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fig, 1 ; ‘ isngEE INSURANCE. ., [As the nature'of Life Insurance Institutions may not

be generally understood by our readers, we cheerfully

give insertion to the following interesting letter, from

William Bard, Esq., President of the New York Life

_ Insurance and Trust Company, to David E. Evans,'Esq.,

Batavia, on that subject gov. ‘. Dear Sir ;-—I was lately shown a letter from you to a mutual friend‘in ,Albauy, in which an opinion is ex-

.) presscdgthat the business of Life Insurance will not

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, regard toother portio

.meet with much ewouragement in your part of the

‘OOImHI-V'; I have often‘rd a similar one expressed in

, us the state. The growing bu- since: of, this oflice shows that such an opinion is not well fgtsnded, when applied to the city of New York. In June last, the ofiice had sixty-five running POllCies. and on the Metal December, one hundred and fifty. It was natural its extension should commence where the office was situated, and where explanation and informa-

’ than could be more readily communicated to those in-

terested in securing their families against the vicissi- tudes to which all, and particularly men of business, are liable; but 1 have 'no doubt, when the various means of security and convenience an insurance afi'ords in the business of life are well understood, and this know- ledge is widel spread, that the practice will extend through t fifiitmtry and become equally, if not more generally,t Ruse, than insurance against fire, or against risks at sea. Such has been Jhe progress of Life Insu- rance in Great Britain, where the first office established began with four insured on their books, and at the end ofeight years counted only four hundred and ninety. There are now in England, over forty ofiices, and more than two hundred thousand lives insured. Life Insu- rance must have something in it particularly fitted to the circumstances of mankind, to have led to so great an increase. 'Will you permit me to occupy your attention for a short time, while I explain some of its operations ; and thengdo ask whether it is not worthy the attention

of opr.» llow citizens, and not likely to command it

_ . When’tiae has made it familiar l

The nature of a life insurance is not always under-

" ' 7 “Hood. '-It is a contract between a company and an iii-

'dividuul,"that in consideration of a sum paid down, or

g. ofaless sum paid annually by the individual to the coni-

pany, his heirs or assigns shall receive from the com- pany a larger sum when he dies. An insurance against fire is a contract that the individual whose house is in- sured shall receive payment for it, if it is destroyed by fire. A marine insurance is a contract that the indi- vidual wli0se vessel is insured shall receive a certain sum if his vessel is lost at sea. In neither case is there, as there has been supposed by some to he in Life Insu- rance, an impious attempt to prevent the will of Provi- dence, buta wise and prudent endeavor to render such events as are beyond our control less calamitous than without such caution they would be. The amount to be paid by the company, and the amount to be re- ceived by the heirs or assigns, is settled by calculation, and is determined by observations made on the duration of life at different ages, and the interest allowed for money. .

An insurance may be made for one year, for several years, or for the wholelife. In the former cases, the money is to be paid by the company, if the individual insured die within the period for which he is insured.‘ In the latter case the money is to be paid whenever the insured dies. It may be made on onelife, on two, or on muggy”; to commence immediately or at a future

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It would require much time to state all the cases in which Life Insurance may be employed for the benefit offlmilies and individuals, and tofacilitate and make sécure operations otherwise hazardous. The most ge- neral use made ofa Life Insurance is, by persons living on income; to secure a family, by its means, a comfort- able sumo" afte the death of its head‘d'r‘ parent. This is accomplished the payment annually to an insurance office, of such portion of the‘ individual’s income as can be spared, and for which payment the oflice contracts to

' pay, after the death of the insured, to his heirs or as- signs, a fixed sum, the amount depending on the an- nual premium paid by the insured. We will suppose a married man, thirty years of age, clearing by his occu- pation one thousand dollars a year; that the support of

is family costs him eight hundred and eighty-two dol- lars, and that he has one hundred and eighteen dollars a year, to spare. It would take an individual a long time, by laying up this sum, to accumulate a moderate sup- port for his family after his death ; should he die early, he must leave them in want; if he pays one hundred and eighteen dollars a year to the office for an insurance, he secures five thousand dollars for them when he dies, should his death happen the next day. A small sum, a few hundred dollars, to be received immediately on the death ofa parent, would frequently be a great as- sistance to a fafnily. The smallest sum may be secured by an insurance, and at a trifling outlay. Ifthe parent is thirty years ofage, four dollars and seventy-two cents

a year will secure two hundred dollars, and eleven dol- lars-and, eighty cents will secure five hundred dollars.

To secure a family against want, on the death of the parent, is the most general use made ofa life Insurance;

' but the cases in which it may be advantageously employ-

ed are as numerous as the circumstances in the lives of individuals are various. ' ' If an individual has a debt hanging over him, and

: fears, should he die, his family would be injured by the

forced payment of it, he can provide against such a cala- mity by insuring his life for an equal amount. Suppose the debt two thousand dollars, and the party forty years of age, sixty-four dollars per annum provides for the

debt when he dies.

A young merchant commencing business may, by an

insurance, add to his credit among those with whom he

deals, and-would add to it, were it understood, that in

' 'case of his death, there were means provided fonquickly

settling his debts. Suppose an upright and industrious young man, twenty five years old, commencing business and obtaining a credit of five thousand dollars; one hundred and two dollars per annum will insure this, pay- able (in his death, and thus secure asum sufiicient to sa- tisfy all his creditors. ‘ . ’

In our enterprising country, where capital is wanting, and where credit and bank accommodations are ampng the means made use ofto supply the want; where pur- chases ofland, as well as of merchandise, are frequent- ly founded on bank assistance, how anxious must those feel, Who. dependant upon endorsers, see their estates and the independence oftheir families,'and the safety of their friends, all at hazard, should death suddenly over- take them; and should their involved afi‘airs be left to the management of executors. Under such circumstan- ces, a Life Insurance to the amount of their discounted Paper, relieves them from uncertainty; and affords the means of immediately relieving endorsers from loss, their estates from the danger of being sacrificed, and their amilies from ruin:

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or his debt. in

{AL criiditorganxious about;the safet himself from

case his debtor should die, may relieve anxiety by insuring his debtor’s life, by which will receive from the office, in case the event happen, the amount of his debt. Suppose A. is indebted to 3. five thousand dollars, payable in seven years, and lb?“ A. is thirty—four years'old, seventy-five dollars &_ Year will'secure the debt, should A. die within that period. 'An individual "dishes to go into business. He has friends, who, having confidence in his skill, industry and integrity, are willing to advance him money, b)“ knowing the uncertainty oflife, fear, if he shOUld, d'et they would lose their money; ifthey insurehdlis life to the amount advanced, this risk Yanishes; if he the be- fore they are repaid, .the office insuring “pays the amount. > An individual is desirous ofentering upon a hazardous enterprise, he sees in it a fair prospect of improving his circumstances, bot it'requires his personal skill and at- terrtion; he fears, should he die, his family will not be

‘able, successfully, to conclude it. ally a Life Insurance

he puts himself at ease: arms]! part of his. annual gains enables him to pay ay'L'ife‘Pnsurance, which secures his family a support should he die, and his enterprise fail in consequence ofhis death. 7 ‘

A farmer has a farm on life lease, depending on his own life, or on the lives (if other persons; should he or they die, the support ofhis family will be gone. A small part of his gains applied to insuring‘his own life, or the lives on which the estate depends, will secure the means of buying another farm, or paying for another lease. A. purchasas a farm for fifteen hundred dollars, depending on the life of 13., aged fifty, sixty-nine dollars a year will secure to the purchaser fifteen hundred dollars, on the death ofB., whenever it may happen. '

A farmer possessed ofa life lease farm, depending on his own life,.or on the lives of others, wishes to borrow money on the farm. By insuring at the office the party on whose life the lease depends, for the amount he wishes to borrow, the office will lend him the money.

An individual has a wife, an aged parent, an infant child, an infirm friend, an old domestic, depending on him for support, a trifling sum paid annually for the insurance of his own life, will secure such parent, wife, child, friend, or domestic, from want, after the death of the insured. u

at public spirited or a charitable individual wishes to aid, by a legacy, aschool, a college, a literary society, a church, or a charitable institution ; his present means do not enable him‘to do so, to the extent'of his wishes; they may be accomplished by an annual sum, paid for an insurance to the amount he wishes to leave to the favored object. Suppose such a person is sixty years of age, and wishes to leave, at his death, five hundred dol- lars to a church, a charity, or a tnission ; ‘by insuring his life and paying thirty-five dollars a year, he can do so. How .giany worthy, pious, but poor clergymen, might be relieved from anxious care, relative to their families, would their congregations unite and raise a small sum for the insurance oftheir lives. Suppose the clergyman fifty years old, ninety-two dollars a year would secure his widow two thousand dollars whenever he died.

A party expects to receive a property, provided he

arrives at a certain age; it is lost to his family if he die before he arrives at that age; an insurance for the term secures them against the consequences of his early death. A., agej nineteen: expects to receive a proper- ty valued at five thousand dollamjfhearrive at the age oftwenty-one; his mother or sister will be without sup- port should he die before the end of the period; forty- five dollars a year will make them secure of receiving it. ,~ , These, sir, are a‘few ofthe innumerable instances in which Life Insurance may be made useful. It enables gentlemen in the army, the navy, the church, the law, or, in others, medical and other professional men, annui- tants, tenants for‘life“, adesmen, and all other persons, whose income-depen‘ upon their lives, to make provi- sion for altitrifie. children, or relations. It enables per- sons to raise in " I on loan, where real security cannot be offered; to provide for the renewal of leases held upon lives; to secure the eventual payment of doubtful debts due to individuals, or bodies of creditors. It enables proprietors ofl'anded estates, and other persons whose property is charged with mortgages, or with portions for children, or other incumbrances, payable on events con- nected with the termination oftheir own, or of other lives, to answer the charges when they fall due. Pa~ rents may by this means, secure the return of money paid for education, apprenticeship, capital embarked in business, or other advances made for children, in the event oftheir premature death. It provides means to reimburse the sum expended in the purchase of any life estate, on the death of the person, during whose life it is held; to render contingent property nearly equal in point of security, with absolute property; and generally, it afi'ords a certain indemnity against any pecuniary loss claim, or inconvenience whatsoever, to which one indi: vidual may become subject, by reason of the death of another.—-—Enough has been said to show the purpose to which Life Insurance may be applied, and enouoh I think, to show, that there are in this country. as'IIA’are are in every civilized country, materials sufficient to found a business as extensive as Fire or Marine Insu. rance; I should say, more extensive: for a Life Insu- rance may be made for one hundred dollars or for many thousands; it concerns the poor as well as the rich the mechanic, the farmer, the man living on income, or, the land-holder, the professional man or the merchant—in short, all classes of men whatever.

An insurance for one or more years terminates with the period for which the insurance is made, but an in- surancc for the whole life is ofa different character and to one so insured, an insurance office becomesri savings bank, with a peculiar advantage, in which the smallest annual savings may safely be depOsited for the benefit ofa family. An individual looking forward to accumulate something from his earnings for the support of his family after his death, feels discouraged when he thinks how many years he must live before a small sum put out annually at interest, will amount to a moderatd support for his family. Where could forty-seven dollars and eighty cents be put out, with security and with punc- tuality, annually, at compound interest, during a [on life; and ifit could be put out, what security is theri that early death may not frustrate the object intended? no where, except in a Life Insurance, where, supposin ' the party thirty years of age, the small sum 'of two idolg. lars and thirty-six cents, paid annuallv, will secure to the indivitlual’s family one hundred dollars, on his death' or twenty-three dollars and sixty-six cents will secure them onethousand dollars; or forty-seven dollars twenty cents will secure them two thousand dollars. In such cases therefore, the office becomes a savings bank. The pa:

culiar advantage alluded to is, that in acommou savings banks, the party depositing his money must live maiiy

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means he §

interest of money‘fiva per cent

years; supposing the for a lopg period,

which is a ver reat interest to give e must live mileagrly twenty-four years, before twn dotl‘larr: Viand thirty-six cents per annum wrll amount .to one um dred dollars, oritwenty-three dollars and Sixty cents one thousand dollars, or forty-seven dollars.and twenty cents to two thousand dollars; but by applying the same sums to an insurance he is secure, that die when he_ may, even the day after the insurance is made, his objecthis attained, his family receive immediately the money 115 prudence intended for them; he lives secure, that whi e

his industry is providing for the support of those he loves. -

his small surplus gains are effectually guarding them against poverty, in the hour of distress. , f

‘here is one most valuable and important ‘class 0 Oi," fellow citizens, with whom my situation brings me in daily contact, and with whom you have been all your life intimately acquainted, to .whom Life Insurance ap- pears to me So peculiarly applicable .and advantagBOlES, that I must beg leave, notwithstandingI have alrea .y occupied too much of your time, tonotice them. It IS the practice of our countrymen, aristng from 01" Pm“ perity and the facility with which a family is supported, to marry early. The children ofour farmers, when mar- ried, paSs a few years in accumulating, by their‘daily lit- hour, a few hundred dollars, and then leave their homes, buy and settle on a farm. Let us suppose a young man and his wife, with two or three children, looking out for a farm. At twenty dollars an acre, he soon buys a good one, He pays down one thousand or twelve hundred dol- lars, and knows that to this office he can always apply for, and witn certainty obtain, the balance, on terms the most easy and convenient; ifhe is industrious, and lives, ten or fifteen years sees him out of debt and hlS farm clear, but if he die early, and who is secure against such an event? he leaves a young and rising family, the farm wants its owner, the interest never sleeps, and the pro- perty may be sacrificed. An insurancekcosting, if the insured is thirty years of age, and the debt one thousand dollars, twenty-three dollars and sixty cents a-year, guards against these fatal consequences; if the young farmer die, the office pays his debt, or rather, it is paid; his farm is free and descends unincumbered to his family; affording them a home and a comfortable support. Sure- ly such an institution deserves the countenance, the sup- port, and the consideration of all prudent and reflecting men, and is doubly recommended, when it is censidered how very small a sacrifice of some personal comfort or gratification will secure, by its means, the independence and happiness of a poor man’s family. In this view of the subject, an unnecessary journey, an idle amusement, a few wasted days in each year, is a. sacrifice of the edu- cation and clothing, and food, of the objects the nearest and dearest to us all, should it please our Maker to take us from them. The tobacco chewer will readily consume his two cents a day, which will secure to his family, in case ofhis death, and if he is twenty-five, three hundred and fifty-eight dollars. What shall we say to the tippler of twenty-five, who, he drinks one shilling a day, sacrifices two thousand two hundred and forty dollars; a sum sufficient to make a poor family rich, at a mo- ment when independence, at least, is so important to them. y ' ,

Nor should I forget to mention, if an individual in- sures for life, and after a lapse of years finds an insur- ance no longer necessary, or the payment ofthe premium inconvenient, that he does not lose the whole of what he has paid. The ofiice fairly calculates what is the value of the risk it has run, and pays back to the insured all he has paid over this sum,~and which went to make up the consideration for the risk to be run in future. After a numberof years, the policy becomes of value to the in- sured; it is a part ofhis property; if he thinks proper to use it during hislife, he receives back from the office no tnconstderable part of what hasbeen paid, for the com- fort of feeling secure and at‘ease'during the previous years. ‘

Besrdes insuring lives, this office grants annuities. Excepting for some purpose of family convenience, few persons in early life will be inclined to purchase an an- nuity ;.the annuity before forty or fifty years of, age not exceeding the legal interest ofthe money paid for it. This surprises many, as the capital invested is lost to the an- nuitant, but arises from this; that a reasonable compen- sation to the office, and the security of all parties, i'equire that the annuity should be calculated at a much lower rate than legal interest: At sixty years of aoe, money applied to the purchase, of an annuity at this abdice‘, will pr‘oduce 9 35-100 per cent. At seventy years of age, 12 66-100 per cent. At seventy-four years of age, 13 33-100 per cent. ‘

By purchasing an annuity, a person advanced ‘in life may augment his annual income, or increase the income ofsome relative at a future period, or secure an allowance made to somedependant, or exonerate his estate from dower, or the incumbrance ofa life charae,

The following modes occur for efl'ecti:g these purpo- 585:

l. The grant ofanannuity on the life of one person to commence immediately. ’

2. On the lives‘oftwopersons, to cornmence immedi- ately, and to continue, either wholly or in part, during the life of the survtvor, or to cease on the death ofeitlier:

3. On the lives of infants, to commence at any period ‘ . ’

either at the time of agreeing fof the annuity or at any future period; to continue for the remainder oflife or for any certain number of years, in case the life shall so long exrst.

4. 0n the lives ofother persons, at any future periods

.And they may be obtained by the payment of a prin; cipal sum in the time the purchase is made, for such as areimmediate, and for such as are prospective, either by that means, or the payment of a sum annually.

'ThlS office also affords an easy mode to parents or friends, of providing for children by endowment.