St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-07-04

question was vigorously derOgat0ry to
the character of the company and its
management the writer, as policy
holder in the company and consequent
sufferer through the injurious effects of
the article, would like to be heard in a
word Of defense.
There is probably no company or cor
poration in existence but what has its
enemies, and in compiling his article
Tor the GLOBE the reporter seems to
have found the few who are bitter
against the st. Paul Life, and the pub
llcatlon of such unfair and prejudicial
statements by paper of the GLOBES
standing would be sufficient to crush
even stronger institution than the st.
raul Life, unless it be followed by
far s:2adi honest showing of the case.
1.-The st. Paul Life" was organized
under the laws of the state of Mime
sofa, and all the requirements of which
were complied with, both in letter and
spirit thereof, but as the legislation re-
latlng to this particular class of COM
panies does not place them under the
pulverlZlng screws of Insurance Com
missioner Shandrew, he is very natur-
ally opposed to them on principle. and
is doubtless sincere in his expressed de-
sire for more legislation Oh the subject,
sufficient at least to put this class of
companies within squeezing" distance
OF his lordship. However, that this is
not the case cannot be attributed as
fault Of the ''St. Paul Life.o 1t is fur
Their evident, from Mr.. Shandrew'S pub
lished remarks. that he fails to accord
with the views of Minnesota's legisla-
tors as to what shall be required of this
class of companies. and in this
he unconsciously illustrates paral-
lei to the celebrated case
of the twelfth juryman, who asserted
that eleven bigger fools than his col
leagues it had never before been his
misfortune to have been associated
with.
Before dropping Mr.. Shandrew from
the subject under discussion. it will be
well to cite an instance of the scope of
his wonderful business qualities. He
states to your reporter that the Est.
Paul Life'' was organized in 1886, and,
in his own words, ''waS admitted while
was laid up with rheumatism. L
knew nothing about it, and when | was
able to return to work L received let
ter from Austin asking about the COM
pany, and saying that its agent was do
ing business there. Immediately Or
dered him arrested. He was arrested,
but afterwards | ordered his release,
when looking at the records" Here
Mr.. ShandreW'S remarks ceased. He
had not the fairness to add that on COM
ing to examine his records he found
that the company had a perfect right to
do business in the state. If fifteen
year-old boy, under you or I, should
order an arrest in this unprecedented
manner, he would get fired bodily on
the spot.
Now, as to the standing of the st.
Paul Life, we will admit that there are
no high sounding names of subsidized
tgureheads offering it, at salaries of
from $50, 900 to $50, 900 per year, but IL
stead of which its officers were chosen
on merit from among st. PauFS ableSt
business men, and with view as well
to the particular adoption of the indi-
vidual to the position given, that by
such good personal management as able
and diligent officers might give, would
enable the company to live and flourish
where others, hampered by the eXtor-
tlonate expense of officers only in name,
had failed. Under this state of affairs,
with efficient, though unsalaried officers,
the ST. Paul life was making such trei
mendous strides to the front that the
old line companies began to realize that
for once at least an assessment company
was going to prove success: this they
decided at all hazards to prevent if
possible, and with the assistance of an
insurance commissioner who cannot tell
the same story twice alike, and who is
not sufficiently familiar with the rou-
tine business of his Office to be able to
tell you anything about a company
more than that possibly he is predju-
diced against it, have succeeded in so
wording and publishing an article as to
work an injury to this company,
especially among strangers.
Now, i'll conclusion, the extent of this
injury, or the present weight of it at
least, falls upon the policyholders. who
are not, as the GLOBE seems to think,
made up of poor farmers" instead of
which good sprinkling of first-class
business men are found, who under
stand insurance, and consequently
know that the greater the membership
in an assessment company the lower
the rate of assessment, and thus it is
that, by checking the growth of the
company, the p0licyholders are, in this
instance, uniustly injured as well as
the company itself.