Real  Estate   Reco





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





YoL. XXII.





NEW YORK. SATÜEDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1878.





No. 563.





Publislied Weekly by

€bt%m[€tsi'äk%K(sxti%B5GtMxan.

TERMS.
OXK YEAR. in advance... .SlO.OO.
Commnnications should be addressed to

C.   W.   SAV EET.

Nos. 31.^) AN'n 347 BnoADWAV

III. LIFE   1NSURA^'CE.

In a former artiele we eiido.'ivored to demon¬
strate the safoty of the s\-steni, or theorj-, of tbis
busine.ss, by reason of tbe matlieniatical certainty
v.'hich underlies all its ciilculatioii.s, und Ibe
abundant provision made for all possible coutiu-
gencies and unfavorable experiences in tbe verj-
Wide margin included iu tbo current rates ot*
insurance, over und above tlie limit of ju-tiial
cost.

As a simple business proposition, aud were it
uot that such a change would involve legal (pie.s-
tions as to tbe right of eijuality between old and
new insurei's, we sbould confidentlv say tbat tbe
rates now adopted could be permaneutiv reduced
2ö per ccut ; aud some legal and proper method
of effecting such a reduction must sooiier
or later be derived. Tbis would leave fewer
corporations in thi' business ; but, beyonil ;iny
doubt, it would be fouud, iu tbe course of tbe
• next ten years, to be u real ble.ssing to the people.

The thirtj'-four companies now in busiuess iu
this State drew from the people in IS77 ;in income
as follows :-

C.ish prumiums over...................

Note premiums over ..................

Renis over...........................

Inieresfc on investments................





.......... .Sr)!i,ror).()()o

..........       3.2'-'8.flOO

.........       roit.üiiii

..........     i."V-'ll~,000

Making a total of over................ SS5,SUi.(K.O

In ten j-ears, this income will aggregate 5=8158,-
11MI,U00, and weare irresistibly led bj'this exhibit
to discuss the question of the irresponsible control
and handling, Investment aud management, of
not only the nearly §400,OOü,UOO of present assets,
but also of this further accumulation uuited to it,
aud forming the truh' marvelous sum of over
Sl,208,190,000.

When people stop aud look these facts square-
ly iu the face, and undertake to estimate the
degree of moral courage and business integrity of
ollicei's and managers, requisite to the fullilment
of this great tnist, the almost more thau human
heroism needed to withstand the fearful tempta¬
tiou of such a golden opportunitj-, especially
wheu it is considered that so few individuals hold
the absolute power of administration, as in fact
do, theu they will appreciate the force and can-
dor of the sugge.stious we may yet make upou this
poiut. Much wise and prudent legislation is de¬
manded upon this subject to Iif fc the sbattered and
tottering fabric of life insurance from tbe depths
of disgrace into which bad men have dragged it
down, and to place ifc upon a safe foundation.
The future administration of tbis great interest,
so fai'-reaching in its influence and ramifications,
so pregnant with blessings fco the helpless and
needy, and with power for good or evil to all,
musfc be taken wholly oufc of individual hands.
and so wisely placed aiid disposed of, thafc ifc will
be above all suspicion ; no check, no guard, no





precaution should be omitted to secure safet;.-.
If the as.sets were all invested iu Stocks of the
State, or the Federal Goveniment, and they were
prcsided over by a commission as far removed
from temptatiou to erv. aud as far above re¬
proacb or suspicion of wrong, a.s is tlie Supreme
Courfc of tbe natiou, aud tbo highest aud strong-
eat safeguards of the law wore thrown arouiul
the bnsinous iu all iis features, theu comi.>arative
.safctj- might b • attained. The pi'o|irietar\- fea¬
tures of tiie business must be dis[)en.spd with and
wliolly wiped oufc : stock and stockholders shouUl
nevi'r be beard of in such a busiuess ; aud evory
corv>oratiou now organized ou a stock basis
sliould bf» rcorgaui'/ud, if [lossiblp. Tbere aro
ccrt.aiu stock companies we can most heartily
comuiend by rea.son of their higb sbauding to day;
but iu this stock feature thero lurks the greatest
pei'il to the people ; and we are s])eaking not
only for tbe prosont. but for thu far future. These
corporations are perpetual in their vei'v nature :
a young man of twouty, who insures today, maj'
live for .seventj-j'e.ars : and wbo shall .saj-, with
coulidouce, how long this wf)nderful busincs-,
which grew to such mammoth proportions in a
third of a Century, aud iiaa exhibited so inucli of
rottemiess withiu tbe past fewj-eurs willsurvivef
If ifc shall fortuuatolj' prove fco be a jiermauent
aud lasting .system. instead of a babble, like somo
olher great liistoric chimeras of former times, it
will certainly need to take ou a dilFereut form
from its jiresent: aud it must be .so far and .so
rarlicallv ehanged, iu all respects, tbat it will be
a new tbing. ditrereut altogether from tbe life
insurance of tbo present time

W'e are far from assuming to imirk out, or
sketch a perfei.'fc method for tbe couduct and
management of this interest in the future, but
whoever shall prove that he possesses the wi.sdom
and .iudgmont und foresigbfc to devi.se tbat per¬
fect method, will be indeed a public beuefactor,
iu fche highest .sense of the term.

This feature of stock iu life insurance is exceed¬
inglj- pernicious, und has proved dangerous thus
far—aud this objection to the busiue.s,s, fcakeii in
connection wifch fche acfcual pos.session of the mil¬
lions accumulated bj- each companj-, has been
the Chief .source of danger in the past. If we j
look at all the havoc which the pa.sfc decade has wit- i
nes.sed, and poinfc out the wreck of oue after au- j
other of the nearlj"- thirty companies which have |
gone to the dogs, so far as concerns their policj--
holders, wo find everj- one was organized ou a
basis of capital stock—a proprietarj- basis. "We
give the names aud the amouut of the stock capi¬
tal of twenty-soven New York State companies,
wbicb, iu one form or another, have failed or
gone oufc of busiuess bj- bankruptcj-, drj-'rot,
nmalgamafcions, receiverships aud other methods;
aud iu additiou to these about twentj- companies
of other States have ceased doing busine.ss hi this
State, their authoritj- being revoked bj* our In¬
surance Department, but for waut of Space the
names of these latter are not given. Thousands
of victims throughout fche couutrj-, wbose hard
earnings went to swell the millions which disap-
pear through the niismanagemenfc of fchese con¬
cerns, will painfully recall tbe names of their
old friends, in whose solid streugth and infalli-
bilifcy thej' once trusted so coufidentlj', as tiiej'
read over the follo%ving list; and fchej- mnv recall





perhaps the names of the parties to wbom chiefly
thej- owe their misfortunes, some of whom are iu
tbe waj- of receiving a light puuisbmont for their
crime.s, others of whom are fugitives, but the
larger portion of wlmm are j'et mipimi.slied and
likelj- to go free. We give tbe names alphabet¬
ical Ij- :

Names.                                                          Stock.

Amerleua l'oiinlar...........................   SUK'.OflO

AtnerieaM Toiiline.......................      1-.'.").0(KI

Amicable.....................................      l3it.(Mii)

Aslniry.......................................      i.-)ii.iH«i

Atlantic Mutiiul..........................      tlti.ttOt)

Commomvf.-Uth.........................  ..     I'JI.OIKI

Contiii»nt.it................................     llH).()(Xt

Cfttfcsineirs ..............................     -JiHLiKK)

Eclei-iic     ................................         1511.110:1

EiMpire Muiual..............................      !((i.lKiii

Enipire State................-................     li)i),00e

E.vcelsior.....................................     r25,im

Farmers' and Mecliaiiics"...................     l'->.-),niin

Ouiirdirtn Mutual...........................     l'J.-).iM)ii

Government Seeurity.......................     inii.otK)

Great Westeni...............................     ll.-),IJ0O

Herenics -.....................................     15i),tVM)

Hope.......          ..........................      l'-'.I.ODd

Mercluints' ................................      Kil.OiK)

Mutual Proti'ciioii  .........................      luii.oOd

National..................................      I.KMKK)

New York .State...........................      l-''i.O()(i

North America..............................      IW.iKKi

Securitv....................................     1 Iil.oOO

Stundan: ___...............................     it-.'i.OOd

Worlri........................................     Sim.nid

Wlilows' aml i:>rpliaiis'.......................     ','.H>.tO0

It maj-uot have oceurred to the geueral pub¬
lic, but it strikes US .-IS a most signiticaut fact.
that the extiuct compauies were everj-oue stock
companies. not a single p\irely mutual one among
them.

Now wliere is tbe wcakne.ss.' It is a:^ plaiti as
noon-daj'. Tbe fortuuat«.' man who got control
of a bare majoritj- of the ca|)ital stock of one > f
these concerns po.s.sessed the absolute power i)f
control over its alfuirs: and thus one individual,
or a cliquc of two or three, holding .s;ij- .s.")l,0()0 of
stock iu a corporatiou having a capital uf
:? 100,000, could control its whole patronage, its
entire maimgcmeut and its as.sets, whether tbov
were >i."),000,00'i or >;.^)0,üllO,000.

Upou such au irresponsible management the
law places no restraint whatever, except the ordi«
narj' peualtj- attaching to aiij' business dis¬
honestj-; uo securitj', no bonds are reijuired.
Who of all our readers would have appointed as
his admiuistrator, to administer upon eveu a
small estate, aiij- single individual, aud dispeuse
with that proper aud essential element of safetj'
to bis familj'—the bonds retjuired bj- law from
the rei resentative of an estate, no matter how
small the estate involved .' And j'et people bave
for thirtj- j'ears llocked in thousan<ls to the doors
of these institutions, and poured out their wenltb
bj- the hundreds of millions into the keeping of
these companies. luaiij- of which are controlled bj-
irresponsible men. The stock feature has also
had the elfect of leading tbe managers of com¬
panies to urrogautlj- assume, aud to act upou the
as.sumptiou, that thej- owii ihe companies over
which they preside; that the assets are all their in¬
dividual property; thafc no ono shall eiiquire into
their management, no one question their integ¬
ritj-; thej- forget that thej- are onlj- trustees, and
mero cusfcodians under the law, all the more
bound to show good faith because they, as owners
of the stock, possess the power of control to the
exclusion of the policyholdei-s, who are the real
owners of all the assets; thej' ignore the fact that
Jife   insurance   is  an   unequal   pnrtnership,  iu