The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-04-14
LsfeIusurauce.

The business of llfe-insurance has, du'
r;no The mast year, taken decided onward
course. Those "wiseacres who In ISd
predicted The rapid decline of the business
consequent upon the several failures OF That
veor must now admit that the business has
been placed on a better basis and Is purified
from the effects OF that and the subsequent
years failures.
The general public have never wayered
In their confidence in the system OF life.in-
surance, as has been amply demonstrated by
the thousands OF policies ISSUED year after
wear. For time the confidence OF policy.
holders has been shaken by The failure OF
the company in which they were insured,
but we have no doubt that II tie facts could
be ascertained 1t would be found that a
large per cent. OF those having held poll.
cies i'm defunct companies have shown their
faith in the system by subsequently, insu-
ring their lives in companies OF known
probity and reputation.
During the year 1869 there were SO COM
panies doing business OF life-insurance in
this State lin 1879 the number Of cn.spanies
was "a. Number Of policies issued in 1869
BY go companies, 656.572. Combined assets
I'm 1869, 1927, 767, OPS q. Combined assets
10 1879, s4O4. 079,l 45.
The total surplus in 1869 was 81 ,453,0 54,
and In 1879, s6i 493,5lS. Average in 1863,
f687,725 per company; average In 1879,
Sl,S96, sos per company.
From the above il will be seen that in
1870 so per cent. less companies were doing
business than In 1869, and that these c0mDa-
MES had increased their surplus 81, 0i0. AGA
OF the companies that have ceased doing
business (by faiure) in this State since 1869
all were organized since 1868. showing that
the "old-lIne" companies have not only
more than held their own, but have largely
increased their ability 10 meet all demands
that may be made upon them.
These leading facts make some cheering
differences certain. In the first place the life
insurance business of this country, as
whole, has been the greatest success ever
yet attained in the history OF associated
capital. In the twenty years during which
its statistics have been carefully and pub
licly kept, 1t has passed through every lest
TO which political, financial, and social
shocks and crises could subject it. A
bloody war, on the largest scale, and
three widespread epidemics have tried
the laws Of mortality. An iDnltion
beyond precedent, followed by violent fiuc.
tuations OF value. and by repeated pan'c',
has disturbed finances. Alternate bu0yancv
duQ utpltSSiUu bdNt duCCtcu us
OF industry and enterprise. Yet this one
business, almost alone among those which
can be compared with II, has held on its
own way with vigorous aud steady pro-
gress, as II founded on the laws OF nature.
Many OF the smaller institutions started in
its name as speculstions have failed and
disappeared, but the aggregate OF all
the failures has not been enough TO
check Its progress, and the actual
fund held by il in trust to-day for
the benefit of families yet TO be bereaved
($4l1 ISL 1859 Is larger tban ever before, is
nearly seven times what 1t was at the close
OF the war, and full twenty times what it
was twenty years ago. All this can be ac-
counted for only by recognizing life-insu-
rance rs founded not only on the needs OF
civilization, but on abiding and established
laws. No other scieptiic theory has ever had
such magnificent demonstration as the
declaration OF the great mathematician,
DE Morgan, a generation ago, that there is
nothing In the commercial world which ap-
proaches In safety g we'll managed Iife.in-
eufance company. Add that the system is
now actually relieving every day thirty
families OF widows aud orphans, with an
average sum OF SO ,00e each, aud that the
number is increasing yearly, with provis.
ION already made for more than 900, 900 OF
such families 10 the future, and we have
before US one Of the grandest and most
beneticent pictures our civilization can pre-
sent--Nex York paper.