Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-08

submitting for their action the offer made
by the German-American Insurance Com
pany of New York; city to r~einslrs the bush
ness of the company. In the opinion OF the
board 1t rs deemed advantageous TO the in
terests OF the stockholders to accept this
proposition. and the circumstances which
led to this conclusion are based upon the
excellent showing of assets and the earn
ing capacity of the company. but at the
same time 1.-THE unsatisfactory conditions of.
the insurance business of the city is point
ed out In this latter connection q tabulated
statement Is made, covering the five years
from 1890 to 1903. inclusive, which shows
that while the gross average yearly proht
of the fire underwriting done by the compa-
ny amounted to G, 745. the net average
yearly profit was only $e.52e.
In the opinion of the board such a profit
Is not commensurate with the risk that
must be incurred to make 1t. nor do We see
In the future any promise of Improvement.
Each year shows q larger proportion of
our business being written through agents.
and therefore at increasing expense and
smaller margins Of profit"
The amount of risks outstanding is stated
to be $6.2JO.oO0. and the board concludes
that 1t is time for 'the stockholders to de-
continue the risk to their assets for the
sake of the small annual profit for under
writing. than to liquidate the company"
The circular then goes on to say that the
fUDoSd VI Lie e III II a I'd
was the only one which makes 1t possible
to ultimately liquidate at a figure equal to
50 a share for the stock. The date of the
final liquidation of the company II Is
stated In the circular. must largely depend
on that Of the expiration of Its longest out
standing term policies. Though these have
been reinsured. yet until they expire the
company would not be permitted to dis,
tribute Its assets. This period is stfmate
at the longest to be five years.
1t is believed that the annual revenue or
the company from its Investments will be
sufficient to continue the present rate of
dividend. which is 8 per cent on a capital
of 100000 until 1t is advisable to liquidate
the company by dividing up its assets
among the stockholders. TIL meeting OF
the latter to pass upon this question VIII
be held the Goth instant.
A $1,000 bond of the Washington Rail-
way Company was sold today for I4A, an
advance over the bid of yesterday OF a
quarter of a point. At the close the bid
was 74k and the asking price 74%- A bid
| of 42A was made for the preferred stock OF
the company, and the offering was AN ana
then Az.
An advance of some six points on the bid
for the ) per cent bonds of the Anacostia
and Potomac Railroad Company and of
three points for the 5 per cent bonds OF the
City and Suburban Railroad Company was
made today. There were no bonds offered
for sale. In these securities there have been
10 TRANSACTIONS LOT Il long timc past, dHu
for the most part no quotations have been
made Recently. however. a bid for the
Anacostia bonds was recorded of ssh. and
for the City and Suburban 80 Today the
bid for the former was 90 and for the lat
ter 94k.
The statement Is made that this change
is likely due to the improved business done
by these companies
Two lots of ten shares each OF the Union
Trust and Storage company stock went for
los. The stock was offered at 106. but there
was no further bid at a higher figure than
1864.
| Eighty shares of Potomac Fire Insurance
| Company Were offered at first at 25s. and
subsequently, a sale was recorded at Is.
| There was no dealing in gas during the
call, but after call five lots of twenty-five
shares each were sold at 57%, which seems
to be about the quantity of stock that has
been available recently for trading pur-
poses. Prior to these sales twenty-seven
! shares and two shares were sold for 51h.
The bid for Capital Traction bonds adj
vanced from 108 to 10Gh, but there We're
none for sale at that figure.
After call Graphophone common was Of
fered at 5 and Greene Copper at 15I.