LIFE INSURANCE AS A SCIENCE 229 



ments or annuities, in sums which range from an amount sufficient 

 to pay for a burial to returns which represent a considerable fortune. 

 As Walter Bagehot said some years ago, "People insure their lives 

 who save in no other way," and the vast sums accumulated by life 

 insurance companies, now exceeding two billion dollars, represent 

 an amount of economic security and evidence of an effective adapta- 

 tion to the exigencies of modern life without a parallel in economic 

 history. 



The field of insurance is primarily the city and surrounding terri- 

 tory, but by degrees the more sparsely populated sections of the 

 country have become available in consequence of the development 

 of the science of transportation. From 92,000 miles in 1880, the 

 railway system of the United States has grown to over 200,000 

 miles in 1903, opening immense areas to settlement and leading to 

 the subsequent development of cities and towns, which necessarily 

 contribute toward the further extension of every form of insurance. 

 The remarkable development of electric railways has opened large 

 sections of the agricultural regions previously outside of the sphere 

 of profitable business operations. Railway and navigation com- 

 panies employ a large number of men exposed to a considerable 

 accident liability, which requires special consideration. While great 

 improvements have been made in railway transportation tending to 

 diminish the mortality from fatal accidents, especially in connection 

 with the coupling and uncoupling of cars, the mortality of certain 

 classes of railway employees remains very considerably above the 

 normal of men of corresponding age employed in less dangerous 

 occupations. There has not been the reduction in the death-rate 

 which earlier discussions and the passage of the laws relative to the 

 prevention of accidents seemed to warrant. The problem remains 

 one of serious concern to insurance companies transacting either a 

 life or accident business, or both. 



In still another direction are insurance companies interested in 

 transportation science, and that is the opportunities for safe and 

 profitable investment in railway bonds and mortgages. An inci- 

 dental result of great importance has been the opening of new agri- 

 cultural areas with a corresponding opportunity for profitable farm 

 loans, which are the most advantageous and satisfactory investment 

 of insurance companies, if made with the necessary knowledge of 

 local conditions of soil and climate. There is, therefore, abundant 

 evidence of the close relation of the science of transportation to the 

 science of insurance. 



Banking, currency, and public finance are fundamental factors de- 

 termining insurance progress. With more than $2,000,000,000 of 

 assets invested in interest-bearing securities, the companies have a 

 vital stake at issue in all questions of sound money, a stable currency, 



