The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-02-05

value on any given GATE bub IL il equeliy
true that considerable portion Of the
assets Of this, as Of every similar com
pany, Ia Of euch nature that its value
at any given time must necessarily be ex-
pressed in different totals by equally
capable and responsible men. The varia-
tion would express no actual funcuation
in value but simply q difference in
opinion. Which opinion might be for
your purpose most nearly correct lie again
matter Of opinion, and while concede
the wisdom In such Investigations of a
conservative view, and under the peculiar
circumstances surrounding our request
for this examination, the wisdom and me-
cessity of an ultra conservative view, l
cannot avoid the conclusion that in these
particular items the opinions Of the men
who have planned and directed the ersc-
tion of this great company, while they
may be accepted as the utterances of
special pleaders, are worthy at least of con-
sideratiop by you. l accept the aggre-
gate financial findings of the Insurance
Department as constituting an indorse-
ment of the management of this company
at once satisfactory to you and creditable
to me and my associates.
1t is possible that in spite of the Pc
culiar character Of this investigation, you
would not have expected any word from
me had the matter rested there; but the
Superintendent of Insurance has seen fit,
after announcing not only the solvency,
but the great prosperity of the company,
as evidenced in its gross surplus Of
nearly Fifteen million dollars, to take up
and discuss certain items, and in doing
so has criticised the management of the
company in these details very severely.
This constitutes an added, and by itself,
q sufficient reason why should 60 with
you over the ground trsverssd by the
insurance department. in order that your
attention may be called to many related
facts which do not appear in the report.
Tue departments criticisms cover several
phases of management, especially in
vestments in real ostate anA.aAgency
work The criticisms of real estate mat
/ ters call attention to losses which may
be divided into Losses &C ual, which l adj
| nit, and losses theoretical, which arise
from differences of opinion. admit cor
tain losses, which | will point out spe-
| officially with the attendant circpm-
stances. and l raise the question OF diff
ferencs of opinion as to the remainder.
Before entering on the discussion OF
any of these matters 1t is duo To all par
| ties to say that Investments are made
| only. with the approval OF the finance
committee, consisting of five members,
and of which | am a member ex oilicio.
Plaza Hotel.
The report alleges n loss on this prop.
erty of two hundred and eighfy-three
Thousand, nine hundred aud ninety -four
dollars. The Superintendent of Insur-
ancs uses this language in connection:
"In pr perty of this character and of
such great value the opinions of real
estate experts of equal ability and integ-
rity often differ, and other able and COLI
scientous appraisers might value this
property at higher figures, and
even beyond It's cost The gentleman
who by direction of the Superintendent
of Insurance valued this property ct two
million five huldred thousand dollars is
q man eminently qualified to give an
opinion on such question, But 1t Is
also fact that another gentleman of
equal ability aud character within few
weeks testified before tho Suprsms Court
of the State of New York that in his
judgment the property at tae present
time is worth three million dollars
From your point of Yisw, thQn Is 1t not
fair to conclude that the alleged less may
after all exist only as matter of opinion2
ment. This property Is as finely located
as any on Manhattan Island for Hotel
purposes and perhaps AS Gnslv as any
hotel property in the United States 1t
is In the line of increasing values and in
my judgement will ultimately yield the
company large return on the original
Investment.
Home 0fhee Building.
Tao report alleges loss on this prop
erty of 1864, 2gj. It's book value Is
81 ,9l4, 1916 and it enters the Su psrintend.
ent's neport at 81 $50, 600 To illustrate
again how opinions vary as to the value
of real estate let US makea parallel be-
tween this and property of similar
character in New York aud draw con-
elusion Take the value placed upon our
home Office b'lilding for the purpose of
taxation, and place 1t beside tie same
Value of the Equitable Life Assurance
Society's home office building. The official
valuation for purposes of taxation of our
home office building is one million and
fifty thousand dollars; of the Equitable
home offics building, three million eight
hundred thousand dollars. statement
of the figures at which each property WAS
entered in the assets of its respective
|
lows: The home Office building of thu
New York Life, $1.0l4 000; home otfice
Of the Equitable, sl5,l40,0oo. The De
partment's estimate OF the value of our
property is approximately 50 per cent,
while the assessors figures for the pur.
poses OF taxation are little mere than
80 per cent. of its book value. AS the
gentleman who appraised our homs office
building has narat made an appraisal Of
the value of the Equltable's home office
building, we can hardly draw 4 conclusion
from that basis. but. figuring from the
value placed upoa it by ths assessor, It's
total value would be approximately seven
million, Elk hundred Thousand dollars, II
the book value of our home Office were &C.
cepted al par.
l cite these figures rs strons lg bring
ing out the truth of my suggestion con
corning opinions as to real estate values.
Everyone is familiar with the emiueut
success Of this Equitable Life Assurance
Society, an6 no one would be SO absurdly
unjust to that com pany as to allege q loss