The New York herald., 1879-03-03

holders of life insurance policies issued by
companies in this State. The greater part
| OF the life insurance business of the United
States is done by companies located in this
city or having agencies here, and people in
every part of the country are interested in
the management and especially in the
solvency of these companies.
The pending proceedings in the courts
relating to the Globe Company and the
charges of insolvency which have recently
been made on the floor of the Assembly
against the Knickerbocker Company nat
urally be2et distrust, not only of these par
ticular companies, but Of the safety of all
others. All the companies are. under
the same superintendence and subject to
the same regulations, and if the official
machinery for holding them to their duties
fails in the case Of two leading and con-
spicuous companies what reasonable con-
fidence can policy holders have in any of
the others? They are all under the same
guardianship, and if the official sentinels
prove untrustworthy in some cases
why may they not in all? A policy
holder who should trust any company
on the mere representations of its agents
or on its own published advertisements
would be justly regarded as very raw
sample of gullible greenhorn. The only
valid reason for confiding in any company,
however pretentious or outwardly respect
able, is the authority eSerted by the State
to enforce responsibility and hold the
companies to their obligations. If State
regulation is illusory man who wishes
to protect his family from want when he is
taken away might as we'll put his money
into the kitchen range and burn it up as to
pay it in annual premiums to life insur-
investments of this kind are not
wasted lies in the supervision and
control Of the State over the companies. If
this is not efficient il this is not trust
worthy, the anxious father of family takes
bread from the mouths of his children and
dress and ornaments from his wife to main
tain set of cormorants and swindlers who
play upon his domestic solicitude to rob
him of his earnings. If the guardianship
Of the State is not trustworthy life insur-
ance is a mockery and delusion.
Is the pretended superintendent Of the
State of any value? This is the question
which is now asked by hundreds Of thou
sands Of anxious and aching hearts. It is
likely to be ga burning question" at AL
bany before the close of the session.
Mr.. Fish has charged on the floor of
the Assembly that the Knickerbocker
Life Insurance Company is rotten, and that
the head Of the Insurance Department
knows it to be rotten. This, considering
its source, is q grave and alarming state
ment, not merely because it shakes conf
dence in that important company, but be-
cause, if well founded, it prostrates con-
fidence in the Insurance Department, to
which the policy holders of all companies
look for the protection of their interests.
The recent legal proceedings against officers
of the Giobe Company have still greater
tendency to unsettle confidence. If there
are good grounds for arresting an officer of
an insurance company and requiring of
him SO heavy bail as $1,000 it
is too painfully evident that there
has been criminal negligence or more
criminal conniyance on the part of
the Insurance Department, on whose
watchtulness and efficiency the policy
holders of all companies depend for protec-
ton. The fact that demand has been made
in the Assembly for Superintendent Smyth's
resignation is the reverse of reassuring, espe-
cially as an overwhelming majority of that
body is of his own political party. 1t is
calculated to fill tho minds of policy
holders with doubts. Public attention has
within the last few days been recalled to
the case Of Dr. Lambert, but the fact that
he is to have new trial brings no relief to
the victims of the company of which he
was president. Nothing could be more un-
satisfactory than the present state of life
insurance business as viewed by the general
public in the light Of such information as
it possesses.
The HERALD has been making On attempt
to investigate this important subject, with
view to enable the community 10 esti-
mate the solvency of the insurance COM
panies. We present to-day the first install
ment of our researches, which will be fol-
lowed by other instalments rs our
asct rtain from tho records of tho Insurance
Department at Albany the investments
which the companies OF this State have
made of their money. Most of the COM
panies loan out their funds on the security
of real estate mortgages. We havo prb-
cured n list OF these mortgages, with
their amount in each case, and an
identifying description of tho prop
erty OH which tho loans are made.
We have put 1t in tho power of any policy
holder to judge for himself of the security
of these loans by personal inquiries as 10
the value OF the property. We give the
amount Of each loan. tho location OF the
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