The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-10-27
MuTuAl'S ACTUARY
TRIES TO EXPLAIN
Is Urged TO Tell Why Dividends
Decrease While Mccurdy's
Salary increases.
NEED a BIG RESERVE
He Agrees with President Mccall i
Saying That Early Insurance Fall
ures Were Due to Failure to
Have Reserve.

New York, Oct. 26.-At the session
yesterday of the legislative committee
investigating the Insurance. companie
company were under consideration and
It was brought out that this company
was paying for the dissemination
throughout the country of reports of
this Investigation that were favorable
to the company. Charles j. Smith, a
newspaper man. was the witness. He
is employed by the Mutual Life 1nsur-
ance company to do a large number of
things, but a month ago was placed in
charge OF sending u these reports.
Mr.. Smith had Vised a number of
n these aggregated s11, 900, with more
pills to come in. He thought the
amount to date would reach $14, 900.
Mr.. Smith wrote these reports and
submitted them to Allan Forman, who
owns the Telegraphic News Bureau,
and 81 a line was paid by the Mutual
Life for this service.
Clippings from various papers about
the country We're shown to the witness
and identified as the dispatches he
wrote and sent to Mr.. Forman. These
were seht to abou 100 papers, but Mr..
Smith did not know whether the papers
were paid for inserting them. In n
dispatch Mr.. Smith wrote that Mr..
McCurdy's attitude on the stand made
a distinctly favorable impression, and
for this he had to pay So a line. This,
jhe said, was worth it.
Following Mr.. Smith, Walter sulli-
van, who has charge of the magazine
advertising department, was called. He
said the Mutual advertised in twelve
magazines last year at a cost of $40, 1000.
Advertising in insurance papers cost
about $4,000 more, but he could not tell
where the remainder of the account OF
1928, 797, the amount charged up to adj
:vertising last a was spent.
New York, Oct. 26.-Emory Nc
;Clintock, actuary of the Mutual Life
Insurance company, vas the first wit
ness today before the insurance in
vestigating committee.
1t was expected he WOULD explain
why the dividends of the had
decreased while the salary Of President
McCurdy We're being increased to
$150,000 a year.
made on the stand by John A. Mccall,
president of the New York Life, as to
causes leading to many failures dur
ing the early days of insurance in this
state. The companies failed, he said,
because they had nothing to support
them but current premiums.
MI. Mckeen. of counsel to the COM
fmittee, who has made a study of tech
meal points of life Insurance., conduct
ed the examination of McClintock. The
witness sale he had been actuary of
jivarious companies since 1868. He be-
came actuary of the Mutual Life in
1889. He was president of the Actu-
arial Society of America from 1895 to
1887, and has been a fellow of the In
stitute of Actuaries of Great Britain
since 1874.
Insurance Laws Too Strict.
Three big companies, the Mutual,
Equitable and New York Life, witness
said. We're able to comply with the rules
l.of the state insurance department by
reason of having sufficient reserves. He
Thought the reserve requirements of
the New York law, as it stood, pre-
vented the formation of many new COM
panies. The law, he thought, was de-
~.fective in giving nc leeway for expense
of procuring new business.
McClintock said he favored having no
law governing the reserve, but such
supervision as would verify statements
made public. Publicity, he said, was
the best law, and he thought the public
icould look after itself in the way of it's
protection in these matters.
Why Dividends Diminish.
In reply to questions nhy policies
progressively draw less dividends as
they grew older, McClintock said the
rate of interest thirty years ago was
6h per cent, which was distributed to
,policyholders. Interest has been di-
diminishing each year since Their and to-
day the company is giving credit for
a lilo per cent. The policyholders, how