The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-08-15

BOSTON, August, lS,--With the de-
sign OF henehting wage.earners, Gov.
Guild of Massachusetts has affixed his
signature to an act which Is believed by
many OF his advocates to be the most
important single measure passed by any
merican legislature in the session OF
1907. There is, OF course, the Public
Utilities Bill in New York; but this, al.
ter all, was simply the application in the
Empire State OF principles OF public con-
troll that have before now been recog.
nized in other American commonwealths
There has been bills in many state legis'
latures regulating freight and passenger
charges on railroads; but these have in
volyed no especial departure from the
policy OF recent years; everybody, near
ly, has long believed in some form OF
railroad regulation, and Uncle Sam has
already authorized himself to tackle this
problem. But Massachusetts has done
novel thing, so far at least as the
western world is concerned in permit
ting the establishment Of a new type
of life insurance.
: On and after November J., 1907, ii ad.
vantage is taken of privileges now gran
ted by Massachusetts, the Bay State
wage-earner who wants protection for
his family through one OF the policies
of the type known as ''industrial'-that
ia whose premiums are payable at fire.
quent intervals-will be able to exer
else choice. Henceforth there will be
competition between two different life
insurance systems. The working man
may, on the one hand. yield to urgings
tc take out a policy with one of the in
surance companies which do an industrial
business and which viii keep collector
perpetually on his heels to gather the
premiums as they fall due. He may,
on the other hand, go to Savings and
insurance bank"-a new title under the
law--and arrange to take
out life insurance not exceeding $500,
with the understanding that he Is vol
unfairly TO pay his premiums once a
month without being teased by col
lector. He may also buy there an an
nuity of value not to exceed 800. If
he has an account in the savings de-
partment of the bank he may arrange to
have his premiums paid from that auto
matically, as they fall due.
One of the greatest advantages claimed
for the new system Of savings insurance
is, OF course, its greater cheapness. The
expense OF teasing people into insuring
their lives and Of collecting their pre-
miums from house to house causes this
form of protection to the wage.earner
to cost from two to eight times as much
as his Weather neighbor has to pay for
ordinary life insurance. There is, to be
sure, a familiar argument to the effect
that the average individual won't buy
an insurance policy unless he is talked
into it by an agent. Some people, how
ever, believe that a large enough pro-
portions of American laboring men are in
dustrious, thrifty and far-seeing to do
the thing they ought to do without being
eternally nagged about it; there are so
ber mechanics who do not allow the con-
tents Of the pay envelope week after
week to be wholly absorbed by the bu.
tcher and the "bar-keep."
These folk think that Massachusetts,
is particularly good state in which to
test out their ideas. The savings bank,
which is naturally adapted to handling
life ins1fance--since insurance is only a
specialized form of savings-has such
public confidence that it is, they hold,
the ideal institution from which to offer
policies "over the counter" The first
savings bank in the United States was
opened in the city of Boston ninety years
ago. Massachusetts has long had the
best saving communities, proportionately
to population, of any American state. The
total of deposits to the credit Of wage
earners on October 81, 1906, was $694,-
08l, ,l4l6S, sum nearly equal to the
interest bearing debt Of the United
States, and exceeding the total assessed
valuation Of Maryland, Kentucky or
Connecticut. The savings banks have
for many years been conducted without
scandal or reproach and they necessarily
stand high in the esteem Of the popula-
tion supporting them.
Part of the original scheme of the saw
i1gs bank as this was devised in Eng
land was that it should contain depart
ments for issuing life insurance poll
cies and annuity contracts. The saw