, 1876-01-08

Hartford is pretty little city OF pofhap8
&c, 900 Inhabitants, who are nctively oin~ |
ployed two days in tho year,-dividend days,
Jan. and July /, in clipping OF coupons.
They nre Just now beginning their SEMI
annual rest from the arduous labor Of fgur-
Ing out The proata Of tho preceding half
ycar. Tho lalies arc having gala day
among the shops with their share Of tue
money, md the old heads have quietly added
theirs to tlo capital to increase the dividend
next July. This is the process that will
honceforth continue in Hartford for perhaps
genoratious. It Is the easiest thing In tho
world for capital to accumulate capital. It
ia rollng-stone, but 1t gathers moss. It
grows larger and lnrger ut every dividend
dny. It growa by what 1t foods on. Afterit
has reached certain proportion, it's life
aud progress nre insured by n simple
method ct low interest and good securi-
ty. New England is building ZIP cofh-
ulunities like Hartford, which resemble
tho Old England communities which,
by thrift aud economy, hayo aggregated
sufficient to insure comfortable existence
for iii time to come. It ia condition to be
enyied but not 10 be abused. Great capital,
carefully husbanded and fairly administered,
confcrs groat blessings outside Of its own i'm
mcdiate circle. England sonds its money a1
over the world Mt lower rates Of interest than
It con be obtained for elsewhere, because it
Inns sufficient capital to afford It. New En-
gland will bo ablo to reduce Its ratos In per-
forming similar function for America, and
will grow richer for doing it.
This little town Of Hartford hng n tota]
capital Of 800, OF, ,o35 (nearly two hundred
! millions, invested in corporations in add-
ton to tho capital employed by iuilviduals,
md the average dividends thereon arc por
cent. The banks run eyenly between 8 md
II per cent, but tho fi1e-insurance companies
aro earning too much money. None OF them
declared less than 1o per cent md ono as liRh
as 271 par cent This shows tint zates
should DO reduced and the Hartford
people and other great capitalists mus'
tako the initiative for solf-protection. They
can better afford to reduce the rates than 1
community not 30 rich but II they do no
move in tho matter others will, and one O.
tho most profitable uses Of thor enormous
capital will 10 taken from them. Contingon
losscs cannot bs cited in oxtenuation Of CT
cossiye dividends tho way to guard agains
them is by judicious distribution Of riali'
Chicago will receive large shaEe Of the bon
eft TINT will ensue from reduction in rate
OF insurance and rates OF Interest. There
no other American city which Is entitled t
80 low rate Of fire inurranco, for thore is n
other city wharo tho risks aro so ANAL. S
to some extent In regard to rates Of interest
There Is no city that can point to SO larg
md steady IN increase OF its business, the fiji
and tho panic to the contrary notwithstant
ing. Hartford Inns probably twice {
much money invested in Cook Count
alone as 1t had altogether In 1oa1
able capital thirty OF forty years ago $; son
Of this will havo to DO renewed, and Hue
ford will and 1t to its own advantage to r
now Chicago loans ut lowor rates. 1ls car
E tal will last longer and accumulate mo
. steadily and certainly on this policy than al
other, and the relation of its figures for
r years from now to those Of the preso
: tin1o will be as astounding as the present o
!. to thoae Of forty years agp.