The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-12-06
INSURANCE MONEY IN State.
INVESTMENTS IN SOUTH CARO-.
LIMA HAVE IN LATE YEARS
INCREASED REMARK.
ABLY.
Total at End OF Current Year Will be
About Ten Millions of Dollars.
NichOlsOn-DeLaugbt Bill Has Had
Excellent Effect.

iioNH @oIf'VVO 10 $lO,OOO,O 900 and an
increase from $12,5OO to $1,000, 900 in
five years time are not bad showings,"
says +. II. McMaster, insurance COM
missioner of South Carolina, in his
annual report to the general assem-
bly,, discussing investments in South
Carolina by foreign insurance compa-
nies.
He points out that December 81,
1908, the first year of the insurance
department, all of the life insurance
companies of other States had in
vested in South Carolina State,
county and municipal bonds and first
mortgage bonds of real estate in
South Carolina a total of $314,O67.
1.-THE showing to be made Decem-
Der 81. 1913, will probably exceed
$10,000,000. The exact figures, of
course. can not now be given, but as
the total for the life insurance COM
panies June 80 last was $8,968, 900,
and, as sG94,000 has been reported
since, and there is yet a month to run,
the total for December 81, 1913, may
be safely put at $4,000, ,OOO," says the
commissioner.
Likewise the fire and miscella-
neous companies Of other States on
December 81, 1908, had a total of but
$12,500 of such South Carolina in
vestments, and by the same tokens on
December 81, 1913, such companies
may be expected to have about a
round million dollars of such invest
ments. On June 80 last they had a
total of $932,OO0.
1T Is safe to say that these results
would not have been accomplished
but for the continual agitation Of the
subject, the proposal to exclude from
the State all companies which did not
so invest and the enactment Of the
law allowing a reduction Of the II.
cense fees to such companies as did
invest. .'c;..
But what of conditions which
made such a showing possible
What Of the dreary years from
1866 to 1908 when so much was going
out and so little coming in? '|F.
What about the unrelieved desola.
ton, and the grinding poverty Of
those years when the life insurance
savings of the policy holders in South
Carolina were being taken to make
richer the already rich North. or TO
develop the updeveloped West?
mot in bitterness and not in hate
are these questions asked, but that
the lessons taught by the last Ave
years Of successful effort to cause the
investment Of our own funds in our
own State may be learned and the
previous conditions prevented from
returning.
1t will not do to say that there
were no securities in South Carolina
from 1865 to 1908 worthy Of invest
ment for trust funds. Selfish seeking
for defense by unthinking minds may
prompt such a silly answer. Sympa-
thy and caution would have found the
safe securities Of those days upon
which present competence and pros
perity are builded. But there was no
sympathy and less caution was re-
quired i'm the sections in which life
insurance funds were invested In
those days
"lncessant effort has gained atten-
ton, and prospective prosperity has
given assurance and South Carolina is
now getting back the savings Of the
past As years.
'Incessant activity should not be
necessary. and agitation should not
be required to cause to flow in their
natural channels the savings Of q
people. Experience has proven that
those charged with the investment of
the vast funds of life insurance COM
panies are really. after all, merely
human beings. more OF less honest
and cautious. moro or less narrow and
selfish, and IL is necessary to control
them by statute just as with humber
men.
How best to control them for
South Carolinas good?
Germany originated the doctrine
of compulsory investment in German
securities of German life insurance
funds. some IL or Is years ago. The
logic of the doctrine has extended
France. Austria, Italy,
Russia. and well nigh every other Eu-
ropean country and to Argentina,
Uruguay, Canada and Japan. With
drawal by American companies from
those countries followed. until now
not more than two or three