, 1877-12-04

To the EdNor ~ The Trlbnnt.
CH,cA1o, 1,cc. H.-Morc than two years ngn,
through the columns Of your paper, the writer
calctl the attention u the public to the frau,i,s
lent character ANIL practices Ut the officers and
managers Ut the 1'rotcctfon Lifc-lnsurnnee
Company, iate ot this city, now dcccatcd. Every
charge Ut which They hare since been proven
guilty, and for which they arc now under in
d'ctmc'lt, WAS rtade In langnagu 70 plain that
t,o t'craon Of common intelligence could iuli 10
comprehend It. hut these fellows l,as! l,a4f a
llI1lllon dollnrs Of trust funds coming Into their
hands every year which TINY rtnsi,l rxpcnA as
they pleased, anl they printed newspaper Of
thelr ow,l, witt, circulation uf A0,uW copies pcr
month, which they filled With e.n,ltcrcl'areca Of
n'nckMai md general defamation ngafnst
thu prosecution Of MI honest corporation, which
Was engaged IL the benevolent enterprise Of
furnishing " "lifc'tr'suraen At cost" a,,1 so they
dlped the ignorant ailf tue ullwary; the lar,l-
fcrs until the last minute Of the life of tho
great charitable Institution. Notwithstanding
the repeated pcrjnrirs of "pnss1-up capital,
bank stocks, valuable mortgages, securities,
aesctt, and general solvenvy," recent develop
icnts hare shown conclusivrv tllat the concern
was run md tlataccl for EwintllIug purppsca
only. aud TINT It Mevcr knew solvent day since
the dato Of its organization.
NnW tho question Ia, how md why the 1nsur-
ance Department nf tho Stntc, whose business
concer,, to r1in 30 long and BHfndlc the public
out of It's smoncy. Arc tho Officers uf this Do
partnicnt fgnorant OF their dlttce, or arc they
partlctnants In the frans'sl The ono or tho
Dtt1tr must be true, ath the writer has his npin-
ion as to which horn Of the dilemma these gen.
tlcnlcn must take. Mr.. josiah IL. Kc1lurg has
been tho resident Aetuary Of tho Department
for years. he Ia familiar with Chicago AMI It's
aneo companies. llo ought to know, and does
KNOW, when h company has pa!l.up capital and
Wien It has not; when It IL sulycnt
and when Insolvcnt. Ho examined tho affairs
ot ttle n Projection number ot times, mud kncw
was: Ap1 yct he passed It over to thu public as
solvent concern, rig.itfnly cueaged in tlle it,
sarance business, anu ablu to IAy its Icbts.
Hundreds oftEonsands of dollars were paillinto
ita corrunt treasury upon his certificates OF good
character and sol1eu:y. Lust spring inter the
Goo.iEng bill was fled in the Supreme Court,
and the charges nGainst the Company put In the
form Of verified public record, tho Auditor up
polluted Nobcrt s;Ei n; Woods nm aec espsrenes.
tton Ut the Company. Woods md Kellogg spcnt
thlrty-two days In q thorough and exhaustive
investigation of the affairs OF the concern,
anu pronounccd Its capital all right, its sccuri-
unqucstionab1c." Tic report OF Woods was
printed and circulated all uvcr tho country NJ
an official Endorsement OF tho sot1ndncss Of tho
Company, and Of tho honesty pf its managers,
aIu tHc consequence was tint INC sWlnGlihg
officers of this benevolent iustitntlDn gathered
III oyer $f0O,OC0 morco the havlrgs OF tho poor.
Within sixty days Of the date uf Wuuls' rt:-
port, upon nu Information filed In the Criminal
Court by tho Stnte's Attorney, the Company
confessed lth Insolvency, and surrendered It's
chHrtcr, aud It is now known that ut The tAtc OF
the report when Woods pronounced tta assets
to bu In excess ot its lfnbllltcs &la3,C0O, tho
concern wns III debt more than 8tDO, ,OOO oyer
mud nboye nil It's resources. No language IL
sufficiently expressive to cllasnctcrixe the con-
duet u these htate ot1lclats In this transaction;
and, whilo the Ottlrcrs OF tho Company iluro
been indicted for fraud, cmbczxlcEent, urtl
perjury, for what they lnve done tn tho matter,
tho State officers, WHO apparently iadosred tho
fraud and apparently enab(cl the othcrs tn per-
potratc tho robbery, have 10 far gonc unpunIsli-
cd. Gull upon tiiu next urasId Jury md tue
Stato's Attorney to rec to IL TINT there men, ns
well ns the pttcrs, arc nrrafgncd at tho l,nr Ut
nub|ic !uAtcc. GEonOr A. SuuRELpr.