ers for an insurance company to have
The subject has been studied before by
auctuaries in this country. and although
authorities are not in agreement as to
the exact effect Of such Indulgence. the
feeling Is general that it adds material
ly to the ordinary life-risk. In cases
where policy-holder have been attack
ed with serious disease. 1t has been
found that the chances Of recovery de-
cidedly favor those who do not use
stimulants of any kind.
One foreign expert cautions the COM
panies against making any allowance
for even moderate drinking. This. he
says. may easily lead to excess. He
adds: 1.-The outlook for man who
should fall i'll with pneumonia, typhoid
fever, dysentery, nephritis. heart dis
ease, diabetes and affections Of the liver
Is bad enough under the best circum-
stances, but If the patient Is an intem-
perate man his hope for recovery Is re-
duced very materially, and the fight for
life is desperate. If not hopeless. Every
physician who has had much emergen-
cy hospital practice, among the intem-
perate, can assent to these statements.
We know that men who follow hazard
Gus occupations are frequently liable to
injuries. In case the party injured is
temperate his chances for recovery from
the injuries and the surgery incident
thereto are far in excess Of the man who
uses intoxicants.
"Since inheritance plays such a great
role in life insurance, and many risks
personally good are rejected on account
of bad ancestry, would it not be well
also to consider, not only the physical
features Of risk who has drunken an
cestors but also the moral features of
such q risk in all it's bearings? Namely,
intemperance Is usually frequent among
the vicious and those of low habits, who
Liz lo ap no
the brothel, the levee-all places OF
great risk to health and life. The chill
dren of heavy drinkers are personally
poorer risks than those whose ancestors
led temperate and pure lives. We
might multiply instances to show the
many correlative combinations in which
intemperance is a factor as great haZ-
ard in life insurance.
Under present conditions we have
but two kinds of risks, the standard and
the so-called sub-standard. The first
embraces all those who can pass sat-
isfactory examination and can get an
unmodified policy at the usual rates;
the second embraces all those who can
pass only a partially successful exami-
nation and can obtain a policy with
some notifications and inserted condi-
tions. 1 wish to make a plea for the
establishment of another class of risk
than the two already existing, and
which for the want of better name
will call the super-standard class. This
class shall possess all the good quail
fications Of the standard risk, namely
good family history, free from the taint
of disease, bad habits, longevity, per-
sonally good health and in addition to
all this must be teetotalers. There are
a sufficiently large number of these
who take life insurance to justify the
creating Of such class Of super-stand-
ard risks, to whom policies should be Is
sued at reduced rates. This Is no more