Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-04-17
UNIQUE REPORT.

Scored.
Topeka. Kan, April 1.-THE twen-
tieth annual insurance report has been
received from the State Printer. Com
missioner Wilder in his Introductory
says:
1T has been the providence OF nature"
saith the Brahmfn Pilpay, speaking OF the
oriental cat, "to give to this creature nine
lives instead of one" This record was made
in the very dawn and infancy OF the race or
cats. II the history OF the Kansas cats In
this series OF reports seems somewhat long,
repetitfous and tiresome, the fndulgent
reader will bear In mind this ancient saw
relative to feline longevity, and Will brace
up when he remembers that, although bo-
gus Insurance company has as many lives
as a cat, yet It liveth not forever; 1t may
and surely will die when the nine lives are
ended; and moreover it can be killed
The work of clearing the State of fraudu-
lent insurance companies was begun nearly
three years ago, and the Job II nearly
finished. It has been q very unpleasant one.
Every company put an end to has had in
terested friends, persons drawing salaries,
to defend it and assail me. They have
spared no epithets; nothing that was false
and dirty and vile. This was expected and
no complaint is made The danger was In
making the burden to the department.
greater than 1t could bear and thus breaking
it down. The months have passed, calumny
and bribery have done their work, the press
and people have sustained the department
and the bogus companies are dead
Every wildcat company in Kansas has been
organize by outsiders; by professional In
surance crooks and lawbreakers who came
here to " ork this field The Insurance crook
Is very sharp man; he knows every trick
of the trade. One OF his favorite sayings
Superintendent didn't know any thing about
insurance. There was a good deal OF truth
In this. But technical insurance knowledge
was not the great need of Kansas just then
De- Nt.n II
dresses we'll and makes favor
able impression He selects his town
and makss the acquaintance OF
influential 1uen; ropes them into his COM
liz alton. But the company consists Of these
new corners, one or two crooks. They secure
the insurance, lie to the department and
pocket the cash receipts The honest direct
business, having no control whatever over
the company, keep dropping out The an
nual meetings are held by the crooks; they
elect the officers they fix their own salaries.
Now they have things just as they want
them In their advertising they continue to
use the names of good men as their direct
ors; these are also displayed before the
Legi stature when the crooks are buying
votes
After a lengthy review of events
prior and subsequent to the closing of
the Topeka and Kansas Home insur-
ance companies, the Commissioner con-
tinues, referring to the officers of those
concerns:
This is a long story to be told of one set of
thieves. 1t is told as a warning The record
is needed in the archives. Kansas has been
a safe field for insurance pimps. Every va
riety of fraudulent insurance has reveled
here. The tax levied on our people has
been a heavy one The home burns; the
destitute owner RECEIVERS no insurance, al
though e has paid for it The head of the
his widow and children get nothing. Hang
ing to trees and lamp posts would be none
too severe a run ishment for many a rascal
who has robbed cur people. To meet these
men, to listen to their falsehoods, to know
their work, may cause the most serene dis
ciple OF sweetness and light to lose his
serenity, and to make official reports that
are wanting in dignity.
Three years of contest with outlaw insur-
ance men and companies are drawing near
to peaceful close. Over the corpseS Of
companies, the dead bodies of presidents
and secretaries, the fugitive forms of fleet
ing frauds making fast time out of our be-
loved State, one is already able to catch the
first bright light of rosy fingered Aurora,
daughter of Dawn, as she gladdens the hill
sides along the Missouri, the Marais des
Cygnes and MarmatOn, and joyful promises
to battle every mound and valley of kindly
Kansas in the glorious efulgence of midday
sum- ght. Let the glad girl come int No
wild animals remain here to disturb her
Z, III ",
the last spoke in the wheels will be
paid for by solvent, authorized companies
compani es that have been through Chicago,
twice through Boston, through Lynn anC
Seattle and Spokane and paid every dollar
of loss. The young WON an will hear a harpy
hat passer hiss as he flies over New York
but will not wait to respond to Assessment
No. 1885, She will save her best sunshine
for Kansas, where trinity of law, Supreme
Court and supervision guards the citizen
from the alluring hallucination that q one
dollar fee pays for a thousand dollar policy
pays it sure and pays it quick.
Charles IX.-and Vitellius before him
made the cold remark: 1.-THE body of q
dead enemy always smells WELL" When we
call to mind the men, women and children
robbed of many thousands by insurance
thieves in Kansas, we do not stop to shed
tears over the fallen frauds. Nothing SO
well became them as their departure. their
presence here for many year has left SO
many ruined homes that neither laws nor
officers will ever permit their return. No
pest in human form has wronged and
robbed our ate as the insurance fiend. In
disaster and in death the dancing devil has
been present. One of them testified in court
in Topeka last February: 81 can get bust
ness for a C mpany that has no assets"
And he had often done so. He was the pres.
ident of Topeka wildcat
Whelps who have no moral or political
character were deeply grieved because last
years report lacked dignity. Hynes, Hack
ney, Fuller, Burton, Ormsbee, the whole
crowd of insurance ghouls, had their sensi-
bilities shocked by the coa-seness of that
repOrt. Subsequent events, exami ations of
companies and suits in court would hint
that the ruth of the report may have been
the chief cause. with this class Of persons, Of
it's unpopularity. But dignity is the demand
OF the d .sgruntled; let them have it. These
persons and their friends in the Legis-
lature were also worried about the archives,
the public archives, the archives of Kan
sas. "1s this undignifed report to be
permitted to go into the public archives7
Surely such an outrage Will not be allowed
If archives are "a place wherein all the
records are kept in chests and boxes" then
Kansas has none. But last years insurance
report is in such archives as Americans have
in most of the States of our Union. The
remedy for the "lack of dignity and are hive
preservation is the Improvement of Kansas
m thods and morals. If unhan0 some things
are not done they will not be unhands, mely
reported and perpetually saved
Railroad Man Dead.
OMAHA, Neb., April 12.-Phil A War
rick. assistant general freight agent OF
the Union Pacific railway, died this
morning from pneumonia
Plunged Into the Rear.
RACINE, Wis, April 12.-On the Chi
eago & Northwestern road, in this city
yesterday afternoon, freight train had