The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-15
How Safe Is Life Insurance?
By CHARLOTTE TODEs :

Tomato rates for protection against
/ insecurity while at the same time
/ taking tribute from millions Of farm
/ ers and small homeowners in the
I form Of enormous interest rates on
| mortgage loans. The record Of profits
| Of the COMPANIES is startling out Of
| annual income Of 5 billion dollars, the
major amount Of which Is poured
| into its Golfers by policy holders, only
! 50 per cent goes back to the policy
| holders. Schnitman fails to mention
/ that only a small part Of this goes to
| the middle class and worker policy
holders. One billion goes yearly to
/ fabulous salaries ranging as high as
| $500 900 yearly for the company presi-
| dents and Independents, many OF
! whom are governmental officials
put on the psyrolls to serve as con-
| tact men to avoid political inteTfer-
ence with the companies vicious
I practices.
In the height OF the crisis, when
these insurance companies were dis
possessing thousands from their
| homes and farms by foreclosure, and
we're cutting wages Of workers in
their Offices, officials Of the Metro
politan Insurance Co. increased the
presidents salary by SOS 900.
During the present crisis, Schnit-
man shows that the companies have
steadily increased their control b.
foreclosures over hundreds Of thou
sands Of acres Of farm land and of
homes taken from small hoineowners,
thus contributing to reducing the
| farmers 70 the status Of peasantry
and to greater inpoverishment Of the
middle class. The heroic strike Of the
Iowa farmers early in 1888 was due
to the attempts Of the New York Life
Insurance Co. TO dispossess them OF
their lands and farms. Having mulct-
ed the farmers for years Of high rates
Of interest on mortgages, even now,
when foreclosed farms and homes re-
main vacant and unoccupied and the
farmers have been driven out the
companies suffer no losses. These
were discounted in advance, when
loans were made TO farmers based on
40 per cent Of the appraised value Of
the land and 20 per cent Of the value
of buildings. The life insurance COM
panies are in reality land barons ex-
acting fee farm rents from the dis
possessed.
Swindle the Workers
Scandalous robbery and swindie OF
the workers is involved in the indus
trial insurance or burial insurance
plan Of the companies, which has
Melted millions In profits to the COM
panies. The pennies and nickels set
aside by the workers each week, often
at the expense OF food for the chill
dren, to insure burial, are swallowed
up by these companies. Three COM
panies were found to have obtained
almost five times as much money
from the workers as they paid out TO
them.
Similarly the group insurance
schemes introduced into industry are
shown to be the means Of eliminst-
ing older workers from employment
and discriminating against workers in
Ill health. Schnitnan fails to men
ton that these plans have been
among the major methods used by
bilG C4AABAGJEA6 W Ab4CnbplA tlAlAO4A
ganization and strike struggles.
Author Hopes for Change
Schnitman reveals the shsky struc-
ture Of these powerful companies
based as they are on speculative and
fraudulent investments in bankrupt
industries and municipalities and in
over produced real estate. From his
middle class viewpoint, he vaguely
hopes for change if the Wall Street
government, OF which these COM
panies are part, will take over the
business Of administering life insur-
ance while continuing to exact tribute
from the masses, for the insecurity
for which these capitalists are res
ponsible.
The hope Of the masses for protee-
ton against insecurity lies only in or
ganized struggle to compel the govern
ment to provide social insurance out
Of its revenues and from the profits
Of the capitalists. For immediate pro-
lection the workers must rely on their
own fraternal organizations operated
in their interests, such as the Inter
national Workers Order.
The objective Of complete and
thoroughgoing system Of social in
surance, insuring the masses against
old age, illness, accident and death,
have been achieved in only one coun-
try, in the Soviet Union where
workers government has made the
protection Of the masses the first
consideration of the state and has
provided for it out of It's stats funds
and the returns Of industry.