The Duty to Insure

The Duty to Insure. Since life insurance furnishes the
surest method of hedging the family against the uncertainty
of life, it is essential that all who have assumed family obliga-
tions should use it as a means of protecting dependents against
the want that may be occasioned by an untimely death. The
capitalization of the value of a human life for the benefit of
the household depending upon it is a fundamental duty that
should be given the widest publicity through the pulpit, the
school and the press. In the great majority of instances,
life insurance is the only recourse open to the man of moder-
ate income who finds it difficult or impossible by force of cir-
cumstances to accumulate a savings fund for those dependents
who may outlive him.

The growth of life insurance implies an increasing develop-
ment of the sense of responsibility. The idea of providing
only for the present must give way to a recognition of the fact
tyhat a person's responsibility to his family is not limited to the
years of survival. Emphasis should be laid on the " crime of
not insuring," and the finger of scorn should be pointed at
any man who, although he has provided well while alive, has
not seen fit to discount the uncertain future for the benefit
of a dependent household. As already explained, life in-
surance is the only sure means of changing uncertainty into
certainty and is the opposite of gambling. He who does not
insure gambles with the greatest of all chances and, if he loses,
makes those dearest to him pay the forfeit. That the gamble
is a risky one is easily demonstrated by any mortality table,
and even if life is granted until age 50, let it not be overlooked
that less than one in ten of our population succeeds in accumu-
lating a reasonable competence, and that through reverses a
great majority of this limited number lose the same by the
time that age is reached. Woman's rights as well as her duty
in the matter of life insurance should also be emphasized.
She should be taught that it is not only her husband's duty
adequately to protect the family, if that is at all possible, but
that it is also her duty, if necessary, to use her persuasive
powers to get him to act, and if that does not avail, to insist
on action as her right. Not only has she a right to personal
protection, but her rights as regards life insurance are further
increased by her interest in the children which are as much
hers as they are her husband's.

In addition to the advantage of life insurance as a direct
protection to the family, it also benefits the policyholder per-
sonally in a number of important ways. Six advantages deserve
special mention in this respect and all, it should be
noted, redound to the benefit of the policyholder's family by
qualifying him better to meet its obligations and to protect
its comfort and happiness.

Eliminates Worry and Increases Initiative. Writers
have frequently asserted that life insurance is not to be re-
garded as a producer of wealth but that its function is merely
to distribute funds from the fortunate to the unfortunate.
In reality, however, life insurance will be found to be a
powerful indirect force in the production of wealth in that it
relieves the policyholder of worry and increases his efficiency.
Constant worry is one of the greatest curses that can fall to the
lot of man, and life insurance, if universally used, would lift
that curse from innumerable shoulders. The knowledge of
an assured estate from the moment the premium is paid will
enable the insured to feel freer to take the initiative. Let
us assume that the head of a family is the possessor of $10,-
000 and is afforded an excellent opportunity for the invest-
ment of this capital in a business pursuit. If it were not for
life insurance the owner of this capital could not safely afford
to invest this sum and assume the speculative hazard con-
nected with most business enterprises because of the fear that
this capital might be lost, and that in case of premature death
no provision would exist for those dependent upon him. Life
insurance, however, furnishes a hedge against such a con-
tingency and assures the prospective investor in this instance
that in case of his death and the loss of his investment, the
insurance company will reimburse his dependents to the ex-
tent of $10,000. By thus removing a load of care from the
mind Life insurance promotes efficiency and makes life hap-
pier. For this reason life insurance should be regarded by
the average man as one of his most treasured possessions, and
premium payments should not be looked on merely as an
expense to be grudgingly borne. It may safely be stated that
the possession of an adequate amount of life insurance causes
the average policyholder to eat better, sleep better, feel better,
and as a result of these, to work better.


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