The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-04-07
METROPOLITAN LIES GREAT
SHOWING
Wrote More Ordinary Business
in 1910 Than Any Other
Company by Twenty
Millions
Company is Highly Commended
by the Superintendent of In
Surance For its Pro-
gressive Manage
ment

ment
| OF unusual interest, in view of crit
icisms which have in the past FREE
quently been. made of so-called I'm
dustrial Insurance is the recent Re-
port of Hon. William H. Hotchkiss,
superintendent of Insurance of New
York Superintendent Hotchkiss' ex-
aminers have in the last sixteen
months made an exhaustive inTestl-
cation of the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company. and the report embod
les their conclusions.
. Incidentally, the report brings out
other interesting information regard
ing the Company 1t will probably
come as a surprise to many that the
Metropolitan is not only the leading
company in industrial insurance, but
that during the last year it wrote
practically $50, 900 ordinary insur-
ance, the maximum permitted by the
New York law. For a company that
has been known in the past primarily
as an Industrial company. this is. a
remarkable showing. If business writ
ten in foreign countries other than
Canada be excluded, the Metropolitan
wrote $4,000, 900 more ordinary fnsur-
ance than its nearest competitor. There
are at present over 500 900, 900 ordinary
insurance in force and, including In
In fact the company was compelled
to stop issuing policies for which APP
plication was made during the last
days of the year in order to keep
within the law.
Mildly speaking, the report is de-
cidedly commendatory. In an impair
tial and judicial manner, Superinten-
dent Hotchkiss expresses his profound
conviction that Industrial insurance
as practised by the Metropolitan has
had the welfare of the policy-holders
only in mind and that the officers
of the company have bent every effort
to cheaper the cost of such insurance
to reduce lapses, and in general to
safeguard at every turn the interests
of their upwards of seven millions of
policy holders. The Superintendent
writes almost admfringly of the re-
sduction and management expense of
nearly per cent and in the lapse
rate of approximately 10 per cent.
Tersely stated. Mr.. Hotchkiss shows
that insurance for the masses is CIV
en- practically at cost. and that the
dividends to stockholders, limited by
the bylaws of the Company to <$140.-
OOO were insignificant when compared
with annual premium receipts of $70-
000, 900.
Under separate headings; Superin-
tendent Hotchkiss discusses other i'm
portant topics, such as compensation
to agents payments of claims, bonus
distributions and concessions. Nothing
more clearly indicates the character
of the service which the company rem
ders to it's policyholders than the I'M
adorned statement that of the total
claims presented for payment, only
one quarter. Of one per cent. was re-
jected; that the company will volun-
tarily return to policy-ho1ders in 1911
over S., 7000 900 in cash bonuses, max
mo Of re-
turned without any obligation of any
kind on the part of the company to
do SO.
One thing more should be mention
ed here in this connection to prove
the force of Superintendent Hotch-
kiss statement. Since January l.. 1907
the company has twice increas ed the
benefits on new policies 10 per cent,
and has set aside over s4,000,00o addi-
tional reserve to pay additions to pol
icies in the shape of mortuary bene-
fits
We should state here very frankly
that we would not give this amount
of free advertising to the Metropoli-
tan if we believed the Company to be
purely business undertaking.
Through certain of it's activities. the
company has plainly indicated that it
is not in business for profit, but that
1t has become a social institution AS
ton We are led to this conviction
by Superintendent, Hetchkiss hearty
and unstinted commentator of the
campaign against tuberculosis, the
nursing service for policy-ho1ders and
the sanatorium for employees, three
tivities for social betterment which
the company has been prosecuting for
several years.
1t is stated that 1S per cent of the
deaths on which the company pays
claims are from tuberculosis. AS we
view it,, if this excessive and unnec-
! essarily high mortality can be reduc-
ed it benefits not only the company
but all of it's policyholders. In the
final analysis, it means cheaper insur-
Fance The same idea underlies the
visiting nurse service which at pres
| ent is given to over 100000 policy
holders and which is rapidly being ex-
| tended. The Supreme Court of New
York, in rendering its decision per-
hitting the company to erect sana-
| torium for employees, voiced a new
doctrine which will become historic.
when it stated that corporation not
only had the right but that it was it's
duty to look after it's sick employees.
| Summarizing his conclusions, Super
| intendent Hotchkiss expresses his be-
! lief that Industrial insurance with
premiums payable weekly to collec-
| tors is a necessity for the Industrial
masses, and that such insurance must
be furnished either by private corpor-
atoms or by the State In his opinion,
however, the State is not ready to as
sumo such a burden. We can readily
believe that under the leadership of
companies like the Metropolitan, as
shown by Mr.. Hotchkiss' report, In
| dustrial insurance is in safe hands,
and it's further development can wise
! w he left to such COlnDanioS