Various

“ The company places it all in a common pot, and can put in the hand of extravagance, of avarice, or of dishonesty, and take out any amount for personal aggrandizement, or for expense of management, so long as it can be made to appear that the legal standard of reserve is maintained. There is absolutely no limit put upon the extravagant conduct of the business. There is no separation of trust funds from expense account. No man who insures in a level-premium life company knows whether such company will use for expenses $5 or $25 for each $1,000 of insurance which he carries. ”

“ Whatever the view of the cheerful optimist who stands on the threshold of the magazine world, with his experience, like his hoped-for triumphs, all in the future, the conditions above named, as witnessed by the broken lance of many a vanquished knight of this "Round Table," are not easily met. It is with a full understanding of these facts that we record the enlarged plans of the publishers of the Bay State Monthly, whereby that periodical, a vine of Massachusetts planting, seeking soil for wider growth, will send forth its roots into all New England. ”

“ He is blessed with robust health, is industrious in his habits, and possesses an equable temper. His appointment was not prompted by motives of party or political policy. He will enter into his office untrammelled by close political alliances, and free from the biases and prejudices engendered and fostered by party spirit and party contests." The truth of these words has been more than proven by the dignity, ability and impartiality with which Mr. Waite has filled his high office,—an office in the esteem of many the most important and honorable in the gift of the American people. ”

“ There is much value in knowing of the past social life of New England. By regarding the ways and manners which were, we are the better prepared for the duties which are. In entering into the labors of others, we should know what those labors were.
At the outset we must regard the singular oneness of purpose in the minds of our New England ancestors. To serve God unmolested was the ruling idea of those who led in the settlement of Boston, Dorchester, Salem, and Plymouth. The hardship of laws and social oppression stimulated many more to join those who came from a religious motive. ”

“ The objection to the plan of step rates is that it is not popular with the people who are the purchasers of insurance.
The company adopting the plan says, "We shall get rid of our undesirable risks, those who are getting old, because the rate of assessment will be so high they cannot afford to pay it." The individual says, "I don't like a plan by which I am to be increasingly burdened as I grow older, and by which it is altogether probable I shall be compelled to sacrifice the savings of years, and lose my insurance at the last." ”

“ The insurance is effected upon the lives of helpless infants and children to the amount of one hundred or two hundred dollars or more, ostensibly to provide for suitable burial expenses in the event of the child's death. While, doubtless, in some cases the motive is a worthy one which prompts to such insurance, one's thought shrinks with horror from a contemplation of the crimes which it must, in many cases, suggest to the minds of the low and depraved. How many children are there in our large cities whose lives are not worth even one hundred dollars! ”

“ It is not an easy task either to establish a magazine, or, having secured for it a place in public favor, to retain the good will essential to its continued success. The examples of failure on the part of those who have essayed this task are so many and so notable, that publishers and editors who enter the field of periodical literature with new ventures, must possess, first of all, not a little courage ”

“ The ordinary life of the people has in it a fascination which a general knowledge fails to impart. The greatness of New England, however, is not all in the past. New England has given excellent life to the great West, and the far-reaching isles. Its line has gone out through all the earth. The descendants of New England are drawing riches from the prairies, the mines of the mountains, and are creating business thrift in all the rising towns. ”

“ I have looked upon you as one born to do good, and who has fulfilled his mission; as a man without a spot or blemish, as a merchant known and honored over the whole world; a most liberal supporter and promoter of science and the arts; always kind to scholars and literary men, and greatly beloved by them all ”

“ But perhaps the most astonishing feature of level-premium insurance is found in the fact that there is absolutely no obligation assumed on the part of the company, and no power anywhere to enforce an accounting for the vast sums entrusted to it, so long as it can be made to appear that it holds securities in the aggregate to meet the legal requirements of a reserve. ”

“ OBJECTIONS TO LEVEL-PREMIUM LIFE INSURANCE. BY G. A. LITCHFIELD.
In considering the objections to level-premium life insurance, as at present administered, it will not be assumed that there is not much in the system to commend. It has subserved, and is now subserving, a great and beneficent end.
It is the channel through which millions of dollars have been disbursed to families in the time of their sorest need.
It has encouraged habits of economy, and stimulated the noble resolve to lay by a part of earnings, scarcely adequate to meet present necessity, for a time of greater necessity still. ”

“ Is there any reason why level-premium companies should not be limited to twice that amount? The recent law governing assessment insurance in Massachusetts requires that in every call for an assessment it shall be distinctly stated what the money is to be used for, and no part of the mortuary fund can be used for expenses. Will any man say that assessment insurance is not in advance of other forms of insurance, in these respects at least? ”

“ Hebronville also would then, as now, have greeted the visitor with the music of swift shuttles and whirling spindles, as he passed on to the end of his tour of inspection at Kent's grist mill, the oldest, probably, in the country.
These rude mills were the original sources of a progressive, ever-widening, material prosperity for which Attleboro is justly noted. Its people display great business thrift; its many commodious factories are crowded with skilled mechanics and trained artisans; and its abundant products are sold by men of enterprise in all the markets of the world. ”

“ Life insurance is a commodity to be bought and paid for at a fair market price.
In the earlier history of the business, there were no data at hand to fix its value. Experience of fifty years and more has furnished such data, and its value can now be determined with very considerable closeness, and very far within the charges of level-premium companies. There should be some margin charged above probable cost, as shown by the experience of companies; but such charges should not contemplate nor admit of such extravagant expenses as have, and do now, obtain in level-premium companies. ”

“ As the substantial citizen of to-day passes up this street, where shops are rapidly displacing the mansions of the last century, he looks with honest pride upon Boston's crowning glory, the gilded dome which, like a great golden egg, is nested upright upon the roof which shelters the annually-assembled wisdom of the Old Commonwealth. ”

“ There have been in the United States some eight hundred level-premium life companies, only about fifty of which are now in existence. It is unnecessary to recall the disastrous ending of such companies as the "Continental" and the "Knickerbocker." It is well known that the former was at one time receiving not far from half a million of dollars annually in premiums through its Boston agency alone, and that the latter, in the midst of seeming prosperity, collapsed so suddenly that millions of dollars of supposed assets disappeared beyond recovery. ”

“ In all the world, in every commercial centre, in the vessels upon the sea, in every mechanical industry at home and abroad, are those whose keenness and brightness of mind, whose sharpness of ingenuity, and whose warmth of heart are to be traced to the natural blood and descent from those we ever delight to honor. ”

“ There is an ample field for both assessment and level-premium [Pg 76] companies to prosecute their work. There need not and should not be antagonism between the two systems. Each will and should be criticised, but always in a spirit of fairness. To some extent modifications in both systems may be desirable, and doubtless a healthy competition will bring such changes to pass. Perfection is a quality of slow growth, but it should be the aim of those who administer the far-reaching and sacred trusts of either system of life insurance. ”

“ That level-premium insurance does not meet the requirements of the people is shown by the fact that there are only about 600,000 policy-holders in these institutions in a population of about 60,000,000. While lack of confidence undoubtedly deters some from patronizing them, yet there are many other considerations that tend to produce this state of things. To insure in them is attended with too great expense. It is not possible for the average mechanic to save from his earnings a sufficient sum to carry any considerable amount of insurance in these companies. ”

“ Did space permit, it would be possible to single out from the many sons and residents of Attleboro, men who have become distinguished for learning and the public and private services they have rendered their fellow-men; but it must suffice here simply to remark that it is the crowning glory of the town to count among its citizens a large number of sagacious, sensible men of affairs, who have built up its manifold interests, and by personal enterprise and energy have secured for the place a large measure of material prosperity. ”

“ The New England Magazine will, therefore, aim to become a treasury of information relating to matters of special interest to citizens of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and to be of incalculable value as an authoritative recorder and medium of interchange and information for all Libraries and Historical Societies especially, and for all history and literary loving people generally. ”

“ Thus commenced the habits of industry, economy, and [Pg 63] exactness which made the subsequent prosperity of the man, who used to recount to his grandsons his early poverty and hardships, the kind home he found, and dwell with grateful pleasure on every trait and habit of the Colonel. "Now, boys," he said, "be sure, when you grow up and can afford it, that you go into New Hampshire and see where I used to live as a boy, and if the house of Colonel and Madam Toppan is still standing, with the beautiful elms and all." ”

“ The simple suggestion is enough to carry with it a sense of obligation to lovers of humanity to see that a premium is not placed upon infanticide and kindred crimes. If such insurance is to be effected at all, which is extremely questionable, it should be under the strictest restraints of law.
Another serious objection to the system is that it necessitates nearly double the cost of even regular level-premium rates, from the fact that weekly collections of five and ten cents must be made by agents employed for the purpose. ”

“ It is only by putting the work of twenty years ago by the side of that of to-day that one can realize what wonderful strides have been made in every department of bookmaking, more especially in that of illustration. The art of wood-engraving has been carried, one could almost say, to perfection. ”

“ There was a great bond of sympathy between those who thus came together. The new communities became as one home. Add to this the fact of the settlers living within a mile of the meeting-house, often meeting with each other on Sunday and at the midweek meetings for town purposes, for the drill of the military companies, and having the same hopes and fears regarding the Indians, we find the common sentiment welded even stronger. The oneness of the New England communities is proverbial. ”

“ The social life of to-day is not as it has been. The oneness of the early times is disintegrating. The people seem almost mad in their rush after clubs and societies. The ninety per cent of English descent at the beginning of the Revolution is giving way before the incoming of emigrants from every other nation. The rapid reading, thinking, and living has long since passed the life of former generations. ”

“ The picture and story of John Rogers' burning at the stake, with wife and nine small children and one at the breast looking on, beholding the martyrdom of this advocate of the early Protestant church, did much to keep alive the bitterness between the Protestant and Catholic churches. The Catechism, known by all, began with: "What is the chief end of man?" Then followed the words of this conclave of divines, the teachings of Rev. John Cotton, which he named "Spiritual milk for American babes, Drawn out of the Breasts of both Testaments for their Soul's Nourishment." ”

“ Who paid it to the company, if not the policy-holders? Still, if the business were confined to simple endowment insurance in connection with pure life insurance there would be less objection, although banking is properly no part of insurance; but the fact is, a far more speculative business is done, called Tontine insurance. This form may be fitly characterized as the gambling form, inasmuch as the only hope of profit to a few is that the many will be robbed of their savings. ”