Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-23

absolute security from the moment that the policy Is
written. regardless Of the. time OF death.
In the early days Of life insurance many arguments
were made against it. among them being that it was 9
sacreligious thing. implying a want of trust in Provi-
dence. Those who entertained this opinion failed to re-
member that it was under divine guidance that joseph
organized what, in principle. was a great life insurance
enterprise in Egypt when he caused preparation to be
made during the seven fat years for the seven years of
famine. However, most of the objections that have been
heard are no longer urged. The value and Importance
of life insurance are recognized, and more and more it
is taken as a matter Of course. The stress laid upon it
by the government has done much to fix the attention
of the entire country on it, and it may be expected that
the practice of insuring will be much more common as
a result of the experience Of the past two years.
In order that confusion may be avoided it is i'm
portant that certain facts in relation to the insurance
now carried by the soldiers be remembered. That insur-
ance is what is known as term Insurance., in which. the
rate is based on the average age of the insured for the
brief period-in this case five years-during which the
rate remains unchanged. At the end of the five years.
if the insurance is continued, the rate is advanced, and
so on during life. The government carried the insurance
under the present plan for the first fivc-year term. and
after that it is expected that the policy will be rewritten
into some private insurance concern, either at a new term
rate or at the rate for some other form Of policy.
Those interested need to guard against comparing
the rates now paid to the government on this very cheap
form of policy with the rates charged by line companies
on ordinary life, limited payment and endowment poll
cies, all Of which are necessarily more costly. The onry
comparison that can properly be made is Of the govern
ment term rate with the term rate at the same age in a
private company. All insurance companies write these
term policies, and it is an easy matter to ascertain what
the cost would be.
1t will be found, on making the comparison, that for
the term insurance the government rate is a little lower
than the private rate. This is not because the govern
ment has discovered a new method whereby insurance
can be carried cheaply, but because in insuring the lives
of it's soldiers the government very properly makes no
charge for it's services. The work of handling the great
volume Of business that is involved in this insurance en-
terprise requires the services of an. army of clerks and
accountants. the use of a great area of office space, which
worth money. All of this is provided free by the gov
eminent as a temporary war measure, and it's cost is de-
frayed out of the proceeds of general taxation. The pri-
lvate company must meet these expenses out of its pre-
miums, therefore its premiums must be somewhat
higher.
The soldier who has carried government insurance
for a year or more has started to create an income for
those whom he may leave dependent. He has also started
on the formation of a habit Of thrift which will be an as
every possible case, to keep his insurance up.