The New York herald., 1872-12-06
IN DEFEscE 0g FINE ssMUfUlG asrE.n

otnerinsurance Journals OF about that date publish
Ell as an advertisement elaborate analytical state
ment or the business OF the Mutual Life Insurance
company OF TINS city, from its organization in 1St2
to October l, 1872 compiled BY Its actuary ProIes-
sor William ii. G. Bartlett certified by It's trustees
fortified by the report of a special examining com.
mittee appointed in Boston, May TO- 1870, and
issued over the signatures OF the president. vice
president secretary and assistant secretary, ac-
tuary aud assistant actury counsel. medical ex-
aminers ana cashier OF the company
In commenting edtorially upon that statement
we used the following laneuage:-
"By so much a. men stimulated to save wife and
children from beggary are better tnan men ais.
the families OF the poor; by so much as children
retained az home under the sweet influence OF .
mothers care are better than children made home
less and driven into the street to peg, or worse,
for bread; by so much is the success OF life insur-
ance TO be desired by all good men.
"Ihs being so, all good men must rejoice In the
success OF the Mutual Life Insurance Company, for
no company in the world has contributed more to
make llic insurance popular safe and successful
'Any attempt to- destroy confidence in this
Company is an assault upon the whole system OF life
insurance. Its record stands in the solemn spen-
dor OF absolute truth-an inseparable part OF the
Of every company 1t emphasizes every company's
plea for public confidence"
What We then said we then believed, and do not
now purpose, sttl believing it, to retract.
Among the things TO which the Mutual Life In
surance Company was sOlemnly committed by the
subscription TO the statement above mentioned of
so many distinguished names was the following,
which we quote from that report
'The company will continue to guide Its business
In the future by the same principles and rules
which long experience has shown to be most con-
ducve TO the safety and best interests OF Its policy
holders. Ii viii issue policies Of all approved de-
scriptions. ana at It's usual table rates"
Reference TO the circular issued by the ''Mutual'
on the 3oth ult. and published in another column,
Will show that the company has, within one month
after tue above profession, abandoned the position
then taken, and now proposes to issue Its policies
at u reduction from 'lts usual table rates.
OF abont twenty-five per cent upon life poll
| cies and eleven per cent upon endowment as
surances. The reasons for this extraordinary
manGuvre, so far as reasons have been given. are
set forth in the letter Of Professor Bartlett which
Is incorporated into the circular They are briefly
as follows THAT the Mutual" having ''nOw been
in operation well nigh the period allotted to a hu
man generation" its experience not only ustifies
this reduction as prudential measure, but i'm
poses it as a duty upon the company This con-
clusion we are told by Professor Bartlett. has not
been suddenly reached but is the result OF long
and careful delberaion. II so, 1t seems not lit
tie strange that the purpose Of the company to
continue business at its usual rates." and to guide
that business by the same principles and rules
which long experience has shown to be most con-
ducve to the safety and best interests Of Its policy
holders, y was announced only one short month ago.
Ii the present action has been so long pOndered,
this gratnltous announcement should have been
The 'principles and rules" the guidance OF
which has been the profession Of the Mutual
cs 'es1 M anu q has s
been called as witness in season and out OF sea-
son, are what 1t needs no voluminOus citations
from the publications OF the company 10 show that
it has been distinctivey and ably the champion OF
the mutual system, and Of rates conlessedly more
contingencies Of the future. The one most con-
spicu0us s'prnciple and rule' OF Its long and hon.
lutte saetys sake, Of charging for its policies much
more than enough to provide for the ordinary
hazard against which its policies insure. or this
every page OF iS literature and every year OF Its
history bear irrefutable witness.
Its abandonment OF these "principles and rules
is either confession OF judgment that all its past
has been one long mistake or wilfu betrayal Of
trust. In either case 1t Is destruction OF conf
ton emce was n from wtcu we called IN
guage which we have no cause to retract ian as
saut upon the whole system Of life Insurance."
When that assault comes, as now it seems to us
to come, from within the company-wittingy or
unwittngly II matters not-it is the duty OF every
it as the only salvation OF hundreds OF thousands
of homes to come to the defence OF the Mutual Life
for tine e IT.
tofore held out belongs to life insur.
Of men, 1t has passed out Of the domain where
title deeds aud copyrights and the proprietorships
OF selishness or pride hold good. II belongs TO
humanity. 1t is part OF that broad realm OF be-
ne1cence where patents are not issued and estates
are not parceled ont. its reputation, its success
which 1t may yet d0-these belong to us all.
In narrower sense. but In sense which the
law will recognize and by title which courts Of
law viii maintain, the Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany belongs to its 7700O policy holders. their heirs
saw therefore, I'm defence OF the Mutual Life, y
we mean in defence OF the 900 families who own
it and arc depending on 1t for their sustenance IN
We come to the 'defence OF the Mutual Life' y
therefore, because we believe that the interests Of
Of its otiicers and trustees. The Mutual Life it
Is true has been n operation well nigh the period
allotted to human generation" but It has not the
| "experiencen Of q human generation. BY far the
greater part OF It's policies have been Issued within
the past ten years, and. besides this, no COMPANY
| has what might be honestly termed ian expe
rience" for the ages beyond sixty. Neither does
the published statement OF the company demon
That Statement demonstrates its ability to achieve
an unparalleled success by adherng to the .'prin-
cIples and rules" which have heretofore guided 1t
and, In demonstrating this, demonstrates also the
danger OF abandoning those said principles and
rules.n
II the theory upon which the Mutual Life Insu-
rance Company has hitherto conducted its business
il not lase; IL any man who trusts life insurance
company for more than limited term OF years is
not a fool; If the whole doctrine OF reserves and
the rules under which the liabilities OF life insur.
ance companies have heretofore been computed
are not a deusion and snare, they who lay their
hands upon the reserve-the lund sacredy appr0-
prlated and preserved to meet claims sure to ma
ture In the future-plunge the same hands fcl0-
nously into the patrimony OF the widows and
orphans Of ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years to come
But this is what Is proposed In this new scheme
OF the ssMutual.r The circular states:-
"That existing policy holders may have the op-
tion either to leave their policies undlsturbed and
pay their old rates, receiving, or course their pro-
portional dividends and reversonary credits or to
take out new polices with their existing credits
added, and pay the new rates corresponding 70
themselves to new medical examination and are
pronounced assurabe.
.rhe company will, by this most desirable plan
have within its control a large fund to which 1t
NAV resort In time OF trouble, should trouble come
to It. while it will avoid the Objectionable measure
of keeping on hand large undivided surplus, in
which those who die cannot lail TO have an inter-
est, whose precise value 1t would be difficult to
ascertain