412 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. CEO. 26 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.' 
FALLACIES OF LIFE INSURANCE. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW - YORKER. 
A NATIONAL 11 .LUST RATED 
RURAL, LITKRARy AM) FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
D. D. T. WIOORE, 
Founder and Conduotlug Editor. 
CflAS. D. BRAGDON, ANDREW 8. FULLER, 
Asuooiate Kditora, 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D., Cortland Village, N. Y., 
Km to a or thk Dipjotmcht or Smp II*»h*m>*y. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y„ 
Eorroa or rai Dipiwsiht or D.tnv Hi’hp,k r>n v 
li. A. f. HARNETT, l'ublielirr. 
TERMS FOR 1873, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDING POSTAGE, WHICH PUBLISHERS PREPAY. 
Single Copy, ?3.05 per Year. To Clubs i -Five Cop 
les, and one oopy free to Agent or getter up of Club, 
for$13.40! Seven Copies, and one free, lor $17.20; Ton 
Copies,and one free, <21. ■O-ouly 68-15 per copy. The 
above rates include t>otta\v In blob m sha'l be obliged 
to prepay nftor Jan. 1, i«7-N, under the new law.i to 
any part Of tbe United HUiL-b, and the American 
post&K i on all copies mailed to Oaoiuln. On papers 
mailed to Bo rope, by Moumot, tlie postage will be 65 
centsextra —or fl.BOin all. Drafts. Post-Office Money 
Orders and Registered Letters may be mailed at our 
risk. tV Liberal Premiums to all Club Agents who 
do not take free copies. (Specimen Numbers Show 
Bills, &c., sent free. 
ADVERTISING RATES l 
Inside, mb and Mli pages i Agate space). 60c. per line. 
'• 13tb page.,70 " 
Outside or lust page.1.00 “ 
Fifty per cent, nxtru for unusual display. 
Special Not ices, leaded, by count. J.25 “ 
Business ’• 1.60 “ 
Reading ** 2.00 " 
Disoounton i Insertions. 10 per et.: 8 Ins., 15 per ct.; 
13 ins., 20 pur cl.; 26 Ins., 35 per ot.: 62 ins., per ct. 
EST~Nt> advcrttsemuut Insurted for less than 63. 
PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
No. 78 Duane Street, New York City, and No. 67 
East Main St., (Darrow's Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 2G, 1874. 
CLOSE OF OUR TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR. 
This number closes the Twenty-Firth Year 
— I he first Quarter of a Cent ury—of the Rural 
NEtv-VofiKi'it. The occasion is one of unusual 
Interest to hr, and awakens many thoughts and 
omotlons; but, with only a half hour of Umo 
before closing this paper for the press, we c*in- 
not recall or diluto upon past Incidents or 
events. Suffice It to say that during the twenty- 
live years of our management of this Journal 
we have ever endeavored to discharge aright 
our duty to It* readers and the public. That 
wo have often erred is probable, but never In¬ 
tentionally—for our Polar Star has been the 
promotion of tho public welfare. Though it 
Booms that almost a life time—and certainly 
the best years of a life—have been devoted to 
Ibis work, with an ardent desire to advance 
genuine " Progress and Improvement,” physi¬ 
cal, mental and moral, we hope that sufficient 
strength and health may be vouchsafed us to 
continue our labors, and communication with 
friends, for years to come. Certainly we were 
never more ardent in the cause, while the pros¬ 
pects of the paper are nmpf encouraging. 
Put enough of tho past. We have now to 
deal with t ho present and future. Of t he labors 
of the year now terminating we have little to 
say—a reference to t he contents of tba issues of 
tho Rural during tho past twelve months 
being our commendation or condemnation. 
We fain hope the verdict will be favorable, for 
all connected with the management of the 
paper have. we think, striven to render each 
number In all respects acceptable and valuable. 
If we—ntid wo speak for nil the Editors—have 
failed In any particular It, cannot have been 
from lack of the right intention or devotion to 
tho cause which each has espoused. 
The Rural New-Yorker of the future, and 
especially the Issues forl875, we hope to render 
still more valuable to its renders and the pub¬ 
lic. Augmented experience and facilit ies, w ith 
a sincere determination to advance and excel, 
w ill enable us, wo trust, to furnish continu¬ 
ously the best combined Agricultural, Literary 
and Family Newspaper obtainable on the Con¬ 
tinent—and If Its hosts of friends second our 
earnest efforts, the inspiring motto—“ Excel¬ 
sior”—at the Ruual New-Yokkkr will be fully 
realized during the year ensuing. 
Number XJCX 1 X. 
Our Index crowd t our several Departments, 
but is a good guide to what, we have given in 
tills volume. 
Registered Policies. 
The nature and functions of what In life In¬ 
surance is technically termed the reserve has 
been already explained In former articles. For 
present purposes it may be defined to be that 
permanent, deposit created from the principal 
and Interest of that portion of the premium 
which cannot be legitimately appropriated to 
defray 1 sees aud expeuees, but la reserved until 
the maturity of the Insurance to be paid back 
to the assured party. It lias been, not inaptly 
termed “the sheet-anchor of life Insurance.'' 
Neither this expression, nor any other that 
could be applied to It, exaggerates the Import¬ 
ance or the absolute [necessity of preserving it 
sacredly intact. Every one of the long list, of 
disasters that have overtaken alike the com¬ 
panies and policy-holders has been caused by 
Injudicious meddling with this fund. 
The ostensible, perhaps the real purpose of 
Inaugurating Insurance departments and of 
attempting a State supervision of this Interest, 
was to compel the companies to have on band 
such a fund, oomputed In a stipulated manner 
and Invested lo a prescribed claim of securities 
It is scarcely appropriate, just here, to allude 
to the ineffectiveness of all legislation In con¬ 
trol life Insurance or any other business by 
appliances practically controlled by the corpo¬ 
rations t hemselves, though tho logic of events 
places this In the catalogue of debatable ques¬ 
tions. The initial assumption was, that with¬ 
out some regulations and rules, and » special 
Department to enforce their observance, the 
companies could not be Intrusted with the cus¬ 
tody of the reserve funds. The resuit was Just 
what might have been predicted of any attempt 
to legislate honesty Into mankind. To quote 
the words of the present Superintendent “It 
Is easy to legislate for good officers," but he 
might have said, no legislation will do any good 
whatever that will not Inaure the selection of 
honest and competent directors In all oorpo 
rations. 
The futility of half measures became suffi¬ 
ciently apparent to Insurance experts very soon 
after tbe present system of governmental »u 
pervlsiou was created. If indeed it was not 
foreseen. The promoters of the arrangement 
doubtless desired some sort of endorsement for 
their companies urd [dans, but they did not 
most assuredly, propose to turn over their 
trusts to the State, or to surrender any of their 
discretionary powers,—but rivalry did what the 
authors of Slate supervision hesitated to pro¬ 
pose. 
A few years ago some Insurnnoo officers, who 
desired to offer to their policy holders some¬ 
thing more than an appearance of socurltj. 
proposed to turn over the reserve fund to the 
aeiuiil custody of the State, and procured the 
enactment of a law obligating the Superintend 
ent to receive and hold In trust for the policy 
holders who deserve it the trust funds accum¬ 
ulated to the credit oT their policies. This is 
the Registration Law of the 8tate. Though 
tho Superintendent, who is supposed to give 
proper and sufficient security for the porform- 
anee of his official duties, does no more than 
take char e of the fund and guaranty Its law¬ 
ful application to the purposes lor which U it 
intended, it was uot difficult to create the im¬ 
pression that the btate guaranteed the pay¬ 
ment of tbe insurance, so as to make tue 
registering companies appear to have a doublc- 
ender account. The latter Impression Is of 
course fallacious ; but It la certain that, so far 
as danger is apprehended from Impairment of 
reserves, tho registered policy is tho best as¬ 
sured policy Issued, as long as tbe policy holder 
pays his regular premium. 
The weak point of what Is otherwise cer¬ 
tainly very strong Is, that tho registering com¬ 
pany, like any other, may suddenly disappear, 
leaving the registration funds In tdc Superin¬ 
tendent’s possession and a few thousand policy 
holders who cannot find or roach the company 
ent itled to receive his premium. After the ad¬ 
mission the Superintendent makes that be “ is 
unable to find, In any existing law, auv provision 
which gives him the sligbtost practical control 
over" amalgamation or wholesale reinsurance. 
It appears possible to have any number of com¬ 
panies simultaneously telescoping into each 
other. A bucolic customer who started out to 
search for his Insurance, would bo pretty cer¬ 
tain to forfeit bis policy for non-payment of 
premium before he succeeded, though he would 
probably find some one to take bis premium. 
And, aside of possibility, what must have been 
the perplexity and persistency of the party who 
has cnased bis rights through tho Widows’ and 
Orphans, Mutual Protection, Resorve .Mutual, 
Guardian and Universal, and has no absolute 
certainty that be has yet found a stable foot¬ 
hold? Registration, excellent as it its In many 
respects, provides no remody for this. There 
were on the 1st of Jan., 1873, sixty-five regis¬ 
tered policies originally issued by tbe Asbury 
and forty-two by tbe Mutual Protection ; at the 
end of tbe y ear only forty-li e and twoutv-one 
respectively. The North A nerican has Issued 
more than seventeen tho 1 and registered poli¬ 
cies and has about half < them left. Wbat will 
become of them? Will their owners take flf'y 
cents on the dollar an l renew Insurance with 
the Universal, without registration? Will they 
consent, upon any Le ms, to release the Bute 
of New York from its legal obligations to hold 
their insurance purse and to see that its con¬ 
tents are not wasted "t Bo far as the reliability 
of the custodian enhances the security of life 
insurance these policies are better secured than 
any policies that were ever Issued, the Govern¬ 
ment life policies of the British Government 
not excepted. Indeed, so well ere they secured 
that If the Superintendent does his official 
duty, they will be urjBffoctcd even by the failure 
of the compauy that issued them. Those who 
have reg'stered policies had better keep them 
at all hazards. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 
A Grand Industrial Palace—I b the new eg. 
tabllshmeut of the Wheelkii & Wiiaon Sew¬ 
ing Machine Company, at No. 41 Fourteenth 
St., Union Square, New York. Tlie Palace, for 
it is superior to many an old world palace or 
castle—Is both beautiful and commodious. The 
edifice faces on Union Square- between the 
statues or Washington and Lincoln— Is six 
stories high, and built of clay-tinted Indiana 
stone, with trimmings of blue Rochester stone, 
which produces a pleasing effect. It is one of 
the most stately, best proportioned and taste¬ 
fully furnished buildings in the Metropolis— 
being 4fl feet in width and extending over 200 
feet to 18t!i street. The arrangement of the 
principal salesroom is admirable, and ltsfurnl 
ture superb without being gaudy or tawdry. It 
is lighted by sixteen splendid chandelier* hav¬ 
ing 881 burners, while Brussels carpetB cover 
the lloors and the walls a>-o dellcate'y tinted 
and frescoed. At the opening, on Thursday 
week, this Palace of Industry was a magnificent 
spectacle, not only gratlfylug to visitors, but 
most creditable and honorable to the chief rep¬ 
resentatives of the Company—IIuii. N. Wheel¬ 
er, President, and Messrs. B. W, DrBBLB and 
Myron Pekkt, his aids and associates—under 
whose nusplcos and supervision It was com¬ 
pleted am] furnl-hod. The unparalleled suc¬ 
cess of the W. & W.Co.—whose wares are famil¬ 
iar musical Instruments In the homes of Intel¬ 
ligent and progressive people In every i-Ivillzod 
land—evinces merit, enterprise and energy of 
no ordinary character, nod we cordially con¬ 
gratulate both the parties directly Interested 
and the public at largo upon the triumph of 
Invention and artistic skill shown In their Pal¬ 
ace of Industry. 
-»♦« 
Am AehuomU-itgmeni to Correspondents.— 
We cannot permit this concluding number of 
our year and volume to go to press without 
expressing grateful and profound acknowledg¬ 
ment s to the numerous persons who have 
kindly and generously contributed ariioles of 
interest, merit and value to the various De¬ 
partments of Moore’s Ruual during tho past 
twe'va months. To those who have furnished 
us timely and useful hints, suggestion? and es¬ 
says, “without money and without price"— 
w riting fur the benefit of their fellow citizens 
and community at large—we tender especial 
thanks, for they have enhanced the Interest of 
both tho Paper and the People by whom it is 
perused. Our chief regret is lhat we cannot 
make a more substantial return than mere 
thanks, though they are most sincere, for valu¬ 
able favors so generously bestowed; but wo 
trust the consciousness of doing good—of con¬ 
tributing to the welfare and happiness ol 
others—will prove some, if not sufficient, com¬ 
pensation. And may wo not ask a continuance 
of fuvnrs from those to whom we arc so greatly 
indebted ? others also, who are qualified to 
obey such mandates as “ Teach one another,” 
and “Do good and communicate," are Invited 
to become our and the public's debtors by con¬ 
tributing to the pages of the Rural. 
A Farmers’ Scrnp-IJook.—There is a paragraph 
going the rounds of tbe agricultural papers 
recommending every farmer to keep a book in 
which to paste agricultural Scraps. This advice 
is good where the larmer takes a juurnal or 
journal* that do uot give a complete am com¬ 
prehensive index once a year or once In tlx 
mouths, as the Rural New-Yorker duet. 
But who wants to cut up the “Old Rural" 
for the purpose of making a scrap-book, when 
every article of any possible practical value for 
future reference >» indexed every six months, 
so that the farmer or any of his family, with a 
Complete tile of the Rural may turn at once to 
any item of information it contains? The 
classification of matter la the Ruual is so com¬ 
plete, and so corresponds with theclassIDoatiou 
of the Index that it is a waste of time to make 
a scrap-book from it. Our index in this num¬ 
ber enforces what we herewith assert with 
empharia. Tills, though to some an uninterest¬ 
ing number of the Rural, Is really the mo6t 
valuable and costly number published since 
July 1—most valuable especially to those who 
preserve complete files of the paper; and all 
Bbould! 
- - ■ - - ■ 
The “Old " Rural.—“ What’* iu a Name l” 
—A friend fcrites “ Why call your paper • tho 
Old Rural.' when it appears as young, fresh 
and sparkling as ever ? Indeed, you have been 
rejuvenating it the past year, and while in bet¬ 
ter form for binding, its ‘readlug matter,'as 
yeu editors say, reminds me of what the paper 
was fifteen to twenty years ago. YVbilo its prac¬ 
tical departments are sound, the Hierury and 
miscellany given are superb for tho family—a 
rare thing in this ago oi what you not. lung ago 
truly termed ‘ demoralizing literature.' 1 de¬ 
voutly wish the good aud pure Rural (call it 
Old or Young, for “what’s In a name," after 
all,) would be Substituted, ns It of right ought 
to be, for the myriads of trashy, namby-pamby, 
sensational papers which find their way into so 
many homes and poison the minds of their 
inmates. And It shall be substituted In some 
cases I wot of, if my influence is of any avail.” 
Taking “ Cheap" Paper*.—Do you when you 
go to a store buy thin, slazy cotton cloth for 
liotno use because it is "cheaper?" Do you 
buy “cheap” tea at the grocery? Is sanded 
sugar “cheapest?'' Is a scrawny, Ill-bred and 
Ill-fed COW ’’cheapest" to buy t Is a scabby 
sheep, half dead, “cheapest “ at any price you 
can name? Is a patent churn that will shake 
to pieces the first tin e it Is used “ cheapest ” if 
It costs $3 less than a good one? Are more 
than half-dead, Ul-shaped scrubby trees cheap¬ 
est to buy and plant because you can get them 
for half the price of good, live and well-grown 
ones? la a quart of poor molasses better and 
cheaper than a gallon of refined sirup because 
It don't coat o» much? Is a paper that gives 
you trash, or oue-tnird tho substantial, reliable, 
practical information contained in another, 
“ cheaper” at half price ? We put It to you— 
Is XT? 
»♦ > - 
Fifty-Two I’rcMfiits In One,- Uow can that 
bo? We will tell you, truly and briefly. If you 
wish to make a relative orfrlend in the country, 
near or distant, a valuable present or gift, seud 
him or her the Rural New-Yorker for 1875. 
It will be appreciated, and pleasantly remind 
the recipient of ibo giver ctwtf week— say fifty- 
two times. If you can find auy more acceptable 
present for the Holidays, or any other season, 
wo are mistaken, mid are ope* to conviction. 
Remember that any Suha Ibcr to the Rural 
Cun send the paper, u* ct present, at the lowest 
club,rate, $2.10 per yearly copy. Many of our sub¬ 
scribers auuually take advantage of this offer, 
and some of them send from live to twenty or 
more copies to friends and relatives. A good 
example. 
■ «»►- 
An Old Recruiter's Report —From MaJ.—Col., 
aye, Geu.— H. R. Porter of Erie Co., Pa., an old 
recruiting officer of the Rural Brigade, we have 
this report with Ida first list for 1875;—“You 
see I am still iu the land at the living aud at 
work for the good old Rural, for it is tho 
Pioneer on the Continent as an Agricultural and 
Family Paper. Hope to get many more, aud 
that you may be rewarded for all your labor, 
toil aud exertion of energy aud brain." Thanks, 
Worthy Brut her! May you long and happily 
remain iu “ the laud of the living " to do good 
unto your fellows ! 
What You !>■» aud flow You Du It aud tho 
results thereof, is vrhat we shall be glad to have 
Agriculturists and Horticulturists, Dairymen, 
Stock Breeders, Use Keepets, Housewives, & o., 
Ac., tell each uiner through those columns. Wo 
are not altogether selfish lu expressing this 
desire, for we know such interchanges of expe¬ 
rience will benefit our readers more than our¬ 
selves; aud we want to keep it before your 
mind that our columns urc tbu3 open to you 
always. 
Thauks to the Press for the kind and cordial 
manner iu which too Rural has been treated 
during the past year. Wdlle wo have endeav¬ 
ored to do our duty, the Press lias been more 
th in appreciative and stimulat ed us to renewed 
efforts. If they w ill tell their readers we pro¬ 
pose to make the Ruual lor 1675 exceptionally 
good, they will increase an ludootednesa under 
which we how as gracefully as possible. 
Deterred, Left Over, Ac.—Wbat? Many 
notes, and an Idea from correspondent*, wnlah 
we Intended to g.vo ere this. Well, the best of 
them will appear In future numbers—Including 
soma rich aud choice things, which will please, 
edify and instruct our readers; for we have a 
host of practical and literary treasures aud 
gems in reserve for tho new year and volume. 
- »«»- - 
RURAL BREVITIES, 
Now is tbe Time to renew or subscribe for 
the Rural for 1875. 
In renewing his subscription for 1875 Mr. 
Geo. R. W anSBY of Kearney C«>., Neb., writes: 
r would not qo wit.,out tbe Rural for ten 
times its cost, lor 1 believe It fna saved me 
more loan twice that during the past year." 
The Rural is the best present you cau make 
to a idauvti it friend, a:? it wlilbea reminderof 
you fifty-two times In tbe year. If you are a 
Subsoiibe/r you cau tend it, as a present, at tbe 
lowest olub rate—only $2JU>, Including postage. 
Vick's Floral Guide lor 1875 (first quarterly 
isstit) excels all Ins previously issued admirable 
publications uf this sort, both lu embellish¬ 
ments aud completeness of contents. Every 
flower grower will want to 6ee it—because it 
will pay to do so. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
Dairymen should send to Messrs. Whitman & 
Bukkill, Little Falls. N. Y,, for their Catalogues. 
They sell all kiuds Of Dairy implements at the low¬ 
est market price. £2T" In rhauks' scales specialty. 
Also General Agents for tho cotebrated Anderson 
Food Steamer. 
Several cuses have come to our knowledge 
where women have hud their home duties greatly 
lessened by use of Doueixs’ Electric Soap. We 
earnestly advise our readers to make a trial of it, 
and satisfy themselves of its merits. 
