, 1876-06-22
AN INVESTIGATION WANTED.
Serious Charge Made Against the In.
suranco Commissioner Of
Michigan.
4 Succinct History OF His Dealings with
the American Insurance Company
Of Cliicago.
Mr. Row Assailed by All the Insurance
Journals for Unfairneus and
Worse than That.


A Sensation in Insurance Circles.
Fur some months pat there has bccn cnn-
siderable said In the insurance papers an.f
AtnuHE Insurance men in regard 10 tic rttbct
Aasty anl unexpected acti,n Iass wfuter vi Sfr.
ltOw Insurance Commissioner fur MiCf.!gait In
| rcvnklng the authority Uf the American lnsur-
ancc Company VI Chisag" to s1o business in
Michigan. Sunc 0f tho i.isurauec },al,ers layu
not ltc-itatei to declare Mr.. Rows action an ut
tempt to barkniui1, others ulifr1n that liz WIS
| netting In the interest VI ryas companies, and
| Ill, with pcrhaps sing1c exception, emphatic
nlly 'icnn,tnrc Mr.. lsow's course rs hassy, IN.
fuir, uulsnlcd. nnl dishonest. TnE TRIBUNE
Inns takrn III part III these discussions,
| tougl. It lns watched them with co,isLie rable
interest, and cvcsl sow It does not pfesusllc tu
| pass judgment un Mr. Row. But SO muth las
been eaid about th!s east: md thu representa-
tiuns IT the uliccr; IT the American, who arr
Hn!bit. nnr ,.u:t proilllnGht eitizrllt 80 po'nt-
edly attnck thu iair.., II mt ts!c Integrity, II
| Mr.. Row, that thu Michigan authorities eu!I,ot
in Justice to themselves do less than sft the
,nattcr to tho fnunllattyt.. The accompanying
letter, which yesterday fell into the liasils ii
| unr rporteT, y!yrs pretty full ana explicit un-
| lerstniItlin5 uf the ciIhc.
| In respect to tlG American we hare only this
to say: It las bccn established many years,
aul Is iloIng successful business III nearly
Isolated risks, cu'tfning Itself ~ farnl-hbnaes,
clnlreius, ui,l rcf,uu -uuses, and aynIdily towns
| ntIl large cities, wlvre single cniItasrati'n
t,uy ruin. aid ottrn has ruined. any companies
TlgIr ,:lf,,,cr If tloIn business l.. thu best H..
surnlnc u! the C"nIm'ly's etul'ility. III my
t1sg tIu!c IL 1,ccdtt! to give the American the
confidence Of thu public. tic cl!arartero III t!e1nen
But tic fact that tho C.mpuny's aiga!rs hay.:
been must carefully mid critically cxafnincl
within the I'ast three nnnths by the Auditor u
| 1IlinuIs Hf!A thu INsNEuiGe Commissioners II
Ohio, Missouri, und Iuw1, ail Vi wIlon' unuualI-
ilvtly and cthEhatIcally tn1nrsc the Company
AMI Its ,nnla,Icr nf dung business, is enough tu
cstns'!Ish tic Americans soulhincss beyond
and llonurablc wny in which the American t1rt
tie technical tIectiu,,s of Mr.. Kew, autl the
IInc,i furt,carnlice witll 1t sl.awed him In the
fucc II his manifest unfairlcof, aud IT, triu de-
termination to jxtU no fnUneV to AlI. How Is 4
condition preceuent 10 Ills kindly fayor,-ntl
these arc the hest Recommendations,
uud no onc could have ACTED III this
mutter cas- the Americans otiiecfs have
tlonr without tl'r consciousness OF belns: III the
right. The American has l5,OUO rulicy-tloldcts
III Michigan, pr!tJaeiy tlonblc what my other
company has. Mr.. Rows uct!on Is MI Insult u
thc=c 1j,tkV pessnns, nnd to tl.e authorities Vi
ULl',. Mfss"uri, Iowa, a"i Illinois WHO m arc
quite rs co,ntetcus US Ae tn judge of The stnnd'
tug Ut any company. We repeat that Mr. Row )
pfcon that hts Intentions wcrr nut whit thty
ut,iglt tn he. VIC give the letter of the Amcri-
cafi III full:
OFFICE AMERICAN 1ssuRAScE COMPANY,
CnlcAEo, IL, June u, ls'b.-1o he dgt"'s
aud lasron* ef Tie Ancr;ra" iss.r,tnrt Lon'-
The peculiar relations With, HIS u cou'-
| many, W. sustain to Dur former agents
) aud present polIcy-toldrra IN Michigan
demand ut Our l,ands frank statement ol fnItS
VT should llayc given yuu this siatcsHeslt Ut I'LL
earlier date, unly tt1ut We hayc yainly hopcI tut
InAfire from the Insurance Department II yum
n stutr, AMI did not desire to cHbarras5 either thc
Department Or ourselves BY any Hllukion to tllt
; Early IN February. Mr.. Rhw. Commissioner vi
Insurance fur the Stnte o Michigan, caljc ut our
office, anl after c;l>uaE and siasty glance ut o,r
books, inquired of tic Secretary II thy coIn'
rany was i,i1uracr upon any consnLerrlul l'ater
! lie WIS infnr1netl that 1t was. The Commits
sonct said E,c thought these Endorsements col
stitntea lialil'ty, which, Il 20 .Hc9nnted q, It
lnwcd by The laws Of your siatr. Wv rcplir,
II his ruling, substantially, that, tue makers III
the paper who were primarily liable upon u b.
luz I'LL perfectly responsible, tie liahty of TIT
: Compni,y WIS so ren.ute that VIC I'LL not SUI,
: poec the transaction constituted Il liability i,
G the proper stnsc of tl,at term, anl accordingly
: wc l4{ nut trelsted It us such; VT, If hr It
a ruled, We would ut onve yield to Ills decision
: AMI rclHuye the UbIcctluu.
j Our Bonrl OF Directors being In session, h
9 requested us mt to inform thenl Of his visit
! expressed surprise that We introduced him t,
) gentlemen Of thc press wo were present, mali
0 ii, appointment to nlcct us ut the Tresnon
y 1iousr "-l,ustcned fruEn our utllre to that O.
). a.lotllcs purity engaged IN insurance, gave blu
c the Information lie l,ad utaesl, In order, ns Ii
aftcrwar,l sa!l, tint hc might lic In l l'ositi"l
where VIC could nut bru lin ut the '''rrcllunt
appointment. We met lin US per engagement
uEaiu INSURED lin tnt wr wuud promptly r.
:. move liz Objection he had raised u,d reaucstv,
g lin nut to revoke our license, lis llc llad tntitnnt
!, u! hr would do. liz returned hume wltllau
:, the "iler Of "hritc" fro1n us, or sysn tl'
" they knew. After reaching hume, IL
&c telcgraplrd ns tat he ,nust resokc our III
!. tl,osity to To business. We asked for time t.
IL lucct hnl ulll ut u,lce informed thc mMkcrs .
IL tllr paper :lIoye referred 10 that they mus
h pruvilc for It's Immediate payment. Tnr
!. promptly ratscA the money to meet the paper
!. ticpIn.tri tic s;.lnc IN tailk to the credit vi
i, Trustee, nlul the CuInpany through Its Stat
III Agent furnished Mr.. Kuw bank certificates Il
lepusit covering the a1un,,nt, anh rcqucstc
hllu tn withheld hts revocation unttt Btc TIM
Us raIuind by Inv "a lew ,lays ouly being I
ll,irvil}, fully re1nuye my lll all ubjectl0ns h
n, lad raised. This l1e refused, dre!ning cyc
~ Y to sic1sd une day Il. thu Conpany's sx.,vnsc t
- - eoale to our oilisu al!l meet tue Auditor u
20 Public Accounts Ut .llr State VI Illinois, sa3
u ius-"No; hare found this nut. nnd asn goslt
>. to have thu credit Of IT,"
J. Knowing, as he did, that our policies cove
ouly dwellings, farm property, Churches III
srl!Dul.luuscs-ttlc great mlturtty being upu
.lctarIcl farm pFupcrty-the last year wo wer
r thu seventh lit volume of premium rercip's !.
r. the tnsurui1c. companies doing business In III
b ssatc Of Mteligan-that In JANUARY last we pai
j. into your stutG treasury over s2,Wo tax-ttH
10 VIC had patti 10 Michigan po!vy-liuilers wv
:, eies In force In t!!e state, und oyer $!s}U000
~ ~ tnsta!ncnt nutrs. uln'n which We had paid a
~ co,Hln!ssions--tilat wc possessed the ability OIL
n EXPRESSED Willingness tu ut once remove wAN
~ he claimed liability, we thought Ut. Kow
&c uc.tun lI.sty, arhitrary, unl ulualled fur:
II Thu lnsaraAee Aye, u New York City, fo
N June says: "'Technttally, fe had right to +.
n yokr it, authority, US he did do; but 1t wnul
have been u graceful thing In him hui ho glyc
~ It tru lnys Till 1t askcu to curc thy informally
r. 1t was clred In less time thun that. We h
ltETE would lIAf4 ErAtfkti hfllGt hShtA
= = le been inllurll4l, Mnprcinlgt. t. lave don