Year: 1875

means the present practice may be stopped Oh
taking rejected applicant from company to
company and concealIng tho facts OF the case,
till through oversight or accident the impaired
risk is at last accepted.


1t is always interesting to see our own ex-
perience rehected-Or rather repeated-from
the other side OF tho water. Should the plan
proposed be actually adopted by foreign COM
panes, they will advance one step further
than we have I'm this matter. The scheme
was urged here a few years ago with consid-
erabo vigor it failed because very few influ-
cntial concerns were willing to try the expert
ment. Perhaps if it had been brought forward
at time when new business was less difficult
to obtain, its success would have been greater.
We notice here and there, in recent publica-
tions, tentative hints about trying 1t in this
country also; but to our notion the scheme is
past resurrection. If 1t were known that such
record was kept by the companies and
circulated among them, the difficulty oil
obtaining new assurances would be immeasur-
ably increased. Every man whose application
had ever been rejected or had caused even a
brief hesitation would refuse to make another.
It does not by any means follow as a matter
%
an individual life, implies that at another time
the same person may not De peiIectiy III
subject for insurance. Exactly the contrary ~
most probably the fact There is also very
common notion among healthy people that
there is something the matter WIN
them They do not know exactly what
they fear but a vague terror makes
them unwilling to undergo medical ex-
animation, lest their fances should be cor
roborated.. OF course it is quite absurd that
such notions should prevail with sensible men !;
but the fact that they do remains. Ii Is 50
frequent as to be well recognized obstacle TO
the canvassing agent in procuring new life IN
surance. But should the coy applicant, half
persuaded to go before the medical examiner,
learn that if rejected his case would be entered
on q black list and reported among other com"
panies-thus seriously diminishing his chance
of getting policy at a future time when he
may need 1t more-nO possible persuasion would
avail to bring him into the little room where
the doctor sits expectant, with tape measure
and stethoscOpe.


While this particular scheme stands little
chance Of adoption, it il one OF class toward
which insurance companies gravitatc. Sitting
in council over the frauds perpetrated on
them, and contemplating the mysterious sud
denness with which large policies become
death claims, tho officers of company are
apt to become too anxious to hedge their
risks. There is somewhat too much OF late in
the way OF inventing precautions; of shaping
applications and policies so that in case OF
need the company shall not be O6tged
to pay. The officers are apt to forget that
their bushes, is to take risks to take them
not as fast and loose bargains, but heartily
and fully There is great world OF men
outside that need insurance need 1t especially
because they have none; need 1t because their
families must he left in desttution when they
die. To bring home this fact OF their need to


mprovident men. men dependent upon sien-
der incomes, men who have experienced
the uncertainty of business and know how
necessary a permanent provision is for those
who are dear to them-this is, or should be,
the main business of an active life insurance
company. TO guard the interests committed
TO it, to manage faithfully the funds intrusted,
to carry out its work economically and hon
estly-these are its duties: its business is to
insure lives