The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-14
IMPORTANT CHANGES IN
 INSURANCE COMPANIES
OTERSHADOW DOINGS AT THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
 INVESTIGATION

Perkins Expected Resignation Made
 and Alexander E. Orr Elected First
 Vice President and Chairman of the
 Finance Committee of the New York
 Life-CharIes 4. Peabody Succeeds
 McCurdy as President of Mutual at
 Reduction of sIOO,OOo in Salary.
 New York. Dec. 1S.-Two incidents af- fecling the life insurance situation in New York to-day overshadowed the legislative committee investigation, While the committee was inquiring into the conduct of the Prudential Life In- surance company and the Metropolitan Life Insurance company, George w. Perkins resigned as first vice president and chairman of the finance committee of the New York Life Insurance com pany. He was succeeded as vice pres iden; by Alexander l.. Orr, president of the New York City Rapid Transit com mission and as chairman of the finance committee. John Claflin, head of t.e H, B. Claflin company. MT Perkins is member of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co.
 Another important move in the situa- tion was the election by the trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance company to- day of Charles A. Peabody to succeed Richard A. McCurdy as president of that company at $5cOOO a year. MT. Peabody is lawyer, the American rep resentative of William Waldorf Astor, and director in several banks and o;her corporations, of which one is the Illinois Central Railroad company.
 MT, Peabody was also nominated as trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance company to succeed Justice Rufus w. Peckham, and Emory McClintock was nominated to succeed Elihu Root, They cannot be elected as trustees until the next meeting of the board.
 U. S. Senator John F. Dryden of New Jersey, president of the Prudential Life Insurance company, again testified before the Investigating committee and made statement to the committee of his reasons for favoring federal super vision of life insurance companies through national insurance depart ment which he said should have high authority over them This, he said, would benefit both the companies and the insured.
 The tendency of the holders of indus trial policies in the Prudential and Metropolitan Life Insurance conpan- ies to lapse was examined in great de- tail by Charles E. Hughes, counsel of the committee, who quoted a statement of the Prudential company that T2 per cent, of its industrial policies lapse within five years from the date of issueg Senator Dryden declared that this is much to be regretted from the stand point of the company as well as from that of the insured and that the ten- dency now is toward a greater persist ency on the part of the industrial hold CTS than formerly. The senator assert ed that industrial insurance, even with high rates and tendency to lapse, is the great economic force now in operation in this country.
 Just before adjournment to-ady Haley Fiske, vice president of the Met ropolitan company, told of an incident in which that company commissioned William A. Read to buy 3,3S3 shares of railroad stock for the company MT Fiske said that MT. Read the same day sold the stock to company of brokers at $10 share less than the brokers sold It to the Metropolitan. MT. Fiske said he had tried to get the money back but MT. Read refused to surren- der it,