The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-15
N,k1SLEY BOOMING MACHINE.

an attempt TO influence voters in favor
OF Mckinley They intimate in very
plain language that if the Democratic
parry is successful free silver coinage
VIII flood the country with debased
currency and the purchasing
power of the life insurance
policy would be cm half in
two. This conclusion they arrive at
hy reasoning from the premise that
the bullion value of the silver is now
80 cents. and viii remain The same af-
ter the reconciliation Of che white
metal,
These circulars always end up by an
injunction to the policy holder ITO use
your influence to protect the honor of
the nation and look to the integrity
and wellare of your family after you
are dead; or, in osber words, to vote
for Mckinley and gold.
The particular circular now before
us is ono issued 10y the Connections
Mutual Life Insurance Company. 1t
begins with this apology for its Off.
cious intetmeddling in politics, instead
of attending to the business for which
Is was organized and Incorporated:
This corporation has never
touched political questions or
sought to influence political ae-
ton; nor would il ever do 50 un
less that political action were di-
rected TO issues involving the very
Likelihood and substance of that
which we have here undertaken to
do in behalf of your families and
eStateS.'
Now this is magnanimous--a great
corporation posing as philanthropist,
and pleading with the people to vote
for Mckinley and the gold standard
30 that it may not be compelled to
pay its policy-holders fifty cents on
the dollar. Surely the millennium is
near at hand when corporation, with
millions at it's back, pleads with the
people not to force it to pay out less
than its policy-holders have paid in.
"'Tis as easy as lying" says Hamlet,
which shows that even in ancient Dem
mark the facility of fables was recog-
nized. But in ancient Denmark in the
twelfth century mendacity was n
weakling plant compared with its cor
pulent growth in such gold bug liter
allure as this. When the wolf pleads to
the lamb to protect himself from his
hungry jaws, we may expect trusts
and monopolies to look out for the
interests of the dear people" and
beg not to be forced to pay them fifty
cents when they owe a hundred.
After predicting a reign of dis
order and dishonor should the silver
cause triumph, this circular ends with
the following yelled suggestion to vote
for Mckinley:
ut is the foundations of eco
nomic, commercial and political
life which are being assaulted now;
and it behooves every man who
has anything to be responsible for
to think and act soberly."
Jacob l.. Green, the president of this
company, has been lifelong Republi-
can, and prominent in party councils.
And his effort to make his corporation
a Mckinley booming machine should
deceive no one.
Many of the policyholders who have
received these circulars are indig-
nant and threaten to cancel their poll
cies at once.
One of the most prominent business
men in Raleigh, and a policy-holder in
the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance
Company, enclosing one of these circu-
lars to the News and Observer yester-
day, wrote as follows.
''To the Editor' ! was surprised
as we'll as indignant to receive the
enclosed circular from the Con-
necticut Mutual Life Insurance
Company this morning, ] want to
saw that / have no fears that my
policy viii be paid at my death
in dollars worth 50 cents, and no
such extravagantly drawn picture
has ANY terrors for me. want this
government run by the people, for
the people, and not by corpora
tions for corporations. | say hur-
rah for Bryan and the Democratic
Executive committee of North Car
DINA
The whole country is being flood
ed with such literature. Itisannounc-
ed that State Auditor Parks, Of Colo
RADIO, who is ex-ofFcio Insurance Com
missioner, has been quietly securing
a collection Of these circulars which
he claims are evidence of insolvency,
on the part of the companies, and he
now proposes to cancel the licenses of
all such companies which are now be-
ing business in that State 1t is
claimed that the Auditors judgment
in such sases is final and that if he