1869.] <5y [Cadwalader. 



There was nothing novel in such transactions of combined investment 

 and insurance. The novelty in this Company's transaction of such busi- 

 ness was, that they were the first insurers who made it systematic instead 

 of occasional. Every builder of limited means became aware that he 

 could, with certainty, on making such an insurance with this Company, 

 obtain the accommodation of such a loan upon mortgage, and that the 

 time of credit, however limited in form, would, in fact, be indefinite, if 

 the interest were punctually paid. The Company's business of this kind 

 increased until such mortgage investments, I believe, 1100 or 1200 in 

 number, of an average amount of less than $2,000, constituted four-fifths 

 of the assets. 



I have described this method of investment in order to introduce the 

 statement of a wonderful truth. It is that, although this Company has 

 paid, as I have said, five and a half millions for losses by fire, these losses 

 have all, with one or two insignificant exceptions, occurred on property 

 not mortgaged to the Company. The exceptions have been within a year 

 or two, and of an amount so small as to be quite inappreciable. Thus, it 

 may be said that these insurances and investments have actually been 

 made without any loss. The Company, for several years past, inight have 

 annually divided more than 20 per cent, on their capital, though during 

 the whole of this time, not a single new insurance had been effected. I 

 do not mean that it would in that case, have been prudent for insurers to 

 have done so. But the fact attests the safety of the business of an insurer 

 who while extending it to the utmost fair limit, adheres to the cardinal 

 maxim, already mentioned, of never insuring wJiere the interest of the in- 

 sured might be promoted by carelessness of the subject of insurance. 



But who may be the cautious and energetic insurer capable of combin- 

 ing constant adherence to this maxim with a continual increase of busi- 

 ness? Without answering the general question, let us consider Mr. 

 Bancker's peculiar capacity for executing the two-fold function. 



His perception was most acute, clear and comprehensive, his intellectual 

 energy the most active, his decision was always prompt, and his purpose 

 firm. I have already shown that the range of his practical experience was 

 almost universal. Let me add here that no extent or magnitude of his 

 operations ever prevented his vigilant, particular, and accurate attention 

 to the minutest details of any and every business in which he was con- 

 cerned for himself or others. This minute attention to the details of his 

 duty was continued until the closing hour of his life. 



As a man of general scientific tastes and attainments, he was known 

 within these walls, and extensively beyond them. The general results of 

 existing knowledge were, in the concrete, well understood by him ; and 

 he pursued expei'imental and analytical investigation sufficiently to enable 

 him to understand the causes and modes of improvement, and to keep pace 

 with its progress. His mind was thus amply stored with true knowledge. 

 He was a constant, it might be said, universal reader. To the day of his 

 death, he read as a student, not, according to the ordinary habit of old 

 A. P. S. — VOL. XI — L 



