MANAGEMENT OF AN INSURANCE OFFICE. 281 



previous accumulations a remote contingency, still it 

 is done, and by a body who might without any bar, 

 legal or moral, immediately close their doors, and divide 

 the whole among themselves. 



I have made the preceding remarks, in order that it 

 may be clear how little the history or practice of the 

 Equitable Society should have any direct authoritative 

 bearing on the spirit in which the management of a more 

 modern office should be carried on. The general lesson 

 taught by it is, be cautious ; but, among other things, 

 be cautious of carrying caution so far as to leave a part 

 of your own property for the benefit of those who are 

 in no way related to you. If there be a Charybdis in 

 an insurance office, there is also a Scylla : the mutual 

 insurer, who is too much afraid of dispensing the profits 

 to those who die before him, will have to leave his own 

 share for those who die after him. Reversing the 

 fable of Spenser, we should write upon the door of 

 every mutual office but one, be wary ; but upon that one 

 should be written, be not too wary, and over it, f ' Equit- 

 able Society." 



An insurance office has no existence separate from 

 that of its insurers ; and no public duty to fulfil, ex- 

 cept to collect, improve, and equalize their premiums 

 (p. 238.) : therefore, their most important object, 

 next to the fulfilment of their guaranteed engagements, 

 is the distribution of their profits in such manner that 

 every one may obtain his due share. The question now 

 becomes, What is the due share of each party ? This is, 

 in some measure, a question of previous contract, though 

 there are those who consider that there must be a right 

 and a wrong way. For instance, Mr. M'Kean, the 

 compiler of the tables alluded to in page 191.5 and of a 

 useful work * which accompanies them, says, " Our 

 conclusion, and a most important one, lies conspicuous 

 on the very surface. It is impossible that ALL the 



* " Exposition of the practical Life Tables, &c. London : Butter worth, 

 Richardson, &c. 1837." This work is, I believe, sold separately. 



