The Columbus journal., 1899-10-25
MUTUAL INSURANCE.
$HOw Governor HOlcOmb Defeated,
) 1t Till He Organized a Company. d,

the inevitable CONCLUSION tn6t IL WOuI0
be unsafe to place such . man on the
supreme bench. A weak man in the
presence of temptation while in the
Rubernatorial chair. what could be ex-
pected of him Al q judge? What case
would be safe in his handss
During the Legislative session OF 1895
there was q determination to pass a law
which would allow the organization OF
mutual companies for the insuring OF
village and town property. To defeat
this there was present at the state house
an organized lobby, possessed Of ample
means for oil room purposes. 1t wal
well known at the time that $4,000 in
cash wal ON hand to be used in defeat
ing mutual insurance legislation.
On Jan. 18th Mr.. Brockman of Rich
ardson introduced house roll 248, o bill
authorizing the formation of mutual
companies. It was perfectly ~satisfac-
tory to the people who were demanding
mutual insurance. The record of the
introduction of the bill is found on page
| 26l of the house journal.
On Feb. Goth the bill vas reported to
| the general file and was delayed there
until March 9th. when it was taken up
in the committee of the whole and
recommended for passage. On March
8Oth page 1883 of the house j~ournal) it
was passed by unanimous vote. Such
reformers as Barry, Hull and Soderman
were there and voted for the bill. The
reason for the unanimous vote was that
| the insurance Doodle had been in sight
SO VIGOROUSLY that any man voting
against the bill would have been marked
ut once as q bOodler.
The lobby concentrated its efforts to
defeat the hill in the senate. Every
method Of delay was xesorted to. At
least one prominent clerk was bribed.
| Money was offered 70 senators to get
tEsm to delay or lose the bill. At one
| time the one crooked clerk and n
boodling senator carried it away, and
were made to disgorge only after the
senate had issued warrants for their
arrests.
In the senate, a. in the house. all the
Doodle plans failed. The bill passed
| with but one dissenting vote, and that
one senator was politically blacklisted
for that act. and has never since been
allowed to hold Office.
But the old line insurance people knew
what they were doing. They had de-
layed the final passage Of the bill until
the last day of the session. They knew
what Governor HOlcomb would do.
! They knew that he would wait until
after the adjournment Of the legislature,
when all danger Of passing over his
head was past, and then he would veto
the bill.
The record shows that ON April 9Th
(page 1859 of the house journal). the
bill was presented to the governor by a
Joint committee. Until 1t reached his
hands it vas carefully guarded to keep
the lobbyists and boodlers from stealing
It. At that late day Of the clerks
was offered $1,000 if he would lose the
bill or allow himself TO be held up and
robbed of it..
After the adjournment Of the lesis.
laturs Governor Holcomb carried out
his part Of the contract. After numer-
Gus consultations with q Lincoln lob
byist he vetoed the bill. For this action
he was never able to give q decent 81.
cuse, and left himself open to the strong
suspicion that he had entered into .
satisfactory deal with the boodling
lobby.
The defeat Of this m~eritoetous bill in
such q suspicious manner caused much
indignation over the state and the next
legislature met with the determination
to pass q mutual Insurance bin and put
it through SO early that Q cowardly gov
ernor could not head it OF. Jones' Of
Nemaha ON the 18th of January, 1897,
introduced house roll 1888, q bill exactly
similar to the Brockman bill, except
that it had several naoss sections relat-
ing to assessments and other matters,
which were also covered in the laws al
ready on the statute books. The bill
passed the house on the 18th Of March
by unanimous vote. Il passed the sem
ate on the I'd of April with Just ons
negative vote and val presented to the
governor or the Sd Of April.
For some reason not orally explained,
but which is pretty well shown up BY
the records. Governor Holcomb held the
bill until the Sth Of April, when he IA.
nounced 10 the Legislature that he had
signed 1t.
Now the sequel: That ams day the
news was given out that . new iasuy.
aaee company had been organised under
the new law and that Silas A. Holcomb
was elected - its ~pessadent. This action
had been taken before the bill was
signed and the salary Of the president
was fixed at go per month. Comment
ON this transaction is unnecessary. 1.-The
records are the best evidence"
From that date to the close Of his
Official term - governor Holoomb drew
money every month ID follows:
Salary as governor. .o2Os.S3
Salary as insurance president. ...... 5000
Raks-06 in house rent deal......... 1880
se7s.1s
This was . pretty comfortable salary
for q plain man." and did not count
the other perquisites he might get in
the way Of railroad passes, assessments
from clerks and sppointees and other
''oomplimentaxies," a. O. W, Palm
would term them.
Silas made the Office pay, but the In
surance scandal viii be remembered. II
viii have another chapter.
POPULAR sympathy in continental
Europe seems to be decidedly with the