Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-13
PRONlDENT LIES REPORT
REFLECTS EPIDEMIC TOLL
President Asa ). Wing Tells of Heav,
Losses From Influenza in 1918
StatellIef,i

The report read by President Asa s.
wing at The annual meeting of the
proNident Life & Trust Co today showed
that first premiums were paid during
the year on new insurance as follows:
ll,6?3 endowment policies, payable at
maturity or prior decease for s29452.-
2lI 1925 life policies payable at death
for S15.55S,O?o; 1916 term policies for
sS,O47, $50; additions TO policies by divi-
dends Including those on revived poll.
cies $506,s26. Total 1875 policies,
amounting to s52,56i,622
The income received was: For pre-
! miums and annuties. S14,S60.72S: for
interest on life insurance fund $3.50
6S2. Total, si9,511,41O. Total amount
of insurance outstanding. exclusive Of
any upon which no premiums have been
the end Of 1917 to s412s33.7O1 at the
end of 1918.
Payments to poicyholders during
lslS were: On matured endowments,
, s3,3o!534: OH death claims. s4.39O,441 I;
distribution of surplus OF policies,
s2,32S.l 10; for policies surrendered,
sl.373,5l0: on life annutles sl50,S71 /:
total, s11 1,550531.
Regarding deaths during the last year
Mr. Wing says in part:
Thirteen hundred and twcnty-fly
deaths have occurred. being SCI more
than reported for the year 1917. The
amount of insurance terminated by death
was s4679,O56, which is S2,O52.425 more
than for the previous year. For every
100 deaths in 1917 there We're 20i death
in 1918, and for every 500 loss in 1917
the loss in 1918 was sl79.
THE amount of actual death claims
which were reported in 1918 is S4 per
cent of the amount expected by the
American Table of Mortality. For 1917
| the corresponding percentage was 5l.e
per cent, and for the ffty-four years Ia
| the close OF 1918 ii IL 6i.7 per cent.
rhe loss indicated by the above figures
! ia Unprecedented. II is q mute testimony
TO the ravages of the epidemic OF infu.
| eTza. For the first nine months Of the
ported. including those from the war, was
about 55 per cent of the amount ex.
pccted by the table Then suddenly the
| influenza swept across the country and
| the percentage was ia. or more thar
| three times what il had been for tho
| fl,st nine months.
THE loss fell primarily upon younl
men in the prime OF life. in many cases
men who had but recently taken ou
their policies and had been pronounced
physically sound by the medical exam
incr. A striking evidence of this los'
among those who were recently insure,
is that the actual death loss amoni
policyholders who were insured durin,
the year 1918 was s+.2 per cent of tn,
expected. For the fifty three years prio
to 1918 this percentage was less than 81
During the year 1918 the deaths
| excluding influenza and pneumoni;
claims, from September 20 have beer
1873 in number, involving about 1853 90
of insurance. 1t is, therefore. eviden
that the influenza epidemic In less thar
fifteen weeks occasioned losses abou
three and one-half times the amount o
the war losses (eNcluding those iron
the epidemic) reported during the year
Life insurance companies have ha,
an unprecedented warning as TO the ne
cessity Of maintaining ample contingenc
reserves to meet possible losses from epi
denies. Prior to the outbreak OF tn
influenza this matter had begun to seen
almost academic, With startling sudden
ness II has become intensely practical