St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-04-10

tanned it by fraud-rank and dangerous
fraud, now hand it back to Mr.. Drew
before you get into trouble"
Can an honest man advise any other
coursef What did he do? Was himself
appointed administrator and presented a
claim against the Mutual Life for the face
OF that policy. Had his head been big
enough to hold a full account Of the
transaction he would have recalled the
fact that his own application which dis
placed mine stated explicitly over the
mans signature that he had no other in
surance, establishing beyond question
that there was from that moment no in
tention OF accepting my policy. He
would then have presented 10 claim and
made no unfavorable comment on the
Mutual Life.
Bumblebee Hastings will have no fur
Their call to publish cowardly hints and
insinuations OF the reptilian order about
my lawsuit. The above statement covers
the ground, and the public may Judge
between the man who defendsa malicious
suit and those who instigated it. He
can now resume his regular occupation Of
defaming other insurance companies
The rebuke which he admits the president
OF the Life Underwriters Association
gave him did not result in his reformation
nor will this. He is life insurance agent,
but it is too much to ask that he will re-
member the dignity and maniness that
should go with such calling and he will
doubtless keep on fouling his own nest.
Let Agents BE Cautious.
So far as | am concerned he may go
on preparing fresh challenges every time
the bubbles in his head shift position and
pull them in when he accidentally issues
one that is not absolutely meaningless
and gets picked up. He may keep on
cracking cherry stones, yell until his
lungs give out that his little toy COM
pany, which cuts about the same figure
among the standard companies that an
empty bark car would in a vestibuled
train, or that he himself cuts among
wel-bred men, can't be matched. Hemay
continue to remind the Almighty that
he is not as other men are and guess
it will go, but let him and "others" be
cautious hereafter about slandering the
Mutual Lie Insurance Company of New
York.
Why do the agents of other companies
club the Mutual Life? That's easy.
Simply because it is the best of all COM
panies and their greatest competitor.
The very fact that such agents as am
discussing assail the Mutual Life, proves
its superiority. Differently stated, no.
body fights cripple. Think this over
for it also explains why have so long
remained silent and suffered the con-
temptible slurs, insinuations and mali
cious misstatemenrs of Mr.. Bumblebee
Hastings to remain unanswered.
/ did not want to engage in an I'M
seemly wrangle with company so much
weaker than my own, nor does it pay to
argue with those who dealin unwarrant-
ed assumption and suggestions in
stead of facts. Furthermore, the only
possible show the agents of such compa-
MES have for securing business is to fool
the people into thinking that their
companies are similar to the Mutual
Life, and so, when half starved, Bundle
bee Hastings hitched on behind with his
little pine sled to be pulled up the hill,
hadn't the heart to cut him loose, al
though he has been from the first very
disrespectful and made all sorts of I'M
called for comments on the team which
was pulling him up into prominence.
In passing, wish to remark that if
newspapers are responsible for the ma
licious utterances of their advertisers, the
St. Johnsbury papers should begin to an
alive the matter published for Bumblebee.
1t is said that there are three ways of
misleading people by lies, id lies, and
statistics, and Mr.. Bumblebee Hastings
bids fair to become living exempli6ca-
of the saying. To be sure he generally
prefaces his startling announcements
with ut is sad," was told by party"
| IL don't know that these figurers are
correct, but if they are" or some such
cowardly hedging, to his insinuations
which to honest men look meaner than
outright lying, but ignorance and arro-
gance have sometimes forgotten to put
up the bars and any insurance agent
who has operated in this section during
the past few years, is able to show that
he has been very careless with the truth
How Dividends Are Quoted.
One Of the plans now popular with
detractors oil the Mutual Lille is to quote
the dividends ON its reduced rate policies
1t is well known fact that many years
ago this company, feeling that it could
afford to do so, magnanimously reduced
its premium rates, and for time issued
policies some twenty per cent less than
| the standard rates This created SucI