PREFACE.

About ten years ago, in response to a general demand on the part of insurance managers, field men and lawyers, The Spectator Company issued a publication containing the charters of thirty prominent life insurance companies of the United States, showing the original charters with the amendments thereto, and also some extracts from the by-laws. In 1900 a further addition of twenty-two companies was made, so that the enlarged work embraced all the leading companies of the country.

The general interest manifested in life insurance matters during the past year or so, and the almost unprecedented activity in the organization of new companies for the transaction of this class of business, makes this an appropriate time for the publication of a revised edition of this work, showing the additional amendments to the charters made in the past decade and the revised by-laws, as well as additional data. on similar lines regarding a number of other companies organized of late years.

In the current edition of Charters of American Life Insurance Companies, therefore, will be found the original charters and amendments thereto of fifty-six United States life insurance companies, all of which are more or less actively engaged in this beneficent work. The book gives the foregoing particulars for a larger number of companies than have hitherto been presented.

Material additions have been made to the extracts from the by-laws in this edition, it having been found expedient to show in as much detail as possible the powers of the officers and committees, as well as their limitations, with regard to the investment of funds and disbursements for expenses. Inasmuch as a number of companies have lately