The sun., 1901-10-09

seemed to stimulate the desire to have an
investment which no probable calamity
could overthrow or disturb.
"The experience of later years OF
panic, after this and other companies
attained a still larger growth. was SIM
lar. The great paralysis of credit Which
was experienced in 1873, and the eftectS
of which were felt for several SUBSEQUENT
years, only strengthened the confidence
of the community in an institution wnich
met the panic without serious cheek 10
its prosperity. Wars and rumors OF
wars have failed to impair either its
security or the public confidence, and no
year has passed since its fonndatioh
which has not found this company
stronger at its close than at its hegln-
ring Even ten years ago there was
certainly no person in existence who was
able to forecast tie present volume ana
extent of the company's operations.
Then, as at previous stages in its history,
there were many intelligent observers
who were confident that it had substan-
TALLY attained the limits of possible
growth, and that no single organization
could WELD the varied resources and
complicated agencies essential to the sue
ccssfu conduct of much larger busi-
ness; but each addition to the demands
upon its structure and machinery has
been followed by an extension of its
facilities and perfection of its organi-
Zation such as have enabled it to grapplc
with every practical problem as it was
presented.
T.. a M N
q paragraph to explain in detail how the
growth of insurance companies is con-
nected as a financial fact with the de-
velopment of the resources of the com
munity at large. But it is desirable to
point out single fallacy which still has
some weight with minds not yersed in
economical principles. 1t is sometimes
imagined, and alleged, that the funds held
by these companies are abstracted from
business and enterprise and locked up
by them in vast accumulations against
future contingencies. The fact is nearly
the reverse. The accumulations of these
companies have for their basis the premi-
ums paid annually or at shorter inter-
walls by the insured and these premiums
are commonly saved out of what would
have been unprofitable expenditure. The
obligation to pay them is, in multitudcs
OF cases. a strong stimulus to providence
and thrift These payments are gathered
in vast numbers. so that the little riyll-
lets become mighty river. The success
of the business depends wholly on the
activity and improvement of capital, and
company which would permit its funds
to be Stagnant would soon become bank.
rupt. The efficiency of capital is given
to the scattered contributions of multi
tiidcs, each of which alone would have
no value for the community in general
but through the investments of these
companies it flows into every channel Of
industry and trade. 1t is not too mucf
to say that if the funds controlled by
these companies We're withdrawn for (
day from the economical life Of the ma
tion, the result would be a sudden paraly
sis of its productiveness and its pros
perity.
when insurance shall have been 81
fully developed that the practice of it il
as universal as that of any other devic
or arrangement for the protection ant
comfort of civilized men, it may still b.
expected that the institution will grow
but only with growth parallel to tina
of the wealth of the community. l
would seem that we are far. as yet, iron
having reached this stage in the ecOnOm
ical development of insurance. Tn
work of the companies is still largely
missionary work, in so far as it is de
voted to the education of the people, t
their need of insurance, and to the equit
and utility of the methods employed b
the companies. As long as this is tn
case, the growth of these companie,
which has struck the last generation q
men with wonder, may be expected t
continue on substantially the same seal,
and their financial Importance as one q
the chief conservators of the people
savings must continually become create
TAKING IT EASY.