The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-02-23
FIFTY.flFTH ANNUAL REPORT
 OF THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE
 COMPANY. A Resume of Interesting History and 8 Review of Resulting Conditions.
To the Members:

To the Members:
 The experience of the year 19oo while
 favorable, was in no way especially re
 markab1e in the business or progress O x the company Its chief incidents may
 be very briefly summarizedi There X was fair increasesin the premium in z come and in the amount of insurance
 in force; as for many years past, the
 rates of interest on desirable securities < showed general tendency downward
 the foreclosure of mortgages, which fol
 several years following the panic o1
 1893 was for considerable amounts N showed change for the better, with an Y increase in the sales of foreclosed prop z erty; the expense ratio has been kept at < It's usual low limit, save in the expenses
 incurred upon foreclosed real estate, which have been considerable in order X to put and keep the properties in good x condition pending sale, and which will
 disappear as sales take place; the mor- x taltty of the year, while somewhat ( heavier than that of 1899, was so far in-
 side the losses provided for by our ta-
 bles that the saving amounted to $413,-
 362; the market values of securities, A which had ruled lower for several years x following the panic of 1893, were in
 great measure recovered; for two or
 three years we have been able to earn less surplus than for many previous years, during which we had been slow 1y accommodating small items of surplus 4 In excess of our usual dividend, which, Z in just such times as have been expe- , rienced since 1S934, become available N to. maintain for the present the same < high dividend scale as for many years past. and until the interest rate and X other conditions which affect the sur- < plus earning ability of all companies A shall be more definitely settled and the X necessities of the future can be better \ judged.
 Steadiness in Dividends "A It is our desire to go as far as perfect safety will permit in maintaining a steady scale of annually decreasing cash cost. The greatest and most un- certain factor operating against us is $ the continued tendency to fall in in- terest, foreseeing which, we, nineteen years ago, changed our calculations from the basis of per cent. annual in terest to that of only per cent. The only measurably controllable factors af- fecting our ability to earn or save sur- plus are the death-rate and the expense account. Tn respectNof these, the care 5 In the selection of risks and the pru- dence and economy traditional with The Connecticut Mutual are steadily main- tained.
 The Old Century and the New.
 With this very brief review of the { general features of the years experi- ence, and calling attention to the state ment elsewhere of the details of our z financial operations and condition, we beg to ask your careful consideration z of certain matters relating to our own Z past history, and to the existing condi- tions of the life insurance business, which seem especially pertinent and in- teresting as we stand at the beginning Of a new century, with a history behind US of fifty-five most eventful years.
 For, in that time there have been wrought, on scale of unparalleled magnitude, and by many companies, certain great practical denials of the Fundamental principles of correct prac- tice and of business morality upon their departure from which The Con- necticut Mutual has stood and stands at issue.
 The True Question.
 What, in that time, have we done; < how efficiently have we accomplished the one service which life insurance alone can render; how do we to-day stand addressed to the best rendering of that service in the future; how far are our bases, plans and methods re- sponsive to- that special need which life insurance sets itself to serve, and loyal to those facts and principles which, themselves unchanging, must always remain the basis and test of legitimate plan and legitimate method; how, in respect of these things, does our histo ry and present position contrast with l those of many others; and do we stand condemned by those things in which | some have succeeded, or justified by | those in which they have failed, but in 1 which we have succeeded; have we [ been, are we to-day, doing right or wrong; have we done, are we doing the best that can be done for widows and 1 orphans, and for those who must pay its cost?
 Financial Summary of Fifty-Five aH8Ng1 Years.
 The monetary part of the story is soon told: In the fifty-flve years, we have received from our members for ordinary, extra and annuity premiums, 3211, ,642, ,069 86; we have returned to them for death losses, endowments, annu- ties surrendered policies and dividends, $207, ,79S, 111.S1, or 9S.22 per cent. For in- terest, rents and profit and loss we have had s96, ,S20, ,54559; total income of $30S, ,462 ,615.45 Of this sum, $207, ,79S 111.- ,S1 has been returned to policy holders as just stated: S27, ,906, ,305. .69Aonly per cent--has gone for expenses; $104 41S,- 175.66 has gone for taxes, and the bal ance, $62, 34O, ,022.29, forms part of our gross assets-$64 ,965 ,17615-covering present liabilities and surplus. The payments to policy holders and the gross assets aggregate s272 763, ,2S796 or l2s.ss per cent ol the receipts from policy holders. These results of more than half cen tury have been equalled by no other : American company. No other company { has returned to its policy holders as '7 large a proportion of their payments; no other holds as large proportion of its interest income in reserve; no other !