The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-05-29
ARCANUM RATES
INCREASED
Supreme Council Of the Or
der Decides on an 5 Per
Cent Advance on All
Premiums.
HOW NEW SYSTEM WORKS
Some Dissatisfaction At the
Change Is Expressed and
a Fear of Farther Increase

Ihe supreme Council OF the Royal Ar
canum has decided upon general in
crease in rates for all ages in order TO
meet the increasing death rate of the
members. The increase decided upon
! win be about s per cent. upon all poll
cies. The increase in rates IS to take
effect on July /
Although the members Of the order
are in the main loyal to the order, the
announcement Of an increase in rates
NATURALLY caused great deal Of dissatis-
faction, especially among the older mem
bers.
The Royal Arcanum is essentially
business organization Its reason for be
ing is the low rate of life insurance
which the order has been able to give
its members by the cooperative plan.
There is, Of course. social side to the
order. but the prosperity of the Royal
Arcanum. by the acknowledgment Of its
leading members. depends entirely upon
the ability Of the order to maintain
low rate Of life insurance. In the last
analysis the social side and the secret
ties are incidental TO the business side.
The new rate schedule has not ret
been fully worked out, but it is under
stood to be based upon an increase of
5 cents upon the monthly cost of policy
for $1,000 for man q years old. The
rite for this unit Of calculation has been
since the last increase in 1898. % cents
month per $1,000 Of insurance for men
admitted at the age of u. The new
rate beginning July will be GA cents,
and all rates for other ages will be in.
creased proportionately.
Even with the increase mentioned, the
rate for insurance offered BY the Royal
Arcanum is well below that offered by
the regular insurance companies. The
members, as the president Of one Of the
largest lodges in this vicinity put it to-
day, have no kick coming yet
The chief cause of anxiety among the
members is the apprehension that the IN
crease just announced does not mark the
final resting place Of the rate. One of
the members who has held office for
many years explained this feeling to a
reporter to-day very clearly. He said:
Everybody knows that any co-opera-
tive insurance plan which gives or pro-
fesses to give rates lower than those
based upon aetuary reports. must de-
pend for the fuIillment Of lis pledges
upon a rate of entrance greater than the
death rate. The entrance rate is natur-
ally. greatest while the society or organic
zation is young and its members are
young When the first generation has
run its due course Of life the death rate
among the members increases very rap
idly.
At the time Of IFS maturity such or
carnations either have to base their
rate upon the normal mortality rate
among the members or 90 to the wall.
The Royal Arcanum took the step Of
fixing its rate upon the mortality tables
some years ago. Apparently they placed
the rates too low. This was due, I be-
lieve, to the fact that they took the mor-
tality rate among members as the basis
instead Of general table
There is. Of course. no reason why
the Royal Arcanum should not be able
to keep its rate below that Of the inde-
pendent life insurance companies be-
cause the surplus which the Independent
companies accumulate shows that their
rate Is considerable higher than neces-
sary. But one trouble has been that in
our anxiety to get new members in we
have come TO be very careless about tile
class Of risks We take. That. to my
mind, is the weakness of the Royal Ar
canum to-day
1T is evident that an increase IN rates
such rs that announced by the Empire
Council viii letract from the induce
ments which We hive been able to offer
new men 10 join. This will in turn re-
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