The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-27
TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE
AUDITOR HART AND ATTORNEY
GENERAL TAYLOR WILL DO 1T.
Requegt Of the Tontine Surety Com
pany of Detroit Is Refused in
No Uncertain Manner.

The following letter written yesterday by
Auditor of State Hart and addressed to
Charles r. Brown, manager Of the Ton
tine Surety Company. at Detroit. Mich.
indicates pretty clearly that so long as Mr..
Hart Is auditor of state the insurance
companies doing business on this plan will
have hard time in Indiana:
81 acknowledge the receipt Of your letter
Of the 18th, together with a very compre-
hensive assortment Of variegated litera-
ture.
II beg to say have very carefully read
your contract, and the inducements you
herald In the way of justifying the legality
OF the business sought to be clothed under
the sale Of diamonds. 1t is within the
province Of the auditor of state. under the
law, to pass upon the legality of this busi-
ness, and / can see nothing different in
your methods from those of the other tom
tine investment companies that have been
refused admission to Indiana. 1 have con-
suited with the attorney general and we
are both Of the same opinion. You have
crossed the dead line of the mercantile
business in such as is represented by sales
made by commercial travellers or agents.
The diamond is simply an incident. You
have an insurance feature, and. of course,
to anyone familiar with insurance matters
the profits of your enterprise are based
altogether upon the tontine features of in
surance companies and the average Of
gains made by lapses. Our laws do not
investment or in the purchase of any COM
modify. We do not permit anything pos
sessing the character of your enterprise to
come In through any loopholes, Subterfuge
or technical evasion. Your application to
do business in Indiana is herewith denied"
AS indicated in the letter the applica-
| ton was made on the 18th, and pursuing
| the same policy that has been adopted here
| tofore with companies of the same stamp,
| the application was promptly refused.
| Attorney General Taylor and Auditor
| Hart both say that they do not propose
to have the people of Indiana swindled by
such companies.
In speaking of the matter yesterday Mr..
| Taylor said that the companies were the
| descendants Of the tontine graveyard as
| sociations, and they are all alike. All of
| them are based upon the tontine system,
| which simply means that If by any chance
| one little monthly payment is not forth
coming on the very day on which it ought
| to be paid, the contributing subscriber will
lose everything he has paid in.
The scheme of the Tontine Surety Com
| pany, or Detroit, is quite novel one. 1t
| proposes that the party insuring shall pay
/ SIPS every month for sixty-three months.
/ At the end of that time the party win re-
CelVe diamond ring Valueu at SlZo or IN
| lieu thereof the company will agree to
| pay in cash a sum not to exceed 800. The
| company agrees that 81 of the S1.25 paid in
F, every month shall be devoted to a fund
| which shall go towards the price of the
ring. It doesn't say what will become OF
the extra Is cents that is paid in every
month. so 1t must be presumed that the
| subscriber simply pays the company e
| cents a month to buy or rather select a
| ring at the end of sixty-three months
! Aside from this If the subscriber is day
| behind with his money when any one of the
| monthly payments are due he loses all he
| has paid in. Some of the companies have a
lottery scheme, and all sorts Of induce.
| ments are offered as bait to the unwary
| The companies usually get an ex-state Of
| fetal or some well-known ex-county officer
| to become an officer of the company merely
| to give 1t apparent responsibility. AS q
| rule these quondam officials are of the
| kind that need no urging to help the com
| panies impose upon the people. The attor-
ney general said yesterday that If any OF
| these companies were caught operating In
| the State they would be criminally prose.
cuted. Said he: "A great many people
cry. let the people take care of them.
selves but the people can't do IT. 1t is
the business of the law to take care of the
people in so far as II Is able, and so Ions
| as I am here the tontine companies will
have a hard time doing business in this
State"