Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-29

War Nlok Insurance ano Uonus
Er-KsrsrdiSnis ruin fEs bcnns, ! would
like to cite few facts In fegafd 70 the
treatment the soldiers got ia mnanc,a!
way during the war. mean sne WA
their money was handled ~ the buresu
Of War Risk 1nsurtnce. q
When the Bureau .of War Hiek In
suranco was created Of Waehsneton,
men wsfe placed At the head OF tne
bureau who were supposed 70 have oesn
Who had positions with Old line life
insurance companies previous to. the
war. II they had conducted business
for the old line companies like the!
conducted the business Of the soldiers.
insurance, they would not have lasted
q week III their job. VIC.
I happened to be working IN the
insurance section Of the regiment with
which was connected at Camp Wads:.
worth, and as l. had had practice!
experiences with insurance with an old
line company. I could see many things
that the average soldier who had not
had such experience could never see.
They never got working system at
Washington az long a. I was In the
army, and that was two years, and the
insurance feature was inaugurated
shortly after the war had commenced {;
that Is. after we had entered the war.
Letters were continually written to
Washington from Camp Wadsworth re.
garding applications and policies OF the
soldiers to which answers were never
received. Policies were, seldom, IL ever
issued to the men, although money was
deducted from their pay regularly every
month. The average deduction from the
mems pay was $3.50 a month or $76 q
year for a $40. 900 fve-year term pol
icy. OF ali the time that spent In
the army, during that time did not
see more than three or four policies
issued, although there were Thousands
Of applications going through the head.
quarters where I was assigned.
When new lot Of drafted men ar.
rived ut camp they were first brought
to the insurance section to have insur.
ance and allotment papers completed.
The last lot, remember, were lot OF
men from South Carolina, the majority
Of whom could not read or write even
their own name, and as result had, to
make a mark for their signature to the
papers. This lot Of men were white
men. The second lieutenant who had
charge Of the insurance made q state.
ment that each man had to take out
$40, 900 insurance. Many Of the men
had no dependents. and asked ~if they
could not take a smaller amount, as
they did not not need as much as
So 900. Instructions were that they
should take $40, 900, and many. thinking
this was military order ana had to be
obeycd as such, took out $40 900 insur.
ance that they never needed. This is
one sample Of the democracy Of the
army. Did the soldiers Of the World
War fight to make the world safe for
this type Of democracy? Did the,aver
age man think when he entered the
army that second lieutenants would be
allowed to intimidate them into taking
insurance in an amount that was un-
necessary. in order to boost the records
Of these lieutenants at Washington?
hardly think so. Yet an average OF
$78 year. was deducted from the salary
Of the majority Of the men for insure
ance that they did not need. OF course,
the officers figured that the less money
the soldiers had the less chance there
would be of their getting into trouble,
which was very thoughtful Of the ofa.
GERS. ne. .rstr
But suppose you refused to take out
the full $4,000 what would happen?
Well, they would be Mt you contiuu.