4   INTRODUCTION

It is true that this value is based on averages, and that the assumption that he will, through his life, receive and spend just the amounts here set down will not probably be realized. It is well-nigh certain that his death will occur either before or after the date expected. Disease or accident may rob him permanently of his productive power. Circumstances which no skill guided by research can calculate, and no judgment foretell, may change the current of his life, and enhance or diminish the value of his efforts. And yet this value rests upon a' foundation composed of elements no more uncertain than those which determine the worth of the business block. Both the building and the life are constantly exposed to the danger of destruction, but the chance can be measured even more accurately in the latter ease than in the former. * * *

The family which depends upon this income has an interest in the life which produces it, which is not limited by a month or a year. It extends into the future as far as they need it. Without it they will suffer privation or be dependent upon charity, in either of which conditions their natural protector has no right to leave them. It is here that the institution of life insurance performs the service for which it was created. It renders immediately available the future earnings of a lifetime. It takes the place of hint whose duty it is to care for his dependents until they can care for them-selves.

The Federal Bureau of Labor has completed an extended investigation into the cost of living of workingmen's families, and the re-tail prices of the principal staple articles of food used by such families. The material for the detailed study of the cost of living consisted of the figures of income and expenditures furnished by some 2,500 families in thirty-three states, although certain data not entering so much into detail were gathered from 25,000 families. The 2,500 families furnishing the detailed material consisted on an average of 5.31 persons, a figure slightly (0.7) above the average of private families in the whole country as shown by the census of 1900. The average yearly expenditures for all purposes was $768.54 for the year 1901. Of this, 43 per cent. was for food, 13 per cent. for rent, 14 per cent. for clothing, and 5 per cent. for fuel and lighting. Three-quarters of the expenditures was for the actual necessities of ordinary living, the remainder representing miscellaneous expenses, including the cost of education and sickness. If this average family is supported by one person, his death would diminish the total family expenditures by some amount. It is not unreasonable to assume that the cost of maintaining the remainder would be '500 per annum. Assuming that he is forty years of age, and in good health, and that money is worth 4 per cent. per annum, the present value which this family has in his life is $7,546.50. Human and divine laws give them the right to the fruit of his labors. But does he perform his whole duty when he furnishes