COPY. Report of Nicholas Devereux, Esq. to the President of the NewYork Life Insurance and Trust Company. SIR According to a resolution of the Directors of the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company, passed in June, 1832, (eighteen hundred and thirty-two) authorizing me to examine the loans made by the company, in the different counties in the western, southern and northern parts of the State, I commenced the examination on the fourth June, and examined the loans which had been made in the following counties:-Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Jefferson, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Monroe, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Tompkins, Tioga and Cortland. The loans in these several counties, may be classified under three different descriptions; that is, loans on improved farms, loans on city and village property, and loans on hydraulic erections. The loans on improved farms are the most numerous, and by far the greater part of the whole amount loaned by the company, is on this description of security, which loans are predicated on the cash value of the farms, and in no loan which I examined, does the amount exceed one half such value. From personal observation, I can say that to the farming class of our citizens, these loans have been of great advantage, enabling them to purchase more land, and to make such improvements and erections on their property as to enhance its permanent value. I observed with pleasure that the company's loans were confined as closely as possible to that class of farmers, who, from their habits and character, were likely to make a prudent and profitable use of their money; from whom the regular and punctual payment of interest may be expected; and whose profits, increased by the advance of a larger capital, will insure the final liquidation of their debts. The great enterprize of our citizens, and the unlimited field for profitable speculation which the State affords, has hitherto created, and still creates, a demand for money, beyond the supply. This is felt so peculiarly in the city of New-York, where money has always found ready employment, that capitalists, finding no difficulty in investing there, and well pleased to have their funds within reach of their personal superintendence, have almost universally declined placing their money in the country, notwithstanding the very abundant security which every county and town in the State affords to such investments. Some few and sagacious capitalists, pursuing to their advantage, a different course, with equal, if not greater security, have disposed of their funds at a higher rate of interest, in the country. But the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company has been the first, and is still the only company, who have done this in a liberal and extensive scale. It is gratifying, after the extensive examination I have made of their loans through the country, to be able to state to the trustees, my conviction that no loans of equal extent, could have been made on more solid security either in the city or country; and it is equally gratifying to be able to state, that the means thus afforded by their liberal views, are extending every where the improvement of agriculture, and the best interest of the State. Improvement is in rapid progress in all the counties I visited, from Onondaga to Erie, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles; the soil is of the first quality for growing wheat; through the whole district population is rapidly increasing; the richness of the soil, and the easy access to market, enable the farmer to reap such an abundant reward for his toil, that every where in this extensive district, the evidence is apparent of general prosperity, in the erection of substantial buildings, the high state of agricultural improvement, the establishment of extensive flouring mills and manufactories, the growth of villages and towns, and in the support given in every quarter to schools, academies, colleges, and literary institutions. This state of things, which in a greater or less degree extends over the whole State, is calculated to give the trustees additional confidence; for if, in the actual state of things, the loans of the company are, as I believe them to be, secure, the advancing improvements of the country, and its prosperity, must add daily to that security. The loans on city or village property in this district of country, are made to an amount not exceeding (one third) of the cash value of the property, including the erections. Loans of this description are generally confined to business locations, and a policy of insurance on the property is assigned to the company, which, together with the bond of the borrower, makes this description of loan secure. The different villages and cities in the western country are improving in proportion to the rapidity and permanency of improvements in the surrounding country, The mechanical, manufacturing and mercantile business of these places, enables farmers to dispose of their surplus produce; and mutual benefits produce a unity of interest, which add to the great business of the country. The amount loaned on hydraulic establishments is small, and generally on flouring mills, The water power, location and erections, form the criterion by which to judge of the value of the property. During the examination of these latter loans, that is, those on village property, mills, &c. I considered it prudent to recommend to the trustees to call in a part of a small number of them; not that I considered them unsafe or insecure, but I came to the conclusion, after examination, that the security did not come within the rule of valuation. That is, one-third the value of the property. For a more particular description of the individual loans in each county which I examined personally, and those which I did not examine, but of which I had satisfactory information, I refer the directors to my remarks attached to each loan, in a particular account of them, as furnished me by the company, and also to my remarks on the quality of the land in each county. As one of the directors of the Trust Company, I feel great pleasure in knowledge of the fact, that between those with whom we have had business transactions and the company, mutual confidence and good feeling exist, founded on the fair and honorable course pursued in transacting our business, and that such has been the conduct of the company, and those gentlemen through whom the business has been transacted, that we possess the character in the community, which a fair, honorable and correct course will always secure. (Signed) November 10, 1832. NICHOLAS DEVEREAUX. CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW-YORK, SS: William Bard, president of the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company, and Edward H. Nicoll, secretary of the same, being duly sworn, depose and say, that the above answer to the chancellor's order of the 19th November 1831, is, to the best of their knowledge and belief, true; and that the resolution annexed is an extract from the proceedings of the trustees, at a meeting held on Thursday the 24th January 1832, and that the by-laws annexed, is a true copy of all by-laws passed by the trustees since their last report to the chancellor, and that the annexed report is a true copy of the report of Nicholas Devereaux, to the board of trustees. (Signed) Sworn to this 29th day of January 1833, before me, D. HOBART, Commissioner of Deeds. Recorded and filed, January 31st, 1833, WM. BARD, Pres't. IN ASSEMBLY, February 26, 1833. COMMUNICATION From the Secretary of State, transmitting the Annual Report of the Directors of the New-York Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb, for the year 1832. STATE OF NEW-YORK, February 27, 1833. The Secretary of State has the honor to present to the Legislature the Annual Report of the Directors of the New-York Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb, for the year 1832, which has been transmitted to him for that purpose. Having but recently been appointed to the office of Secretary of State, it has not yet been in his power, consistently with a proper attention to more urgent duties, to visit this institution and comply with the requirements of title 3, chapter 15, part 1, of the Revised Statutes. He, therefore, takes the liberty of referring the Legislature, for such information as may not be contained in the accompanying report, to the last annual report of his predecessor, Senate Documents, No. 106, for the year 1832. |