The San Francisco call., 1904-02-10


Of the S227347sS6S9 which the Con-
necticut Mutual has received from its
pOlicy-hOldeTs. il has returned TO them or
paid to their beneficiaries $227.11S.S9416.
or 1920 per cent. What IL has so paid
back and what il still holds as security
for policy contracts aggregates $292O52.-
44139. or 12S.46 per cent of its receipts
from policy-hOlders. This has been done
at an expense ratio of only 9.2S per cent
of the total receipts.
NATURE OE PRESENT COMPETI-
TION.
The competition for public favor in
life insurance continues TO travel largely
on three distinct abnormal lines. First.
postponement Of all dividends for ten
to twenty years. whereby the effect Of
extravagant expense is concealed till the
end of the period. and whereby the say
ings on the premiums and reserves Of
those who drop out in the meantime (ex-
pected to be about tWO-thirds OF the
whole in twenty years. are to be di
through; P p sPecuiat Tor for the f few iucky
at the expense Of the many unlucky
mutual pOlicy-hOlders:
Second. by the so-cal1ed incontestable
policy. which puts upon the honest pol
| icy-holder the payment Of the loss on
the dishonest one, 20 whom alone such
a feature would presumably be at
Third. by giving every policy-holder
by way Of an annual cash value the
right TO withdraw his contribution to
gives all the policy y-holdeTs the right to
demand all the reserves in any year to
the complete destruction of the Com
pany; and this demand is a first lien on
all the assets and a first obligation on
the part of the Company. to which the
insurance feature is a mere temporary
and easily defeasible incident The pre-
miumS paid in OStenSfbly for life insur-
ance have a string TO them. 10 be used
at will. which converts the Company in
to an actual Savings Bank. without the
int r. ncfF hi r~alrn to
the personal advantage Of the depositOr
not 20 withdraw his deposits under Ordi-
nary circumstances, and with the fur
ther. and great difference. that whatever
one deposits in the bank suffers no sub
traction from it's face. and receives in
addition all the interest earned less a
relatively slight expense account. while
the premiums paid 10 the life insurance
company must annually contribute 10
losses and TO relatively heavy expenses.
so that the reserve which can be with
drawn is as a rule much smaller than
the sum of the premiums he has paid in
and his privilege costs him out of all
decent proportion
practice is the fact that in reality and
in the resulting attitude of mind Of the
insured it subOrdinates the duty of pro-
lection for which alone life insurance
exists and without which il would never
be used and could never have been con
ceived to the changing personal inter
ests of him on whom that duty con-
stantly rests. Under multitude Of con-
ditiOns, he is frequently tempted to use
for himself the fund which alone Sc
cures that protection to others which is
still his duty. and his most serious duty
because Of their necessity and their con
stant danger He no longer regards his
payments IS a fund permanently with
drawn from the eXiEenc1es of his busi-
ness and sacredly devoted to the per
fOrmance of his unse:fish Office toward
his own. His contract at once and al
ways prefers his claim to theirs
nil not hesr krzr,
the great mass of the life Insurance.
business of the country will stand on
the welfare but the existence OF the
companies contingent on the non-eXer-
else Of the right of withdrawal Of any
and all funds at will
In the midst of this sort OF competi-
tion. which brings an enormous business,
but with enormous waste, at an eN-
pense which is as reckless as IL Is un-
necessary. and which contrad1cts every
principle and method by which proper
and adequate results as to the security
Of contracts. the cost OF insurance.
equity between members. and the in
tegrity Of the Company itself can be as
sured. the Connecticut Mutual holds
steadfaSt to the truth which. be IL never
so widely or lightly disregarded, can
never be denied. that the paramount pur-
pose Of life insurance. the one and only
peculiar service IL is contracted and
fitted to render. which il alone can rem
der. and the only one worth its neces-
one spring of it's high motive. is TO de-
fend and provide. for those whose vel
fare depends on the continuance Of ones
life and who must suffer in all their fu-
ture by its loss: that Mutual Life lnSur-
ance is the equal cooperation IN good
faith of those on whom rests the sacred
privilege and duty to protect. to the end.
that the needed protection may be most
certainly and effectively given. and that
by such equal cooperation the cost to
each may be made as small as possible:
that the Company which undertakes TO
become the instrument of such cO-Opera-
tion is therefore bound to shape its
every plan and practice to conform TO
those conditions which enable IL to full
filI those ends in the highest degree and
with the greatest certainty in that far
future to which IT'S contracts extend.
That beneficent function OF Mutual
Life Insurance. in that view OF its in
trinsic morality. the Connecticut Mutual
has fulfilled with an unequaled success
for f1fty-eight years. and il moves to-
ward its future of benefcent uses ade-
quately prepared
Respectfully submitted,
JACOB L. GREENE,