Milford chronicle., 1905-10-27
MUTUAL LIFE HAS
A PRESS AGENT
Paid $4,000 to Distribute Favorable
Reports Of Investigation.
rosT 81 AND 81 A LINE

New York, Oct. 25.-At. the session
pf the legislative committee investi-
eating the insurance companies the af-
fairs of the Mutual Life Insurance
company were under consideration,
and it was brought out that this com
pany was paying for the dissemination
throughout the country Of reports of
this investigation that were favorable
to the company. Charles j. Smith, a
newspaper man, was the witness. He
is employed by the Mutual Life to do a
large number of things, but a month
ago was placed in charge of sending
out these reports. Mr.. Smith had vised
q number Of vouchers for the payment
Of this work, and these aggregated
S11,Oo0, with more bills to come in.
He thought the amount to date would
reach $4,000.
Mr. Smith wrote these reports and
submitted them to Allan Forman, who
owns the Telegraphic News Bureau,
and 81 a line was paid by the Mutual
Life for the service. Clippings from
various papers about the country
were shown to the witness and identi |
fed as the dispatches he wrote and
sent to Mr.. Forman. These were sent |
to about 100 papers, but Mr. Smith did |
not know whether the papers were |
paid for inserting them. In one dis
patch Mr.. Smith wrote that Mr.. Nc |
Curdy's attitude on the stand made
distinctly favorable impression, and |
for this he had to pay 81 a line. This, |
he said, was worth it.
Following Mr. Smith, Walter Sulli-
van, who has charge of the magazine /
advertising department, was called. He
said the Mutual advertised in - maya
zines last year at cost Of $4,000.
Advertising in insurance papers cost
about $4,000 more, but he could not
tell where the remainder of the ac
count of 1929, 1877, the amount charged
up to advertising last year. was spent.
John R. Hegeman, president of the
Metropolitan Life Insurance company,
was examined, and when the adjourn.
ment was taken his testimony was un-
finished
While lacking the startling features
of the testimony of some of the other
life insurance presidents who have
testified Mr. Hegeman's remarks and
explanations were none the less inter
esting, especially his statement that
SS76,000 was given to the industrial
policyholders of his company last year
without any obligation whatever Mr.
Hegeman further said that in eight
years his company had voluntarily
given to the policyholders SS.00OO0O
This was in extended insurance, NOR
-uary dividends and liberalized poll
,ies during epidemics, floods and fires
It was brought out that. while the \
company carried collateral loans
the year, none appeared c
n the annual report of December 81.
This was explained by the witness,
Who said that all collateral loans were
on the last day of the year
o Vermilye e Co., the bankers. under :
n agreement, and were brought back
gain in January. This was done, ac b
ording to the witness, to avoid the !,
orde of applications for call loans q
rom the Wall street district. q
The large loans at such a low inter Al
st as IL per cent, especially the one 81
} President John A. Mccall, of the Al
lew York Life Insurance company, n,
ere taken up, and Mr.. Hegeman ii
poke strongly of his friendship for pi
-r. Mccall, who he said was closer tu
ian any other man to him in insur. IN
nee business, outside of his imme- 81
late associates. Mr.. Mccall had rem.
cred him valuable service that was Z
benefit to the company, and per Y
'nally he thought the company could
ford, and would have been justified,
paying Mr. Mccall the few hundreds ,u
dollars the loans amounted to -e.