Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-01-07
RUM AND INSURANCE
PLEA FOR LOWER RATES FOR TOTAL
ABSTAiNERS.
Efforts Being Made Abroad to CLASH
fy Temperate Men With a ssSuper-
standard" Class of Life Risks.
Views of an Expert.

~ temperate Men With q ssSuDer-
standard'' Class of Life Risks.
Views Of an Expert.
Efforts are being made abroad to or
ganize total abstainers into what is
known as a "superstandard' class of
life risks, says writer in the New
York Evening Post. The movement is
the result of careful investigation
into the death losses of life companies,
with the result that many valuable
data have been accumulated to show
that persons who do not use alcoholic
beverages make altogether the best
class of policy holders for an insurance
company to have. The subject has
been studied before by actuaries 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 materially to
the ordinary life risk. In cases where
policy holders have been attacked
with a serious disease it 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: 'The outlook for a man who
should fall ill with pneumonia, typhoid
fever, dysentery, nephritis, heart dis
ease, diabetes and affections of the
liver is bad enough under the best cir
cumstances, but if the patient is an in
temperate man his hope for recovery
is reduced very materially, and the
fight for life is desperate, if not hope
less. Every physician who has had
much emergency hospital practice or
even private practice among the intem-
perate can assent to these statements.
GUS occupations are frequently liable
to injuries. In case the party injured
is temperate his chances for recovery
from the injuries and the surgery in
cident thereto are far In excess of the
man who uses intoxicants.
"Since Inheritance plays such great
role in life insurance and many risk
personally good is rejected on account
| of bad ancestry, would it not be also
we'll to consider not only the physical
features of risk who has drunken
ancestors, but also the moral features
of such a risk in all its bearings
Namely, intemperance is usually fire.
quent among the vicious and those OF
low habits who frequent all kinds OF
resorts, the dive, the levee-all places
of great risk to health and life. The
children Of heavy drinkers are person.
ally poorer risks than those whose an.
cestors led temperate and pure lives
We might multiply instances to show
the many correlative combinations in
which intenrperance is factor as a
great hazard in life insurance.
+ "Under present conditions we have
but two kinds of risks-the standard
and so called substandard. The first
embraces all those who can pass a sat
isfactory examination and can get an
unmodified policy at the usual rates.
The second embraces all those who can
pass only partially successful exam.
ination and can obtain a policy with
some notifications and inserted condi-
lions. I wish to make a plea for the
establishment Of another class of risks
than the two already existing and
which for want Of another or better
name I will call the superstandard
class. This class shall possess all the
good qualifications of the standard
risk-namely, good family history, free
from faint of disease or bad habits, Ion.
gevity, personally good health, and in
addition to all this they must be tee
totalers. There are sufficiently large
number Of these who take, life insur
ance to justify the creating Of such q
class Of superstandard risks, to whom,
policies should be issued at reduced
rates. This is no more than just tt
them, as they should not be compelled
to pay for. the shortcomings Of that
| - the RAND. McNALLY