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Leader (1850-1860), 14th June 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 559, Untitled Article

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      fast recognised by all thinking men . It has long ago been the professed aim of all good govern ments and institutions . But in the system of Life Assurance we see the princi p le adopted by com mercial men , and the countries which rank the highest in civilization and are the most noted for prudence and forethought , are , as might be expected , those which have most readily availed themselves of its benefits . The principle of con cert is being advanced in this country more than in any other by assurance associations . The superfluity of the many is here applied for the exigency of the individual , and the accumulated funds , which can be increased at an interest wholly out of the reach of any one person , exhibit the benefits which arise tram combined action . | |

      And yet we frequently hear the cry that ** there are too many assurance offices "—that " they cannot all be doing business . " Those who venture to make such an idle observation show how little they really know what they are talking of . Out of thirty millions , of British subjects , not above two hundred thousand are assured . As one-half at least of these are for temporary purposes , there * are on an average only about one hundred thousands of persons in Great Britain who effect " whole-life " assurance .

      The principles of Assurance are now becoming popularised . They are no longer confined to the musty closet of the actuary , but are the conversation of the multitude . People have ceased to call it " tempting Providence " to assure * their lives ; and they do not now believe that the possession of a policy accelerates their dissolution . So greatly are its benefits becoming acknowledged , that

      Assurance has in some cases been made compulsory . The principals of some of the largest mercantile establishments in London make it imperative on every individual in their employ , whether clerk , warehouseman , or porter , to assure his life for such a sum as his salary will permit . By these means a provision is secured for many a family , who , but for such a salutary regulation , would on the death of the fatherbe left destitute .

      Benjamin Franklin used to observe that a man who uselessly spent £ 5 per annum , threw away the means of purchasing £ 100 a-year , if he were a man of good repute . But the amount of good which may be effected by the same sum in an assurance office is astonishing . A man of thirty years of age might therewith insure £ 200 for his family at his decease . The same sum paid annually , from six months old , would insure £ 20 Q fora daughter on attaining the age of twenty-one , or the same amount towards the education or apprenticeship of a son . But , not to speak without , the book , we will briefly glance at the beneficial schemes proposed by the Metropolitan Counties and Geneual Life Assurance Society .

      In addition to the old form of assurance , a provision for old age may be made : a person aged 25 may asnure £ 100 ( participating in all the profits of the society ) , to be paid at the age of ( 50 years , or sooner in case of his death , by paying the annual premium of £ 2 17-s . 6 d . Or he may pay an annual sum , according to age , for the purchase of an annuity , to commence at any period of his life he may choose . But life assurance may also be adopted for many temporary purposes . A policy of assurance becomes a property , which may be available on many important occasions . The debtor can offer it as a guarantee to his creditor . Tim creditor can secure himself from

      eventual loss by assuring the life of his debtor . The parent may hand down his name with an appropriate property to an elder son , whilst the possessor of n strictly-entailed estate may make provision for his younger children . The colonist may leave a competence to his family , should he die in a strange land ; and a borrower , solvent during his life , necure repayment to the lender , iu case he may be deprived of the power to jmy by the hand of death .

      At a slightly-increased rate we may enter upon the interesting process of " Joint Assurtinoc . " If the husband die first , the wife ( or other party named ) receives the assurance ; while , if the wife die first , the huaband receives the amount . Thus , where there is a family , the Ions of a parent on either Hule is mitigated , us fur as money can afford an alleviation . The same arrangement applies to commercial partnership , and removes the tear that the death of one party may suddenly reduce the capital of the firm , and perhaps destroy , at a critical moment , the future success ot

      . I uncle 6 he is sure of a legacy , but in case of her decease before her uncle , then the proj perty is willed to » third party . The husband , . in such a case , would , at a small cost , assure his = h Wlffk C llTA ft * + fw i % * y + fVlO # - r \ P Via ** « wh « . A — . « .. « . J 1 _ i * __ tuut \ jk nut

      ; - ** . & * v- » * a *^> w £ f «* w » op IJJU 1 C CllfCVl rCIHLlVC | and by those means secure the realization of the 5 expected property . For if the lady die first , then the office pays the amount she would have in . . herited : if , on the contrary , she outlive her i uncle , she receives the property , and the traasae ^ tion with the company ceasesin addition t

      o toe toregoing schemes we observe ! a novel feature in this company under the head of Endowments , with a view to facilitate the provision for young , children when legal impediments would otherwise interfere . By paying a premium , of £ 3 5 s . 4 d . annually , a child may be secured the ± iuv tne

      receipt or , on attaining age o * jji . a person about to marry a lady aged 30 , may secure the sum of £ 500 to every child , the issue of such marriage , on each child attaining the age of 91 , by the deposit of £ 947 16 s . 3 d . j or , by the deposit of £ 1665 Ids . on the non-participating scale , he may not only secure the foregoing benefit , but the additional advantage of receiving a return of the whole £ 1665 10 s . at his death . Where there is a difficulty of paying the whole premium down , there

      are tables under which the same advantages may be secured by annual payments , with security . Malthusian principles will stand no chance against these enlightened marital arrangements . As may be readily anticipated , with such advantages these offices flourish commercially , and tend to popularise the principles of life assurance , while the old offices partake more of the nature of mere banking speculations . Bound down with a Y \ l <* tYis \ ra r \ f nanital tVicw mnat nr \ tn Pnrliamant '

      for power to introduce these features , or eventually cease to exist . Man . v an old office is now only kept alive by the business of former days—the new policies being almost always the effect of some compulsion on the assured , or arising from ignorance of the novel and advantageous applications of assurance . A very little attention to the working of the ancient offices would have shown that , from the immense interest to be paid on the capital , the assured are charged such premiums as exceed the sums their survivors are to receive . Though everyone is aware of the uncertainty of life , a man does not choose to pay more premium than his average p vnpctstinn rtf lifV » VinnpKt . lv dpmnnrJs .

      Whatever may be thought of the advantages of a " Mutual" office , where all the profits are divided among the assured , we think the popular objection of " insecurity" is best removed by the system adopted in the Metropolitan Counties and General Life Assurance Society . A small subscribed capital gives entire and undoubted security to the assured . The shareholders for their security receive one-fourth of the profits , in addition to 5 per cent ., leaving 75 per cent , to be divided among the shareholders . Even this capital , however , our own experience has shown to be next to useless , if regarded simply as a guarantee to the assured . No such guarantee is necessary . The cases are very few—we doubt il there be any—where a Mutual Company , properly managed , iu not enabled to pay all its liabilities out of the premium hind . But in the Metropolitan Counties a direct advantage to the assured is given . The capital is used in affording loans on good security , and as no without oi

      loan is enectea an assurance on menu' the borrower , the business of the office is materially increased , and a corresponding increase of advantages comew to all the uusmrocl . Policy-holders in the young Hoeieties have another immense advantage . Under the l ) th and 10 th of Victoria , the newer companies are obliged to publish their accounts annually , whereby every shareholder and every policy-holder can judge for himself of Lhe commercial condition of the company . The old otlicea are under no such law , and of their reul condition it ih impossible to judge , save when some lachrymose individual , not contented with the interest on his tiharcH , lets fall a hint that " younger ofllces are doing business while the old ones are at a stand . '

      the buKint * utf . There ai'Q also table * more complex , but valuable in mooting many » family arrangement . Suppose , if a wifo survive her

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      riiouunsa o p qviniom . Trinidad has not only adopted puoUo secular education atttoiifj the institutions of that magnificent island , hut , amongst other nigim of advancing opinion , we »«• iu a looal paper an xplKiiation of Socialism . Socialism among the Negroes would present some new aspeota , and it is probable ( hat the divine principle of Concert might ultimatel y afford a key out of more than one « f the gigantic neffrn . difficulties . 8 o « n after the ruin of many planters by Emancipation , Negroes obtained

      possession of some estates in the British "West Indies but they were not sufficiently trained even in the rudiments of Socialism to maintain success . However , as the race haa qualities of a very hopeful kind , it is probable tha * « 1 > a iuiuiiili'ra Mas > nnv fit them hetter far ftttnrm

      opportunities . The prineiple has yet to be considered as the key to Negro Emancipation in the United States . We see a portion of the C hartist programme in the Mediterraneo , a Maltese paper both in Italian and English—centre of a large political region not aa yet much visited by sound Communist ideaa . ¦ ot i ui pi im

      j . ne suoject cooperation » one me emen - portance , and , like many other Social questions , neither its limits nor its principles seem to be clearly understood . It is of the greatest importance that the masses should be enlightened on a subject ao exciting , and bearing 00 directly on their interests . But until it has been further w * a * s-h a fr * wn 4 >^ v j *] a vh Jm vh « m ¦ ¦ ¦ >» « — ¦« * - v * a ^ a •¦* a rm V \ a ti *« ^ w # * •• A A A A I

      * * . ^ *^ * ^^ ^ ' iiAvccttigcifftrtAi < kMU AiwLUCXUi 4 a iuoi <( i'ivca uc * vii 4 £ ^ jimuwb ** connexion with its principles been collected , it is hopeless to attempt a popular treatment of the subject . Jt would be highly desirable that those of our foreign visitors who have at all studied that most important question should communicate to us the results of their experience . " Whence do we extract this remarkable passage ? From the Exposition of 1851 , by Charles Babbage , inventor of the Calculating Machine , and author of the Economy of Manufactures .

      COMPETITION JN LOCH-PICKINQ . The intense pressure of our social system has brought competition to the skeleton key , and a mutual defiance is now goinjj on in the public journals between eminent lock-makers—a challenge to pick each other ' s locks . Messrs . Bramah and Co . have a lock on which they so much rely that they offer a reward of 200 guineas to any one who shall pick it . Messrs . Chubb and Son make & like challenge .

      Mr . A . C . Hobbs , " Proprietor of the American ± JanJc lock , " arrives from the United States , buys Chubb ' s lock 142 , 356 , and picks it , he says , " without any knowledge except that attained through the keyhole . " Of course Mi " . Hobbs does not mean that he obtained his knowledge by listening at the keyhole ? " Now , " says Mr . Hobbs , very cogently , " if lock No . 142 , 356 can be picked , what voucher can he [ Chubb ] give to the public that all his locks made previously are secure ? " Thus we have a respectable gentleman , " Proprietor of the American Bank lock , " and dating from " the United States' Commissioner ' s office , Crystal Palace , " deliberately engaged in blasting the character of Chubb with his 142 , 356 locks 1 I C 11 f oil it" * ff'ii ** «» - * 6 »* .- * rfI /»» m * K 11 Kit * t *~ i f \ ^ . st n n 4 i Fi o n yj \ ixiciaiiuu

      ^* ^ * - *~* \ a \* <*»* . 10 jail in 11 « LA c Uliuuu unu j . ^ they admit that " person" has " declared that he c ,, n pick any lock iu England , " but they say that the honesty of the experiment has not been tested . " The lock , with its keys , professed to be picked , was iu the possession of the person who boasts of his success for several days before lie made any public attempt to establish his case . " Hobbs declined to teach Chubb ' a foreman and others how to pick locks . liramaU and Co . oiler him a , room on condition " that some one named l > y him and approved l > y uh should Ue in the room and see fair l'lay . " "The attempt has not been made . " So the quarrel . stands ; Hobbs levelling hia assertions at the locks of Chubb and Bramah — Hramah and Cluibb levelling their insinuations ut llobbs ' s boasts . We ought uy the laws of competitive philosophy to expect some very superexoelleiit lock from tlvis war of Avnerica and Kugland ; and to couipenuute lor the bud spirit in such contests , the lock , we think , ought to open the doox to Home very happy place .

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      rOWKlt AND PICAdl'I . Q uNPOWDEii is a great power almost monopolized at present by the Absolutist or departmental oIuhhch of of Kurope ; and popular or Liberal parties , or even Liberal nations , must be content to occupy tue inferior position , uulc »« they can accomplish the ah > w process of converting [\ vk Abnolutista , or uuIcuh thvy jiohhchu them-Helves of the best gunpowder invplemeuta . The Times \ a expatiating on the merits of " CoH ' h revolver , " a neat invention , by means of tv ) iicli a pi . stol with one barrel hu * six or eight separate breechea that tutu be aeuarntely loaded and then brought ia rapid roUtiun to 1 U thtj barrel . At Mulgruve-hausi ' , iu I'ulhmii , <>» Tuesday , Lord lUnelagh , with * party of vilkvra and «« utleinen , witu >» NK < wl cvrwrlm .-nfN In till' I 1 . 4 C ( II the "

      ZuildlludeluCwehr , " « xr m ^ dlw-gun , wliioh wm ditiohwrged with dt-Jiber ^ tion , prwoUioo , and great ( vrw , n ' times in two minutes . Thy gun is lotided » C tht > breech with u hharj ) conical bullet und a cartridge ; the cartridge i « primed with percuaaion j »> wd « r ; the |> vr « u « si » u powder in struck by tUe needle uli «< : ' » givcu tUe nttiuo lo thu gun . No r » u » rud Is required , no biting of t , \\ v cartridge ; me bull ' - 't Kiln lt » man ai flOO yards . UmU iCi ( # MU Hud Au * tri » be oonvcrted to p « auc nriociplf * UK tu L'uttrul um ' uiouM , uvrUapa it might bu an well if JEngland were to posse » s thu beat nrearniH , ^ whut-• r » r th » y may b « .

      Untitled Article

      June 14 , 1851 . ] . Wftt Hcatrm 559

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 14, 1851, page 559, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1887/page/11/