The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-12-19

mitted to speculate In stocks or othe,
securities or doubtful or uncertain 81
widely huctuating values.
me commissioner Of insurance Il
charged with the duty OF ascertaininp
at the end of aeh year, the net casf
value or all life insurance policies In
other words, to satisfy him
SELF n a the actual funds Of each cor,
pany are OF a net value equal 10 ~.
net vaiue or its policies according to
a standar rate of mortality. Chapter
d5O. laws OF 1903. requires domes+fr
ne insurance companies to male =
deposit OF securities with the ins,,r1
ance commissioner, and I want ~
snow the practical operation of +bts
Illustration. @' CA IL
"A valuation of the policies Of th,s
company issmade annually by the emf
nent actuary, Miles M. Dawsor -
New York city. Under date Of Tan
49, 1913, rendered the following: "rhia
Is TO certify that I have this dav com
pieted the valuation of the o~utstand-
ING pouches OF your company on Dec
81, 1912, y " and I find thai the net
Taiue OF the same according to fha
american Experience table and al
per cent and the standard for, s11ch
naiuatlon under the statutes of the
state or North Dakota to be the s,IT1
or S1!s,O41.' This, then. was the net
lle COlIlI)nDV JUn q
required to have In hand at that time
section 2 Of the deposit law provides
nat Inc net cash value Of all noIi-
cIes IN FORCE being ~ascertained, the in.
SuFahce commissioner shall notify +ha
company Of the amount, and within
ttnrly Gays thereafter the officers
thereof shall deposit with the ins1ir.
ance commissioner the amount of The
ascertained value in the securities she
clhed in chapter 156 of the session
laws or 1907; provided, however. that
no stock company organized under the
laws Of this state shall be required
to make a deposit of such securities
IN an amount exceeding 500, 0OO,' In
TINS connection it is only fair to state
trat the Pioneer Life has always
waived that provision and has kent IN
deposit with the insurance department
the full amount Of the legal reserve
The deposit at this time amounts to
II have gone into this matter Some
what fully because it illustrates one
Phase OF insurance supervision. and 10
therefore ger1nane to my subject. and
1t shows the legal restrictions and "a
qulre1nents which have been built IN
Tor the protection of policy holders, r
any agent or other person
raises the question of solvency re-
speeding this or n other life ins,,r-
ance company authorized in this state
you tell MIN he doesn't know what he
IS talking about. You can do his with
impunity. because the other horn OF
ms dilemma will be the fact that he
ton.
There is n other phase of the in
surance business that I want to touch
upon before closing. First In the con-
slderation of the insurance department
are the interests Of the policy holder
and mis- beneficiary. These are nara
u But what of the companv
stockholders-the men who put IN
the capital and surplus and start the
oaA a-roll1ng? Their interests are |
secondary, it is true, but surely thew
are entitled to fair consideration.
The last legislature enacted a blue
sky law under which it would he
dlthcult and should be impossible to
put over any of the old-time promo
ton schemes in which little more s1Ib-
stantlal than blue sky was exchanged
Tor perfectly good coin of the realm.
When this company was organized we
q no laws for the protection Of the
innocent and unWary investor. In this
connection I have something in the
way Of a Christmas present for the
stockholders Of the Pioneer Life-not
a dividend, exactly, but an earnest of
dividends to come.
1.-THE Alfred NJ. Best Co., of Newl
York City are publishers of standard
insurance works, and they specialize in
reports upon insurance companies of
all classes. They are standards of
authority. Not long ago this company
Issued a pamphlet showing the cost
Of developing new life insurance COM
panies. After digesting it's contents
wrote a letter to the company ask
ing their opinion Of the showing made
by the Pioneer Life, and their reply.
was most complimentary to the