Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-01

HIUE } CklnCISm OF
 HENDRICKS REPORT
 The Equitable Society's Founde
 championed by His Son.
 DEFENDS HIS FATHERS LEASES
 Declares Elder Hyde Took Great Per
 sonal Money Risks For the Eaui
 tables Good, Not For His Own-sov v,
 LeasesWere Never Before Question.
 ed-Wants Judgment Suspended.
 James H. Hyde at a recent meeting
 in New York of the directors of the
 Equitable Life Assurance society read
 a reply to the charges made by Fran
 cis Hendricks, New York state super
 intendent of insurance, in his report
 against Mir. Hyde and his father, Hen
 ry E. Hyde. At the outset Mir. Hyde
 said that he wished to place on record
 his indignant protest against that part of the Hendricks report that re- fected upon the elder Hyde. Refer ring to his father, he said:
 The fact that this society exists is due to him. Its success is in the main due to his efforts. Superintendent Hen dricks would not have said what he did, and, more, he would not have i'm piled what he did, if he had informed himself of all the facts before reach ing his announced conclusions"
 Mir. Hyde defended the Sats deposit company leases, which he said were entered into by his father "at a great pecuniary risk to him in the effort to avert serious loss to the society,""
 He detailed the foundation and oper- ation of the safe deposit companies and declared that ''as result of these transactions the Equitable Life Assur-- ance society now holds stock of the Mercantile Trust company valued in the market at about $11,010,0OO, in- stead of having lost the sum of about $1.101.0O0, which represented approxi- mately its investment in this stock in 1875; so that the Equitable Life Assur- ance society now has profit of $9,- 9O9,000 resulting directly from the or ganization and purchase of these three safe deposit companies by my father and from the personal pecuniary risk which he took In order to save the Mercantile Trust company" He con tinued:
 "In short, at great pecuniary per sonal risk to himself my father took up these safe deposit company busl- nesses. then an asset considered of lit- tie or no value and in which neither the society nor the Mercantile Trust company nor any of their directors or stockholders were willing to in- vest, thereby producing a profit of about $9,909,000 to the Equitable Life Assurance society and incidentally erecting the safe deposit business from an experiment into an establish. ed success.
 Tn view of these facts, 1 maintain, and 1 think 1t cannot be gainsald, that no just criticism can be made of my father for these transactions. obvious ly entered into not for the purpose of personal gain to himself. but for the purpose of benefiting the society at his own personal risk I further call 1 attention to the fact that those leases of were made either before l l was born or during my childhood. l They have been part of the records | of the society and open to the inspec- ton of every superintendent of insur- | ance for from twenty to thirty years past. during the greater part of which time my father and the directors who !, voted for these leases were alive and could have explained the facts: but. so far as I know. these transactions dur Ing all this time have remained un- 
 Referring to the Commercial Trust company of Philadelphia. Mir. Hyde lays:
 The superintendent of insurance reaches the conclusion that the Equi- able Life Assurance society has lost l substantial sum of money by reason If its transactions with the trust com ,any. which conclusion. as I under 'fand if. Is based mainly upon the that the trust company re- ,eived 5 per cent on the amounts ad- Taneed by it on agents balances. while paid to the society only per cent ou he society's deposits with 1t In reach ng this conclusion the superintendent Ieems to have overlooked the fact that he society itself collects s per cent "a these very agents balances and re eives slso per cent on it's deposits vffh the trust company. % that 1t sus- aine no les by reason of this trznsae |oo- while on the ether hand as the O. erinfendent points ont If receives Its Dase of tha psuAss ef she Coun1feiaI fw enpaAy Q ue i'm C 1Ivi-