PRESENT PROBLEMS IN INSURANCE 237 



sanest minds. State regulation and supervision have been estab- 

 lished the country over. It lies with the future to reduce these many 

 divergent systems of supervision to one uniform and harmonious 

 whole. One branch of insurance after another has been developed, 

 and a number of new ones are at present in an inchoate state. Many 

 more must be added before the entire field has been covered. 



These introductory remarks need not be extended to greater 

 length in order to suggest the variety of the problems which exist 

 in the vast field of insurance. Without further preliminaries, at- 

 tention may be directed towards one of the most important present 

 problems, namely, that of making insurance an all-inclusive insti- 

 tution -- all-inclusive with respect to the population insured and 

 all-inclusive regarding the contingencies insured against. 



The total number of policies in force in the old line companies 

 has been estimated at nearly 5,000,000, with an average policy of 

 about $2500. The total number of persons carrying industrial 

 insurance has been estimated at nearly 14,000,000, with an average 

 amount of insurance of $135. The membership of the fraternal soci- 

 eties is nearly 4,500,000. In addition, the insurance features of labor 

 organizations and relief associations must be considered. The total 

 number of persons who carry protection in one or more of these three 

 great groups aggregates nearly 25,000,000. Considering that this 

 estimated number of policy-holders includes many duplications, and 

 that industrial insurance statistics include not only the bread-win- 

 ners but all members of the family, it is obvious that many mil- 

 lions are without the protection of insurance. If insurance is a good 

 thing, if it is in the interest of public and private welfare that the 

 individual should be protected in this manner, - - and I assume that 

 it is, - - then something should be done to draw into the insurance 

 membership every person who has not won a position of economic 

 independence so far as it is possible within the realm of human action 

 and foresight to be independent. The exempted class is relatively 

 insignificant, and what may constitute the tests of exemption from 

 insurance is of little moment in comparison with the problem of 

 ways and means which must be devised for bringing into the insur- 

 ance fold the millions who are now recklessly, thoughtlessly, or crim- 

 inally assuming risks for which they lack both economic and moral 

 qualifications. Men frequently take their lives into their own hands. 

 Sometimes this is courageous; sometimes foolhardy; always hazard- 

 ous; but nothing can atone for the crime of taking into one's hands 

 the lives of others, unless these hands have the support necessary 

 for the successful performance of those duties upon which the safety 

 of the precious charges depends. Over the greater part of Europe 

 the problem before us has been solved through the establishment 

 of systems of compulsory insurance, much of which is state insur- 



