The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-08-10

knownin this country after 1870.
EDITOR ATLANTA CONSTITUTION: You
have generously rendered the use Of
your columns, that may reply to ma
Times, Of New York, upon an institu-
tion, WITH which many honorable gen.
uemen. in this, and other Southern
States, are connected. Until suggested
by friends not connected with the South
ern Life Insurance Company-the insti-
tuition assailed-I had not thought it ne
cessary to reply. and for the following
reasons:
First: All the agents of the Southern
Life had been directed to use the article
in question as the best canvassing docu-
ment with which they could be armed
In the next place, I had supposed that
a journal which had no regard for tr:..:.n,
and the endorsement of which is mat
ter of mere bargain ard sale, would pro-
duce nc other eject by its attack, than
the one realized, viz: the strengthening
of the Southern Life" I had supposed
that no Southern man could be infu-
enced by the statements of q journal
which had published, as had shown in
a former card, twelve wilful, unmitigated
falsehoods, in the short space of sixteen
lines. In the next place. it had occnr-
red to me, that the very animus of this
editor, which is SO patent, his hatred of
everything Southern, his contemplate
thrust at the incapacity of the Southern
people to manage life insurance. his
meek suggestions in another article of
the same paper, that all Southern and
Western companies give up the business
Of - i L.
complaint of our clanishness. because,
ern money in Southern States, would
have been q sufficient answer for every
Southern man. For these reasons I had
thought it unnecessary to write At the
suggestion of friends, however, I reply
briefly.
The Times evidences its ignorance of
facts. or its total disregard Of truth, or
both, by its reference to Gen. Gordon F.
Granger as agent for this company. It
is, however, as we'll supported here as
elsewhere in its article. Gen. Granger
has not now, nor ever had, any conAec-
tion whatever with this company.
The Times saye the losses of the South
ern Life have been heavy, and compares
it with certain picked companies from
the North. The losses have been heavy,
but tho business has been heavy too. IF
q merchant does one million of profita-
BILE business, does he not expect greater
loss in bad debts, etc., than another who
does one-tenth of the business? If
life company insures 5000 lives, must it
not have. of necessity, larger number
Of its insured die, than another which
insures only 500 lives? The Southern
Life lost more than its picked company
the Great Western-but it did vastly
more business. Why did not the editor
of the Times give the amount of bust
ness done by each, the amount of loss
by each, and then draw the comparison?
Does not the merest child in figures un-
derstand this to be the only way to get
at the ratio of loss? Yes; but it did not
facts be known. This picked company
is shown by the New York reports Of
1868, to have received S6O,247, and to
have paid out the same year in cash, S63.-
Alt. Thus expcnding absolutely over
SO. 900 more than it received. While the
Atlanta Department on gross premiums
to the amount of nearly 5000, 900, spent
in losses and expenses of every descrip-
ton, only 80 per cent. of its receipts,
and the whole company increased its as
sets-in six months-over $4,000 Be-
sides, the Times knows, as every insur-
ance man does, that losses equalize them
selves in the course OF years-so that the
general average is preserved. This is
the foundation of all life tables. AS il
Illustrative of this, the Atlanta Depart
ment, in its immense business, receiving
nearly 1000 applications has sustained
but one loss-Amos E. Ward, for $40, 900
since its organization, and the other
departments losing in but little greater
ratio. Hence. the heavy accumulation.
Yet, in the estimation of the Times, the
Southern Life is unsound, and the Great
Western perfectly good. Why so?
The animus of the article furnieL; es
the solution. The one is Scathern-the
other Northern. Again this honest sheet,
! seeing the absurdity of its position, seeks
20 stab the Southern Life by attacking
the integrity of its officers. 1t says the
statement of our assets is Cooked up
that is, Ji.red up to deceice-not true. In
other words, the officers of this company,
in swearing to tho statement of assets and
liabilities, swore falsely-perjured thom-
selves. Does he intimate that by any
possibility, the officers OF his pet COM
panies could "cook up" statements? No.!
Urxx, se,k 10