New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-17
GOOD INVESTMENT.


nearly all Christmas presents between grown
people; nearly, but not quite all. There is
at least one present which husband can
give to wife, to which no such cavil can
apply. We refer to life insurance policy.
Only in a state of society where woman Is
highly honorcd and esteemed could life insur-
ance in its best form be possible. 1t Is the
ripe outgrowth of humane and Christian age
The man, pledging his earnings to build mp
small competence for hS family-a fortune
which he can never share or enjOy-excrclses
self denial that may in some respects rank with
the viilue of religion. The millions upon
millions of dollars thus invested represent no
wealth but that of affection. All other forms
in which riches accumulate tell of some kind
of selfishness.
This characteristic Of the trust funds which
life insurance companies hold, makes the care
of them grave duty. Our laws have thrown
around them greater number OF safeguards
than are applied to almost any other kind of
propcrty; funds held by trustees for minor
children are among the few instances of SINH
lar precaution. The classes of investments in
which insurance funds may be placed under
our laws are exceedingly limited, and as secure
as any that human foresight can select. The
principles upon which the business of insuring
lives is based are as Trustworthy as u demon
stration in Euclid. There is less real difference
than is currently supposed in the ways OF doing
business among the leading insurance companies
of this country, and the general tendency is to
do away with this variation. 1t has frequently
happened that companies that have tried pc
culiar plans of dong business, after few
years of experience, fall into the beaten track.
The rates charged by these concerns, when all
the circumstances of payment and dividend
arc considered, differ only in small fractions.
In short, being insured is vastly more i'm
portant than the mode of insurance, aud among
the prominent companies there is little danger
of an applicants going astray.
Just at present these concerns are very busy
in making mp their accounts for the past year.
The volume of all business is shrunken, theirs
among the rest. But on the whole it has not
been a bad year for them. There has been
falling off in the more speculative portion of
the business in obtaining large policies and
endowmeutr risks; but the number of small
ones is notable, and indicates that canvassers
have been pushing their labors among the
people of slender means who need insurance
most. EctHOIlly Has btcu tHC lult, anu VIC
hear no instances of the extravaganza Of for
mer years. The showing of the annual state
ments in this respect, it is believed, will he
very marked. While in almost every other
branch of business there have been
defacatious, losses suspensions, bank
ruptcy, among the life insurance companies
there has been no prominent failure since the
"panicn began. One reason for this doubt
less. il that weedIng-ou process took place
among them shortly before the panic" and
the weaker ones had mostly gone out of bust
ness. But the chief reason why our life insur-
anco companies have not been numbered
among the sufferers of the last two years, Is
that their funds have been safely invested
and their management has been prudent and
efficient. We have shown chat they ought to
be safer in troubled times than other mOneyed
corporations; it is cause for satisfaction to
find that they are.