CONCLUSION 
16 
been shown to be latent in the business is likely to maintain its 
sxpansion at a high rate. 
Already the Companies are showing boldness of enterprise 
in reverting to pre-war tactics. Unconditional policies are 
being offered to civilians. Agency extension and propagandist 
activity have resumed their full place. Everywhere are signs 
of a spirit of energy which the events of the recent past have 
only arrested, not destroyed. : 
While the effects of the war on British Life Assurance have 
been severe and far-reaching, there is no need to exaggerate 
them ; and it is hoped that nothing in the preceding pages has 
tended in that direction. After all, in its hardship it suffered 
no more than the common lot. Every industry in the land, 
like every home, felt the impact and the strain of those years 
of conflict. It was sometimes pointed out that Life Assurance 
Companies were subject to an exceptional disadvantage inas- 
much as the protection they had sold could not be increased 
in price. The tradesman, the merchant, the journalist, the 
banker, could increase their terms for what they supplied. The 
life premium, a matter of contract, remained fixed. It is 
perfectly true, but there are at least three possible answers. 
Claims were payable in the same fixed currency. The fact that 
money bought less in the market was a warning to prudent 
people to increase their policies ; an argument which the Com- 
panies did not fail to use and which figures show to have been 
offective. Further, the very fact of this fixity of premium 
throughout all other fluctuations of prices brought home to 
thoughtful persons under war conditions the unique merit of 
such a form of investment. 
The credit of British Life Assurance has come through its 
trial unshaken and indeed strengthened. At its worst, the 
storm only touched profits, never solvency. The attack made 
its mark on the outworks, but left the citadel unshaken. 
It has been considered that the effect would be to sway 
opinion in the direction of the non-profit rather than the with- 
profit policy, especially for entrants at the higher ages. Figures 
on such a point are not available, but it is probable that there