The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-02-05


The system OF agency Management
Explained aud the Expenses con
nected with L.. e. VnnuX"m q Co..
Fully Ventilated A C"mp"ri-oU
with Other Companies Methods In-
VItrd.
New YORK, Feb. 2, 1892.
TO the Policy IIoiderS ofHe NeW York
Life Insurance COmpdng:-On the 1911
day of June, 1891, the following com
municatinn was transmitted to the In
surance Department of the State of New
York:
NEW YORK, June rs, 1891.
Hon. j. r. Pierce, Superintendent InS,r-
ance Department, Albany, ~ y
DEAR SIR:-rhr charges that have beer,
made against the company and its mat
agempnt in the public press, growing nui
Of matters connected with its Spanish
American department. having been
cahrlnd tn nnr President in London, W,
are in receipt of Il clblegHm from him
in lvSu"n>e suggesting that the lnSul-
anCe Department be invited in the pub
lie interests to make an examination
of the company for the satisfaction oi
any poiry-hulderS who might be dis.
turbpd by these charges and criticisms.
and in accordance with his suggestions
the Finmce Committee of the company.
at its regular meeting. held this date.
adopted the following preamble ana
resolution:
At meeting of the Finance Commit
tee of the New York Life Insurance
Company held this date the fOllowim.
proceedings were had:
WHEREAS. Certain charges and critl-
cismS have been ma lie against this com
pany in the public press growing ont -
certain mlttcrS connected with the Span
ish-Americm department.;
AND WHEREAS, The Finance Com
mittre of the Board of Trustees is salts.
fled from the statements of the officers
that there will be- no loss to this com
pany hy reason &C the matters referred
to, vet is DESTROYS that the public should
he equ lily satisfied;
THEREFoRE RESOLVED, That to that
end the Superintendent of Insurance ~
this State be invited to make a thorough
examination of this company.
In accordance with the foregoing tho
company will he pleased to have this cx-
animation made at your earliest conven-
ienco. Yours truly,
(Si"ned) A. II. WEIGH, Second Vice
Presidents:
III accordance with the above, on the
22d day of June, 1891 the Insurance De
partmcnt was placed in charge of the
books, records, etc, of this company and
remained in charge until the 4th day of
January, 1892.
There are mlny reasons why it seems
not only proper hut necessary to review
with You the Insurance Departments
findings. First, no corresponding test
has ever been applied to the life-inSul-
ance business and the results ought t" b"
presented to you not only without
prejudice, but from the cOmpany's point
of view, and to me- it seems clear that
the only way to achieve this is bya per-
SOnal statement. do not mean by this
to reflect in any way on ynur sources of
information hitherto. say that no cor
responding test has ever been applied to
the business of life insurance. BY this
mean no investigation by n State Insnr
ance Department has ever been made of
company whose assets and general
bust eSs reached corresponding proper
tons. Since any test has been applied
to the conduct of this business, results
have been achieved which few wears
ago seemed impossible. The horizon
has expanded and duties and RESPONSE
bilitieS have fallen up III me and the CX-
ecutive officers of this company and of
nearly all other life companies which. if
not new in kind, are so much greater in
degree as to constitute almost n new
wOrll of experience in our business.
The Investigation just closed has there
fore been remarkable for this rs we'll us
for other reasons, and beyond question,
in addition tn its proportions, has been
the NEST scare ling and mrrclrsS inquiry
ever made of the executive officers of a
life-ins france company. The central
fact in any such investigation is and
must be the integrity of the assets of the
company. The figures of the inquiry
were brought down t0 June 30. 1891, and
the Insurance Departments general
statement is as follows: Assets, Sl2O,-
Tl0,690.G4; liabilities, Sl0G,0O2 0l4,Sl;
gross surplus on pOlicv-hOldcrs' account,
S14, 7OS,6 7j.S3 The Superintendent of
Insurance. well said in commenting on
the above: Those Interested may be
assured that this conclusion is correct
and trustworthy" These words will
bear reading a second time. They mean
something different from acaSual state.
ment of financial responsibility in the
business world. They could he used
to a test witch might seem from many
points of view unnecessarily severe, but
which, from the nature of our business
and the s1cred character of its trust, is
unquestionably wise. The Superintend-
ent therefore means that all doubtful
items were eliminated: that our opinions
were necessarily ignored; that disimter-
csted opinion was the standard and that
we were obliged to plead before a bar
where mitigating circumstances were
ruled out of evidence. After such Il test
/ may be allowed TO offer my congratulate
tiOns to our membership on the result.
and To state that the other executive
officers of the company, as well rs my
self, share with you in the satisfaction
of so great an achievement. | desire
personally to emphasize my cnngratnla-
tons on this particular and most impOr-
tant view of the report. 1t would not
have been unnatural | think, it the
ideas of myself aud assoeiaIes of the
company. as expressed in our last an.
nual statement, had differed in comsid-
cradle degree from the ideas OF The gen
tlemen who fixed the values expressed
i'm the insurance dep lrtmrnt's statement.
Differences could arise only in certain
classes of investments. large portion
of tl,e assets of such an institution as
this is of such a character that there could
he no variety of opinion as to it's value
on any given date, but it is equally true
that u considerable portion of the assets
z :