New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-06-03
REPORT VOTED DOWN.


been BETRAYED by men whom he had believed to
be his friends, and he had made up his mind to
remain no longer in that company.
IF every Wall Street man here wi resign"
he went on 1--WE will resume the insurance bust
ness without reference to Wall Street
Mr. Hyde's speech, which e. II. Hartman
had several times interrupted with replies to
direct references of the speaker to him. precipi-
tated excited and bitter debate. which the eff
forts of Senator Depew and other peacemakers
were unavailing to restrain One of the d.
rectors said that although so far he knew
the report of the Frick committee represented
only sincere effort to do real service to the
society and the policyholders yet he thought 1t
a suspicious circumstance that the report con-
tanned no suggestion looking to the elimination
of one-man control. He rejected the idea that
Mr. Hartman any other financial interests
of Wall Street were working for the perpetual
ton of such control, and he believed that the
attacks on the Frick committee were unjust and
unfair Notwithstanding all this, in the present
state of affairs. he felt himself constrained to
cast his vote against the report. on the ground
that it was dangerous both to the interests Of
the policyholders and to the general public since
it would perpetuate the conditions against which
the protest had been directed which began the
present controversy. the system of domination
of the Equitable Life Assurance Society by a
secret use of the money paid in by the policy
holders
Mr.. Hyde's speech was ended at about l. 80
p. m. The directors adjourned for luncheon, re-
converting at 2:30 o'clock. Mr. Frck. stung into
| response by the criticisms of the report,
torted, defending it and the motives which had
prompted it. Every the committee, he
said, had worked with the sole aim Of revealing
exactly the conditions in the society, that the
| directors might see what was necessary to re-
store the oldtime clean management.
GAGE F. TARBELL SPEAKS.
Gage E. Tarbell, the second vice-president,
was the third of the executive officers to address
the meeting devotng his remarks to the man
| agement of the domestic agencies of which he
| has direct charge. He referred to the fact that
the Prick report had censured that management
| especially in regard to the advances made to
| agents. Four cases specifically cited In
! the report he continued, but the facts concern
| ing none of these accounts had been accurately
| stated. One of the four men referred to had not
been conducting an agency in the last four
| years, but during that period had been employed
| by the society as a salaried official
| Mr.. Tarbell said the accounts asked for by the
| Frick committee, covering the hundreds OF
| agencies had not been completed at the time
| the committees report made, and had never
| been turned in; from which fact he could not
| understand how the committee had felt justified
| in making any report whatever regarding the
| management of the agencies He understood 1t
| to be the fact that the committee had seen. out
| Of the hundreds of accounts, about dozen ex-
! ceptional cases, communicated to them from I'M
friendly sources, without opportunity for him to
| be heard regarding them. Yet the committee
| had found that the direct and indirect advances
! to agents had been in many cases excessive and
| beyond the limit of safety. and had placed the
| responsibility upon the second Vice president.
| Mr. Tarbell also urged that the report, In fair
! ness should have called attention to the fact
that the supervision of the foreign agencies was
| solely the concern. of the third vice president,
| and that the cost of obtaining the foreign bust-
| ness greatly exceeds the cost of securing the
domestic business The committee had also
complained indirectly of the excessive travelling
| expenses, but had not brought out the fact that
| in the five years covered by the report the tray-
cling expenses of the second president, for
| periods running from one and one-half to three
| months of each year. these figures including the
| expenses of from one to four or hve subord1-
nate officials. had aggregated only little more
than s170 600. for every dollar OF when vouchers
| and itemiZed statements had been nled.
ECONOMIES UNDER PRESENT MANAGE
| MENT.
The committee had criticised the increase of
| agents balances, MI Tarben went on, yet had
| omitted to mention the fact that the savings in
first years commissions under the new system,
which went into operation on January L, 1900
had exceeded by 100000 the entire increase in
the committee Mr.. Tarbell continued, which
showed that in the last five years the expenses
| of the EQUITABLE we're more than SO, 100000 less
| than those of the Mutual and more than S16,-
100000 less than the New-York Life's, and that
the ratio of expenses 10 income in each year was
| in favor of the Equitable compared with both
the other companies named, although the divi-
dend earnings of the Equitable during that pc
| Rod were nearly 81 600 900 larger than those of
| either of the others He also made a similar
| comparison between the Equitable and dozen
| smaller companies, whose combined business
| and assets about equal to the EQuitable's S.
the comparison being similarly favorable to the
| Equitable
| Mr. Tarbell also commented the fact that
the Frick report contained reference to the
| naturalization of the society, which he said was
the most important question which had come be-
fore the directors this year. and one in which
| the pOlicyholderS vitality interested. Re
| ferring again to the Frick committees structures
| concerning advances to agents, Mr.. Tarben said
| that he had had prepared statement, brought
| down practically to date, which showed that the
| entire amount of accounts of the agencies under
his control transferred to profit and loss during
the last five years had been little over $4,000.
| or a trif1e more than one-hundredth of
per cent of the society's income and that in that
period more than 23 600 new contracts with
agents had been made In closing, Mr.. Tarbell
| expressed his dissent from the committees rec
concentration for reversal of the insurance pol
icy of the society.
Jacob H. Schif followed Mr. TarbelI in an
earnest speech. in which he expressed his graft
fication that the Prick report contained ref
erenceS which could be construed as rejecting
on Mr.. Tarbells honesty and ais devotion TO the
society's interests He regarded 1T as unfortu-
nate that that report had included any criticism
of Mr. Tarbell as it was his judgment that no
| evidence had been adduced upon which such
criticism could be based, and he believed that If
more time had been at the committees disposal
for inquiry into the affairs of the agency depart
ment which the board knew intricate and
of vast detail. the report would have carried not
even the slightest reflection on the second vice