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Show f U RANGE COMPANIES BAR, GAMBLED CT Me Advice of Their Perfectly Organized Secret Service They Refuse the iyl Risks of Gamesters Who Live Amid the White Lights, Revolutionists, Arctic and African Explorers and Men Who Live Double Lives rrr'clil. ft'in. bj tlij Now Vork UroM Co. All Klehts HtHa-red.) The council of company officers which meet dally to pass upon such reports took up the case of Mr Kulz. After brief discussion It decided that he was not acceptable The risk was obviously too creat. Mr. RuU might at any titno decide to return to bis i.'irlhplacc. In such nil event. It was assumed he would be thrown anions his old associates and resume his old interests. As a revolutionist his life would ho In more than normal danger. The rmim II could Hot .support such a hazard. AY hen Mr. Kulz made Ids secohd and his third applications ap-plications the process was the same. Hut the list two companies were able to come to their decisions policy holder failed to pay his premium within a certain cer-tain time after it was duo It was withdrawn and he lost all he had paid in. It was only necessary to conveniently con-veniently overlook the sending out of noilces to reap much profit for tho discerning compauj. At present if a policy holder falls to meet a payment he has every opKjrtunlty to restore it and is automatically protected pro-tected by the premiums ho has paid for u term of years. "Twisting" Is Barred. No reputable company will permit its ngents to "twist" a policy that Is, to Induce any one to give up n policy In another company. Nor are agents allowed to rebate or share their commission with tho Insured ns an Inducement. Nor may cither policies or applications appli-cations be "dated back,"' ns was once the custom A premium Is figured from the applicant's nearest birthday, birth-day, and no favors are shown. It is worthy of note that the men engaccd In the Mf Insurance business nowadays are intelligent, highly trained ond honorable. Llfo Insurance Is a profession. profes-sion. Most agents have a loyalty to their companies and their calling that supersedes their personal Interests. Inter-ests. ' Mr Thomas Wilson, of the Equitable, rehires an incident that indicates the attitude of the high class agent. Mr. George A. Monod, of the Equitable sr.iff, inter viewed a prominent lawyer nbout a year ago ou tb subject of insurance. The lawyer was scarcely Int middle age and had a large practice, and when Mr. Monod gained his consent to a $K0OO policy h? snw reason to feel satisfied. After a satisfactory examination examina-tion Mr. Monod brought the policy to the lawyer's otliee, but the lawyer was not quite ready to pay the premlam and put him off. This was repeated several times Then, after nn interval. Mr. Monod received word to call at the lawyer's home with the policy. A member of the family met blm nt the door and offered to pay the premium on the spot. Mr. Monod refused and asked to see the lawyer, With some difficulty dif-ficulty he gained access to the lawyer's room and found him In bed. with "Jnst n light cold." Flo also offered to pay the premium. Again Mr. Monod refused. Now Mr. Monod would have been perfectly within his rljbts If he had accepted the money and delivered the policy. The company had accepted tho rLsk. Thcro remained nothing but tho formality of delivery. Ho could hare taken his check and gone his way rejoicing But he did not, and a week later the lawyer waj dead- In speaking of this branch of the business Mr. Wilson Wil-son said recently: "While the ia offered by insurance companies were few and simple no great capacity or educatloe was required of their agents. Many men became life insurance agents because they had failed at everything every-thing else. Their average was very low and the profession pro-fession was looked upon with disfavor. "But lifo insurance to-day Is a ecience one of th most intricnte and difficult of sciences. The agent has kept pace with this development. The tendency is foi him to be a specialist, rather than a marketer of stocks, bonds and fire, accident and lifo policies. More ind more the work of the large companies is being dono bj men devoted wholly to the Interests of one employer And the standard maintained by tho companies haj risen enormously." i UroM Co. All Klehts Hcwrred.l V" Z The council of company officers which meets dally ' y''' " to pass upon such reports took up the case of Mr j1 Kulz. After brief discussion It decided that he was "L l not acceptable The risk was obviously too creaL rvvS ""' .-5 s Mr. KuU might at any time decide to return to hi ft$ffiffiffifo i..irlliplace. In such an event. It was assumed he Tl--VA OsT W iU 11 1 if W("'' "r would be thrown among his old associates and resume IS&Swt fW 4 Mill W -as . his old Interests. As a revolutionist his life would bo 1 V& ? ' y lMU V' fr In more than normal danger. The council could Hot . ffit VmWWi "C----: support such a hazard. 'v hTf0 MWW When Mr. Ruiz made his secohd and liis I bird ap- . hi ffjFTf&ffim v -s Plici.ilons the process was the- same. I'.ul the list 'A &$$m two companies were able to come to their decisions 'vA hT-'-ifyA Wtf' ' ' V NsST5$ ' iji iilli ij ' ' dltlonal dangers In which the company docs not wish Jat M Wh- t0 SharC Th? attituJe ls slmil!ir toward n man who (j( w'i II II 'jiiillbWWwvWv ,carls a reck,ess lifo- HsslP'ted frequenter or In- ajlW j 1 'It ' nrj fTguw lltual reveller of all night haunts can obtain a largo tfwll ill llli Iu ot,,or fscs the secret sen-Ice may not be satls- ffk?FMw f,c'1 ln rSnrJ t0 tno candidate's business affairs. XvWi-Z There may be some crisis pending, the tbrent of some t ffTll 1 ! liilll0Umi ' catastrophe. The company may really decide that 'yV y yyyM ' the man's Income does not warrant the payment of a . . ,, , , , , I ' I ' ';, ' I ' I I lih 'If III V" large premium, or the busiuess In which he Is eu- w lib little trouble. It was not necessary for them to i I If 1 "l "rsr , ' ,, .1 . h , , ,. . ... I ll i ll " gaged may be considered too hazardous. Always the wait for the reports of their secret service bureaus. ' III ll 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III' - , . . . . , . , , . , , . . II 11 1 I l i ' company takes fright at any condition remotely sug- J he big companies have an elaborate sy.stem for ex- ' .. .... , ... ,, . . ia , , r , , . .. ,, 1 U ' X r gestlng a possibility of suicide, the bugbear of Insur-changing Insur-changing inforinatloii. ! nets gathered by one which I ' icmiU in the refusal of an application arc turned over ' 1 1 1 u ll I B auv.c. to the others. Souiellmes a eerbiin company is willing I II III li ll Cannot Be Insured, to accept a risk that its competitors do not care to us- 1 1 1 If V, f( There arc a few hard and fast rules governin; the snme. but it usually has the benefit of the protection ' 11 fUU HI refusal of policies on any conditions. Arctic and Afri- and assistance in which all participate. I lL can txIlorcr3 cannot be Insured There are certain A curious wrinkle of this story ls that none of the ' ' ' tl parts of Europe and the East where the death rate POS.Sf.RCT, from brief experience with life in-surniwc in-surniwc companies, or from no experience at nil, .van Imagine them as addressing the public in gciirraJ from :i sovp Imix, with a ready made policy in one band and a ready, capacious hat in 1 In; other. 'oHlb!y .v-ii have ir- q'iircd tlio common coiivktloii that ibey g tip ami down witli glib, rapacious eagerness, eager-ness, seeking whom cj.y ,.y buttonhole and hypnotize hypno-tize into giving up a premium. 1'crhaps a recent article ar-ticle in 1 be Sim.y Jli.iwi.n on Hie "trkks of the trade." as practised by Uie life insurance agent, has contributed' to your imprvssjon. If so. you are wr-mg. Contrary to the roug'.i hand opinion that grew mt of the early days of life Insurance In-surance the obi. lining of ln-urnnce bristles with ic-slrlcll.ois, ic-slrlcll.ois, m..t incrnly upon the applicants, but upon the loefiiods of the companies themselves. And the veil riel litis Increase In uuntlict'. The big life liisiir-a liisiir-a lire coin.vanies refiisf-, on ;m average, one out of f cry nine jierscos who aivl.v for policies. It Js a fai f seldom sel-dom oiisli'red that thev .spciuf large iiiik ff luoiiey and employ extensive staffs merely to guard themselves them-selves ami I L-ir. policyholders against busbies wlileh is not absolutely desirable nnd free from suspicion. The agent has no more influence upon their ri It initio than the caudl':i(e for lnsuran- e ' Of all the private detect l-e and pioiefiive Imreaus emjdo.ved by coiHa-ai Ions prevent imposition and to gal her neres.iry information none is so well organized, or-ganized, so illsc-rret or so trusted as those of the big life Insurance onqvinles It niiiht be .'nbbd that none is so lit 1 1 0 known to the public or carries on lis work o quietly. You never read in your morning newspapers of the wonderful exploits of Deierilve I'.liink, of the Crapnel Life Insurance Company; his consummate cleverness In unravelling mysteries or unveiling a dangerous situation. sit-uation. He Is jiever sung hi romance or iu news re-lort. re-lort. I'ut he Is there considerable numbers of him. It Is his duty to dig for set rets tleit have .1 bearing upon the issuance of policies, and if he should ever write his memoirs-, xhlch he never will, they would contain many strange and Interesting things He supplies sup-plies the points by which his employers decide acceptance ac-ceptance or refusal In doubtful ctiscs. One word from . him will weigh more than all the affidavits and credit HMs and certificates and frantic pleading of agents Conceivable. The Case of Mr. Ruiz. There lives in New York a Spanish American who owns a wholesale Importing business worth fully half a million dollars. Ho is a man in middle life. In perfect per-fect health, living contentedly with his funilly and free from all unusual worries. Ills firm is absolutely htable, dealing with pnducts that Involve no chance of sudden depreciation. Ills name i.s not ltuiz, but that will serve. Came to Mm one day n bustling agent for one of the large insurance companies. "Ah hn, Mr. Uulz, have von ever thought of life insurance ':" asked this enterprising agent. Mc. Iluiz had not, but he was willing to give up an hour or so In listening to the many fine things that the visitor had to tell him. He was not hard to convince, the Idea seemed gWMl and he was won over at the one sitting. The agent was delighted. 'How much do you think you vtould like to carry?" he asked. Mr. Kulz naid that he thought $GO.hhi would not be too much. The agent was all smiles and madu an appointment for the usual physical exarninatiou. The physician came, sounded and pounded Mr. Itulz and sent In his report to tho company. He pronounced Mr. Kulz net only a good risk, but an excellent one. He had rarely seen a man so well equipped to Jivo to a ripe old age. Mr. Iluiz was glad to know It and awaited tho outcome with confidence. Some weeks Inter he received a letter from the corapnny, couched Iu vague, polite terms, and Informing him that his application was regretfully refused. It might be inserted in-serted here, as an Incidental, tragedy, that the enterprising enter-prising agent on hearing of the physician's report had hied him to the suburb and made first payment on the bouse he had bad his eye upon for some years iu premature enjoyment of his commission, thereby vividly vivid-ly Illustrating a number of venerable adages. But Mr. Kulz was not content to let the matter rest. Having once learned tho desirability. of life Insurance, be wanted it. After he had retired bafUed from several sev-eral attempts to obtain explanations be found the next step easy. An agent for another company pounced upon him Joyfully, History does not say whether this ngent was a elooe friend or only a rival of the first, but he rubbed his hands and smiled cheerfully when ho beard the size of the policy that Mr. Ruiz wantul. "Certainly, Mr. Kulz. I haven t the shadow of a doubt that we can satisfy you," was his comment. Again Mr. Rubv was Bounded aud iKiuiided, and tgaln he walled the outcome. After some inlrty correspondence the second" company cume out flat with the itatement that It could not give a policy to Mr. Kuiz. It may be supposed that Mr. Kulz was nettled. He could Imagine no possible reasou for these strange refusals, re-fusals, aud meanwhile the companies would give uono So he ventured a third time. Ills next application appli-cation wos made to a largo compauy having headquarters head-quarters Iu another State. The outcome was exactly the same, and he Anally gave up. The Secret Service. Now this, approximately, was what happened In the office of the first company on receipt of the application: appli-cation: Tho deUred policy wa large enough to wur-Mnt wur-Mnt special U estlgatlou. Ordinary policies for small sum?, one or two or tlvc thousand dollars, arc seldom .onsldcred iu detail beyond the routine cxanihiatlon Into state of health ami occupation. But the company could not rUk a ?r.O,0X policy without knowing all that could be known concerning the applicant Accordingly, Ac-cordingly, the matter was turned over to the secret service bureau. Tu? detectives embarked upou a thorough 1U ei inquiry. They found that Mr. ItuU before he came to the United States, twelve years ago, was an active sympathizer with tho revolutionary movement In his '.own country That was (he one f:ict connected with J him which they turned iu as bearing upon bU possible I uiidoirability. dltlonal dangers In which the company docs not wish to share. The attitude Is similar toward n man who leads a reckless life. No dissipated frequenter or habitual ha-bitual reveller of all night haunts can obtain a largo policy. Iu other cases the secret service may not be satisfied satis-fied in regard to the candidate's business affairs. There may be some crisis pending, the tbrent of some catastrophe. The company may really decide that the man's Income does not warrant the payment of a large premium, or the busiuess In which he ls eu-gaged eu-gaged may be considered too hazardous. Always the company takes fright at any condition remotely suggesting sug-gesting a possibility of suicide, the bugbear of Insurance. Insur-ance. Cannot Be Insured. There arc a few hard and fast rules governing the refusal of policies on any conditions. Arctic and African Afri-can explorers cannot be insured There are certain parts of Europe and the East where the death rate ls so high as to forbid the writing of policies. Beyond Be-yond this there lx another class of risks which will only be accepted on 1 rating up of the Insured that ls by bis payment of a premium a certain number of years beyond his age. Many occupations arc rated up and residents in parts of Louisiana, Texas. Arkansas Arkan-sas and other Stales have to pay Increased premiums. But the companies are veer quick to go ouoide all rules and regulations to seek reasons for refusing policies. pol-icies. Their councils, advised by the secret service reports, are ever alert to exercise power at the leart HE WAS EXAMINED BY A COMPANY PHYSICIAN. who recently came into possession of his patrimony, had n curious encounter with the difficulties of life insurance He sent In his application to a New York company for a $l,000 policy. Ihe amount called for special attention and tho company waited until It received re-ceived its private reports. Thou It refused .the policy to the young man. He asked for explanations and the company went so far as to givo him a specific auswer. Iu effect It said to him: "Our dear young friend, we stand In loco parentis. We cannot allow jou to assume an obligation obliga-tion which we have found to be out of proportion to your Income. This hurts us ns niu.o as it does you. &c, iVc." The young man wus wroth at the benevolent benevo-lent sbutlling, but he could make no further headway. The secret reason for this particular refusal was the fact thai the young mau was fouud to be infatuated with a young woman of the stage whose affections ure notoriously unstable. There might be a quarrel and the young man, being temperamental, might decide de-cide to remove himself permanently from the possibility possi-bility of temptation. A reputable company Is not likely Insure if Its serrut servh e reports tho candidate as Involved iu a serious domestic entanglement. A man who hides part of his life is not considered a fair risk. He is leaving the charted path, where dangers can be reduced re-duced to formulae and percentages, and is courting ad- breath of a suspicion that the candidate would Involve an unwelcome risk. Frequently, It should bo said, they do not go so far as to dismiss the applicant altogether. They may decide that they are sufficiently protected if the policy Is rutcd up How sensitive a company may sometimes be is Illustrated Illus-trated by a story told by Mr. Howard Slade, a broker at No. 23 Broad street. Tweuty-Ove years ago Mr. Slade wrote a policy for a business man for a large amount, nud after examination the application was accepted. The man had puid In his first premium wheu the company suddenly notified Mr. Slnde to return re-turn the money uud obtain the surrender of the policy. pol-icy. Mr. Slade obejed and made inquiries as to the cause. He found that although the company's ol.y-slclan ol.y-slclan had passed the applicant as a good risk the company had run afoul of a vague rumor that '-ome-where, some time, some physician had said that there was something the matter with the man's heart. The man Is now more than seventy years old, hale end hearty, but with no Insurance- policy iu his safe. Willi little trouble. It was not necessary for them to wait for the reports of their secret service bureaus. The big companies have an e!alorale system for exchanging ex-changing inforinatloii. t acts gathered by one which result in the refusal of an application arc turned over to the others. Souiellmes a certain company is willing to accept a risk that Its competitors do not care to assume, as-sume, but it usually has the benefit of the protection and assistance In which all participate. A curious wrinkle of this story ls that nono of the three companies concerned would tell to Mr, Kulz the true reason for refusing him. Reticence is always practised in such cases, possibly with a view to the peace of mind of the applicant Another striking Instance in which nt least two of the big companies turned away what an outsider would regard as excellent business Is to be drawn from recent life Insurance history ln a Western city. Mr. Smith, a mau of large fortune, still young und of remarkable physique, made an application for 11 ynn.H) policy in a company having headquarters ln New York. He was examined by a company physician phy-sician and passed with flying colors. The papers were sent on to the home office and applicant and agent coiigtatulatcd each other. In due time Mr. Smith received a courteous communication com-munication from tin? company. Tho company was sorry, but could not accept blm as a policyholder. Mr. Smith very naturally wanted to know why. He became urgent and somewhat heated ln his demands de-mands for adequate reasons. Driven Into being explicit, ex-plicit, t lie company took refuge behind the statement that Mr. Smith's medical examination had not been .satisfactory. the Agent Indignant. But Mr. Smith was not lb? man to be fobbed off in that manner. He countered with a remarkable proposal, pro-posal, lie offered to go to Ihe home office accompanied accom-panied by his ow n physician, pay the expenses of any specialist the company chose to name nud .submit tJ the most searching examination. If he fulled to ;nss with a perfect score his physician would forfeit $1,000 to tho company on the spot. The company ocdltely begged 10 be excused, knowing very well tlut Mr. Smith could make good his boast, and Mr. Smith had to give over the attempt to force acceptance. . The agent now took up the cudgels. He could not understand in the least vhy ho should be deprived of a tine commission on Midi palpably flimsy grounds. He took the home otliee to task on Ids own account. Thereiiou the real reasou was whispered Into his private ear and he suo.-liled Tin? company's secret service had taken up the case of Mr. Smith and had investigated bis standing. It bad discovered, among other thiiiiM, that Mr. Smlili was the proprietor of u highly pi 'hiaole 'ami. ling house, maintained for a wealthy c 11. i tO. 1 hat was enough. No one of the more conservative c nnpardes will insure the 'lfe of a professional gambler, aud many speculators have failed to obtain llfo luiurance merely because of their Known adventures Into toe lielils of fortune. A prominent member of K0M011 s Back Bay .colony. Another experience of Mr. Sludo's throws some light on the reasou for such timidity. Last November lie wrote a policy for ;t well known New York lawyer who was sixty-seven years old The applicant passed a perfect physical examluallon, but the company, which has headquarters in Connecticut, was backward back-ward becuuso of his age. Mr. Slnde received word that the company would have an examination by Us own medical director before taking action. The medical director came, examined the applicant nnd pronounced him one of the best rLsks he had ever seen. The ollcy arrived the day before Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing und Mr. Slade delivered It in person On the day after Thanksgiving Mr. Slode read In his nLKAtn that the lawyer bad dropped dead ou nn elevated railroad rail-road platform of heart failure. Anlde from Increasing conservatism in the Issuance of Insurance the companies have learned to protect their 1 Mil Icy holders by many reforms In method. No reputable company will allow a policy t0 lapse, though this was once resorted to rather freely, if a |