Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Insurance.

The following is a brief summary of the insurance business in the United States in its principal forms: The first fire insurance in the colonies was written in Boston by the Sun Company (English) in 1728. Some insurance was done in Philadelphia in 1752. The first fire insurance policy issued in the United States was in Hartford. Conn., in 1794, under the unofficial title of “Hartford fire insurance co.” Sixteen years after, in 1810, the Hartford Fire Insurance Company was organized. From 1801-10 there were 60 charters issued; 1811-20, 43; 1821-30, 149; 1831-40, 467; 1841-50, 401; 1851-60, 896; 1861-70, 1,041.

From Jan. 1, 1880, to Dec. 31, 1889, property of the citizens of the United States was insured against fire and accident on ocean, lake, and river, and by tornado, to the amount of over $120,000,000,000, for premiums of $1,156,675,391, and losses were paid of $647,726,051, being 56 per cent. of the premiums.

The condition and transactions of fire companies doing business in the United States on Jan. 1, 1899, were as follows:

Number of Companies.	Capital.	Assets Exclusive of Premium Notes.	Net Surplus	Cash Premiums Received during Year.	Total Cash Income during Year.
315 Stock	$72,123,389	$349,947,651	$153,820,864	$164,868,505	$183,312,322
160 Mutual
Number of Companies.	Paid for Losses during Year.	Paid for Dividends during Year.	Expenses other than Losses and Dividends during Year.	Total Disbursements during Year.	Risks Written during Year.
315 Stock	$106,169,209	$15,847,761	$61,361,044	$184,398,572	1$18,000,000,000
160 Mutual.

In 1900 the aggregate property loss by fires was $138,000,000, and the aggregate insurance loss was $82,000,000.

Life insurance was not known before the sixteenth century. The first life insurance company, “The amicable,” was established in London, England, in 1706, and insured at uniform rates persons between twelve and forty-five years of age. In 1734 it guaranteed a dividend for each deceased member not less than £ 100. This was the first insurance for a definite sum at death, whenever that might occur. In 1762 the Equitable Assurance Society of London began to rate members according to age. At the close of the eighteenth century there were eight companies transacting, in a more or less complete form, the business of life insurance in Great Britain and Ireland. The Presbyterian Annuity and Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, the first life insurance company in the United States, received its charter from Thomas Penn in 1759. The Penn Company for Insurance on Lives was chartered in 1812, and the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, Boston, in 1818.

The assessment system of life insurance is based on the plan of collecting assessments on living members to pay death losses as they occur. In this plan the assessments during early years are less than the premiums of regular companies; but they increase rapidly, and often become impossible to collect in later years. Since its appearance (about 1865) as an insurance business, aside from fraternal organizations, this system has rapidly extended.

The first accident insurance company established in the United States was the Traveler's, of Hartford, Conn., in 1863; the first steam-boiler insurance company, Hartford, Conn., was chartered in 1866; and plate-glass was first insured in 1870.

Most of the States have established departments or bureaus of insurance, for the supervision of the companies and the enforcement of the laws requiring their solvency to be maintained. The mainten- [54]

The condition of the regular level premium companies on Jan. 1, 1900, and the business of the preceding year were as follows²:

						New Policies Issued.		Policies in Force.
No. of Cos.	Assets.	Premiums Received	Total Income.	Payments to Policy-holders (Losses, Dividends, Surrenders, etc.)	Total Expenditures.	No.	Amount.	No.	Amount.
69	$1,595,208,408	$291,842,264	$365,368,062	$159,987,686	$250,296,121	4,374,373	$1,843,421,533	12,871,797	$7,774,280,005

The following shows the condition and business of assessment companies and orders³:

						Membership.	Insurance in Force.
No. of Cos.	Assets.	Assessments Collected.	Total Income.	Payments to Policy-holders.	Total Expenditures.	Admitted During the Year.	No. of Members.	Amount.
129	$27,256,440	$48,102,875	$49,211,098	$38,426,477	$44,980,522	570,338	2,345,002	$3,920,189,844

Life insurance table of mortality, American experience.

Age.	Number Living.	Deaths Each Year.	Death Rate per 1,000.	Expectation of Life Years.	Age.	Number Living.	Deaths Each Year.	Death Rate per 1,000.	Expectation of Life Years.	Age.	Number Living.	Deaths Each Year.	Death Rate per 1,000.	Expectation of Life Years.
10	100,00	749	7.49	48.72	39	78,862	756	9.59	28.90	68	43,133	2,243	52.00	9.47
11	99,251	746	7.52	48.08	40	78,106	765	9.79	28.18	69	40,890	2,321	56.76	8.97
12	98,505	743	7.54	47.45	41	77,341	774	10.01	27.45	70	38,569	2,391	61.99	8.48
13	97,762	740	7.57	46.80	42	76,567	785	10.25	26.72	71	36,178	2.448	67.67	8.00
14	97,022	737	7.60	46.16	43	75,782	797	10.52	26.00	72	33,730	2,487	73.73	7.55
15	96,285	735	7.63	45.50	44	74,985	812	10.83	25.27	73	31,243	2,505	80.18	7.11
16	95,550	732	7.66	44.85	45	74,173	828	11.16	24.54	74	28,738	2,501	87.03	6.68
17	94,818	729	7.69	44.19	46	73,345	848	11.56	23.81	75	26,237	2,476	94.37	6.27
18	94,089	727	7.73	43.53	47	72,497	870	12.00	23.08	76	23,761	2,431	102.31	5.88
19	93,362	725	7.77	42.87	48	71,627	896	12.51	22.36	77	21,330	2,369	111.06	5.49
20	92,637	723	7.81	42.20	49	70,731	927	13.11	21.63	78	18,961	2,291	120.83	5.11
21	91,914	722	7.86	41.53	50	69,804	962	13.78	20.91	79	16,670	2,196	131.73	4.74
22	91,192	721	7.91	40.85	51	68,842	1,001	14.54	20.20	80	14,474	2.091	144.47	4.39
23	90,471	720	7.96	40.17	52	67,841	1,044	15.39	19.49	81	12,383	1,964	158.61	4.05
24	89,751	719	8.01	39.49	53	66,797	1,091	16.33	18.79	82	10,419	1,816	174.30	3.71
25	89,032	718	8.07	38.81	54	65,706	1,143	17.40	18.09	83	8,603	1,648	191.56	3.39
26	88,314	718	8.13	38.12	55	64,563	1,199	18.57	17.40	84	8,955	1,470	211.36	3.08
27	87,569	718	8.20	37.43	56	63,364	1,260	19.89	16.72	85	5,485	1,292	235.55	2.77
28	86,878	718	8.26	36.73	57	62,104	1,325	21.34	16.05	86	4,193	1,114	265.68	2.47
29	86,160	719	8.35	36.03	58	60,779	1,394	22.94	15.39	87	3,079	933	303.02	2.18
30	85,441	720	8.43	35.33	59	59,385	1,468	24.72	14.74	88	2,146	744	346.69	1.91
31	84,721	721	8.51	34.63	60	57,917	1,546	26.69	14.10	89	1,402	555	395.86	1.66
32	84,000	723	8.61	33.92	61	56,371	1,628	28.88	13.47	90	847	385	454.55	1.42
33	83,277	726	8.72	33.21	62	54,743	1,713	31.29	12.86	91	462	246	532.47	1.19
34	82,551	729	8.83	32.50	63	53,030	1,800	33.94	12.26	92	216	137	634.26	.98
35	81,822	732	8.95	31.78	64	51,230	1,889	36.87	11.67	93	79	58	734.18	.80
36	81,090	737	9.09	31.07	65	49,341	1,980	40.13	11.10	94	21	18	857.14	.64
37	80,353	742	9.23	30.35	66	47.361	2,070	43.71	10.54	95	3	3	1,000.00	.50
38	79,611	749	9.41	29.62	67	45,291	2,158	47.65	10.00

ance of these departments, and all expenses of supervision are charged to the companies, and sometimes amount to a serious burden, increasing the cost of insurance to the people. The belief of most insurance experts and of political economists is that the effort to regulate the business by law has been carried much too far, and has done at least as much harm as good.