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Show A DERELICT OFFICIAL. It is :dle to heap blame upon the officials offi-cials of the insurance companies while we have such Superintendents of Insurance Insur-ance as Francis Hendricks, the Superintendent Super-intendent of Insurance for New York He, it seems, knew practically nothing of the affairs he was supposed to superintend. su-perintend. He look no note of the extravagance ex-travagance of management, of the enormous salaries which it was impossible impos-sible for any one to earn; of the extravagant ex-travagant commissions paid; of the system of loaning on the premiums, the loans to agents, or the loans to directors. direc-tors. He doesn't appeare to have known of that other device to get i id of money uselessly exacted from policyholders, policy-holders, to wit. the organization of auxiliary aux-iliary companies or syndicates, with large staffs of high-salaried officials, whose ostensible duty it was to Invest the available funds on hand In speculation specu-lation or otherwise. He knew nothing, either, of the large legal expenses of the New York Life, the Equitable, and the Mutual Life. He didn't know of the wash sales of securities, secur-ities, nor the year-end loans of the Equitable to Kuhn Locb & Co.'s clerks. He didn't require a statement of the companies' legal disbursements to be made, as Is done In Prussia, and didn't know of the "cooked" report by which his office was deceived. He looked into nothing except to see that the reports, as made, showed the companies to be solvent: but he knew nothing, even of this, personally, trui-tlng all to his subordinates, sub-ordinates, and neither he nor his helpers help-ers had any Idea whether the reports a made showed the real condition of the companies. In some respects, it i: clear, they did not, but Superintendent Hendricks didn't know it. mr' n. i . did any one In his office know it He was, in fact, a model official for the Insurance grafters; but on the public behalf his efficiency certainly left pretty pret-ty much everything to bo. desired. It Is plain that the insurance legislation legisla-tion of New York, and of all the Btates, needs Important amendment In the way of stringency. The appeal of President Paul Morton to the policy-holders of the Eo.uitablc to turn themselves into lobbyists to oppose- legislation, is precisely pre-cisely the opposite of what they Should do. Every policyholder shoulel constitute consti-tute himself a lobbyist, to urge forward the passage of laws w hich w ill coin pe l reports from Insurance companies which will show not only the actual conditions, but the detailed operations of the companies. The utmost publicity pub-licity should be required, on the same scale that public accounting la made for public tnxatlon. This should be done by the States, unless the National Government shall tak! ur the Insurance business as a proper subject for Congressional legislation. legis-lation. That, of cour.-p. would be the preferable way of handling the questions, ques-tions, as then the authority would bii coextensive With the business; for. we do not doubt that whatever regulations the Nation might impose would be Imposed Im-posed also in any country in which the companies sought to do business. But whether the Nation has the Constitutional Constitu-tional authority to deal with the subject sub-ject is a grave question, and in the meanwhile, until that power is determined, deter-mined, the States should lose no time In taking vigorous action1. |