NATURE OF LIFE INSURANCE 7

in the hands of responsible third parties, the stakes of both parties, with all interest earned upon the same, to be given to the winner of a bet that a given person will not die. He would have lost his money as soon as he made the bet, and the only uncertainty would be as to when the stakeholder would turn the stakes over to his adversary.

It was failure to see the necessity for providing for an increasing hazard, converging into certainty, which has caused many serious errors in the fundamental plans of some institutions formed to furnish life insurance, and the thing which separates plans of insurance into sound and unsound is precisely whether intelligent regard for this principle has guided the company in determining its rates of premium and the management and disposition of its funds.