"DATING BACK" AND "BONDS" 219

companies. When purchasers of life insurance from a company discover that others have received a rebate, their resentment is solely that they did not also get in "on the ground floor," and so, too, as to the "board plan." In the case of stock purchases there is not even this to complain about ; the stock interest was bought and paid for.

Two schemes remain to be considered which are wholly and per se vicious, and one of which is unconscionable and even fraudulent in its essential nature.

The first is the "dating back" scheme. The company offers an alluring proposition of the following nature : A twenty payment life policy, dated back seven years; a certain amount, less than the seven premiums would amount to, but much more than the reserve that would have been accumulated, to be paid as commutation of the forborne premiums; instead of being paid, this may stand against the policy, accumulating at interest, usually at a higher rate than is used in computing the net premiums and reserves; according to some policies, in event of death be-fore the completion of the payment period, this charge is cancelled by a return premium feature, for which a small extra premium is collected; an illustration of results on the basis of what other companies have accumulated during an entire period of twenty years.