The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-02-05

The Commissioners today granted d
hearing 10 4 large delegation representing
the policy hCICers. officers. and board OF
mana gers Of the Mutual Fire Insurance
Company The hearing was directed 10
tie consideration Of Senate bill No 5591.
10 amend the-ehaTter OF the Mutual Fire
Insurance Company of the District OF Co
lUrnbia."
Tie first speaker was Andrew Nash
who advocated the passage OF the bill be-
cause he is in favor of the principles in
yoIved in the act. and he thought that it
might be we'll To enlarge The scope OF the
bill and to make Il general instead Of
confning its provisions tC this one COM
pany- He explained that the object Of the
bill was to place restrictions upon the use
CT proxies in the corporation referred to.
He stated that p-o&y vote either ought to
be eliminated as far as possible or 50 re
stTiCted that the personal element could
be operative in the annual elections OF
such corporations
Asked TO give a description of The man
neT in which the proxies are used, he
showed 10 the Commissioners that GER
tain persons solicit-the proxies of policy
hclderS. each OF which have as many
votes as ne holds risks. and in this way
gain control of the affairs Of the COM
pany- He inStanCcd case IN which the
secretary CT the compny in queS -iCn cast
IN che election of the company 80 per
cent Of the voting power of the corpora
tion He thought that such power in h
hands of cne man was dangerous, Sni that
II ought Tot TO be allowed 1t would be
! bad in the hands Of an honest man. he
thought ard doubly so in the hands Of a
bad man.
A D. Smith followed. stating that he
represented certain policy holders. and
/ that as their representative he was pres
ent 10 speak in favor of the bill.
Attorney Wilton J. Lambert vas the
chief speaker in favor of those in favor OF
the bill Re explained to the Commis-
sioners that he was himself policy-hold-
. er in the company, and that he represent
! ed 100 votes in the corporation. He stated
! that for fifteen years past the corporation
| had been at times engaged In litigation
| brought about by the abuse of the power
of proxy voting. He stated that he was
| not opposed to proxy voting himself, but
he thought that it ought TO be surrounded
| with restrictions which would make i'm
| possible some of the acts OF the board O1
! manager of the Mutual Fire Insurance
| Company. MIR. Lambert reviewed the
| course Of litigation IN which the company
| had been engaged, and then turned to q
/ description Of the manner in which the
| annual elections were held and showed
! them 10 be more or less in the nature OF
cut and dried affairs in which the on
GERS and mana gers with their proxies were
all powerful He cCntended that proxy
/ voting should be allowed, but that the
| proxies should be limited to q years dura-
| tion. Mr.. Lambert also spoke at length
| OF The policy pursued by the company OF
| putting policy holders out of the cOmpany
| by canceling their policies.
r Ross Perry replied for those opposed
| 10 the bill He entered into an elaborate
! argument 10 show that proxy voting hac
| grown up with the extension CT corpora
tiop holders scattered over wide CXten'
| Of territory Il was he said a necessity
Of the times, and a riB:.1 which persons
in moDeyed corporations had Withou
! proxy voting the holders Of these policies
he said. could not vote. The giving of
proxy Is practically transferring the righ
Of attorney. he explained, and to eurtaI
IL would be to disfranchIse the create
portion OF the holders of policies Mr
Perry then entered into defence of n,
present beard of managers. and the man
ner of their election He characterized
the proposed law as unnecessary. as The
principles involved have been passed upor
by the courts
Other speakers were Samuel Maddox
and Jesse B. Wilson The latter was for
seventeen years president Of the com
/ pany. and his speech was in the nature
of d review Of the affairs Of the company
During Mr.. Wilson's speech several at
tempts we're made by those opposed to
the bill 10 interrupt him and o indulge
in personalities but these were not al
lowed by Commissioner Aacfarland, and
| Mr.. Wilson vas allowed to give his YER
sion OF the manner in which he was eI-
PEELED from the company
Mr. Perry replied briefly TO Mr.. Wilson
! seeking 10 smooth down some of the
rough burrows he had rolled up
Commissioner 8Iacfarland stated at the
I close OF the hearing that al That the gen
| tIemen Cn both sides had said would be
/ given careful consideration. and thar
| the decision OF the Board would be made
known IN due times