Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-02-21

proposals for reinsurance, and, strange
as ii may seem to the uninitated,
there are always companies ready to
make them. To be sure, they cannot
tS50 1sy7z :. s.tt-, ,s;aalto the liabilities,
but the company which assumes them
is enabled thereby to make fictitious
showing of II large amount of new bus
mess and u large increase in the assets
Then, too, they can safely allow quite
n percentage tor disgustcd policy'hold-
ers who will let their policies drop
rather than take out new ones in the
new company. But the whole system
is inequitable and unjust, and the fact
that il has been considered is proved
by the fruitless efforts Of the purchas-
ing companies to recover from the
New York State Department the $780,
900 deposited by and belonging TO the
dead corporation which they have ab-
sorbed.
The recent transfer Of the assets of
the New Jersey Mutual to Washing
ton and their assignment to The Ma
liuna Capitol is the most daring piece
Of financial trickery ever openly per
petrated in the history OF life insnr-
ancc. That its sole aim was to enable
the officers of the New Jersey Mutual
to escape the penalty Of their gross
mismagement, perjury and perhaps
cmbezzlement can hardly be denied.
The actuary of the State department
finds tho company over 800, 1000 short
in the assets required to meet its lia-
biitics. No company in the country
will assume its risks the deficiency is
too great. But Mr.. Noyes comes tor
ward with a company in his vest
pocket and says "lland over that cash
you have. ! will take the responsible
ity. | live in Washington and | carry
my company about with inc. II has
not got an Office in any State OF the
Union and il does no business. III
protect yonr policy holders And so
Mr.. Stedwell bands over all the cash,
bonds, stocks and mort cages that he
can lay his hands on, aud Mr.. Noyes
and hiscompany return to the Capital.
Then Secretary Kelsey announced that
be should not recognize any such pro
ceeding. Mr.. Noycs snapped his fin
gers and told him that the assets were
gone and beyond his reach. But Mr.,
Moves soon found out that he was "A
little too fast, aud now that the New
Jersey courts have declined to permit
the transfer, there is every reason to
believe that tue assets Of the New
Jersey will be quietly returned to the
rontrol OF the receiver who may be
depended upon TO see that they are
distributed to the policy-holders to
whom they belong And this coffin,
full of unburcd corporations, the Ma
tiunal Capitol Life Insurance Company,
to which, Congress has already turned
its attention, will be quietly consigned
to the grave it has deserved.
1 The next thing TO be done is to pass
law providing for the prompt suspen-
sion of insurance companies the mo-
mcnt that their reserve is impaired
and Tor the pro rata distribution OF
their assets among the insured TO
whom they belong, The laws might
be 80 framed ns To render iactious l.ti
gntion Of no avail aud secnr" "a i'r''npt
settlement without unnecessary cx-
pcnse. Such law is needed in every
State, and until action is taken the un-
fortunate policy-holders are at the
mercy of the adventures who have
plucked them. That no such law has
ever been enacted is not at all singular,
for no purely mutual life insurance
company in this country has ever fail.
cd or been reinsured. All the failures
have been Of so-called mutual compa-
nies which had an inside ring OF stock
holders, and nearly all the companies
organized on this basis have proved a
snare toinsurers. And, iorwant OF leg.
islation on the subject, the State Super
inlendent OF New York hold in trust
hundreds of thousands of dollars which
belong to persons insured in insolvent
companies, but which the law provides
no means OF division.-Phiia. Times.