Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-10-17
THE ROBBERY OF P0LlCYHOLDERS.
1By d. w. Norri $. Of Grinnell.l

by ~. w. ANoIli
Last year I contributed several arti-
Giles to the T.-R. on the subject OF life
insurance. Anyone desiring to refer
to them can find them in the issues OF
June II arl June 80 Those articles
were written before we had any post
tive knowledge of the conditions pre-
vailing in the New York Life and the
Mutual. ] then ventured the statement
that when the truth were known 1t
wodld be found that these two COM
panes were not one whit better than
the Equitable. / had many reasons for
believing that these two companies
were doing many infamous things but
l was not prepared for what has been
disclosed. l said that the salary
graft was not confined to the Equit-
able; that the New York Life had all
ready confessed to 100000 president,
and / strongly suspected that McCurdy
of the Mutual like Mccall of the New
York Life. was taking care of himself
and his family. Since then we have
learned that Mccall, OF his own mo-
ton, without the permission of any
other official, has contributed, OF the
policy holders money, $150,OOO to the
republican campaign fund; that he has
paid out to corrupt lobbyist at AL
bany, of the policy holders money,
many hundreds Of thousands of dollars;
that he has provided, at the expense
of the society Of which he is president,
regal residences in New York City for
his precious sons and sons-inlaw, at
rental that has Melted the Equitable
the enormous sum of .023 of 1 per cent
interest In its investment.
And now comes that other eminent
financier, Richard A. McCurdy of the
Mutual. He unblushingly admits that
he has been paying himself Sl50.ooo
a year; that he also has done what he
could to defeat Bryan, using not his
own money but the policy holders. the
fund Of which he is trustee. He also
confesses to a corruption fund, and
with an insolence and cheek unpar-
alleled, confesses that his son and sc !
in-law have drawn out for their very
valuable services, $2,600,000 in the last
two or three years.
This mans portrait appears in the
Chronicle Of October nth. He is
sleek, we'll groomed and well dressed
all on sl50,000 q year. He does not
look as If he needed oiling. II there
was ever a state of facts that justified
righteous Indignation or justified Bry-
ans famed attack on this class OF
scoundrels, at the Chicago convention
in 1896, it is the statement this man
makes In the witness stand. He is one
OF Gods chosen instruments to see
that not one,cent of the millions wruns
from the poor mechanics and artisans
of America, under the gufse of life IN
surance, shall find it's way back to the
owner to "be spent on cigars or play
ing billiards" Think of 1t. gentlemen
think Of it you laboring man. you $500
clerk, YOU struggling attorney or ply
sicians, you poor minister or worn OUT
teacher! No such insolent speech has
ever before been made by man
yanderbilt's "rhe public be damned!
Ia tame in comparison. Divine Right
Raer never equalled this mans mso-
lence and gall, when he declared thai
God has seen fit to bestow the anthfa-
otto coal mines on the men best able
! to use them"
| When McCurdy said that his COM
many was not organized to make money
for the nolicy holders held the truth
and he lied. That it was not organic
ed for this purpose is apparent pue the
stock argument Of every life insurance
agent employed by this company ano
| every line of printed matter that TINS
| company or any other company mas
ever issued is to the effect That IL j.
for the purpose of making money 1ol
the nolicy holders. Had this hypocrHe
said that no life insurance company
should he organized for the purpose o.
making money for the policy holders
he would have stated truth tha'
Boomer or later must force itself on the
attention of the legislature of every
state in the unoin. The people of this
country are not going to let this kine
of robbery go on much longer.
Turn to the advertising section Of
any magazine. Read the glowing pros
pectus and seductive promises signee
nv Richard A. McCurdy. Figure up the
enormous accumulations this man, TINS
"Christian gentleman" promises you
and then pick up a daily paper anc
read what he says on the witness
stand.
In the October Review of Reviews
Walter Wellman contributes an excel
lent article on life insurance. 1t is
not generally known that every So
called "old line life insurance COM
PAW exacts 40 per cent more from the
insured than is necessary to carry MS
risk and pay all reasonable expense
of management. The great life insur-
ance companies of Great Britain ano
Germany, all write life insurance al
rates from 20 to 40 per cent less thar
the American companies This extra
| 40 per cent is taken from you without
shadow Of excuse, and you can't helI
yourself, for you must have life in
surance, and the rate tables are all
substantially the same. The company
promises you to invest this extra ~
per cent and pay it back to you in the
form of divends. In other words, il
the total cost Of carrying your risk
Including every possible contingency
| is $50 per annum, you are charged $5t
and at the end Of the first or second
year this unused surplus is applied tc
the reduction of your premium.
Some of the companies, many OF
them, in fact all the leading western