The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-08-02
The STATUS OF Lie insurance.

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The status OF Lie Insurance. +,
Commissioner Sledman's report as TO
the condition and business Of Life insu-
rance companies in Connecticut will go
vefs'iar to change the cutrent Of public
opinion, Mr., stedman ha, shown him
sell particularly merciless in dealing
with companies deemed dangerous, and
his part IN the "weeding. out" process has
beau a, large one. No one will suppose
therefore, that his conclusions err on the
aide of.lenIsncy, and, 10 fact, he excludes
from his statements altogether one Of the
most important companies in the State
,hsChar,sr oAk-because it was not IN
nisorysnt condition at the date to which
Tue report refers, although the reorgan-
iz.tion has since placed it upon such a
basis that its full restoration is expected.
To this he thus refers: "only two COM
pApies 10 the history Of life insurance 10
Connecticut have failed TO meet prompt.
" alLtheir obligations at maturity, and
one Of these It Ia expected will yet be
restored TO soivencY. OF those now re-
,nainihigs in good standing nothing in the
future can be more certain than that they
will continue to faithfully discharge
every obligation which they have as
sumed." upf,,... ma... ..
iThisisvery strong language for such
a man 10 zee, But we are bound to say
thai al. the figures which he giSes, like those
observation-disclosures Commissioner OF
New York-anothsr relentless foe OF the
unsound eoppauies-gO far TO justify MS a
position. Il appears from the official re-
por. that the gross assets Of the eight
Connecticut companies-nOt including
the Charter Oak which has over slS,OOO,'
OOO=xesslsrgeF- BY. 100000 than the
assets Of the ten companies, including the
Charter Oak, were before the panic. In
reality, these companies have added
about sl9,OOO,OOo to their assets during
Eve weary years Of constant disaster. Mr.
stedmsn has some right to say "com.
pared with savings banks, or any other
class OF institutions designed for the
custody Of trust funds, our life COM
panies have record that is not
10 their .discredit. But he does not
deal with Connecticut companies alone
he shows that sixteen other comps
niea' now. doing business in that State
have assets admitted alter the most rig
orous examinations, amounting to S95I, :
7S37o4. But in 1873, when there were
nineteen companies Of other States doing
business in Connecticut, and when inyes-
legation Of the assets was little more than
a farce, the assets reported by all these
companies amounted to only SlOli $50
1854 there appears an increase Of more
than 100000. after all Losses and all
reductions in valuation Of property apd
securities. With the Connecticut com.
panies aud the Charter Oak included, an
increase Of about ss5,OOOOOO is shown
about sl7,OOO,0o0 for each Of the five
years Oh disaster. II the companies have
done 30 well during time Of general
prostration, what may not be expected
when revivafo other business and Of in
dustry permiiA more liberal investments
by the people? ..u...
Jtis shown by this official report, also,
that the present surplus in excess Of all
liabilities has increased very much more
rapidly than the gross assets The Con-
nec,icut companies, still excluding the
Charter Oak, report net surplus Of So
1854, and in 1873 two companies in.
Guiding the Charter Oak reported only
s7,3S5,4O4. The actual increase Of sur
plus byieohpanies now doing business
and reported has been from about So
100000 to .s9,ll7ooO, or over fifty per
cent. As to companies Of other States,
the report shows that while nineteen
claimed only sl2,6o7, 629 in 1873, the ad-
united su.plp after investigation, for
only sixteen companies was found to be
SIS, 5ss, 7Sl in 1873, an increase OF nearly
fifty per cent. ,ft
These conclusions, striking a. they are,
appear to be entirely sustained also BY
the report Of the New York Commits
Sioner, though the companies embraced
in the two reports are not qnite the same,
and the aggregates differ, the ratios Of in.
crease Of asset. and otsurplus since 1878,
for the companies now doing business,
appear almost precisely the same wheth.
er the figures OF the Connecticut or the
New York report be taken. In one branch
ofbuslness, therefore, aud that a business
which has been peculiarly exposed to
distrust, there has been added during FIVE
years Of upe1ampled disaster fully aI.y
per cent to the security Of investors.
GENERAL CRooK adds his testimony to