The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-08-07
LETTER FRon GEN. D, H. MAURY.

Dear Sir Few of our readers are
aware OF the vast proportions which the
great charity, Life Insurance, has as
sumed In the United States.
The amount of money paid to the
widows and Orphalis of policy-holders in
in the companies of New York city. du-
ring last year, was nearly IS 100000.
the aggregate amount for which all
the companies in the United States have
become liable to the families of policy
holders has been estimated at 81 SOC, 900
O0O!i
Before the war all this financial inter-
est was exclusively in the Northern
and Eastern States.
The Southern people understood but
little about the practi al value of life
insurance to those who insured, and
nothing of the management and maui
putatiOn of the vast machinery, which
for forty years has been building up the
gigantic fortunes of the Northern cap
| italists, who have held exclusive con-
troll over these prosperous corporations.
The annual amount of c Ish Transferred
In premiums by our people to the North
the year the war broke ont was more
than S5,000,000, and their own official re-
ports state that all these vast sums, il
cannot be shown that one dollar was
invested in n Southern enterprise, or
for the benefit of Southern Institutions
or loaned to a Southern man.
When the war broke ont Northern
| life insurance companies which for more
than n quarter OF century had been
receiving millions of dollars in prem
iums from Southern men for policies of
life insuranccs appropriated these pre-
miums and cancelled their policies =
One company cancelled $G.000,O00.
In proof of this statement, | quote
from the official report of the commits
sioncrs of the State of Massachusetts
upon this subject.
Among the blessings which their re-
| bellious masters threw away. because
more than their equal share of liberty
was not good enough for them, was Il
pretty large interest in our Northern
Mutual Life Companies. II icy have
none of their own. Our companies
were no losers by this on the other
! lanu not few OF them protted by the
| forieiting OF Southern policies to an
amount far greater than sufficient to
| cover the subsequent ,rar risk Of its ne M
berS."
In other words, they boast that The
| ttt1 coNliltIl Iltll
was applied to pay the policies of the
Northern men Killed while invading the
| South.
No sooner was the war ended than
| Yankee insurance companies reopened
| business all over the South, and ut this
moment our people are again sending
millions of their hard earnings to in
| fate the wealth of then rthcrn CAPT.
| tallsts, who own Northern companies;
| to furnish the "sinews of war :" to pay
! for negro garrisons. freedmen s bureaus
! and the thousands OF yankee oflcia S
| internal revenue collectors, and the
| like, who now goadus to desperation.
Southern gentleman have, however,
| ta6en measures to abate this evil. and
| while enabling our people to avail them
p! selves of the wisest and slirest proyis-
| ION which human Ingenuity has ever
devised tor the maintenance of our fam
| lilies and the payment or our debts after
I we shall have passed away also to Sc
cure to our own exhausted country the
| benefit of all the funds controlled by
the institutions they have organized.
| One of the ablest writer's on insurance
has said sin selecting a company in
which you will insure, do not look at
| the promised dividends or large accu-
mutations, nor at the age OF the cOmpa-
ny. The administration of the compa-
ny should at first be considered. You
are electing trustees to hold and accu.
mulate the fund which yon propose to
provide for your family when you are
taken away from them. Look first
| then at the board of directors. If this
board contains men who are honored
and trusted in the community where
they are best known, you can safely
commit the future provision for your
family to their hands,"
Will, then, the people OF the South
continue to place this solemn trust in
to the hands of the men of the North.
| whom they know to be untrue, or will
| they transfer it into the custody OF
| Southern gentlemen l advise them
| not only to give their future insurance
business to Southern companies, but to
withdraw as fast as possible, from n or
| thcrn companies all policies they have
acquired, and take out instead, policies
| in Southern Companies.
DABNEY II. MAURY.
Jefferson. June %. 1865. ct.