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Show MR. RYAN AND THE EQUITABLE. ' The fact that Mr. Thomas F. Ryan has secured controll of thel affairs of the Equitable Life Assurance Assur-ance Society by means of the purchase of the Hydo interest, has given rise to much journalistic comment, com-ment, chiefly of a congratulatory nature. Insurance Commissioner Hendricks, however, does not view this move with favor, but seemingly has felt it incumbent upon himself to discountenance discounte-nance it in his report to the Governor. We think Mr. Hendricks' attitude is to be commended. com-mended. Whilst Mr. Ryan may be a man of sterling ster-ling character, as well as a brilliant financier, the transaction savors not well. It may-reasonably bo regarded with much suspicion and aversion on the part of the. interested policy-holders. They havo already been ruthlessly plundered by the votaries of high finance, and to them it can make but little difference whether the system by means of which they are victimized is manipulated by a Hyde or-a Ryan. We do not know Mr. Ryan; hence we plead that aught we may say shall not be construed as designedly design-edly derogatory to the man's character. It is said that ho is munificent in his benefactions to most worthy religious and charitable institutions.. While he is surely to be commended for this, it is not of itself a sufficient justification to longer foist, upon the plundered policy-holders a perpetuation of a system under which they have been so mercilessly and shamefully mulcted. Now, what warrant is there for surmising that the new management will be unjust, as the old has so clearly been proven to have been'? The one damning circumstance that would point to such a conclusion is the price paid for Mr. Ilydo's holdings. For shares representing a par value of $51,000, and the dividends upon which are limited, by the company's charter for the ostensible os-tensible purpose of protecting its policy-holders to seven per cent per annum, is paid the sum of $5,000,000. .Will any one contend that a brilliant financier, "a past master in high finance" and "a captain of industry" as Mr. Ryan is styled by his j enthusiastic admirers is investing $5,000,000 with j a view of receiving thereon an annual revenue of $15,570 the maximum sum which it may legitimately legitimate-ly earn; less than one-tenth of one per cent? And if such a supposition is patently preposterous, what then? What is the alternative conclusion that-forces itself upon the inquiring mind ? .There can be but one viz: that thei-e must be some unexplained, some occult advantage muring to the owner of this stock. As to the true nature of this advantage the retiring Mr. Hyde could probably prob-ably give some interesting and, no doubt, startling information. Does it require a Sherlock Holmes to conclude that the purchasers were duly enlightened as to the occult' advantages which',' arc the subject of our conjecture? Or, that its satisfactory nature formed the phantom foundation upon which this remarkable remark-able transaction was based? It follows, then, (does it not ?) that if 'the only legitimate advantage that can accrue to the holders hold-ers of the stock iu question is seven per cent per annum on $51,000, that .the revenue derived on the remaining $4,949,000 must necessarily be of an illegitimate il-legitimate character. Is not, therefore, Commissioner Commis-sioner Hendricks fully justified in regarding the whole mysterious transaction with grave suspicion? suspi-cion? Let us hope, then, that the properly constituted authorities, in pursuance of their sacred duty to a much-fleeced public, wilFput a summary end to high finance in 'life insurance circles. The policy -holders demand that the Equitable shall me mutualizcd. The exact tenor, of the fundamental or statutory-laws statutory-laws of the land, under the provisions of which the capital stock of the company may be obliterated, is not known to us. Confiscation might seem a somewhat some-what drastic measure, but in-as-much as the holders hold-ers of the stock have evidently mulcted the policyholder policy-holder out of many millions of dollars in the past, it would probably fall far short of meting out exact ex-act justice to the former. But, be that as it may, no reasonable and fair-minded fair-minded man could object to its forced retirement by the payment to its owners of its par value; or at the most, double such value, a sum that would represent an earning capacity of three and one-half per cent per annum. If, by this course, the recent purchaser is deprived of, proximately, 98 per cent of his investment, who is to blame ? The fact that the management expenses of the Equitable are almost $3,000,000 annually in excess of the ratio which obtains in the more economically economic-ally managed life insurance companies would probably prob-ably explain one source of the "illegitimate" revenue rev-enue that inures to its stockholders. 'Added to this the many millipns gleaned by using the funds of the policy-holders in speculative investments, and allowing the latter only a fraction of the profits earned, in the form of the nonlinal rate of interest that is current upon the more conservative- and legitimate class of investments, and we hav6 a sum total of, perhaps, between five and ten times that represented by the excessive expense ratio. Is-there Is-there any wonder that Mr. Ryan's coup, in securing control of this prolific producer of millions for the sum of five millions of dollars, places him in the class of the captains of industry of the first magnitude, mag-nitude, in the estimation of his friendly admirers? One of these,' in glowingly recounting Mr. Ryan's financial achievements and the vast institutions institu-tions that he controls, stales that "It is a simple fact that he has at his disposal more money than is controlled by any one man in America. He has the Mutual Life Insurance Company, with about four hundred millions, of funds; the Equitable, with another four hundred millions and the total will run well over a billion and a half available for the financing of any enterprise that Mr. Ryan may care to undertake." Now, as the Mutual Life Insurance Company is a purely mutual institution, does it not strike one as an anomally that it should be put down as one of Mr, Ryan's possessions? And as it is known ,to be equally as reckless in its management, as was the Equitable under the Hyde regime, does not the fact go a Jong way in proving that Mr. Ryan is not a safc man. with whom to intrust the future management of this latter company. ..No i do not believe that the policy-holders It - '" ' ' of the Equitable arc to be congratulated becauso of this latest dcuounment in its affairs. We do not believe that these sacred institutions should become the chattel of any one or any coterie of high-financiers, no matter how exalted the man or men may be in the esteem 'of their admirers. And, finally, we do not believe the particular community that claims Mr. Ryan as a member has any cause -to felicitate itself oyer his latest financial coup. If the "captains of industry" of our land, regardless of their particular social, political or religious affiliations, af-filiations, are not today a stench in the nostrils of the American public, they arc ' rendering themselves them-selves most obnoxious with wonderful rapidity, and it will probably not be many years before any respectable re-spectable community will blush to own a single one of these stupendous financial magnates. 4 |