Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-01-17
MUTUAL MANAGER HERE.
Or. Walter R. Gillette Of Inc Mutual Life
Visiting Salt Lake.
His Views on the Insurance Troubles
In New York-Taiks Interestingly
10 a "News" Man.

DR.. Walter r. Gillette, general man.
ager of the great Mutual Life Insur-
ance company OF New York, has been
quartered at the Knutsford, for the past
two days. and leaves tonight for He
lena. DR.. Gillette has been shown
about town during his stay by the Mu-
tual Life resident agent, Mr.. Rulon s.
Wells. Today at noon he was enter
talned at the Tabernacle with several
other gentlemen by a brief recital In his
honor arranged by Mr.. Wells Prof
Daynes rendered several selections and
Horace s. Ensign sang tso songs.
Needless to say, DR.. Gillette was thor
oughly charmed by the performance Of
the artists and greatly interested inJthe
wonderful acoustics Of the building.
The great company of which he Is
general manager, enjoys the distinction
Of being the foremost Insurance concern
In the world. Its assets amount to over
three hundred million dollars, It has
over billion dollars insurance In force,
and II carries the names OF more than
three hundred thousand insured people
on Its books.
Dr. Gillette chatted entertainingly
to News" reporter today regarding
the task Of managing such a NAM
moth concern. and Of the present life
Insurance troubles In New York. These,
he said. grew entirely out Of a mlsun-
derstanding between the Equitable and
New York Life: the Mutual was not
party to the falling out, and would not
be affected by II in any way. For
years, he said, there had been a COM
pact between the various insurance
companies prohibiting the payment Of
rebates and ex-Soeaker Thos. b. Reed
had occupied the position OF referee be-
tween the companies. Not long since
the Equitable gave notice OF It's inten-
ton 10 withdraw from this compact
This created considerable feeling, and
the New York Life next withdrew from
another compact which " had had with
iitable. by which each agreed
not TO take over the others agents. The
next step was the course OF the EQuita-
BILE in engaging Mr., Mix, a gentleman
who had been with the New York Life
for many years. and who controlled 400
sub-agents, the entire body going over
TO the employ OF the Equitable. II is
said they control sl2,000.000 worth OF
business There has, however, been no
Nudhkt III lliSuidUCt IdltS, anu lNt DuD-
lie has TO pay as much for its insur-
ance as II always has.
DR.. Gillette was asked whether the
handling OF such vast amounts az his
company had to look after, did not
threaten to become a serious problem.
He answered that they found no more
difficulty now than when the company
was very small concern. Years ago
when the Mutual first started on it's
rapid growth, the directors seriously
considered whether they should not
limit the number OF lives on their books
10 100000 las II was feared they could
not look after more; but with growth
came new opportunities for investment
and the idea OF restriction had been
abandoned years ago. He was asked
whether there was a chance OF the
legislatures limiting the amount OF in
surance in force that any company
might carry, and his reply was that
while there was no telling what a
legislature might do, he did not look for
any present action Of that kind. There
had been talk OF limiting the companies
when their outstanding Insurance
reach one billion dollars, but nothing
had ever come OF H.
Dr.Gillette's present mission is to look
over all the western agents OF the COM
pany.