INSURANCE

—The enormous growth of insurance and fraternal companies and the wide field of their operations, bear eloquent testimony to the profits that may be derived from taking risks. The liability such risks entail is more or le closely determined by a careful study of the law of averages and the theory of probability as applied to human mortality, busine conditions and all manner of circumstances that may cause personal or property lo es. Taking life insurance alone, American companies, in 1921;> had 71,760,000 policies (ordinary life and industrial), representing an amount insured of $44,384,658,000. Of the 71,760,000 polices, 54,097,000 were those of companies who underwrite industrial or workers’ insurance, and rep Trial policies produced a premium income of $283,148,000, entailed claim payments of $69,173,000, as well as payments to policyholders in addition of $95,180,000, and the companies had a reserve over 1920 of $121,826,000. In the latter year the life insurance companies paid to policyholders $744,649,000, and had a surplus of $330,688,000. Fire and marine fmsurance companies, in 1920, had a total income of $1,102,788,799, and paid $505,260,378 to policyholders, either as lo es (the major part) or aS money returned as profits or exce payments, In the same year 336 fraternal orders underwrote $1,117,970,840, in insuring their members; had 8,489,097 certificates, or jlicies, in force at the close of the year, representing $8,879,451,774, and paid Gut $109,594,855 in claims. Accident and health companies received, in 1920, $79,180,592 in premiums, and paid out $33,540,972 in lo es. The premiums received by liability insurance companies amounted to $88,827,353, and $31,617,317 was paid out in lo es. Casualty, surety and miscellaneous companies, numbering 189 in 1920, had a net surplus over capital and liabilities of $92,860,639, and income of $489,774,245, of which $451,112,821 was received as premiums, and paid $196.360,067 to policyholders. Finally, 109 mutual, accident and sick benefit a ociations, with 1,853,328 certificates, or policies in force, received premiums or a e ments of $19,537,920, and paid $10,580,188 in claims. All tell the same story of financial strength, an income far exceeding outgo, and ample reserves, An insurance contract between two parties, expre ed by a policy and sustained by the periodical payment of given sums known as premiums, obligates one party (the insurer or underwriter) to protect the other (the insured) against lo es to which the insured’s health, busine , or property may be subject. Personal insurance covers sick= ne , accident, old age, maternity, risks of travelling, and unemployment. Property insurance takes a multitude of forms. Grest underwriting bodies, like Lioyds of London and American marine insurance corporations protect shipowners against lo of their craft and cargoes at sea. Equal protection is available against lo es from destruction of property by fire, bad weather, or other causes on land. The farmer insures his livestock to offset lo es from disease, and his crops from the unforseeable risks of climate, such as urpropitious frosts. The breaking of plate-gla windows can be insured, so can the risks of lo of or damage to automobiles. There is also burglary insurance, protection from damage by steam boiler explosions, and from elevator and vehicular accidents. Employes, such as railroad, construction and manufacturing companies, protect their resources against claims for damages arising from accidents to their workmen, while employees guard against lo of income, due to lack of work, by taking out unemployment insurance. Industrial, or working-cla insurance, mentioned above, differs from ordinary life insurance in that the premiums are payable weekly in small sums, some as low as five cents, instead of in larger sums at longer periods, and covers the lives of workers from the ages of one year to 65 years with no sex distinction.; Another invaluable form of insurance is that which safeguards firms from lo es due to bad debts, known as credit insurance. Yet another busine protection is provided by surety or bond companies, who insure employers against thefts committed by dishonest subordinates. Governments have been drawn into the insurance system in competition with private companies. England insures her post office employees. New Zealand conducts a succe ful life insurance department, though without offering any marked advantages above those of private companies. Old Germany devised a compulsory insurance system for workmen to counteract Socialistic antagonism to the monarchy. In the World War the United States succe fully established an insurance bureau for men who were injured, incapacitated or died, as a result of military service. There is little government regulation of insurance companies in England, but in the United States such supervision is quite extensive, each State regulating the pusine within its own borders as it sees fit. The control of insurance has been reserved to the individual States by a Supreme Court ruling which held that _ the conduct of insurance was not interState commerce, and therefor not subject to federal regulation.