The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-08-05

they nave mace the object of
their underhano attack. The publica-
ton referred 10 is an extract from
Bests Insurance Reports, which con-
tains the financial statement of all fire
insurance companies doing business in
this country The purpose Of these re-
ports Is to keep the public advised OF
the standing of all fire insurance COM
panies and especially to warn the pub
lie against companies that are unsafe
or undeserving. The financial state
ments contained in these reports are
compiled from the offices Of the insur-
INT commissioners of the different
states. and Bestis Reports for 1907 g1Va
the Underwriters of credit
for SO cents more than the company
has ever claimed.
In the statement of the Underwriters
of Greensboro furnished the insurance
commissioner and in our published
statements which AVE been freely sup
piled to our polIcyholders and agents,
we have not claimed for the Under
writer's one cent OF surplus, and the So
cents in Best's Reports is an imma-
terial error, for which we are not re-
sponsible. Our policy with all our COM
panies has been to create first an
ample emergency fund and then a sur
plus, for the reason that the surplus is
Invisible and belongs to the stockhold-
ers, whereas the emergency fund Cor
reinsurance reserve) is for the protec-
ton of the poL.Cyholders and cannot
be touched.
The Underwriters of Greensboro is
only four years old. and UP to this
time. the entire annual underwriting
profits has been carried to the emer-
gency FUND until that fun now
mount to over twenty thousand dol
lars.
The indications are new that the re-
suits of this years operations will
largely increase this fund. besides con-
tributing several thousand dollars to
the surplus. The very best test of the
solvency of an insurance company and
of the protection 1T affords to its policy
holders is the ratio which its emergency
fund Cor reinsurance reserve) bears TO
its premiums IN force. the higher the
ratio the moro certain is it that the
fund viii meet any liability
that may arise on the outstanding
policies. This Is an axiom of insurance
which no one VIII deny. To demon
strate how fully the emergency FUND
of the Underwriters of GreensDoro pro-
tects it's po~licyholders, we have pre-
pared from the statements of the COM
panieS themselves, the following table,
from which it Will be seen that the I'm
derwriters makes d far better showing
in this respect than any of them, and
we challenge the opposition to name a
company in the entire country showing
a larger emergency und in proportion
to it's outstanding liability. This is a
broad statement, out we think We make
it after a careful investigation and
with the fullest confidence.
We have selected for comparison
three other North Carolina companies
with which We nav no connection, and
whose financial standing is unques-
toned, and the Glens Falls Insurance
Company, Of New York, because its
stock is quoted higher than the stock
of any other American Insurance Com
pany, it's book value being eleven for
one, n the AETNA of Hartford, be-
aus it is the strongest insurance COM
any in America, its total assets being
over fourteen millions of dollars. We
would not be Understood as comparing
our strength with the AETNA and Glens
Falls.
The point we al making is that the
Underwater has reserved more for the
reinsurance Of It's outstanding liability
than any of them.