The occasions for which this provision is made are, to be sure, not all of the nature of an unexpected disaster; they are, often, the ordinary events of life. There is, first, the constant possibility of sickness and of death. After the establishment of the family group, these perhaps make the first claim on the family's savings. The fear of these events may be so great that even the well-being of the children in the present may be sacrificed. For example, a Polish widow with two children, who was being supported by the United Charities in Chicago, was found to have a bank account of $192.57 which she had saved from her allowance of $3 a week in addition to her rent. When the visitor talked with her about it, she explained that she was afraid of dying and leaving her children unprovided for, and that her husband had always told her to put away part of her income.
While the need for providing for dependents is thus felt, most wage earners realize that they cannot during their own lifetime lay aside enough money to provide for their children. The most that they can do is to provide some life insurance. Even this, in most cases, must be entirely inadequate, since the premiums mean a great drain on the family's resources.
In a study of 3,048 families in Chicago, the Illinois Health Insurance Commission found that 81.9 per cent of all the families carried some kind of life insurance. The average amount of the policy, however, was only $419.24. The following table shows for the various nationalities in the group the per cent carrying insurance and the average amount of the policy.[22]
NUMBER AND PER CENT OF FAMILIES CARRYING LIFE INSURANCE, AND AVERAGE AMOUNT OF POLICY ACCORDING TO NATIVITY OF HEAD OF FAMILY
================================================================= | TOTAL | PER CENT | AVERAGE NATIVITY OR RACE OF HEAD OF | NUMBER OF | WITH LIFE | AMOUNT FAMILY | FAMILIES | INSURANCE | OF POLICY -----------------------------|-----------|-----------|----------- All families | 3,048 | 81.9 | $419.24 | | | United States, colored | 274 | 93.8 | 201.48 Bohemian | 243 | 88.9 | 577.58 Polish | 522 | 88.5 | 353.48 Irish | 129 | 88.4 | 510.72 United States, white | 644 | 85.2 | 535.56 German | 240 | 85.0 | 416.49 Lithuanian | 117 | 79.5 | 170.38 Scandinavian | 232 | 75.4 | 401.58 Other | 225 | 75.1 | 410.96 Jewish | 218 | 63.8 | 465.09 Italian | 204 | 57.8 | 403.94 =================================================================