New-York tribune., 1911-11-29
BIG STRIDES IN INSURANCE
Business Was Comparatively
Narrow Seventy Years Ago.
LIMITED TO FEW KINDS THEN
Life Companies Assets Multiply
200 Times in Half Century
Hughes Revolution

Practically none OF the insurance com
panies doing business here when Tie
Tribune was founded namely, In 1Sn-is
left TO this date and NJ those Lett not
one is Of the life variety
Insurance AT that time, moreover. was far
less widely practscd than now. and the
term was narrow one H. comparison with
what it means to-day.
1t was limited then to marine. life and
fire policies. whereas now it extends TO such
things as were not dreamed of then, "a
burglary. plate glass. accident automo-
tiles. elevators. liabilities Of all sorts.
credit. health and even the nngers OF a
pianist. not to draw the list out to its
limit
The first of the life insurance companies
20 begin operation here in the period OF
this review vas the Mutual, which was
organized in 1Si2 ana has continued increas
mgly prominent in It's neid until now IL
is third I'm the list "a TO policies in force
the amount Of its policies approXimating
t225.0oocoo.
The New York Life was organized year
later and Is st the top OF the list to-day.
with nearly $9Oo,O0O,0O0 OF insurance in force.
its nearest rival a. TO volume of business
being the Equitable. which is only 5000.
0oO or so behind the New York. Life. ac-
cording 10 the latest available figures OF
the state Department OF Insurance. The
Urited states and the Manhattan, however,
were organized before the Equitable,
namely. in 1870, the Equitable following In
1850. and indeed even before the Equitable
came into existence there was marked ac'
tiyity In this line in other states also ana
every company Of consequence organized
elsewhere came to New York for business,
OF course.
Fire Insurance in the Lead.
Fire insurance was more lively busl-
ness then and many more fire companies
we're operating at that time that stin exist
than was the case with life companies.
some OF them and the dates OF their Or
sanization, not including companies with
headquarters elsewhere than In this city,
we're as follows:
North River, 1922; United States Fire,
1924; Richmond. 1885, and Westchester Fire.
1899 Those to be formed shortly after The
Tribune started which still are prominent
In the citys business life are as follows:
Niagara Fire, 1870; Empire City Fire,
1880; Pacific Fire. 1851; Stuyvesant, 1851;
Hanover Fire, 1852; Nassau, 1852; Home,
1855: Peter Cooper Fire, 1888; PheniX, 1895;
Continental. 1855, and Germania Fire, 1s59.-
Available statistics as to the amount OF
business all insurance companies old IN
this state in the early days Of The Tri0-
unc's history and the most recent official
figures show that the growth Of that Held
Of financial activity has been little short
Of wonderful The life insurance in force
IN 1852 for instance, was $149.S09, 152 AZ the
end OF the last fiscal year the amount ap-
proximated Sl60O0,0oO,cQo. The assets Of the
companies engaged in the life insurance
line then aggregated S26,465955. The cor
responding figures now are nearly $,OeOp-
COo. or something like 90 times as much.
The assets OF the fire companies in 1853
amounted to i9S, and now they are
nearly 100 times greater. The amount Of
their insurance I'm force now is nearly
S40OO.Go.C50 or about forty times as much
as In 1850
Then. as now. it is seen from these fig
ures. the business Of fire insurance was
far greater in volume than that of life in
surancc; there are few buildings that are
not insured against fire. but even with the
increasingly widespread acceptance Of the
principle of rfe insurance to-day, the pro
portion Of people who take out policies OF
their lives is much smaller in comparison.
The Ocean Marine Business.
The bulk 6f the ocean marine insurance
business I'm New York then was transacted
. as now, through companies organized II
foreign countries and having branches here