The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-18

| his recovery by English insurance com- panies. Ills recovery netted them ex- | tremely handsome balances. probably as much as $200.0O0 in premiums paid. Then, again, one of the most heavily Insured men on earth is the German | Emperor. Owing to an insidious here ditary disease prevalent in the Hohen- zollern family and owing. furthermore, to the occasional symptoms developed but carefully concealed by the kaiser, | the insurance rate on his life Is three | times as high as 1t would be were he l an average normal risk.
 King Alfonso and Others. odd as 1t may sem. young Alfonso | of Spain carries probably more personal | insurance than any other ruler in Europe. By that Is meant bona fide | rather than freak or floating insur- | ance, as Is meant when capitalists and bondholders assume risks unknown to the insured person. Alfonso XIII Is | insured for upward of $1,00O,000 today. | As much of it was taken out in the year of his accession-his sixteenth year-a very low rate was secured. Since then he has developed a disquieting fondness for riding spirited horses and also for automobiling. While 1t may seem Quixotic of the insurance companies. his habits in this respect have doubled the normal rate of his life"
 But, continued this authority. the amounts taken out in bona fide policies in this country far exceed, both individually and in the aggregate, those of any other country. Of the $19,000,- 900, 900 of life insurance carried in the country at large. nearly 1000 are in- dividual policies amounting to $100.000 and upward, including one of $1.500, 000
 Naturally these large policies are held by men and women of wealth and prom inence-desirable risks, as they are known professionally-andy yet, anxious as the insurance companies are to in- crease their business. 1t is no easy matter to secure policy running into six figures.
 How Companies Determine. As a matter of fact, the secretary of leading company vouchsafed, hun dreds of millions of dollars have during the past ten years been refused wealthy insurance applicants who were unable to give a fairly normal bill of health and habits.
 How 1t may be asked. do the insur- ance companies determine such cases? How do they inform themselves exactly how far to venture in accepting appli- cations for immense policies? For rich and prominent as a man of woman may be, his or her word Is rarely taken of
  what Is known as the bureau of inves- tigation maintained by the respective companies.
 Sometimes weeks and months pass between the time the application is made and the time an answer Is given and during the interim the bureau of investigation, corresponding precisely to a detective bureau. has the appli- cant under surveillance. Were he or she besought of the law the shadow ough. though circumspect. By watch- ing every publican owe made by the ap- plicants, gaining a fair idea of their modes of living, their habits, moral standards and physical idiosyncrasies, the bureau attaches form an accurate estimate of the applicant as a risk to be taken or avoided.
 Keep Tab on MIIIIonalres.
 In the case of Rodman Wanamaker, who already had been carrying some $S,O0o,00O, the applications were made out in the usual way by a prominent insurance company which in turn sub wrote various policies. placing them with other companies. The original company in such an instance never writes a policy for more than S25O,O00. So, reserving the aforesaid sum for it. self. 1t divided the remainder of the S1,200.000 among six other companies, simply assuming responsibility for the risk.
 The millionaie applicant. being a man of quiet habits and tastes, his manner of living being an open book. so to say.