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    December 17, 1853.] THE LEADER. 1211

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    MORAL SIGNS IN AMERICA. It is rather rem...

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    Insurance For The Working Class On Many ...

    the working classes Consists xn the smallness of the sums which they can command , and in the precarious nature of their income . The consequence is that they make their insurance investments only for objects of urgent importance ; and , as those investm ents involve a , number of small payments , they are seldom worththe attention of capitalists . There are two immediate results of this state of affairs "; the cost of management becomes considerable in proportion to the advantage ; and as the managers are often poor , bustling , and needy men , there are frequent defalcations . Such projectors naturally undertake what regular insurance companies will not . The benefit dub will play with the edge tools of the actuary , though not commanding his

    skill or advice ; and the man of sixty , who has been , paying all his life to a club , may find that just as he requires the help which he has provided the club fails . The working classes ^ the most numerous , and in the aggregate the most productive , possess the advantages neither of banking nor of insurance . The Poor Law is indeed one kind of insurance , and a valuable kind , though it is very limited—it is an insurance against actual destitution . The sayings' bank also affords a place of deposit , but ridiculously limited to a very small sum in the year *; These two institutions provide nothing for sickness or old age , and little for families left suddenly destitute by death . Nor , from the causes which we have mentioned , do the friendly societies supply the deficiency .

    The whole subject has commanded the attention of a man admirably suited , both by natural genius , by attainments , and by public spirit , to make the most valuable suggestions—we mean Mr . Farr , the statist of the General Register Office . The grand things wanted are a provision against sickness , and a subsistence in old age . The latter point is a desirable object for all classes ^ of society ; but it would be specially advantageous if the labour market could be relieved of aged persons , who do not really contribute to production , but only hinder . There is a certain amount of work to be

    done m the country , and there is no doubt that it could be done quite as well , or better , if it were only entrusted to the effective men of the country . Let us take an example . In the printing trade there is a given number of workpeople , and at present a given quantity of . work to be done . In some branches , by an improved machinery and regulations , the amount to be executed ' by a given number of men in a given time might be considerably increased ; but the printers object to

    increase the rate of production in a given hour , because the increased speed would throw the older hands out of work . This is a most just and proper consideration ; but the regulation intended to effect it violates all reason and economy . A given set of men execute a given amount of work , but could take more besides ; only they keep down the rate of production in order that a few aged persons may not be cast destitute . They thus restrain production to n . point below that at which a smaller number of men could execute more

    work , by a rule which prevents any man from doing better than hia superannuated grandfather . Abolish that restriction ; and if the grandfathers were thrown out of work , the quantity executed by the smaller number would be absolutely greater . Thus it would be cheaper to pension off the old people , and leave to those in the prime of life their full swing . If to the general fact we add the ' particular one , that by a better adaptation of savings a livelihood his old

    could bo secured to each man in age , wo have a double and powerful incentive to make due provision . J } ut , as the income of the working classes is precar ious , and as the talent which they can command ™ r administration is also precarious , two new classes of circumstances are required for render"V ? this provision of the working class available "With Certainty . We want a rule enabling the earners of precarious incomes to make ail insurance n dependent upon the stead v payment of . a fixed

    animal premium ; and we also want a guarantee , jv ' uch the working classes cannot command , that "* o repayment assured hIiuU be certain . Mr . Fnrr proposes to attain the latter object by Government control . He observes , also , with great truth , llafc whereas most of our financial nml industrial operations are brought about by the combined d « , lnsiaters and working men , it is most esirablo that tho employing clauses ' should give ofli " nUl ' citr m tu « formation or administration

    ^ * u , ro < lu j Hit 0 fum | s rj L > h ( 5 timMJ chief objects UcI » the working man most desires are , am

    annuity in old age , an allowance during sickness , and something for survivors . Mr ; Farr has prepared tables which show that these objects may be attained by precarious payments , or payments only continued for a short period . To take an example of insurance against sickness : —A man aged 20 , who pays < £ " 650 , or 13 s . at the beginning of every quarter ( Is . a week ) , for five years , would , without the payment of any further premium from the fifth year inclusive , be entitled to < £ " 454 , or 9 s . I'd . a week , for every week of sickness that he experienced during the next forty years , or until the

    age of 65 , when the payment of a deferred annuity would commence . An example of life insurance : —Each single pound paid in by a depositor on the principle of life insurance is by calculation worth a specific sum on the death of the depositor ; and Mr . Farr proposes a set of tables which would mark out the respective value of each single pound deposited at successive ages . A depositor , therefore , beginning at an early age , and continuing subsequent years , might pay in a deposit of one or more pounds , with the certainty that at his death a

    specific sum for each pound deposited will bepaid to his survivors . A provision of this kind is much wanted for all persons whose income is precarious , and ought not to be limited to the working classes-It is particularly necessary for professional men and sailors , and we have for some time contended in favour of such a provision . Mr . Farr supplies the requisite for the purpose , the principle on which a table should be formed . He suggests , also , a plan for assuring a deferred annuity on the same principle ; that is to say , an annuity deferred until after a given year , with a given sum for

    each pound deposited . It is very advantageous for the life assurance and the annuity to be combined ; the risks of the two correct each other . A man beginning , say at the ag ^ of twenty , and paying one pound on the annuity account , and one pound on the insurance account , would be entitled to leave at his death nearly 21 . 18 s ., and to receive at the age of sixty-five an annuity of about 17 s . Next year he would deposit 21 . more , and at his death he would leave about 51 . 12 s ., or be entitled to receive at sixty-five an annuity of 1 Z . 12 s . ; and soon , until , if he kept up his

    premium until the age of sixty-five , then retiring from work and relinquishing his premiums , he would be entitled to receive an annuity of 18 / . 7 s ., and leave at his death 911 . 11 s . for his survivors . Every increase to the premium would give an increase to the benefit assured . If , through failure of means , the premium is stopped , the life assurance and the annuity would not be forfeited , but only diminished in the exact proportion . The accounts would be very simple : the mere register of the sums paid would furnish all that was wanted for the calculation of the ultimate

    payment according to the table . But dealing m such small sums would entail considerable expense , unless the system were conducted with the guarantees and the facilities which Government can command . . The employing classes might assist by taking the premiums out of wages , of course only on the actual request of the working people , and handing them over in a lump to Government , which would save much trouble , and therefore expense . They might , we may add , assist still more by placing information on this subject before the working classes ; and if they were to act in that spirit , they would not only secure the attachment and trust of their fellowcountrymen amongst the working classes , but

    would also remove many of the causes which render the labour of the country inefficient , and thus keep down the profits of the employer . The provinions suggested by Mr . Fare so strictly belong to the same class of assurance which the Poor Law afiordu , that they may bo culled the completion of that measure . If any tiling is to be said in justification of the Poor Law , much more may be said in favour of the plan migrated by Mr . Farr ; and we believe that nothing more could Bocuro the peace , of the country , the comfort of the masses , and the elevation of the popular character and skilled labour of thifc country , than much a plan of provision . The Benefit Societies Act expires next year ; the recommendations- of Mi « Committee on Insuranee . s have ¦ still to be dealt

    with ; a Foor Law reform i . s expected by public opinion . Members ought not to neglect the only groat national subject so admirably handled by Mr . Farr , and embodied in a separate appendix to the annual report of the KogiHtrar-General for 1853—tho " Abstracts of 1840 . "

    December 17, 1853.] The Leader. 1211

    December 17 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1211

    Moral Signs In America. It Is Rather Rem...

    MORAL SIGNS IN AMERICA . It is rather remarkable that , notwithstanding the * experience which politicians and public writers ought by this time to have accumulated , they are continually falling into the mistake of taking the last act as a proof of the general tendency of public opinion . In England the last receipt is a proof o f all interior payments ; a sufficient rule since it is known , but , logicall y , not quite so correct as the rule in Scotland , which requires the last three , receipts . In the course of public opinion , it appears to us that the last three events at least should be taken into the account . Every now and then , on the receipt of a mail from the United States , there , is a great cry , either that repudiation has been abjured , or that it is in full force . It is not

    very long since the judges of Mississippi , sitting " in error , " decided that the public bonds which had been repudiated still held good as a claim on the state , and must be met . In the United States the office of judge is subject to annual election ; but it is not usual to enforce that rule , the judges being practically permanent , as they are in this country , where the Crown retains the power of removal should the judges behave ill . The state elections in Mississippi have just been taken , and the judges are threatened . One , Judge Yerger r has already paid the penalty of adhering to the rights of the creditor ; and our English contemporary , the Times , evokes the ghost of Sydney Smith to chastise the rampant doctrine of repudiation , Pennsylvania , and all .

    ! Nbw , the truth is that opinion does not change with the impressions of the writers that partially reflect it . In Mississippi state there is a permanent opinion in favour of repudiation , with a strong influential opinion in the opposite direction ; the two opinions are in conflict , and in their conflict they threaten to upset the judgment-seat . It is deeply to be regretted that judges should be liable to be thus called to account for conscientious

    decisions ; but it must not be forgotten , that in Mississippi the election principally turns on the merits or demerits of Governor Foote , who is opposed by Mr . Jefferson Davies , the present Secretary-at-War , with great success . This is admitted by the N " ew York correspondent of the Times , who has constantly endeavoured to show that the administration was losing in the state elections . The fate of the judges , therefore , is not

    so clearly traceable to repudiation . On the other hand the principle of repudiation does survive . It is a rising idea in America , as well as England , that one generation cannot properly pledge another . In this country , through the great influence of official and monied-people , it has been our custom to connive at the very lavish arrangement of Ministers , to whitewash every successive Chancellor of the Exchequer , and to accept his disposal of our means as if he , fifty years ago , perhaps , knew better than the people of the present day how to dispose of their means . The absurdity of that proposition has not failed to attract attention , and an intellect

    distinguished above all others in this country by its fineness and conscientious scruple , that of Francis W . Newman , has declared in favour of a summary treatment of the national debt , which is for from being unlike repudiation . The bonds of Mississippi , contracted to support the planters' bank ,, and sold below par , —or , in other words , failing to obtain the money nominally presented in their text , —and made payable in London without tho . authority of the public body , really offer many reasons for repudiation . We do not believe , however , that the material advantages once gained by / tho loan have been entirely superseded ; and it does appear to us that the state which takes advantage of those conveniences is morally bound to

    pay even if tho legal claim were less technically enforced by law than tho judges declared it to be . What wo have endeavoured to show , however , is that , so far from being perfectly unreasonable caprice , repudiation is an opinion supported by . reiison , and possessing a . permanent existence . Wo agree with the New York correspondent o £ the Tunes in cautioning the public against attack , - ing too much importance to these apparent reverscs .. 1 ' ennsylvaniau bondn were once worth nothing but to point Sydney Smith's jokes ; they are now at par : in the meanwhile , however , those who were terrified at the idea of repudiation , musts have lost considerable sums of money , pocketed by those who retained a moro consistent trust in . the

    good faith of the American republic . Another incident of the day is of an extremely satisfactory kind ; not because it proves a suddem

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1853, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17121853/page/11/