18.5 New Billions

Backbone of all investment markets is institutional buying. And leaders of this are the life insurance companies, holders of many bonds, mortgages, common stocks. Cause for genuine alarm would have been a bearish attitude in last week's meeting of Association of Life Insurance Presidents. But no bearishness was discernible.

Investments of life insurance companies will be $18,900,000,000 at the end of the year, said Walton Lee Crocker, president of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Boston. This will be a gain of $1,418,000,000 over last year, a 100% gain over 1923. Real estate mortgage investments amount to 40.3% of the total; stocks & bonds to 37.6%, foreign and U. S. government and municipal bonds to 7%.-Railroad securities will constitute 17% of holdings, against 35% in 1906. Public utility holdings will be up 16.2% for this year, against a gain of 9.4% last year, will be 8.9% of the total.

Frank L. Jones, vice president of Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States said that with 6% of the world's population, the U. S. has 70% of its life insurance. James Lee Loomis, president of The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Hartford said $108,500,000, 000 life insurance will be in force at the end of the year--first twelve-digit figure of U. S. finance. Of this, $18,500,000,000 will be the 1930 new business. This year $2.200.000,000 is being paid out, a gain of $238,000,000 over 1929. Of every 100 lives in the U. S., 54 are insured.

*Secretary Mellon's December offerings of $150,000,000 and $250,000,000 in short-term Government bonds at 1 3/8% and 1&frac28;% respectively were oversubscribed 3-to-1 last week.

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