Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-28
LETS LOOSE A TRADE AGAINST THE BEE
Denies that He Has Displayed Bad Faitf
Regarding the Measure.
TELL-ThLe NOTE GIVES THE SNAP AWAY
Significant Letter written and Signed
by senator Talbot to Introduce
"dy Friend, MIR. Mcintosh
of Omaha"

of Omaha"
LINCOLN, March 27.--(Special.) To-day
in the senate the Weaver insurance bill was
up for discussion and Senator Talbot took
occasion to deny that he had displayed bad
faith in regard to this measure, and made
rabid attack on The Bee because OF Its
criticisms He denied specifically that he
had met an Omaha lobbyist in room in
the Lindell hotel, or that he had conferred
with an Omaha lawyer about the insurance
bill. He branded the statement as "a
damnable lle.'
In this connection the following letter
Speaks for itself:
'Lndel Hotel Lincoln, Neb., February .,
1s99.-This will introduce to you my friend.
Mr.. Mcintosh, OF Omaha a prominent law
yer there, with whom 1 have had a talk
about my insurance bill. l send to you for
conference thereon He is a gentleman
with whom you can talk freely and frankly
about it. Yours truly, A. r. TALBOT
This letter was written on the night of
February . in room liz at the Lindell hotel.
where Mr. Talbot spent the entire evening
with the Omaha lawyer. The Joint repub-
lican conference was being held in room
on the same floor of the hotel and refer
ence to the daily papers of the morning of
present at the joint conference, although
he was known to be in the building.
Talbot Contrndicted.
This Is in direct contradiction to his dec
laration today that he did not meet the
Omaha man and that he did not miss the
joint caucus. The original copy of the letter
quoted above is in the possession of The
Bee and pretty well locates Mr.. Talbot and
InJlN thnra had hnp
no one guarding room 1l2 during the even
ing referred to-
During his speech this afternoon Mr.. Tai
bot made one charge for which he
doubt sorry afterward when he referred to
newspaper men as being "degenerates,
applying the description to the whole pro-
fession.
The storm stirred up to counteract The
Be- q = ,t5s MT 40 fssuit, naSeNer. in
the defeat or mutllatlon of the Weaver bill
and the best Mr.. Talbot and his friends
could do to get in some minor amend
ments and so delay matters that the COM
mittee was obliged to arise without firish-
ing the consideration of the bill. 1t is now
certain that tie friends of the measure are
strong enough to prevent further delay and
recommend it for passage tomorrow.
Detailed Report.
"A detailed report OF the discussion on the
insurance bill, with an abstract OF Senator
Talbots remarks, is as follows:
The Weevel insurance bill, H. r. 191,
came up as the special order at o'clock.
and Mr. Allen took the chair. The reading
of the bill and the consideration of the
amendments was slow, for the reason that
the house had made large number OF
amendments to the printed bill, and the
senate committee had suggested and had
printed number OF amendments which re-
ferred to the engrossed copy and were hard
to locate in the printed copies.
The first amendment reached was one re-
ferring to suits against companies in this
state The committee amendment, which
was adopted, added the words, upon all
causes OF action arising In this state.
Sections and of the bill called for
changes in the title OF the statutes, replac-
ing the words auditor of public accounts"
with the words insurance commissioner"
and calling for the immediate transfer OF
the books and records of the department
from the auditor to the insurance commits
sioner and relieving the auditor Of all con-
nection with the insurance department. Mr..
Prout called attention to these sections and
gave IL as his opinion that they were in
operative. No amendment was offered
however,
An amendment to section 10 was sug-
gested by Mr.. Van Dusen and adopted, re-
quiring certificates of capital to be recorded
with the commission, the original bill only
requiring them to be filed.
Mr. Van Dusen offered an amendment to
section 20, requiring policies to be sub
scribed by the president or vice president of
che company. Before amendment the bill
read subscribed by the president or such
other officer as may be designated by the
directors for that purpose" The amend
ment was adopted.
On motion of Mr.. Van Dusen an amend
ment was adopted requiring annual state
ments to be filed within thirty days after
the FIRST of January OF each year, the origi-
nal bill having allowed sixty days
standing committee amendment was
adopted, striking out the requirement that
statements should show the assessed valua-
ton" OF property securing loans, and pro-
yided instead that they should show "the
state in which said loans are made
Talbot Takes "A Hand.
On motion of Mr.. Talbot the committee
amendment to section SO was adopted, strlk-
ing out OF the bill the clause exemptng
companies from paying special assessments,
occupation or fire department tax, TO any
county, township or municipality.
Mr. Reynolds moved that the standing
committee amendments to section 81 be
adopted. These were the amendments over
which the main contentious had been made,
and provided for a reduction OF the filing
fees OF companies Of other states from 500
to SIS for filing charter or statement filing
copy amended charter from $75 to $50; fl
ing statement by miscellaneous companies
from $50 to $50.
The amendment also allowed life and ac-
cident companies to deduct from their
grcss premium ,ceipts, or assessments, coll
lected as the case may be,
their losses, commissions and dividends
paid TO citizens of this state during the
year" miner amendment was also pro-
yided for relating to the limit OF fire de-
partment tax.
Mr.. Owens, chairman Of the insurance
committee, moved that the amendment be
not eoneurrefyn, and when Mr. Prout asked
for some =. I'm for this latter motion, Mr..