Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-15

within two years, and so on each
year until all are gone. Uncertain rs
is the span OF human life for the In
dividuDl, in a very large number OF
individuals the average death rate
varies scarcely at all. Hence 1t has
been ascertained with almost .nathe.
NAUTICAL precision what will be the
average duration of life OF a large
number of men OF Il given age.
Second, the members OF the society
must contribute to its funds the cn.
tire sums from which insurance pay
ments are to be drawn, or sums
which, invested Will with their earn.
ings produce those amounts. No in
surance company has any other
source of revenue than the payments
made by its policy holders and the
earnings on those payments.
These are the two elementary prin'
cipals on which all life insurance
rests. Various methods Of applying
them have been adopted. There are
straight assessment plans, graduated
plans, limited term plans and many
others. But every sound plan is
based on the two principal above
named.
1t is obvious that the insurance
company, fraternal or "old line
whose rates are lower than those de-
malded by compliance with these
principals must, at some time or
other, d. one Of two things. It must
advance its rates to a level high
enough not only to meet future obi
cations, but to make up for past dc
ficiencics; or it mUst liquidate by pay
ing less insurance than it contracted
to pay; or it must go out of business
altogether. All these plans have
been followed, some by m company
and some by another. Total failures
have been numerous, and nothing
more desperately cruel than the fail
ure of a life insurance company can
we'll be imagined. The sole purpose
for which a man buys a life insurance
,ol;ov tlo nvoctp,ant foatnra which
is combined with insurance in some
policies is not here considered-is
that he may protect himself from
want in his old age, or that the main
%tcnance of his family may be assured
after his death. Men have paid i'll
premiums for years to see.
late in life, the company to which they
have been paying 90 to the wall. The
which they have paid have
been wasted, and they themselves
have passed the time of life when
they can secure other insurance .eX.
cept at prohibitive rates. Other men
who have made like payments have
died secure in the confidence that
their families were provided for, and
policies have been unpaid because of
the insolvency of the company. It
will never be known how much
money has been invested in insurance
that proved worthless, or how many
hopes have proven to be founded on
sand.
For many years the "old line" COM
panics have been held by various
state laws to such rigid accountable
ity that there is absolute security in
their policies. The investigation in
New York some years ago was a
most searching one, and it revealed a
good many cases of gross eXtrava-
gance. But it vas shown, also, be-
yond a doubt, that a policy in any one
Of the companies investigated, was
worth one hundred cents on the dol
lar. The security of the investment
was absolutely sound. Such misman-
agement Of funds as there had been
had made insurance cost the insured
more than it should have cost, but the
insurance itself was and has remain
ed absolutely good. AS is we'll known
reforms were instituted which result
cd in greater economy, and better re-
turns to the policy holders.
The country has been more tardy
in applying the rules Of business
sense of frate. nal insurance. There
has been a sort of FEELING that any
thing which tended in any way to re-
strict or regulate fraternal companies
was prompted by a desire to further
the interests Of the great concerns
which were in the insurance business
for profit, and the prejudice has
been hard to remov . Gradually
there has come about a better under
standing Of the business, and a reali.
cation of the fact that no matter by
whom conducted or under what aus.
pices, insurance is a matter OF bust.
ness, of dollars aud cents, and that