2 BUSINESS OF LIFE INSURANCE

Thus the owner of a house by the mere fact of his ownership becomes subject to the danger of loss or damage of his property by fire, lightning, explosion or collapse. He has no choice but take these chances if he continues the owner. To that extent the nature of things makes of him a speculator. In the same manner the mere fact of marriage compels the wife to take these chances as to the survival of her husband to perform the duties of a husband toward her and of a father toward her children, the mere fact of birth necessitates that the children take their chances likewise as to the survival of both parents to support and educate them, and the mere fact of the being alive of an individual subjects him to the perils of disablement by sickness or accident. From all of this there is no escape. Nature makes all of us speculators, of necessity, whether we will or not.

Though the unvarying laws of nature will not permit one to escape the risks which they impose upon him, he may render those perils nugatory wholly or in part by combining with others who at the outset appear to be subject to like risks, and by engaging in advance that each shall bear his proportion of the loss which actually falls upon some of their number. This is insurance in its most simple and obvious form. It is typical, likewise, and signifies that at the bottom all insurance is mutual. The