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Article GENERAL ASSUEANCE ADVOCATE. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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General Assueance Advocate.
domain . They must revise the principles upon which Assurance has hitherto , in the great majority of instances , proceeded , and practically recognize the truth that Assurance is not , or at all events ought not to be a trade ; that barter is not any part of it , and that profit—individual profit , in the ordinary meaning of the term—is not one of its legitimate objects . They must act upon the truth that they are to combine rather
than to compete , and that their proper aim in fostering Assurance is not to acquire wealth , but so spread the effects of the losses whicli in the course of nature fall upon families over as wide a surface as possible , so that their weight may crush none—may nowhere be perceptibly felt ; and that this purpose may be answered , all such considerations as profit upon subscribed capitals ( where , in point of fact , no such capitals are
needed ) eating up , for the benefit of a few proprietors , those resources which should be applied for the good of all , must be at once and for ever abandoned . The spirit of the age is an enquiring one , and it is becoming daily more and more protestant against all abuses , and men acting under its guidance , will no longer consent , even while purchasing a benefit , to pay for that of which they have no need . They demand
that every scheme or movement shall be what it professes to be , and that advantages of all kinds shall be obtainable with as much ease as possible . They are willing that thought for the future shall subtract
something from the resources of the present—that prudence , looking forward , shall lay a burden upon effort ; but they must be assured that those deductions and burdens are as light as may be consistently with the attainment of the object sought for , and that all the discoveries of science , and all the appliances of art , are brought into play to serve thenpresent and future interests . Every institution which would avoid the
ravages of that cankering decay which attacks everything that has outlived its time , and ceased to subserve its proper ends ; every institution which seeks to see its strength increased by lapse of years , and its usefulness grow with its strength , must advance with the advancing spirit of intelligence . To do so is to recognize the policy of self-preservation , and to humanize utility ; to oppose its progress , is to seek destruction , and to
perish in the attempt to make the good of the mass subservient to the aggrandisement of a fraction . In this respect the younger offices have done good service—they have , with scarcely an exception , recognized the purely mutual principle , and , both by word and deed , have shown that they are alive to the wants of the time , by promulgating and acting upon Life Assurance as a power to be used solely for the good of the Assurers ,
instead of for the benefit of a limited number of speculative capitalists ; and thus , too , they have taught their elder brothers a great moral lesson , which it is to be hoped will be conned with attention , and produce results pregnant with wide-spread benefits . The proof that the younger offices are working a great moral revolu-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
General Assueance Advocate.
domain . They must revise the principles upon which Assurance has hitherto , in the great majority of instances , proceeded , and practically recognize the truth that Assurance is not , or at all events ought not to be a trade ; that barter is not any part of it , and that profit—individual profit , in the ordinary meaning of the term—is not one of its legitimate objects . They must act upon the truth that they are to combine rather
than to compete , and that their proper aim in fostering Assurance is not to acquire wealth , but so spread the effects of the losses whicli in the course of nature fall upon families over as wide a surface as possible , so that their weight may crush none—may nowhere be perceptibly felt ; and that this purpose may be answered , all such considerations as profit upon subscribed capitals ( where , in point of fact , no such capitals are
needed ) eating up , for the benefit of a few proprietors , those resources which should be applied for the good of all , must be at once and for ever abandoned . The spirit of the age is an enquiring one , and it is becoming daily more and more protestant against all abuses , and men acting under its guidance , will no longer consent , even while purchasing a benefit , to pay for that of which they have no need . They demand
that every scheme or movement shall be what it professes to be , and that advantages of all kinds shall be obtainable with as much ease as possible . They are willing that thought for the future shall subtract
something from the resources of the present—that prudence , looking forward , shall lay a burden upon effort ; but they must be assured that those deductions and burdens are as light as may be consistently with the attainment of the object sought for , and that all the discoveries of science , and all the appliances of art , are brought into play to serve thenpresent and future interests . Every institution which would avoid the
ravages of that cankering decay which attacks everything that has outlived its time , and ceased to subserve its proper ends ; every institution which seeks to see its strength increased by lapse of years , and its usefulness grow with its strength , must advance with the advancing spirit of intelligence . To do so is to recognize the policy of self-preservation , and to humanize utility ; to oppose its progress , is to seek destruction , and to
perish in the attempt to make the good of the mass subservient to the aggrandisement of a fraction . In this respect the younger offices have done good service—they have , with scarcely an exception , recognized the purely mutual principle , and , both by word and deed , have shown that they are alive to the wants of the time , by promulgating and acting upon Life Assurance as a power to be used solely for the good of the Assurers ,
instead of for the benefit of a limited number of speculative capitalists ; and thus , too , they have taught their elder brothers a great moral lesson , which it is to be hoped will be conned with attention , and produce results pregnant with wide-spread benefits . The proof that the younger offices are working a great moral revolu-