70 STUDIES IN PHYSIOLOGY 



show that moderate drinking is likely to injure one's chances 

 in business and to shorten what insurance men call one's 

 " expectation of life." 



Business Argument for Total Abstinence. Eule 17, New 

 York Central & Hudson Eiver R. R.: " The use of intoxicat- 

 ing drink on the road or about the premises of the corpora- 

 tion is strictly forbidden. No one will be employed, or 

 continued in employment, who is known to be in the habit 

 of drinking intoxicating liquor." 



Rule H, New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. : " The 

 use of intoxicants by employes while on duty is prohibited. 

 Their habitual use, or the frequenting of places where they 

 are sold, is sufficient cause for dismissal." 



Total Abstinence and Life Insurance. 1 " It is now becoming 

 generally recognized that the alcohol habit is one of the 

 main factors in determining length of life. No life office will 

 knowingly accept the proposal of any one known as a hard 

 drinker. Evidence of a very striking kind is rapidly accumu- 

 lating which shows that even the moderate use of alcohol is 

 prejudicial to health and longevity. In England about a dozen 

 life offices recognize this fact in one of two ways : (1) By giv- 

 ing a reduction of premium to abstainers, or (2) awarding 

 them a larger share in the profits. The Scottish Temperance 

 Life Insurance Company has, from its formation in 1883, 

 worked its business in two sections, giving total abstainers a 

 reduction of ten per cent in their premiums. Last year the 

 Sun, one of the oldest life offices, established in 1810, opened 

 a special section for abstainers, giving them a reduction of 

 five per cent in their premiums. . . . The experience of all 

 temperance life offices proves the enhanced vitality of total 

 abstainers. This makes it evident that, when they are mem- 

 bers of a general life office, abstainers have to pay more 

 than their fair share toward meeting demands made by the 

 higher death-rate of the non-abstainers." London Spectator. 



1 These quotations were furnished the author by the Equitable Life 

 Assurance Society of the United States. 



