Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-30
KANSAS AND THE INSURANCE COM
PANIES.

KANSAS AND THE INSURANCE COM
PANIEs.
YES, the Republicans have won, and
now for two years Kansas may expect
TO see a state government dictated to by
the insurance companies, which will De
permitted to ride roughshod over the laws
and the rights of the people" says a Pop
ulist paper OF Southern Kansas.
There has been a great deal of this sort
of talk in the Populist journals since cleo
ton day. and one becomes at a loss to
know whether it is an expression of sincere
opinion or simply the outpourinS OF par
tisan rancor and hate. As a first premise
it may be said that the Republicans of
Kansas are not fools. nor are they pos
| sessed Of more of the spirit of self-sacrifice
| than ordinary mortals. They may be trust
ed to look out for number one just as
keenly as the Populists or any other citi-
| zens, and if the insurance companies i'm
! pose any injustices upon the people OF
Kansas under a Republican administration
they may expect retribution of the Sc
verest kind. We may say this fearlessly.
~ CNClg Ia" IA = linz vi etN NO
| panies to be found in the statutes OF Kan
sas was placed there by a Republican leg
| i~slature, and every attempt to enforce these
laws effectively was mad by a Republican
administration
The Populists seem possessed of the idea
that Commissioner Webb McNall has at
tempted to enforce the laws of Kansas
1 oDa;rgt tho ypcrranna oornorat;opc No
greater mistake could possibly be made,
for Commissioner McNall has defied the
laws made for the government of these
organizations as well as the avs made
for the government of his own department.
In a few instances he has brought the COM
panies to time under the valued policy Law,
just as his predecessors did the same thing,
but in the main his administration has
been In the interests of the corporations,
though he made them pay dearly for the
favors bestowed.
Do our Populist friends desire to know
wherein the administration of McNall has
been in the interests Of the corporations?
Have not they seen the certificates of good
condition circulated over Kansas by many
Il VI tit lllNdlcS I'll by
the payment of certain sums of money to
McNaIrs examiners after they had made
certain alleged examinations? We have no
Information that these certificates con-
tained. aught but the truth. but. on the
other hand. neither have the people any as
surance that they contained the truth. Nc
Nails system was this: You pay my ex-
oppipa-c u-bot thew nhno-a 20 ,b,rra TO-
pretending to make an examination and
you may stay in Kansas and do business;
refuse to submit to this extortion and out
of the state you CO." Under its application
some of the best companies in the world
declining to submit to What they regarded
as blackmail. were thrust from the state
while every company that paid tribute was
permitted to remain and feed upon the
people. In effect McNall became the de.
fender. advertiser and solicitor for such Of
the corporations as were willing to come
to his financial terms. and this fact HI
sought to conceal by clustering against
those companies which refused to pay fol
his fake examinations.
There is every reason TO believe that tn,
AsSothii oAlSd III III tSldo
Iish an insurance department that will
fairly and fearlessly enforce the Kansa.
laws. The well being of the Republican
party as well as one of the most importan
interests of all the people demand tina
such should be the case. Kansas has clear
ly defined the rights of the insurance com
panies as well as the rights of the people
II We nropnr1y asfipnato tho cboro,tar n
Governor Stanley he will appoint for su
/ perintendent a fair and just man who vii
3 see that rights on neither side are violated
He is not likely to be a man who will star
a lot of political bummers out on the roa,
l with license to blackmail every insuranc
: corporation they may come across, nor i
S he likely to be a man who will set him
e self up as superior to the courts and O
S his own motion decide cases and infic
: penalties. II by any chance he should hav
e a Hillmon case to deal with we may expec
that he will retain his own proper plac
and permit judges and juries to decide tn
rights of property. and we may furthe
expect that he will hear both sides of a
y insurance controversy and not. render dc
cision on the eX-parte testimony of on
u who may be wronging instead of bein
y wronged.
In short. We shall expect Governor Star
c ley TO select a man who is as nearly tn
opposite of Webb McNall in character an
: method as 1t will be possible to find. an
u when he has found him the people ma
( rest in confidence that the insurance con
panies will not be permitted to ride rough
shod over the rights and laws of the cit
- Zens of Kansas.
e EDITORIAL NOTES.
It must be evident even to the membe,