Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-27
BIG
COMP ANlES
MASSACHUSETTS INSURANCE IN
sPEcToR URGES MARKED
REFORMS.
CRITICISM is SEVERE
Frederick l. Cutting, Bay State OFF,
ciaI, AIIudes to "Dr. JekylI and Mr..
Hyde" Concern - Says New Fra
ternaI Rates Are Not Too High.

New York, July 26.-At a two
hours session of the directors of
the Equitable Life Assurance So
ciety today the designations of
Former President James w. Alex
ander and of Nevada N. Strana-
han as director were accepted and
Paul Morton was elected president
of the society, retaining, it is un-
derstood, the craftsmanship Of the
board as we'll A special meeting
Of the directors will be held tomor-
row, when additional directors will
be elected and amendments to the
charter of the society will be
adopted.
Boston, Mass, July 26. - scathing
criticism and pointed condemnation
and fierce denunciation Of the meth
DDS and course of the big insurance
companies, characterize the annual
report of Frederick L. Cutting, com
missioner of insurance for Massachu.
setts, which has just been issued.
The report is exhaustive in its re.
view Of methods employed by high
insurance officials during the past
several years, to whom he alludes in
some instances, as "Judases," and tc
one company as the "Dr. Jekyll and
Mr.. Hyde" company, and contains a
that the Legislature
at it's next session take up the matter
of deferred dividends and the relation
between insurance companies and
their allied trust companies and othe,
question, with view of compelling
reform.
The report considers insurance If
connection with ''the gambling instinct
Of the age" and tells of the influence
upon the officials of insurance com
panies from the dubious schemes
schemes for getting enormously rich,
the graft by city officials, state
officials, national officials, petty legis
lators, congressman, United State:
senators and courts subservient to the
great Moloch, money" that they have
seen all about them, and they also
saw tainted money eagerly sough
by college and pulpit"
censures the Big Three.
Commissioner Cutting names severa
companies. OF the Equitable Life, the
Mutual Life and the New York Life
termed the "big three" and the "rac
ers,' the report says that they have
been largely responsible for the exces
sive expenses Of the business 3'tc
swell the volume of which and be
come the biggest, has led each to pou
out money like water" and it recon
mends an immediate and complete re
form of these in respect to the extra
ordinary. deposits made by them within
a few favored banks and trust com
panies.
Referring to the Equitable Life As
surance society, the report says: "Tc
all outward appearances life Insurance.
has been booming along serenely ant
beautifully during the last twenty-five
years, with money rolling into thu
treasures in broad streams.
"But rude awakening came 4
chasm opened showing the hidden Sc
crets of a great DR.. Jekyll and Mr
Hyde insurance company 1t has sud
denly dawned that during these twen
ty-five years Of peaceful conquest o
millions of public money there hat
been Judases at work betraying thei
trusts for financial gain"
Touches FraternaI Societies.
Fraternal insurance and the case o
the Royal Arcanum are dealt with a
some length in the report, the com
missioner expressing his opinion tha
the new rates recently adopted by tha
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