New-York tribune., 1919-03-19
Life Companies Fear Legal
Maximum for Year May
Be Reached by September
Legislative Aid Sought
Increase i'll Applications for
Policies Thought Due to
Boosting by Soldiers

Large life insurance companies here
are confronted with the certainty of
having to stop writing new insurance
early next fall unless the Legislature
comes to their relief.
At the rate they are insuring people
the larger companies will have reached
or exceeded their legal limit by Sep
tember Is. Officials of the companies
already have begun conferences with
Jesse Phillips, State Superintendent of
Insurance, looking to a change in the
law so they may continue writing new
business.
This is said to be The first year the
companies have had to consider the
question of arbitrarily shutting down
on new business four months before
the fiscal year is up.
The reason, it is said, for the in
crease in business is that 100000 men
in uniform, having taken on insurance,
have in their letters home become
"boosters" for life insurance, with the
result that home folks, without solicita-
tion, have given the companies a new
and novel problem.
The Armstrong law. drafted as the
result of the Hughes investigation
several years ago, aimed to limit the
volume Of business of a life insurance
company in this state. The theory of
the trainers was that the local insur-
ance companies, with their huge sur
pluses, constituted sort of money
trust, and that if the volume of busi-
ness were limited on percentage
basis (the volume of new business to
sustain certain percentage to the
outstanding insurance of each com
pany) the tendency would be for new
companies to organize to take on the
overflow business. No new companies
of any considerable size have been or
ganzed in this state.
"The companies hardly know how to
account for the tremendous volume of
new insurance" said f. E. Ritten-
house, assistant secretary of the
Equitable, yesterday. "The influenza
last year took away an enormous num-
Der of insurable lives, between the
ages of twenty and thirty-five years,
and the war took millions of the boys
across the sea, but in spite of those
causes the companies have been writ
ing new insurance on an unprecedented
scale, without making any drive to
get it. All the companies are under
gong the same experience
The Equitable wrote about s275,-
$4,000 of new business last year. At
the rate we are writing new business
now We shall have reached our limit
IN the month of September. | antici-
pate that the Legislature will amend
'ne law so that we can 60 through the
year taking care of the business that
naturally comes to us. 1t is proper
enough to continue the law limiting
our expenses, but to limit our volume
OF business merely because of its big
ness is, | am sure. an economic mic.
take.
THE aim of the law was to foster
sie startlng OF new companies. The
companies went through the epidemic
N such fine sharpe that men AND
women who never before thought much
ABOUT insurance apparently have got
ten the habit The business is com
ing to the companies in spite of them
selves"
I believe that one of the reasons
lor the marked increase in life insur-
snce Is the war;" said Major Francis
4. Stoddard, jr, deputy State Super
lntendent OF Insurance. Generally
,,peaking, the boys were insured in
'he sum of $4,000
Inc government months ago began
paying some of this war insurance.
ne fathers or relatives Of the soldiers
oegan to think over the fact that
Snile the soldiers, with no families.
we're insured in $4,000 apiece, they
we're carrying only $1,000 or $4,000
Stn families, in many instances. to
look out for Probably another rea-
son Is that money has been flush and
u mas been easier for the agents to
write new business"
:, Inc books in the New York Office of
me me state Superintendent of Insurance
snow she larger companies ON Decem-
yer d. 1918, had outstanding insur-
anee as follows
N4 Nvquieaoie ......... S611, 1,813,919
New , York Life ..... 995,087,284
nnetropolitan Life So. 775,454,698
ri rttooehtiai ........ 251,033,215
ne hgures for the Mutual Life were
not available yesterday.