Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1876-11-10
THE F&Il.E8E OF TIEE CONT
NENT.As, LIFE COMPANY.

The Cez5,inental Life Insurance Com.
pany has mary or more policy hold
ers in Orn, ~ AID Washoe counties than
any other company in the United State.
It's COLLAPSE viii prove .eTy seiious
misfortune IL this com1nU.ity. HAcSe
who took nur yearly policies six or seven
years ago (w;,eu the Cont.reu,al did is
largest business here) viii End i. diff
cal, TO get injured in another company
without :. very serions Increase 0. t'.s-
arlOUn: OF s'tir present snuual prem
ums. Or c,1l'se the older inln Is, the
mora he ,u;.-i pay to get his lie insured.
The ho,de,s 4 endowment policies are
the heAyies. ,osers. 1t is hardly possible
that any # tie patrons of this unfortu-
nate company will suffer n total loss II
their ouilav; b':t the prospect OF Il lG.i
reimbursenl, u, or even q handsome per
csptace on the amount of tie prlicy
holders nr'.~g is not at sill probable.
When Eastern banks All insurance
compapi i.. they make a pretty bad
smash Of il. ~ 4 general thing. With
relation =. ,!is disaster, the San Frat
cisco pug-;iD o. November has she
following:
TIE ,ecant failure Of tie Continental
Life Insurance Company has dsawn at
.en.ion TO t!le extrayassncs Of many Of
these companies. especially those having
their headquarters in New York. II has
been quite the fashionable tbirg 10 have
"a palace built for the accommodation CT
mos; Of the companies, which were IN
ciined to launch GU. during gu era Of ex-
t,avagauce. When the hard times came
on grea,: many people VINO were hard
pushed ceased 10 pay up their premi-
ums. the policies lapsed or were bought
III; but IN either case there was great
dminution Of revenue. The rents also
of these ex,raragaut buildings were
greatly reduced. In a few Instances tu,.
erection o. u large and costly building
might have been wei enough IN a husi-
ness point OF view, provided real estht"
advanced and rents were stiff. Eu. Ia
most instances these structures, VITA
the ground, cost from. s quarter Of 4
million up 10 threequarters Of a million
dollars. The erection Of such buildings
was II business quite outside OF life IN
surance. Eytravagant salaries were
paid. In fact. many Of these companl,s
became corporate spectators III human
life. They made money, or &s least
supposed they were making money.
There WAS an era OF reckless eXtlaya-
cance, sud then came failure. The Con
tiuental once had al agency IN this city
city and received q large amount Of rev
enue. Il is said that the losses Of policy
holders or this coast will he equal to II
uua1ter OF q million OF dollars.
When the present law wen: into effect |
touching tEs securities OF life INSURANCE !
con names GninY on~luesS ~ ,.,tfnrn''. |
the Continental withdrew. And now We !
have en- account OF its failure which /
mud been ioTe,hao;ywe;. for some time. !
/. belonged to that Class of ins'.is.,cs !
companies wIich made i great deal 81 !
show ami rre;ension. !, had an extrsv- !
agant building, costing. 1t IS SAID $50
Jul, OK more thin Ole eighth of all its |
assets. The property deprecated when |
the shrioka1t u reat estate w2S going
on III New York. The expenditures Of
tie Company last year eAcaeded Its III |
come SIP 600. In the last report OF ,
Superintendent Ford q this State. AZ
teIiiou was called to tie fact that the
agents OF this Company were depreciat-
ing its policies for Tie purpose of buy
.ng them il on speculation. Subse-
queEt facts tend to show that the agent
here was aware of the critical condition
Of the Company, ard forthwith warned
his patrons that there was trouble ahead
sni suggested that the policies should
be transferred 10 sound company.
There may have been u speculation III
al this. but st the same time it was per-
fectly consistent with fair dealing, # The
agent really had knowledge OF the actual
CONDITION Of the Company. The Cont
MENTAL was the victim OF reckless extrav-
,sance. ard 1t Is not the only Insurance
company wh!c.i has been caught - that
sii,d Of q drift.
J