TERM AND WHOLE- LIFE INSURANCE COST AS DEVELOPED BY THE ROYAL ARCANUM.

• A pamphlet on the above subject, by W. T. Wallace of Philadelphia, has recently made its appearance, and doubtless is being widely circulated among believers in the assessment or "pocket reserve" plan of insurance.

Its primary object seems to be to demonstrate by numerical examples the sufficiency of the Arcanum rates, which are said to be based upon the society's actual experience, and which take into account the rate of discontinuance as well as the death rate. A comparison of the Arcanum mortality with the mortality of the American Experience Table is also given, after which Mr. Wallace naively asks which of the two tables is truthful and reliable.

An answer to this question, so far as it bears upon the Arcanum table, will be found in THE SPECTATOR of June 29 and August 17, 1905, wherein it is proved beyond cavil that the Arcanum mortality is so grossly understated by faulty graduation as to wipe out of the record between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-five alone no less than 572 deaths of the 5353 actually experienced, or more than one- tenth of the entire number.

1909 0617 - The Spectator - [link-GooglePlay]