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Show EETTING ON DEATH. The preparations recently made in Krigland for the coi-onailon of King Kdward brought to the attention of the people of this country many ceremonies and customs that were curious and interesting. in-teresting. But the serious illness of the king brought into prominence a practice that so far has not been either Jidoptod or even familiar heie. In England, Eng-land, and it seems also in some other 3'uropean countries, the insurance companies com-panies allow policies to be taken out on the lives of people in whom the pol-i' pol-i' " taker would not, according to our ideas, have an ' insurable interest." So common has this practice become that c '" a verv large number of people are car- V ' lying along fi-om year to year policies on the life of the king as regular in-vestments. in-vestments. in the hope that they will live long enough t" realize a handsome V Profit on the investments. It is ap-k ap-k Parent that investments of such a char- aeter are purely and simply speculation specula-tion or gambling on death. Looked at f'-em the position of the insurance companies, com-panies, it seems to us that, as a mat-l'-r of business, those risks are dubious. As a matter of ethics, the practice can-1 not but have bad consequences. In the first place, human life is practically practical-ly brought into the betting ring. When a man takes out 'a policy on another man's life, he takes it out in the hope that the man may soon die: in fact, he wagers a certain sum that the man will die before he himself does, and the result re-sult is that, so long as he pays the premium, the only interest he lakes in the man is the interest arising from the thought and the hope of his speedy death. It must seem to all right-minded right-minded Americans that a practice suggestive sug-gestive of and tending to -keep alive such a hope is more indicative of a period of savagery than of the twentieth twenti-eth century. In the second place, the effects, of such practices must be had for the government of a country where they are in vogue. A government is necessarily in - the hands of a small number of men. and it certainly is not desirable that the citizens for monetary considerations should be encouraged to hope that those men will soon die. It is fortunate, therefore, that such practices prac-tices do not obtain in this country; and it is probable that the business sense of the American people, as well as their moral sense, will never allow them to obtain here. New World. |