iled by the
following companies:

United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution of
London;[1][K] The Sceptre Life;[2] The Scottish Temperance Life of
Glasgow;[3] The Abstainers and General Life of London;[4] The
Manufacturers' Life of Canada;[5] Security Mutual Life of Binghamton,
N. Y.[6]

[K] The notes ("[1]" etc.) refer to the publications listed at the close
of the section.

[Sidenote: Comparative Mortality Among Abstainers and Non-Abstainers]

The comparative mortality among abstainers and non-abstainers in several
of these companies is shown in the charts exhibited in this section.

It is probable that the heavier mortality among non-abstainers as
compared to abstainers is not wholly due to the chemical effect of
alcohol on the tissues, but in some degree to collateral excesses
(especially those resulting in infection from the diseases of vice) and
a more careless general manner of living engendered by alcoholic
indulgence; that, furthermore, those who indulge in so-called moderation
are open to greater temptation to increased indulgence and final excess
than those who abstain altogether.

It has often been alleged, however, that the lower mortality among
abstainers was due solely to a more conservative habit of living, and
that this class is largely composed of people in favorable or preferred
occupations, such as clergymen and teachers.

The experience of the Security Mutual of Binghamton, N. Y., does not
support such a postulate. During a twelve years' experience the
mortality among the abstainers was one-third that of the tabular
expectation, and their occupations were classified as follows:

Clergymen 4 per cent.
Farmers 19 " "
Clerks 15 " "
Miscellaneous (earning $15 to $25 per week) 62 " "

Mr. Roderick McKenzie Moore, Actuary of the United Kingdom Temperance
and General Provident Institution,[7] has this to say regarding the
abstainers' class in that company:

The total abstainer class was not "nursed" or favored to produce
a low mortality. So far as could be determined (and many of the
risks came in personal contact with the officers) they were of the
same general class as the non-abstainers. They were written by the
same group of agents, for the same kind of policies, for the same
average amounts, _and were in the sa