The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-18
BIG GAMBLING ON DEATH
MANY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE
 RISKED ON HUMAN LIVES.
United States Lead World in Aggregate Sum of Insurance-Great Games of Chance Played on Lives of
 European Monnrchs.
Philadelphia Ledger.

l Philadelphia Ledger
 Gambling on death has within the last twenty years become so stupen- | dous and universal a practice that in surance policies, to repeat a common l saying, have been written on nearly everything and everybody save the so- lar system. High priests of the great temples of chance-insurance com | panies-have made converts in every form of civilization and even beyond Nothing and nobody between an East Side tenement and a European palace or an Asiatic house of kings is beneath their notice as worth taking a chance upon the huge lottery. Headed by the United States, with their $19273,- 675,2OO of life insurance in force, the human family Is today insured for the gigantic total of $26,277, ,409,640.
 Should any simultaneous fatality oc- cur among the holders of insurance poI- icies, or even a tithe of them, every ir- surance company on earth would be bankrupted in paying the beneficiaries, the aggregate amount of insurance far exceeding the total amount of money in | international circulation.
 As before stated, the Unit ed States lead the world in the aggregate a.aount of insurance taken out by dwellers | within their borders, the most heavily | insured individual on earth being Rod man Wanamaker of Philadelphia, who recently secured $1,20OO69 extra in- surance on his life. This. added to the sum of his previous policies, means that his demise will cost the insurance com panies $S.200.O00.
 Gambling on Death of Cnar. | Another recent news itam suggesting an unfamiliar phase of this great game of chance was the annoua 9ment in London that the late lis l .bances .n St. Petersburg had prompted English | underwriters to increase tha insurance rate on the Czar from gulneas (s2e) per cent to 15 guineas, win many un- derwriters even demanding more. i According to Ia leading insurance au- thorlty of this city as mucn as $5O,000,- 900 has at different times been -isjted 1 by European insurance companies on the lives of European rulers "WhiIe there is no means of Knowing exactly | just how much the insurance companfes stand to lose in case Nicholas of Russia | is assassinated or dies" he continued. those who keep an eye on insurance matters are well aware that enormc 5 amounts have been taken cut in poll cles on his life since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war. It would not be exaggerating to venture that 1t runs into the millions.
 "Of course, the Czar nimsalf is not aware of this. the insurance in most cases being taken out by perhaps a few of his own wealthy subjects. in eddi- tion to amounts subscribed by foreign holders of Russian bonds and secari- ties. It Is not generally known. for in- stance, that industrial Russia, where it Is being developed at all. Is being de- veloped by foreign capital. Many mil lions of American and English capital are invested in Russia, and the life CT death of the Czar is matter of para mount importance to such enterl eises and those interested in them.
 Foreigners Not Stringent.
 While the United States insurance laws prohibit American insurance com panies writing policies without the written application and indorsement of the party insured and also a medical examination in each case. foreign com panies are not so stringent. Hence no small part of the business done by English. French and German insurance companies concerns the welfare of the greater rulers of Europe.
 When King Edward was i'll, for iR- stance. enormous sums were risked on