The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-04-11

TO the Editor of The Times.
i read with much interest your editor
ial of Friday. m which you refer 10 tho
approaching meeting of Southern nsur-
auce men for tie purpose of promoting
the formation oi more insurance c'ss-
panics n this section. have talked
Co 3D. good many lr0miuent men 300 various
parts OF the State on this subj &C from
time 10 time ANA And tht 90 much divided.
AID agree that d. would be of great ad-
vantage 10 have insurance companies Dee
cause of the accumulation of capital they
would bring into our section but many
think they could not successfully CONF
pete with the great companies N the
North. j do not believe they viii write
the volume OF business done by these
companies Tor great many years. hut
a. small fraction of % would make them
worry prosperous.
Evolution has occurred iu the husl-
mess. OF insurance u the last twenty-five
years as boo most other things and where
as then comparatively few companies
did al OF the business. now there are a
great many of them. about nfty old une
hie companies. aud many more fire CONF
plni-s. IL is astounding 10 sec lOw Do
uaa Grown aud ia NOW slo~iug to the
cant that most OF the houses 100 the
country that can get insurance upon tAcm
aic insured, and 1 think about ly per
cent. Of all the population bias lie ln-
suiauce OK one kind or another. % Us
thus apparent that as the demand BIAS
grown the companies have multiplied,
and ] believe a careful review ol them
Will show that but q small proportion OF
those OF the better class have failed,
and the stockholders boz this class of iu-
Ves,mcnr have been much more fortunate
than those who held railroad securities,
real estate mortgages, mercantile invest
mcuts. etc. That some or our lo-al conc
pauies should have been unfortunate dur
ing the reconstruction period, when an
Was chaos In the South and the business
OF insurance comparatively IN us in-
fancy i5 30 argument that with c)nui-
tons greatly improved ana an immense
demand FOR insurance they should not
now succeed In fact the success of the
companies nere in Richmond is a demon
stratlOn OF the new conditions and the
brilliant record OF the Norfolk Company
THE Seau0ard Fire Insurance Company
that started business January. $50. and
Tor It's nrst Year OF nfe only sustained
a loss OF SIS. shows what can bee done.
The business OF insurance is founded
uuon the observation Of centuries, and
SHOWS that out OF siven number OF
out Of q given number of lives AT a given
age SO many deaths Will occur. IL is then
but u matter OF calculation for the ac-
tuary in making out ms tables 20 see
what each must pay That these tables
are automatically correct Is beyond
question for London Company is now
in existence that has run Tor more than
one hundred and thirty years. and is
using the tables as they are from time ID
time improved or changed as they have
been In recent years hy better sanitary
conditions in prOionging the average hu-
man life about two years. Professor
simon Newcomb. In his book entitled
Algebra for Schools and Colleges, says;
"Dlyiatons n ON the most probable num-
be- OF deaths equal 10 the square root
of that number Will be OF frequent oc-
currence. Deyiations much greater than
this square root will be Of inireQlent
occurrence and deviatiOLs moro IMAM
twice as great will be rare"
Most OF the disasters that have over
taken the insurance companies and caus-
ed failures have been from trying TO write
insurance below the cost that long eN
p.rience has shown 20 be- necessary. All
goes well enough for a time, but death
and taxes are proverbially certain, ana
as tie former is certain. ana the latttr
likely 60 Increase. the company that lali7
10 put by q reserve 70 meet the hp-
proahcing less is much IN the position ot
The unwise virgin. That IL Is possible,
however. for the insurance companies 10
ne on a sound foundation IS demonstrates
by the fact that there are hundreds or
them to-day, and that thousands and
thousands OF people are living on the
money provided by this means.
Granting that the tables or rates are