Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-11-30
from Western Insurance Review
The Truth about English Insnr-
ance Companies.

the Chicago fire is the great parade made
by certain foreign companies, of large anC
enticing figures, purporting to represen
their cash assets available for fire losses
There has been enough sbsurdity of thi
sort in the past. but underwriters hav
understood that it was all game of bras
and buster, and therefore paid no atten
ton to il. Recently, however, the at
tempt to create the impression that Eng
lish companies possess such an enormou
amount of assets that no possible fire car
impair their solvency, has grown TO sucl
proportions that it is time that the swim
die involved in the misrepresen station wei
fully exposed. We have selected ths
Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance
Company as an example of the deception
which is Being constantly practiced t.
mislead the public. Since the Chicago
fire, the daily papers have been filled with
paid editorials and advertisements, set
ting forth, substantially, that this com
pany, being the possessor of twenty mil
lion dollars, is far above the suspicion Of
having been crippled by the great confa'
grafton. The idea is conveyed in direct
terms that the sum of twenty Millions il
as firmly held for all fire losses as the
millions of an American company, This
that it has become an eye-sore to intelli'
gent underwriters.
Now, what are the facts The Liver.
pool, London and Globe does mixed fire
and life insurance business. By act OF
Parliament, all companies so engaged are
to set apart a certain percentage
of their assets depending upon the
amount of each kind of business done) as
a reserve for the protection of their life
policies. The reserve 30 regulated by law
must be held sacred, and cannot be made
available for fire losses in any emergency.
All Eoglish companies which carry on fire
and life insurance are subject to the same
laws, and what we have asserted with
reference to the Liverpool, London and
Globe. applies with equal force to some
other Eualish companies. We find in the
New York insurance department report
Gust issued), the figures of the company
which we have selected for the edifcation
of our readers. The following is an at
straot of their last annual statement, as
it appears in the New York reports:
RETURN OF THE HOME OFFICE.
Amount of assets. $2O.136 966
Amount of liabilities as follows:
Life reserve, IL O99 9B5
All others, 3,06S 935
Total $14,169,O65
Leaving assets available for
the entire fire business
of the company through
out the world S5,968 900
What the aggregate fire business of the
company amounts to is not stated, but we
can safely estimate it by a computation
based on the report of it's business in the
United States The return of American
premiums received for fire risks appears
in the supplementary report of the New
York managers. The amount reported is
SO 253. 115. The amount of risks in force
at the end of the year was $191 513OSS.
By referring again to the English report,
we find the aggregate fire premiums re.
ceived tiucluding the business ut this
country, of oourse,) was s4,S65, 1876. In
surances abroad are VIGOROUSLY cheaper
than in this country, and we therefore
assume that the difference in the premi-
ums received in the United States and the
rest of the world will purchase fifty per
cent. more insurance than the company
took in this country, which would give,
"a total of all the fire risks the company
had in force when the statement was
made. $47S, 1872, 720. The substance of it
all is Just this, that the Liverpool. London
and Globe has heen carrying fire rasks
amounting to Bats. 1882, 720, on capital
and surplus available for fire losses Of
S. ,96S, O65. If the company is justified
in parading any larger sum of assets in
for fire insurance patronage.
we have failed to discover it in any of the
reports fled in the insurance departments
of the country.
The great English mammoth has less
of assets to risks in force than
many of our American companies. The
comparison, extended to small companies,
would show still more largely in favor OF
the superiority of American over English
insurance, SO far as relative strength goes
Elsewhere we have commented on the
Losses nv the Chicago fire. If the Liver.
pool, Londsn and Globe escapes that
conf saration with a million and halt
good. honest dollars belonging to its FIRE
department, its stockholders will have
reason for oongratulation. But. even
with two millions, and all its immense
amount Of business scattered over the