Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-07-25
THE SMALL COMPANIES
ADVANTAGES TO Be GAINED
IN INSURANCE OF life
SOMETIMES BUSINESS GETS TOO
BIG TO HANDLE - RESULTS
COME FROM MEDIUM.
SIZED,

Speaking Of the medium sized life
insurance companies. the United States
Review. Of Philadelphia, says:
There is a class Of life insurance
companies which have claimed and re-
ceived consideration during the last
dozen years by reason of their size,
the volume Of business which they are
doing, the conspicuousness OF their
position and Its surroundings as well
as by the activity and persistency OF
their field workers. They are indeed
the most prominent objects on the life
insurance horizon. They have. so to
speak. dwarfed the appearance OF other
and very ably conducted offices, and
often in competition relegated them ia
the background.
| Now while 1t cannot be fairly urged
that these large Offices are either uu-
sound or unjust In their dealings with
policy-holders. and while it cannot be
| claimed that the managers are other
than honest, intelligent and conscien.
tious underwriters, there are. never
theless, very strong reasons why the
middle sized and even the smaller Of
fees should receive consideration al
the hands Of the public.
II should be observed that absolute
ly speaking there are but few small
level premium companies in this coun-
try. II we take the Offices doing bust
ness In the State OF New York we shall
find that there are but two which are
not at least twenty-five years old. As
rule, they have been managed by men
Of ability and experience. They arc
not by any means small corporations.
or these offices the smallest has assets
OF over $1,600,000, the next largest of
over $2,200,000, the next of over $4.-
100000 and SO on they increase until
the record shows an Office which an
accumulation Of between sixty and sew.
enty millions OF dollars. or course. we
do not include the larger corporations
OF which we have spoken.
It is a fact beyond question that the
great majority OF the class of offices
to which We have referred are sum.
GENTLY large to secure good law Of
average and well established enough to
command public confidence. The ratio
OF fixed charges is not, as a rule, In
excess OF that OF their larger rivals.
while In some cases 1t Is very much
lower. The managers Of these Offices
are able and conscientious men who
have full and clear comprehension
OF the needs OF the work they have
on hand.
As compared with their larger rivals
the mid-sized Offices have been more
conservative In the conduct Of their
AFFAIRS. They have not been leaders
10 that strife for new insurance which
has advanced commissions and ex-
penses to such an extent as to impair
the confidence Of thoughtful men In tho
Integrity of the business. In most in-
stances they have followed the lead
only so far as 1t has been necessary
to secure but little more than enough
OF business to set OFF the losses occa-
stoned by the Withdrawals from death.
lapse and surrender.
In respect to the results attained.
the medium-sized Offices will not suf- |
fer in comparison with the larger.
Indeed, we might name Office with as.
sets between five and sixty-hve mil
lions of dollars in which the results
to policy holders living and dead have
not been surpassed by any OF the
largest offices. We can sayl withou,