Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-12-20

!. w. Ny cssE Lie Concerns ~, 100000
IN One Year.

SesB Sa3N An ,sg .S-s wv ~ n. g m d
]. W. laay Gee Liz Concerns "a oooo 900
In one Year.
American life insurance companies
lAco possible loss thru the war OF
Uomo $a0,000.000 o year, according to
W4lliam "A. Hutcheson, vice president
ana actuary OF the Mutual Life Insur-
anco Company. This is due to the fact
that American life insurance policies
were issued prior to last April with no
war restriction clause, and every man
IL the service who had policy then Is
II additional liability to the companies
Without recourse. Since then; OF course,
the companies have charged q war pre-
MUM, and the government has under
taken to inquire the lives OF its soldiers
and sailors.
As Mr.. Hutchinson pointed out the
problem Il a complex one, inasmuch as
there b little precedent or experience
Won which 70 base calculations. The
- basis IL the English experience.
= Kngaand the average age Of the
army man IS above that OF the Anieri-
can army, for the reason that for the
first part Of the war England had the
volunteer system. This means that the
average insurance for each soldier is
higher in the English army than 1t
would be in our army. MI. Hutchinson
estimated that inasmuch as the English
war insurance losses are 20 per cent OF
the normal. It may be a proper esti-
mate to allow . loss Of 10 per cent Tor
this country's figures. which would
mean SEX, 000,0 900 year. This calcula-
ton IL made after considering the ratio
Of the numerical strength Of the Brit
ish forces. to the population and the
probable relation of the American
forces II all those available under the
.s21 to 81 year draft are taken. He also
takes into consideration that there are
many men in. military service above
lineage Of 81 years and that there may
1 be many more.
our premidm rates." said Mr..
Hutchinson, "are, Of course, based upon
mortality tables which do not provide
for the casualties OF war. Born Of our
confidence in the continuance Of peace,
We had come to regard war as next
to impossible for this country. AS a
result, the practice had grown up Of
Issuing policies which permitted war
\ service without any restrictions and
: without requiring payment Of any extra
premium, and these contracts when is
sued bound the companies for all time.
Since the war started there has been a
general return to the practice Of issu-
\ Ing new policies with war clauses and
calling for extra premiums.
a Sat the end Of the year 1915 there
was 1890 100000 insurance in force in
companies doing ordinary business and
reporting to the New York insurance
department. Some Of this business is
on the lives Of females, and still other
! Insurance is on the lives Of foreign
residents. Taking these facts into ac-
count, and assuming that only 10 per
cent thereof was on male lives in the
United States between the ages Of 81
and 90 we see that no less than 81, $780,
q 100000 ordinary insurance was on male
Euves subject to military Or naval serv-
{ ice, and practically all Of it was abso-
slutely free from an restrictions as to
such service. By no means all Of the
American life companies report to the
New York insurance department So
far. except IN the European business Of
certain companies, we have had few
war death claims to meet, but we must
\ steel ourselves TO meet them. The
British weekly casualty lists may give
u some idea of<what may be expected
when we have an army as large as
theirs These lists show from 10000 to
10000 weekly casualties, Of which about
20 per cent are KILLED or died OF
wounds and the remainder are
wounded or missing
"A year ago the president Of the
institlte OF Actuartes in England
stated III his presidential address that
the British companies had paid over
S37,500,00o in war death claims in the
first two years Of the war. From other
I sources am able, to state that the
total death claims paid IN the British
companies in 1914 and 1915 amounted
4 In ali to about S1so.00o,ooo. The war
death claims therefore amount to about
20 per cent Of the total death claims
over the two-year period.
"It may be Of interest to apply the
above percentages to the normal Amer
4 lean death claims. The New York in
surance report shows that about $780,