New-York tribune., 1877-10-13

are scores of others, trusted just Us 'hi'
vretched man was, who are now hesltatihg
betwecn poverty and crime, tampcrlnS with
honor and conscience, risking their souls for
the sake of keeping up appearances. Perhaps
tho lesson of yesterday may save them'
SiVING WFAK INSURANCE CObPANIEN.
The adoption of some features 0i the ilE
/ TRIBuNE's plan for preserving lie insurance.
con.nauies from the perdition OF receiver
shin. has been already recor led in the meas
prcs taken for resuscItating the Universal ana
! Cb,rter Oak concerns Is was naturally to bo
/ expected, n controversy as to ITS merits naS
arisen Turing the partial adoption OF 'he Pian'
From tnc first, il has been put forward only
os "mal,ing the be t of a bad bargain and
Il is of course. liable TO the criticism that 1T
does not rectify the wrong that has been al
ready committed. But as there are no known
means. in the N jorty Of instances, for recov-
| criug the lost funds, that criticism may he
dismissed Ii remains to consider the lew op-
icctions brought against The TRIBUNES plan
rs a whole and also, those against the plan
nronosed by the Universal Life insurance Com
many to its pocy-hoders, which embodieS
several of the original features suggested IN
th.so columns. hut discards others which are
of importance.
The main point, after all, as is shown in a
letter from Life Policy-holde-," published
on another page, is t. avoid the peillS ANU
lo.sc. of q receiycrship Ever if the concern
Is wound up 10y receiver OF more than hslu
skill and economy, the settlement ~ 2iow aho
il utterly fails to give what ,he 1ohcy-nCideTS
want-a life insurance. The case Is lii thlS
particular totally diff from that OF say
ings bank, where what the dep05t0r5 need Is
smply tie return Of their money. Inc de-
structive character of receiverShips has been
strongly illustrated in the case OF the CONT
mental Life Company, where already more
than 500, 900 has been lost IN the process of
closing the concern. The State Superin-
tentlcnts of Insurance, at their recent
meeting. fllly recognized this feature oi
receiyclships, ana emphasized 1t IN re'oll-
ton which urges the adoption OF TIE IRIB-
rSEs plan for scaling down the amounts IN
sGred There seems to be no good reason ior
the notion that n company whlch has pa'sei
through such a process would always alter
ward be- feeble. The exact contrary to thiS
might well be argued, since the concern wonld
start anew from stronger position than any
yonng company can soon attain, ana which only
,he best of the old companies have reached
it's assets being decidedly greater than its La
biliiies. When we consider the Efforts that
certain companies have made to starye out
their poicy-holders, to frigh.e1 them INTO ct
ting their policies lapse, sc may well doubt
whether The mlnagers o. life insurance really
believe in the theory that when the public Is
alarmed. only the healthy people cease renew
1. a. Ii, Il. -
mnin. Evidently this theory was not held by
the wrcckcrs of the Continental Lie, before its
fail. There is evidence that 1t was not teld
by the managers of the Universal; why should
it now be, if the po!icyhOliers become the
managers
As we have said. however, it wOald he
mere bu,lesauo 10 put back in Office the man
ayers who have led company down to the
brink OF ruin. Nor is it ut all necessary. In
rcorganzing company, 10 rchnquiSh any
claims the policy holders may have AGAINST the
former officers OF managers To AVOID SucA
dangers, ana TO arrange all details OF the
change, should naturally be the business OF
the State superintendent, as he Is the real
representative of the pOcy-hodcrs 1t may
BE- necessary to have some law passed to en-
able him to act efficiently 1t such Il jGntture.
II he cannot interfere with the old managers
of a company, nor take It's affairs wholly from
under their control, except hy th, appointment
Of Il receiver. perhaps the technical difficulty
could he overcome by having receiver APP
pointed under special instructions from tire
court 10 turn the concern over TO the poilcy-
holders A soon as they were ready to receive
it. Tacn, with the facilities which the super
intendent's o lice could supply, the rc0rgani-
zation could be com pletod within 4 fortnight.
The fees of the receiver, well a. his time
of occupation, would have to be limited, and
Do,silly this cOnd only be done by means of
"a special law. If such legislation is absolutely
needed the act should specify what propor-
ton of the policy-holders mast be represented
i'm an attempted rcOrglHn ltion; some oliceT
of the State Government, as, for instance, the
head Of the Law Department., might be au-
thOiiled as the temporary receiver and iinllly,
the act might declare that if the policy
holders should not be ready to re0rganizc
within three months, the concern should be
turned over iii the customary way to Il regu-
lar, permanent, wrecking receiver.
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VAS IT 4 WISE LIFEf
The king is dead--lye the king The rail