New-York tribune., 1905-08-18
NATIONAL CONTROL OF INSURANCE.


The readiness of the insurance companies or
the United States to submit to federal control
which Senator Dryden himself prominent in
surance man, asserts, is not surprising. IN
spite Of the proverbial objection OF great cor
porations to strict governmental supervision
there is q growing tendency among them TO
prefer almost any sort of regulation, the char-
acter of which they can count on, 10 dolhs
business under multiplicity of conhlcung laws
Long ago the corporations learned the useful-
ness of the federal Constitution, especially lts
Fourteenth Amendment, as a defence against
spoliation by state legislation, and while they
have at times found the game of batuedore ana
shuttlecock between state and national laws
convenient for the satisfaction of lawless am
bitions most farseeing men are convinced that,
for steady going, prosperous business, suDJec-
ton throughout the whole country TO single
code however severe, and freedom from lllegltl-
mate strikes" or honest bunglng by state legis-
latures are to be desired Add 10 this the
popular feeling growing out of recent disclos-
ures that a single state does not adequately
protect policyholders scattered over the CONT
nent even with the aid Of insurance commits
sioners from other states, and the way is pre-
pared for powerful movement in the direction
of federal control of insurance.
How that movement can succeed is not so
clear. The Supreme Court has declared that
insurance business extending beyond state lines
Is not interstate commerce. Senator Dryden
expresses the opinion that it might take more
favorable view of national control IL dehmte
act of Congress asserted such control and that
is by no means impossible In the absence OF
any intent On the part of Congress to supervise
this business the court would naturally refuse
TO constIue laws meant for other purposes as
APPLYING to 1t by implication. On the other
hand it has always been exceedingly slow to
denounce any act of Congress extending the
functions of the federal government into new
fields which. with the integration Of business
and social lfe had come to be of common con-
Germ The national government now controls
hundreds of matters jurisdiction over which
would have been universally denied to 1t one
hundred years ago, yet 1t does this as a result
not of constitutional amendments, but OF
STRENGTHENING conceptions of national power and
responsibility Things which were of local con-
Germ at first have necessarily come to possess
general interest now. The founders of the
nation thought they were intrusting to the fed
eral government all matters of general interest,
and the Supreme Court has been liberal in con-
STRUNG their grant of power adequate TO the
control of things the national relations of which
they had no means Of foreseeing and so failed
TO note in their marking of federal boundaries.
II NAV. perhaps, do this with respect to insur-
ance.
Still another possibility is suggested by the
National Banking law. The power of the fed
eral government TO charter bank at all was
long In dispute An assertion of its power to
charter banks and deprive state banks of some
of their most cherished privileges would prob
ably have startled even Hamilton and Mar
shall. Yet no sane man to-day questions the
utility or the constitutiOnality of federal incor-
poration of banks and of taxes on state bank
circulation heavy enough 70 drive such cur
rency out of existence. Possibly the same proc
ess may hereafter be applied TO insurance. The
great insurance companies may be Invited to
operate under federal charters, and taxes on in
surance business not conducted under national
regulation and carried on elsewhere than in the
state Of corporation domicile may shut out state
companies from all but local business. 1t is not
certain that public sentiment is ripe for this or
any other method Of bringing insurance under
federal law. The tendency Is certainly in that
direction, but movements of this kind are slow
in their operation. Nevertheless there is rea-
son. founded on the unbroken precedent Of our
history as process OF fusion among the people
and Capitalization in their government, TO be-
lieve that when the people really feel that fed
eral control OF insurance is necessary they will
secure 1t as they secured national banks and
internal improvements, without resort to the
cumbersome and almost unworkable process of
constitutional amendment When public opin-
ION agrees that matter Is national one the
national Constitution will be found to confer
Jurisdiction over It.