The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-27

been favorable; the lapses and surrenders
were relatively few; the amount of business
in force and the premium income have in
creased; the assets have increased by $59S, :
1886, and the surplus by $3.50, 225. %; the COM
pany's own unique standard of economy
has been maintained; it has made the cost
of its insurance less than that in any other
company through it's larger average divi-
dends. which ii has not had to reduce for
the year 1899; it's securities have largely in
creased in market value; it has maintained
it's conservatism at every point, and is pre-
pared with growing strength to repeat in
the future its unrivaled success of the past
ffty-three years.
Assets, Liabilities and Surplus.
The admitted assets Jan. 1, 1899, were 1884,
1S2, 1927; the total liabilities were $50, $685.
$500, leaving a surplus of $3.50, 542.O7. OF
these liabilities, $55,361, SI4 is the reserve
from former premiums required to meet the
increasing mortality of the future from the
increasing age of our members, their pre-
miums, remaining uniform except as de-
standard of solvency requires this reserve
to be computed on the assumption that the
companies will earn 4 per cent: annual in
terest as long as any of the policies in the
account may continue; a possible period Of
sixty or seventy years.
In 1882. the Connecticut Mutual, alone
among the companies, anticipating the
great decline which had taken place in the
rate of interest and is still in progress,
based it's premiums and reserves for all
business thereafter on the assumptiOn of
earning only 3 per cent, as the highest safe
| calculation for so long a future. This makes
our reserve ST. ,O59 larger than it is by the
legal standard of SolVency. and our surplus
correspondingly smaller. BY that standard
our reserve liability is sos. 539, 1855, and our
surpluse 50, 1873, 6O1. Thus have we long been
steadily preparing for that which is now
| Startlingly evident to all.
Insurance in Force.
The early months of the year gave prom
Use OF considerable increase in business,
which was checked by the outbreak and
progress of the war; but so small relatively
were our lapses and surrenders that we,
nevertheless, made a gain in the amount
of business in force. The persistence of our
business is a most gratifying feature of our
experience. 1t adds steadiness to all our
operations, gives us the greater benefit Of
care in the selection of risks, and mate
rally assists to keep down the expense
account.
We had in force Jan. 1. 1899. &C. 62 poll
cies for $l5S,07S, $50; an ample business for
securing the most satisfactory results to
pOlicy-holders, and presenting less difficult
problems in management than pertain to a
business of several times greater magni-
tude.
a Favorable Mortality.
We had a very favorable mortality ex-
p~erience for the year, the losses incurred
being so much less than those expected by
the Mortality Table and provided for by
our premiums and reserves as to make a
saving Of $541, 26S. While our death rate
varies somewhat from year to year, such
has been the care exercised in the accept
ance Of risks that the variations have so
far all been we'll within the amounts called
for by the Table, affording very material
savings. In no year has such a saving
failed TO be effected.
The interest Rate ana Its Incidents.
The past four or five years have been
notable for the great volume Of loans paid
off by borrowers, for a great diminution In
tho demand for loans by new borrowers.
the consequent accumulation of funds
awaiting Investment, and a decline I'm the
rate of interest pending II revival or de-
mand. The hard times of the early nine
ties, with the panic of 1893 and the depres-
sion following. made a great many solvent
borrowers anxious to get out from under
the burden Of debt and interest paying, and
forced a great deal of foreclosure in the
case of insolvent or embarrassed borrowers.
The conditions have not yet 50 far changed
for the better as to re-establish the de-
therefore, during the past year been more
difficult than usual to keep money salts
f~actOrilY employed. The money received in
payment of loans has not been absorbed by
loans of like character, and has had TO
seek investment in bonds OF a high class
LOT SGCuIlLy, Dul az a. AOWCl AolS VI iilCl NSb'
The conditions which have so affected the
rate of interest have not only caused the
liquidation Of many oans by foreclosure,
but have prevented the real estate market
from recovering it's normal activity so as to
cause the reabsorption of the foreclosed
properties by individual holders. The real
estate market is the last to respond to
either favorable or unfavorable influences.
When the market RECEIVERS its tone there is
good reason to believe that our properties,
taken as a whole. will prove worth all they
have cost. Our past experience under like
conditions fully J~ustifes that belief. Mean
time, we are in a condition to await a re-
turn to conditions which will enable us to
sell at fair prices.
The stocks and bonds which now form a
large item of our assets Cat a market value
of over $50, 900, O0O) are of the best character
for security, yielding as fair a rate Of in
terest as the times allow upon investments
Of the highest class. Only one item OF
these securities is in any questionable con-
dition. The City Of Austin, Texas, after
receiving the money for an issue of SAC, OG
of bonds and paying interest on them for
fourteen years, has now refused further
payment. and denies it's obligation, alleg-
ing a technical defect in its own compliance
with the complicated laws Of the State. The
matter is being properly cared for:
This item aside, our assets are in a thor
oughly sound condition.
The Distinctive Position of the Con-
necticut MutuaI.
We desire to call most careful attention
to the particular, and as we believe, the
peculiar value of the Connecticut Mutual
to it's policy-holders and to the insuring
public, and especially to those principles
and practices which SO widely distinguish
it from the great competitors.
In the intense struggle between many of
the companies during late years for pre-
eminence in the volume of new business
and premium income and in rapidity and
magnitude of growth. certain fundamental
facts have been put aside by the companies
themselves and concealed from the public;
false motives have been appealed to in sup
port Of schemes radically defective in char
acter, practices have been widely introduced
which are destructive in tendency and vi
cious In every aspect; entirely false tests
of success have been set up TO Justify more
than doubtful means, and the simple ends of
and tests of a real success have been ig-
nOred, denied, and condemned. Some of the
companies which nave resOrted to these
things have won great magnitude; but it
has been done by persuading the public, in
the hope of personal profit, to invest in
schemes many of which avoid even the name
OF life insurance., which in operation destroy
equity and all mutually between policy
holders. and which have been cunningly de-
enormous cost at which the competition has
been and is being conducted. Dividends are
postponed for long periods OF years in the
| certainty that those who do not continue on
through them will not have the nance to
see the effect of a high expense rate, and in
n - AhaaA mill ~ AaF - aAaAA