INSURANCE REFORMS the insurance In companies aro certainly passing through a season of tribulation mitigated we may hope by penitence and open confession fes sion it deemi that when the present investigations aro concluded there will no longer be many secrets of insurance administration to be disclosed and that tho purifying influences of publicity will place tace great corporations on a sounder basis of public utility than ever before the reforms that must be instituted are numerous and radical and it Is satisfactory to note thai abts Is realized by the companies themselves and that a measure ot operation cooperation co may be expected from them the president of tho new york life or example announces that never again will his company contribute to any political organization for an purpose whatever and perhaps the of human resolutions lut ions especially when they are good ones he wall ask the trustees to pass a motion lo 10 that effect now the contribution of money to political is really a part t the far larger question as to the propriety of the surpluses j which these companies hato amassed without those surpluses there could bo no such contributions at any rate upon a very largo ecale nor cald there be anft other extravagances which tho possession of large disposable funds often provokes the surplus ol 01 a mutual insurance company belongs to the policy holders who have been induced to pay a bagh premium on the expectation that tho accruing profits would bo divided an insurance company is of course justified in providing a reserve against possible contingencies it Is indeed its duty to do so but this Is a very different matter from amassing almost unthinkable sums against improbable or impossible contingencies cies it is the duty of a mutual company to make a reasonable provision for contingencies and then to divide all remaining assets among the policy holders that this hag not been done Is the fault of the companies but it is also the fault of the policy holders who have neither realized their rights nor enforced them every owner of a mutual policy la to the ordinary yearly statement which would show all surpluses at a glance it this had been insisted upon the companies would long since have been persuaded into the paths of rectitude and would have been spared the temptations to extravagance that are apt to follow the unchecked control of vast sums of money belonging to other people the companies have now acquired a reputation tor extravagance that they must live down it was upon this very ground that two american companies were excluded from germany extravagance always implies a certain amount of irresponsibility whether in corporations or in individuals and in aurance companies cannot afford to be under the faintest suspicion of irresponsibility nearly all the insurance scandals of the day are due to these vast surpluses without them there would be no contributions to political organizations no speculation in securities that are as unstable as the weather no questionable loans no unearned salaries the companies must lead tho simple life so much recommended to individuals who have been spoiled by luxury let thorn give up the principal of mutuality which is so apt to become merely nominal let them determine by strict actuarial figures at what arico they can afford to sell their policies and let them mark up that price in good plain figures without any ot the technical jargon that the public does not understand and is not intended to understand like the rest of the world the insurance companies have something to sell the simpler their methods the better will be their business