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Leader (1850-1860), 20th December 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 14, 1210 ®i>e 1LC HttCr. [Saturday ,

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      1210 ®I>E 1lc Httcr. [Saturday ,

      1210 ® i > e 1 LC HttCr . [ Saturday ,

      Progress Of Assurance. Industrial Ufe A8...

      PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . INDUSTRIAL UFE A 8 SURANCE THE DESTRUCTION OF PAUPERISM AND A BOON TO THE EMPLOYER . In a former article on Assurance we referred to some of the features of the Industrial Branch of the " National Provincial Life Assurance Society , " remarking how admirably they were adapted to the wants of the working classes . We therein showed how peculiarly important Life Assurance is to them at the present time . Most of the Local Associations , and Benefit Clubs , and Friendly Societies , on which they have hitherto relied , have either fallen through from verv rottenness of foundation , or have been

      shown , on examination by competent actuaries , to be based on such falsely assumed data that they will sooner or later totter and fall . There are some instances where the probe has been courageously applied . Some societies have thought it better to learn the worst at once . Such have lost members , but they no longer work in the dark . If their members have to pay far more than they ever designed , they at least have attained additional security . But then it becomes a commercial question , how far it is prudent to continue to do that expensively on a small scale , which can be done inexpensively on a large , secure , and still more advantageous system .

      In the various tables of Assurance will be found a means of meeting and providing- for almost every risk and contingency of life . For the trifling sum of tenpence monthly a man may secure twenty pounds to his survivors , even though his death were to accrue a moment after his first tenpence was paid . By another table , he may become entitled to the same amount on arriving at a certain age , or it will be paid to his survivors , should he die

      sooner . By another , he can assure the same amount in the event of his death , or on his being rendered by any disease or accident incapable of pursuing his avocation . By another , he can secure a similar amount to his children for their education or their apprenticeship . And by a combination of these tables he may , for about three shillings weekly , educate his children , apprentice them , set them forward in life , and be the means of securing a thousand pounds to his grandchildren .

      The German traveller Kohl remarks that , having visited all the civilized world , he has found one characteristic peculiar to the English : that they despise small savings— " they never save small sums . " A man for one moment is in an economical vein . 1 le would save . But what ? A couple or three shillings a week ! Yes , ho can do this ; but what ; will it amount to in the course of the year ? Seven pounds sixteen shillings ; and all the time he will " have been pinching and denying himself many a comfort ! Besides , what can he do with seven pounds . sixteen shillings ? " It is not worth the trouble . " lie will " enjoy himself , and let others that conic after him work as he has

      done . " But such a man talks as if he were sun ; of living till his children should be able to support themselves- He reckons as though he were sure of bein ^ able to work as lonjr as be lives . Are there , then , no casualties to maim and disqualify him—no accidents which may in a moment put au end to his existence ? lias he never seen , even in imagination , the arm of his fellow workman caught in the shall , or his head pounded byt . be remorseless wheel ? Does be not know bow many sink while plying their unwholesome trade , or become valueless from overwork

      and exposure ? Why , for this despised iL ' J . 10 s . a man may ( secure £ 100 to his . survivors , even though lie were to fall dead on the threshold after once paying it . And is there a man in possession of 2 F ) S . weekly who could not save this ? Let it be remembered that on n guinea weekly under free trade and the new tarill' a man can live as well as he could on 25 s . a , few years ago . What does be then do with the 4 s . ? It goes , : is Kohl says , in adding to his creature comforts . The more ! be gets , the more lie spends . lie / inds ways for all his

      means . Well , it is human nature . I ' . very one will seek to enjoy the good things of life . But why not divide i . be matter ? Let 2 k . go to the body and its creature- comfoits , and with the remaining 2 , s buy peace of mind ! But if you do not assure to this extent , yet do something . Invent a shillingt : vcu . sixpence . |> o no , ! - tfo . down like •» , pwipori : to jYMiW ' i ^ TVVWMb / do you / i h : * v < i tlita power . toiKiUowi you hnv , ti ( loiil : yfnw duty . * I l >< o . Mu » l . hv . i [ uuulh > [ pbneuty uiKii ^ i ^ nnIjtltioUiJ . O iyoun ilffl . Hiiltyi , : » "d euiHufci tit tjtmt tW ^ dlf'iiHxi ' yV I bo jaoiHti fojtl . ci ^ i and i ideally , imtinh'M tWKwLrUeejjfMHO . jyrou . liuvuiltlioi \ krwm io ¦ iWtitiihl . 'ijn ., Sixpence a wcck . w ( UJiiw * Muruito " lyffliirWinrw « voB 9 ' , < BW ^' t )

      than £ 50 . Yet men will drop into dishonourable graves , and leave the first duty of their life undischarged . But the extension of the practice of Life Assurance is not an interesting question solely to the assured . The capitalist , and the landlord , and the householder , have not only a general interest in the welfare of those by whom they are surrounded .

      They have a special interest in the Assurance of all these classes . Where would be the poor ' s rates in the next generation if Life Assurance were universally adopted in this ? Pauperism is the nursery of crime . And if crime were even partially reduced , how vast a sum would be saved to the country in county rates , and police , and prisons , and transportations !

      To the employer , however , it is that we would now appeal . He has an immediate and vital interest in the welfare of those in his employ . There are some merchants in the city who will give no engagement to a man unless he assures his life . It is a system no less advantageous to the assured than to his employer . Of course , a man requires and hopes to obtain his full money ' s worth from those whom he engages . To obtain this , he must engage one whose heart and interest lie with his own . He

      who in any subordinate situation simply proposes to give a quid pro quo , will seldomfindthe advantage on the side of his employer . What a man intends to do and what he does , would leave a great deficit of the latter on a balance sheet . He may give his physical presence at the office , or manufactory , or warehouse , with the utmost punctuality . But he may be abstracted during his work . Reflection on those he has left at home may obtrude on his labour . Distracting thoughts may arise of what will become of those dependent upon him if he were to become incapacitated , or if death were suddenly to remove

      him . How do these thoughts chime in with the long columns of a ledger , or the counting and invoicing of goods , or the promptness and punctuality of correspondence ? May they not arrest many a one in his daily duties ? Will they not set the head in mazy abstraction while the hand falls powerless ? Let the capitalist estimate the loss he sustains by the anxieties of those who render a Avilling service , but who are , nevertheless , distracted by reflection . A free mind in those he engages is of incalculable value to the employer , lie cannot secure those around him from the various ills to which flesh is

      heir , but he has the power , by the recommendation , if not enforcement , of Life Assurance , to secure himself from one cause of pecuniary loss and his people from one source of mental anxiety . The Ministers of Religion in various parts of the country have shown a laudable desire to encourage saving habits among those over whom they have influence . There are no means by which they might so readily advantage their locality as by recommending the practice of Assurance . They frequently now take weekly payments in exceedingly

      small sums for various purposes . Why should they not become the depositories of the savings of the poor for the purposes of Assurance , and the communicators between them and the offices where no local agent may have been appointed ? They might do more than this . They can reach the ears and hearts of many whose attention can be arrested by no other means . Might they not . from their pulpits recommend the adoption of that which would tend to soothe the dying hour of many among their flocks , and drive want and the bitterness of

      poverty from their communion ? They who have such frequent opportunity of seeing the results of improvidence , and witnessing the sorrow and suffering of the helpless and unprotected , cannot surely think it without their pale to recommend a system which brings provision to the destitute . They preach that "if any provide not for bis own , and especially for those of bin own house , he bath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel . " They will not exceed their duty by pointing out the means whereby mich provision may riiosf , surely and successfully be made .

      Till': Nkw "Continental Hlockadk '' Adal...

      Till' : NKW "CONTINENTAL HLOCKADK '' AdAlNST KNULANJ ) . ( Jomi'I . icity with Cossaekism is what the events umi results of British diplomacy . > fw *»•«*{ » y > years MW-w U ) AuUimUM p ivllw \ i ) M & iii £ < lhieAltatavAai V \> ntif ! , ] itfitlYwH ,, ; | ., ; ,,, . ki ., .. ,,: . i - f : f | i , ' nil I i , I .: n < . •<( . ;' ' ' .. T . hehi -d &<&¦ \ gvfa \ V . > voiwpivMlyi < WI ' -titttW ^'» a , ^ li ? itsl ; Hin AlliMk' ^ bl" J & upopaf (! . An < 4 wltivfcfi 1 / . lrn # wt l Iy 0 lwM' » tiAfitifo kridiv in ,, ftvhe < fh < u < or ' in ^ fl'tirJivl'l'UlMN ^ sMVl ' in iprfvyiloYif ^ . iiriuirtjyitU H , ^" ' ton ! ; JuftiW «| «^ MJ- Iw ^ it ? While dii ) louiHfyiii « i whttiti mu *> U £ U ) ni . w 4 ' 4 ittl '' i 0 iily

      inevitable but necessary ; and , thettrfbrTT ^ Palmerston cannot complain of beinsr a /^ TJ while he is the champion of secret dipfinS ? V can easily clear himself if he will . We onlv f ? facts , we make no charges . But until we ! t the actual relations of England with the ContinpS" ? despots , and the Foreign-office chooses to be hi I it will be our duty to warn the public of the dam ? concealed in the future . We affirm deliberated that there zs a conspiracy . What are its elements ? I . Diplomacy : its head ; II . Military Absolutism : its Sword III . The great Roman Catholic priestly p f v . its Soul : ^ '

      IV . National Debts : its means of corruption . We have shown , in a previous number of the Leader , of what Diplomacy is composed ; how the thing called the Diplomatic Interest is a guild devoted to the maintenance of itself , and ruling more or less the powers that be ; how Lord Palmerston is one of the most eminent members of that guild ; and how Russian diplomacy , being the strongest , must succeed in all its projects .

      The common news of the day , the last seizure of power in Paris , the Austro-Russian occupation of so large a portion of Europe , these are the facts of Military Absolutism . What can words of ours add to them ? And , as to the share which organized Roman Catholicism has in these events , two recent facts , not to speak of others , indicate the close complicity of the priestly with the despotic party . Charles de Montalembert , in the name of the

      Ultramontanes , adheres to the policy of M . Bonaparte , because he has rendered such immense services to the Church ; that is , he has " guaranteed the liberty [ enslavement ] of instruction [ to the Priests ] , reestablished the Pope by French arms , restored to the Church its councils , its synods , the plenitude of its dignity , " & c . & c . And on the same day on which we read this declaration of the descendant of the Crusaders , we learn by the Transatlantic Mail that the Democrats of New

      York have at length found that the Roman Catholic Archbishop Hughes is the dire foe of liberty , and have denounced him through the popular New York Herald as the " Enemy of the Republic . " It will be remembered that Archbishop Hughes visited Rome last summer , and that immediately on his return he denounced the institutions of the United States in the strongest language . On these points , at present , we shall say no more .

      But there is one object of the Austro-Russian conspiracy which probably will rouse the susceptibilities of the City . Napoleon said he was fighting the battles of England under the walls of Moscow ; and it is not now inconceivable that Kossuth may have been fighting the battles of England on the banks of the Theiss , and Mazzini performing similar service behind the walls of Koine ; because both these patriots were defending human liberty as well as Hungarian or Italian liberty . But , if so , what were

      their antagonists doing ? Let us see . How would British Merchants like " a new Continental blockade , " more stringent than that which Napoleon attempted to enforce , because voluntary on the pan of the Continental governments welded together by a federative Continental despotism ? We say advisedly that the tactics not opposed by P almerston are leading to a similar blockade . Let LngMMi manufacturers look to it . What is the new' move , ,,.,..,., t , Wwi , » r i .. f-. Jln / mo-li < lir » nflieial medium oi unmasked of latethrough the official medium u .

      , Dcr Lloyd , the Voice of Austria ? Nothing iw * than a Continental blockade . Dcr Lloyd has openly pronounced , since the Parisian " coup d ' etat . introduction of a Continental si / stem— words fatal memory—is now hotly urged upon the ^<>» nental governments . Uoyd , in the name <> l Austrian ( Government , exclaiming "All I' ^ F ' ' and particularly all ( Jerinan , Powers must leel ii duty to combine in taking defensive measui -. against the Kitylish . system , of plunder . ' f \ ™ — — - — — — - — ^ y ^^ i- ¦ .

      Will this Open the eyes of the blind ? See ye " ^ that the strife involves , not only the »» torlia , V liberty or Cossackisin , but of ( JoHsaekism or 1 re tra . de ? 11 * prepares to . attack ywiriiiiUeriul-jHte ™ s . Me ,, ov Wn . y « , > M << rd ^ '*« df'MWgrfto * bn > « » sheer through all mysfncntid ^ Wd ^ "K ™* huIvuh -with those -who proclaim an inyi "" "' J ^ f Mttt'rtfld'fe * f eMrWivi- AllffcMW W ' iWlcH .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1851, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20121851/page/14/