The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-02-05

paying agiven SUM for given volume or
an the surrounding. circumstances and con-
ha liz are liz likely II y as and lie
qualified for the duties Of his offioe. cannot
be credited with special knowledge In the
particular interests now under discussion.
Spanish American Department.
The Superintendent naturally treats at
some length the affairs OF the Spanish Ameri-
can Department. The invitation extended
to him by our Board of Trustees to examine
the condition of this company was called
out chiefly by an incorrect and misleading
sta ement relative to an alleged defalcation
by one of its managers for which the COM
papy, IT was stated, alone must suffer. shall
refer principally in the matters discussed by
the Superintendent uader this head, to this
central, q d to you most import ant. question.
1t is fact that Mr., ] Mer2baeher. one of the
managers at hat time Of the Spanish Ameri-
can department became IL defaulter fer q
large amount. The statement ms originally
published that Mr., Mel zbacher defaulted d.
rect to I he company WAS an error. Under the
contract which we had with the two man.
ayers of tho Spanish American Department,
each became responsible for the actions of
both, and Mr.. Sanchez Of the other, general
manager at that time, and the manager of
the Spanish American Department at the
present time, accepted, under the terms Of his
cont tract, full responsibility for the Merz-
baoher shortage. This shortage consists of
two parts, direct theft = by ~, Mr.. Merzbscher
which was Al oyerpsy msnt by Mr.. Merz-
bacher to the former general manager of this
Spanish mertcan Department. Since the
date on which the accoun 10 were made up and
the short sc definitely determined. the item
of S 1909. 10 has been considerably reduced
newal commissions retained by Mr. Sanchez
ard by him turned over TO the company n
cash The larger item representing the
money appropriated for his personal use by
Mr. Msr2bacher has heen redueed since De-
cembar u, 800, by slGs 81 .e9, leaving a bal
aEce due Jannsry J. iSes Of SSS l5l.oS, The
partment have not yet been fully determined,
bur its balance sheet shows that they will not
fall short OF Slt0,0U This leaves he balance
due the c9mpar on this account on this date
r sum but little in excess of sl5sOU0 for which
the company also holds abundant security,
Spani Sh-A American Department with these
words:" From the foreRo ns facts we must
conclude that sareh.z and Merz5acber were
trested with degree Of liberaliiy inconeist-
eat with the best interests of the company"
That conclusion is not correct The depart
ment has always been emnently successful
and its business has been obtained at q nor
NAL cost.
g L. nIukelspieI.
The SUPERINTENDENT expresses the opinion
that s. l.. pinSclsplel was retained too long
as sn agent of the company. Mr.. Dinkel-
spiel secured for us large amount of desr-
able business. The. men whom he insured
We're among the wealthiest and most influ-
entisl in tha cities where he worked. II csme
TO my know edge, however, after a time, that
HIS business methods wero o5jectionable,and
for that reason, in bths year 1852, his agency
terminated. Mr.. Dinkelspel's contract
CONS under THE general Illustration cited
above, except that he was Ia personal solicit
tor only and many uodifit atoms were made
to enable him to handle the peculiar class of
business which he wrote. Advances were
however, thai Shiio there is to-day on our
BOOKS o large volu ne of business of the best
quAiitl written by Mr.. Dipke spiel, n reason
rule = ueWal interest will not finally liquidate
the advances made and that this business
will ultimately cost us more than II should.
For any error in Judgment in EN- oloyins this
man. us well as for any ulJirn Ats loss, do not
desire 10 escape from any proper response
bility,
The superintendent of Iniurance discusses
at sOuIe length the relations which have
existed for about sixteen years bet ween the
New York Life Insurance Company and Mr..
Loomis u, White, O member of its Board of
Trustees ard of its finance committee, and
two ques ions are raised. First, as to
whether or not firm, member OF which
was men Der of the compHny's Board of
Trustees and of Its finance committee, could
act for It as brokers without having the
opinions of such l ustee as to the va ue of
securities colored by the pro )Rb'e commiss on
which thJ firm would receive on such iran =
actions; ssconu, whether or not the comp my
had the right TO purchase securities through
su a firm of brokers' Tho first question
Inay be orisily disposed OF without discussion
oy sim pie statement OF tAs results. In tho
year. .overet ~ Mr.. Mhits's connection with
The New York Life Insurance Company,
about SG5,0OJ,ueQ securities have been pur
chassi 6y the company's fnan &c committee
and q co slider able proportion OF this through
hesfrs I.nenis L White & Co, and ontht
attn Of Jui.c last the Superintendent, after
valniaK ihese securities at 2 time OF dspres-
sie=, found them worth . the company SO ne
haf hFV Ina
Vt. which they are carried ON the cenlpauy's
b 3 such result is the best answer to Sll
duestiat AS to the wisdom of the finance
eoRltsittees action, aid in 80 far as NJ.
Whites action Influenced It Is an evidence
of he value To the company of this eonneG-
lion. Ikes9e0 d qursrien is one on which
spni 5ne nf counsel uilfer,
/ have reviewed now with you the grayer
critirtnms OF The, Suneriatendent's report l
shall stop here. realize thar there are other
criticisms which have not referred to, and
] do NOT decin it necessary to do So have
tried to present to yoH fairly the facts con
ctrning those of most Importance and be-
lere / have shown you that while there
hSyr been errors in the management of this
teaip ny, there has been no betrayal Of
full criticism of errors with an equally
full statement OF manager mont DESCRIBING
Communication. would have been only fair
10 sou and perfectly eatistee DRY 10 Ina. how
ever severe those erltieisms might have
besn; but ths superintendent of Insurance,
VIII WAS invited TO txamine he condition OF
this company, white properly criticiainE
whateNe- he deemed eiftiotsabla omitted 10
state he o her side of the care. and In eddi-
t on unfortunately so stated his criticisms rs
TO make IL probaDla thnt You may have mis-
Understood and oserrated their Importance.
sono Mistakes Inevitable
desire TO reiterate my disc afmer of In
fallihlity and repeat the message sent from
Europe last summer that In business Of our
magnitude mistakes are inevitable and we
compare favarably with othert; but my in
tenrfty of purpose cannot be shaken. General
Ret results are the touchstonas In every busi-
ness. We reed notgo far to find contirlna-
tons of tlis. Errors have been made per-
hsps in the management of every conl-
pauy doing business, but us there are sone
of com non netarietY | may refer to them,
without seeming To attack the COM
panies themselves. In add ion / will say
That 10 the best of my knowledge and belief
81 of these cases re natural experiences in
rsient to the fat TINT 70 Gre IL iaf lib. e.
The annectieul Mutual lost on right $4,000
through the defalc ton OF It's iina ciai corr
rsspnRdent at Iudtsl apolis in 1888. The
Mutual Esneht Life Insurance Company, of
| Newark, \. d., company emia-TllS con-
,erYdtl,e in all things lost about the same
/ an oil 4 IL