New-York tribune., 1878-02-16
HARTFORD LIFE INSURANCE
RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATIONS.


HARTFORD, Feb. ID hasten to correct an
erroneous impression conveyed by single sentence
in my last letter in which il was stated that the
Special Insurance Commission in their report 10 the
Legislature gave q clean bill of health TO all tho
Hartford COMPANIES except the Charter Oak, Con-
tlnental and PhnniX. The Phoenix should not have
been made an exception. The report of the CommIs-
sion had not been made public, at the date of that
letter. 1t has since been submitted to the Legisa-
ture, and its language in conclusion is as follows:
Our reports of the Charter oak and Continental are
in the possession Of your honorable body ana ~
submitting general report we take pleasure ~ sa5
ing, the result of our invesgatlos that we ~ na
Connecticut Mutual Connecticut General, iarUord Lay
and Annuity P6mnix, and Travellers. are not only SOL
vent but financially sound ana are under tne naaSv
OF OH and directors OF large experience s9uu
Judgment, and unblemished character. We DcneVe
without doubt, that the above-named coinpaites aJ
entitled the entire confidence of pocy-houers anu
the public.
II is no more than fair that all the companies
named should have the credit attaching to the GER
tificate of the commission. The gentlemen cOmpos-
ing the commission seem to have been thorough and
impartial in their nvestigdr ions-indeed. their
character is a sufficient guaranty of their integrity
and iilety-and the companies which have STOOD
the test OF their scrutiny deserve to have 1t KNOWN
| speak now simply of their financial soundness, ana
not of the soundness of the system upon which the
mixed companies are conducted. 1t must bo re-
nlcnDeleu tHlt lut luuCtloHo VI th'o
not extend TO an inquiry into the different systems,
but only to the financial condition. aud the character
of the management of the several companies
1t may be stated here that the only purely mutual
company in the State is the old Connecticut Mutual; ;
all the rest are mixed-somc Of them, as has been
shown, very badly mixed. AS to the Phenix, the
commission, though they find it has all ample
surplus and is clearly solvent and sound. deem II
their duty to make statement somewhat IN detail
concerning loan OF 1908, 800 on block OF fourteen
houses. on Capitol Hill, in Washington. The loan
was made under former management. The pro-
perty is now in the hands OF receiver and the
claim is in process of litigation, the company de-
riving at present. revenue from it, Considerable
loss will be suffered If the company succeeds III
its snit bat full allowance therefor has been made
in the annual statement, so that it does not Affect
the company's solvency.
Having thus set the PhGnix right and hope re-
Iieyed tie apprehensions which am informed have
been excited in the minds of polcy-holders by the
reference to that company in my last letter, word
of personal explanation to nqurers in various parts
of the country may not be ont of place. Many of
those Inquiries cannot answer. Az TO the sound
ness of any of the life companies in Connecticut
know nothing except what learn from the Special
Commissions report. | am too well aware of the
sensiliveness of both pocy-holders and companies,
and of the vast interests at stake to venture
any conjecture suspicious OF my own
IN the matter. | am neither an actu-
ary nor an expert in insurance. The freshest
agent OH the track can take two or three columns
of figures about mortality tables, expectations of
life annuites endOwments, suryivorships, deferred
premiums and policies apsed and slammed, and
dance all round me in two minutes leaving me
altogether narrowed up and bewdered. have en-
dcavorcd to unrayel the intricacies OF the Charer
Oak MANAGEMENT and make a consecutive and CO.
herent narrative of SO much of the deytry of 1t as
was not too much twisted up with logarithms
and 1ux0ns. As TO the Continental
have only yet got so far as the discovery that be-
tween the gentlemen of the Commission and the
officers of the company there's difference of
opinion touching few little matters Of false swear
ing altering of accounts. counting promssory notes
two or three times over, and reporting fictitious
deposits as assets. Things are so uncertain here
below especially in the matter of assets, that II
real earnest actuary should come along with two
thimbles and an asset of one "ltilo joker" and
offer to lay n large wager that he could sho"
me that ono asset under both thimbles
at the same time, | should shrink from the
speculation OF one thing, however, am reason
ably certain and that is, that although 1t may he
strictly legal for the stockholders IN these mixed
companies TO take 80 or 30 or 100 per cent IN
dividends for the management OF the property oil
their pocy-holders, it is not quite the thing to
withhold from the policy y-hOlders statement OF the
facts don't wish to hurt anybodys feelings, but
I suppo-e NAV say think 1t is impoite. When the
pocy-holders show such generous confidence In the
stockholders. 1t seems as though it would he no
more than fair for the STOCKHOLDERS 10 cohilde u
little in the policy-hoders.
In nv last letter it was stated that the officers Of
tbc Continental were making a stubborn fight
against the report Of the Commission and legsla-
tive interference they are still contesting and 1t
can only he said that if their fighting is anything
like their bookkeeping, whoever enters the lists
against them may well put up the prayer of Ajax
for light TO sec his foemans face" The testimony
Of Judge Seymour of the Special Commission. re-
lating how he traced the uncertain figures OF the
cash the elusive record of intangible bonds, the
siunlinp of stock certificates and the
promiscuous and confusing forward and
backD and hands across" Of stocks, bonds.
and securities between the company and the Farm
ers' and Mechanics Bank Is interesting as the
story of a fox-hunt. Judge Seymour is not young
man but the vigor with which he skipped across
from the bank 10 the Office and back TO the bank. in
nursuit of securities that were standing for some
thing IN both places and had no abiding place any
where could hardly have been surpassed by even so
voupg and active man as Judge Harrison Free
man. of the Board of Directors, Ii will
be remembered that Mr. Tracy, the default
ing cashier of the Farmers and Mechanics
Bank. was one of tho Continental directors.
II is singular circumstance that whenever
in the transmigraton of securities affairs have be-
come so badly mixed that there seems no way out
except upon the theory Of perjury and fraud, all the
ends OF the business into an uncommonly hard
knot in the bowels of Mr. Tracy, and that success
full inancieris in the State Prison. he is allowed
TO retain the undigested my steries OF his own
finance | will not undertake to follow Judge Sey-
,pou,,s evnloratIops If | have correctly gathered