Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-03-18
COMING BACK.
ine Union Mutual Life Insurance Com.
pany Of Augusta
10 nave Its Principal Omce I'm w.
In the Future.


In our associated press dispatches If v..
'eraay We mentioned the fact that .u.;ne..
circles IN Boston are intensely aeita,ed i, %
gard to the Union Mutual Life Insn,..
Company of Augusta, which represent. a
capital OF over $500. 600, and which ba.
hitherto had its main Office in Boston wh.
1t employed large staff Of clerks and dill
neavy business. According to law nasss,
oy the present legislature this COMPANY inns,
come back to Maine. where it belong. and
locate its principal Office in some civ or ,own
in the State.
Athough known as the Union Mutual I.if.
Insurance Company of Augusta comn.,.
uveiy few capitalists in this CITY are finan.
cially interested in the company. and i,
could more properly be called the I-rion
Mutual Life Insurance Company of Maine
The company was incorporated in ls49 under
special charter granted by the legislature
1t Is mutual company, as its name implies
Its directors are elected by the policy hold.
ers. For several wears there la. beer
strong feeling in the legislature that this com.
pany, which is chartered under the law, of
Maine and is protected by our laws, should
have its chief place of business within the
borders of the State, as all other commando
chartered in Maine, are required to do. When
the general insurance law was passed in
1876, this company requested and obtained
the privilege to have the word thereafter"
inserted in the law in such manner as TO
allow it to have its principal Office and anv
number of its directors in another State
This favor was granted solely on account OF
the panic by which the assets of insurance
companies had been deprecated, and the fear
that the removal Of its principal Office to
Maine at that time would be detrimental to
the company's interests.
This winter, at the very first session of the
Committee on Insurance, a member of that
Committee gave notice that he should take
measures to have this company remove its
Office to Maine. Hon. Josiah Fl.
Drummond of Portland, one of the directors.
upon being questioned, said that he could
not assert that it would be injurious to the
interests Of the company to have its leading
place of business in Maine. especially as it
owned building in Portland peculiarly
adapted for such an office. Accordingly a
bill was prepared which was noticed in all
the daily papers in the State. in their legisla-
tive reports. Its tendency was generally
known, and its passage was unanimously IA
vored and endorsed by all the policy holders
and by the people of Maine, so far as any in
could be obtained. The law, as
passed, provides that all insurance companies
incorporated under the laws Of Maine, shall
have principal Offices in this State; that
majority of the directors shall be residents Of
Maine, and their meetings shall be held
therein. 1t provides further that in all cases
in which majority Of directors of insurance
are not residents of Maine, the
terms of Office of those residing out of the
State shall expire April IL, 1881, and their
places shalt be filed by the remaining resi-
dent directors. The Law is so specific and
plain that its provisions canno: be eluded,
and the vast business must accordingly come
back to Maine where it belongs. The new
location of the companys office will undoubt-
edlv be in Fluent Block, Portland. The
Union Mutual Life Insurance Company is
vast corporation, with assets amounting to
over Sc. 500, 900. 1t now has about l5,T~
policies in force, covering risks to the amount
of 80. OO0, 200. Last year it disbursed over
$ 900, 900 in death losses and endowments.
IT EMPLOYS some twenty or thirty persons in
its main office, and is n very desirable ac-
quisi,ion to the city and State in which it is
located. 1t ia believed that the business OF
the company will be favorably affected by the
removal of the main Office from Boston 10
Portland.