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Show f l t POLICY-HOLDERS i 11 NEED NOT FEAR. Lrf Insurance Companies Solvent Biased I Newspapers Try to Suppress Fact. I An idea of tho fairness with which I tho press treats tho companies and I tho public In tho insurance lnvostlga- I Hons In this city (Now York) may ho I tnthered from tho fact that when Mr. I Armstrong, tho chairman of tho com- I nlttoc," issued a statement to tho of- I H fact that there was no causo for pol- I iy-holdcrs of tho companies becoming i larmcd over tho situation, but one k paper In tho city would print It, and that was tho New York Times. Mr. I Armstrong said: "Theso Insurance companies aro it I erfectly solvent and aro ablo to carry 1 cut every contract they have mado or i nny make. Thcro Is no reason for i j infusing to permit them to do busl- ness. If Novnda proposes to do ono I jj , thing, Missouri another thing, and B HDnio other Stato still another thing, It-' there will ho a chaotic stato of affairs. ' jr I hollovo that Is duo at least tho cour- tosy to Now York Stato to wait un-t.'l un-t.'l tho Investigation Is completed and our remedial legislation Is applied. ' "Our committee will make the most thorough Investigation possible, nnd when wo aro through wo shall mako It our business to adopt such legislation legisla-tion as will safeguard tho policy-holders and mako tho insuranco business h lfer and sounder nnd moro attractlvo tl'.an it has ever been before If other l States jump in before wo can com- lj ploto our work or can adopt any legls- , 1 I Hon, everything will bo confusion In tho Insurance business of tho coun- I tryV . Since last February there has been j an outrageous attack on Hfo lnsur- i ! nnce, which originated In tho misman agement, stupidity and dishonesty In tho Enultablo Life, and this attack, which seems to have been taken up by a largo number of tho respectable pipers all over tho country. Is doing a vnst nmount of needless harm to tho eight or nlno millions of men and women who aro policy-holders, and to the millions of people who aro de-psndent de-psndent upon them and moro than Hint to tho millions of potential policy-holders and their dependents. Many of tho former class aro being ssnselessly frightened Into discontinuing discontinu-ing their Insuranco, and mnny of tho 1 itter, to whom Hfo Insuranco pre-sants pre-sants tho only way to establish an es- t ito adequate for tho support of thoso : ' thoy leavo behind, aro refusing to in vest their saving's. ' Of course, tho investigation by the How York Legislature Is tho basis on 11 which tho attacks aro built. Absoluto- fm ly nothing hns been dovelopod by tho H testimony which shows that claims H aro not being paid promptly and in I , full; that tho investments of tho peo- pie in life Insuranco aro not producing i liberal returns In interest and dlvl- donds, and, In tho caBO of two of tho ' threo companies whoso affairs have so far been rovlowed, that tho funds I have not been administered with in- I tegrity and brilliant ability. A llttlo unprojudicod review of tho I subject will satisfy any broad-minded I pane man of tho utter farcical, slob- terlng folly of tho attacks on tho Now 1 York Llfo nnd tho Mutual Life which , havo followed tho testimony In this Investigation. Tho Now York Llfo and tho Mutual combined havo over $800,000,000 belonging be-longing to at least 1,500,000 people, nnd representing Insuranco for over ?3,000,000,000. For this insuranco tho "" two companies aro receiving an an nual premium Income of about $150,-ii $150,-ii C00.000, and their combined invest-' 1 nients aro earning nearly $10,000,000. By law It is provided that tho people who compose tho companies shall receive re-ceive absolute protection as far as tho amounts of their policies aro concerned, concern-ed, but tho pressure of competition has brought forth all the ingenuity of somo of the most brilliant men on this hemisphere to so constructing their policies that tho man approached by tho agent shall bo attracted by liberality lib-erality never conceived or contemplated contem-plated by tho law. Tho result has been that during tho past ten years theso two companies have grown in funds from about $340,-000,000 $340,-000,000 to over $800,000,000; in number num-ber of policy-holders from about 650,-000 650,-000 to about 1,500,000, and In insuranco insur-anco in force from $1,C00,000,000 to over threo billions. And tho other companies havo increased in propor tion. It is not tho beneficiaries under tho policies Issued by tho companies, oven Including tho Equitable, who are raising all tho howl of today. It Is the sensational newspapers and the horde which follows them; tho hysterical parson, judging in tho namo of tho Master, as he Is commanded not to judge; tho self-seeking politician with axes to grind, and tho reckless, conscienceless con-scienceless financier, who juggles poll-tics poll-tics as ho does stocks and bonds. It is time that the thoughtful editor and thrifty voter of this country the man who Is a policy-holder awake to the situation and tho danger to tho stability stabil-ity of American Institutions. Tho testimony tes-timony of tho officers of tho two companies com-panies so far examined has been characterized char-acterized by a frankness consistent with their oaths, and their frankness hns been called "arrogance" by a decent de-cent paper which usually uses brains, but which seems to havo caught tho Infection of hysteria. Mr. McCall has stated that during the past twelvo years ho used $150,000 for tho purposo of discouraging what ho considered a financial heresy, dangerous dan-gerous to tho 8,000,000 policy-holders In this country, and to conserve the valuo of hundreds of millions of funds belonging to a fraction of that number num-ber of policy-holders. Officers of both tho Mutual and tho New York Life havo stated frankly that they are annually an-nually blackmailed through tax bills, llccnso bills and restrictive laws by tho legislatures of various States, and, in tho Interests of tho policyholders policy-holders havo been compelled to pay somo money to prevent tho expenditure expendi-ture of greater sums. And there has been great howling thereat. Still, overy Insuranco man knows tho harm, moro or less innocently committed every year by law making, and tho fact that a certain proportion of legislation legis-lation Is prompted by corrupt methods hns been notorious for years. Why then snufflo and raise shocked hands In horror over tho public admission ad-mission of tho fact? It Is so, and it Is tho fault of tho honest but indifferent voter, who Is a policy-holder. It Is up to him to bring nbout such reforms in his Stato as will render It dangerous for tho legislative blackmailer black-mailer to thrive, and for tho demagogic dema-gogic politician to mako of his commonwealth com-monwealth a highwayman through discriminating tax laws, and thus filch money from a concern of which ho is a part. Wo hold no brief for tho life Insurance Insur-ance official who has been false to his trust, but life insuranco is too mucu nn institution of the people, It enters too intimately Into their material llfo, and represents too strongly tho highest high-est Ideals of civilization to justify all this senseless attack upon it by tho reckless nnd tho rapacious. And wo do feel Impelled to call attention to tho fact that tho men who aro now tho objects of so much bitter and unjust un-just denunciation nro among tho foremost fore-most of thoso who havo mado llfo Insurance In-surance what It is tho greatest benevolence be-nevolence In tho world. Tho Journalist. |