The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-02-11
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE Of MTeMPERANcE..
Plea For Lower Insurance Rates For To-
al Abstainsrs - Efforts 8eing MADE
Abroad to Classify Temperate Men
with a"Supeestnsdard~ Cisas Of Riskas

Plea For Lower Insurance. Rates For To
al Abstainsrs - Efforts Being Made
Abroad To Classify Temperate Non
With a"supesstszdard' Cisss Of Riskss
Efforts are being made abroad TO or
zanize total absAainers into what il known
as a "superstandard" class of life risks,
says q writer in the New York Evening
Post. The movement is the result Of Q
asreful investigation into the death losses
Of life companies, with the result that
many valuable data have been accumu-
lated to show that persons who do not
use alcoholic beverages make altogether
the best class of policy holders for an in.
surance company to have. The subject
has been studied before by actuaries in
this country, and although authorities arc
such indulgence, the feeling is general that
it adds materially to the ordinary ifo
risk. In cases where policy holders have
been attacked with o serious disease 1t has
been found that the chances Of recovery
decidedly 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 OF q man who should fall i'll with
phCuulOhidp ~ phOlu tGNcEpo ybCuIEEy uCPA-
ritis, heart disease. diabetes and affections
Of liver Il bad enough under the best
circumstances, but il the patient IL an
incorporate man bis hope for recovery Ia
reduced very materially, and the fight for
life is desperate, II not hopeless. Every
physician who has had much emergency
hospital practice or even private practice
among the incorporate can assent to
these statements. We know that men
who follow hazardous occupations are fire.
quently 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 q great
role in life insurance and many q risk
personally good is rejected on account Of
bad ancestry, would it not be also well to
consider not only the physical features Of
o risk who has drunken ancestors, but
also the moral features Of such a risk in
all its bearings? Namely, i~ntemperance 10
usually frequent 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 chill
dren Of heavy drinkers are personally
led temperate and pure lives. We might
multiply instances to show the many corre.
lative combinations in which intemperance
is a factor AZ q great hazard in life in
surance.
Under present conditions we have bua
two kinds OF risks-the standard and 30
called substandard. The first embraces all
those who can pass q satisfactory exam
ination and can get an unmodi6ed policy
ut the usual rates. The second embraces
all those who can pass only a partially
successful examination and can obtain o
policy with some notifications and insert
ed conditions. 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
l will call the supcrstandard class. This
class shall possess all the good quali6ca-
tions OF the standard risk-namely. good
family history, free from faint of disease
or bad habits, longevity, personally good
health, and in addition to all this they
must be teetotalers. There are o suH3-
GENTLY large number of these who take
life insurance to justify the creating OF
such a class of superstandard risks, to
whom policies should be issued at reduced
rates. This is no more than Just to them,
as they should not be compelled 10 pay
for the shortcomings OF that large majority
who, aside from what good traits they
possess from a life insurance standpoint,
are most Of them drinkers OF intoxicants,
who vary all the way from the worst in.
ebriates up to the regular everyday tinu.cr
and the so-cal!ed thoroughbred sport