MANAGEMENT OF AN INSURANCE OFFICE. 



271 



present premiums charged by the Amicable. The sup- 

 position is for 100/. insured. 



From such comparisons as the preceding, I have long 

 been of opinion that, safe as the offices are, each con- 

 sidered as a whole, the proportions of the premiums 

 demanded at different ages are, in the first instance, 

 inequitable. To a certain extent, the young are made 

 to work for the old ; that is to say, the person who 

 insures early in life, the more prudent of the two, is 

 made to pay a part of the premium of the one who 

 does not begin till he is old. 



The evil is not so great as it might at first sight 

 appear, for two reasons : firstly, because those who enter 

 at the older ages are few in number compared with 

 those who begin between 30 and 50 years of age; 

 secondly, because many offices make compensation to the 

 younger members in the division of the profits. Still, 

 however, the inequality is of a sufficient magnitude to 

 demand alteration, which will be brought about in an 

 obvious way ; namely, by the younger insurers giving 

 the preference to those offices in which, premiums and 

 returns considered together, the inequality is the least. 



There is another point, though not of so much con- 

 sequence, in which an inequality falls more heavily 

 upon the young than upon the old ; namely, the method 

 of paying the expenses of management. The yearly 

 contribution of every member to this fund ought to be 

 the same. Suppose, then, that from every premium a 

 given sum is subtracted, to answer this end, the in- 



