Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-04-13

has resulted while no one doubts hat if the
city should undertake the thing, it would be
DONE, and probably well done. And =" it
were we'll 'twere done quickly" az .
Our new post office will be well done, no
doubt, but it won't be done quickly, if the
past is any criterion for the future. The
world moves, and so does the building. 1t
is a shame that this great metropolis should
be compelled to use for its post office a thing
of shreds and patches so utterly unsuitable
as its present burrow but we shall have to
endure, with only the encouragement that
the new one will be really frst-class and
worthy, whenever it is completed.
We have lately been a good deal agitated
on the question of the stability OF our me
insurance companies. Our confidence has
received a rude shock by the failure OF two
companies, which have lately been wound
up by our ~vigilant superintendent In the
case of the Great Western there is no charge
of dishonesty, but the assets were not what
thew aDpeared to be-, and could not be col
lected. The amount necessary to relnsure
the risks, or, as it is called, the reserve, was
not there only the shadow of 1T remained:
Thousands of persons, whose families depend
upon the solvency of life insurance com
panies for protection in the event OF the
death of the breadwinner, are anxIous!y
asking how far this weakness extends. II
two companies fail, why may not othersT II
the Great Western, which had a nominally
sufficient reserve, proved not really to have
it, how are We to be sure that any company
has what it processes to have? This Is a talr
question, and entitled to a fair answer.
Happily there is a way in which 1t can be
answered. The system of State deposit and
State registration fully meets this question,
and removes all doubts. Others may be, and
doubtless many are, safe and sound, but a
registration company must be; WhyY Be
cause they deposit with the Insurance De-
partment at Albany the entire sum necessary
10 meet their liabilities to their policy-hold-
ers /; that is, the amount necessary to relnsure
~ - VI. -4,4--a
is calculated by the Department according to
the law which was originally passed at the
suggestion of Mr.. n. D. Morgan, President
of the North America Life Insurance Co., to
whose sagacity and love of justice we owe
the Registration System, and the deposits to
meet it can only be made in bonds and mort
cages, and State and United States stocks,
the former of which must be approved by
the Department. The law provides for the
keeping of these securities IN such q manner
that it is almost an impossibility that they
should ever be stolen, and certain that the
thief could make no use of them if any one
should by any possibility ignorantly steal
them. Under this system there can be no
doubtful or bogus items in the reserve, and
the reserve is the citadel of life insurance ;
when that is safe, all is safej when that is
lost, all is lost.
The policy-holders of the North America
Life Insurance Company know not only that
the trustees who have charge of the funds
which they have devoted to the protection
of their loved ones are honest, but that they
have chosen to demonstrate to all the world
that they are so, by putting it out Of their
poa0er to be otherwise. This final browning
| glory of life insurance entities such a COM
pany to be called the safest financial institu-
ton in existence.
There can be no fears or doubts about it /;
probably most, if not all, companies, will
sooner or later be forced to initiate the North
America meanwhile all honor to the origin
ator and pioneer.
There is also a curious state of things in
the fire insurance business, but l have al
ready pun out this letter to such a length
that I must reserve that for another time.