New-York tribune., 1905-08-05
STATE METDICANCY.

The questions which have recently been
raised concerning the attitude of the Insurance
Department toward the insurance companies,
however unjus they may be TO Superintendent
Hendricks, whose reputation is of the highest,
certainly suggest the wisdom of a change in the
system by which the insurance companies
made TO pay the expenses of the Insurance De-
partment. 1t is not necessary TO place the least
credence in the malicious insinuations Of undue
influence which arise in this as in every other
case of official investigation into business
abuses. We believe that the Insurance Depart
ment has striven honestly to do its full duty.
Nevertheless, it is by law put in an unnatural
relation to the insurance business, which it is
charged to supervise. 1t is the critic of its own
supporters. Whether it does well or i'll, this
connection invites reproach. 1t gives a pretext
for those who are dissatisfied with any finding
to complain that it is influenced by considera-
tions of bread and butter.
The Railroad Commission is organized on the
same improper basis. The expenses of the de
partment are assessed on the railroads of the
State. We do not suppose that any commits
siOner is consciously Influenced in his action
upon the petition of a railroad by the thought
that il helps to pay his salary Nevertheless
the tendency is to encourage carelesSneSS on
the part of the commission and of the railroads.
1t is only human that officials who are con-
scious how the railroads look with complacency
on liberal expenditures for their comfort, and
do not object even to paying for a new COM
missionership now and then should not be
hypercritical in passing judgment on the acts
of such good natured and liberal friends. And
even if commissioners have the official virtue
of ungeniaty, that is no guarantee against in
furious suspicion and malicious gossip.
As matter of principle, public service should
be paid for from the public treasury. Any other
system invites, even if it does not induce scan
dals. 1t also promotes eXtravagance; for a de-
partment which is supported by private con-
| tributions, and does not depend on the taxpay-
ers, is not subjected to proper popular scrutiny.
The present system grew up out of the desire
to secure needed supervision of particular
classes Of business without frightening the tax
payers with visions of the financial burden of a
paternal government The theory was that a
! limited body of the citizens needed protection.
But that theory might equally be applied TO the
! courts. Why not make the litigants pay fees
TO support the administration of justice, and
relieve the non-litigious? Why not make the
civil servants pay the expenses of the Civil Ser
vice Commission because it gives them a meas
ure of protection incidental to its proper work
of promoting public interests? The Railroad
Commission and the Insurance Department are
servants of the whole people Insurance is not
merely the concern of the insured. The conduct
of these insurance corporations is of general
interest. Public morality and business integrity
are involved, and it is as much the States func-
ton TO safeguard them to protect the public
health. And whatever work is worth the
States doing is worth the States paying for.
The people of New-York should not be mendi-
cants, willing to have their government partly
supported on the charity of the railroad and
| insurance companies