The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-10-07
TON LTsoN
6 s. WANTS BIDS.
ns1eraalH FroR - Rtaa Fer His
&.% Policy in the Equitable.

Policy in ~ Nquitabls.
I Il offer for sale to tho highest and
best bidder = life: Insurance policy"
says Tom Watson IN his masasine for
Octobsrf :
1T is In first-class condition. have
I'D 1t on fat premiums for nearly
charmed my youthful eyes In 1885 Is
still = brilliant. entioing. reassuring
red. The huge official stamp Of the
Equitable II pnsullisd. a. Of yore, and
it seems to be saying to me, with an
Oliver Twist emphasis:
"More-I want some rnorer'
Once upon time q fire swept the
streets Of the town and my law office
was burned-books furniture. briefs
and 50 forth-but this precious policy
escaped unsin9ed.
IL had been placed in the innermost
box Of tho iron safe. ana came out of
tho furnace without the smell Of fire
on It's garments.
Lot the books brun, let the furni-
ture and the papers so up In flames
II only I may save this precious in
surance policy.
So here It is. safe. sound. as pretty
as ney shoes-and I want to sell. it.
Who wants to buy7
Give me q bid, somebody. The pol
Icy is for $4,000, and it natures in
October, 1906.
What do hear for this policy?
Nineteen times I have come forward
like a plain. average American fool
and paid 4 premium Of &113.5o for tho
blessed privilege Of keeping this old
piece Of paper alive" It had to be
fed on that sum once year to keep
1t fro mgoing to tho waste-basket.. If
You have nothing else TODD and want
to learn something about life insur-
ance, take out your pencil and cal
culate what my nineteen premiums
now amount to at compound interest.
During those nineteen years it was
not always an easy matter for me to
pay the premium. Sometimes It was
decidedly hard And there was no
year when I could not have used the
money very much to the comfort of
myself and family. But that hungry
policy had to be fed. else it would go
dead.
During tho early nineties the Dem
ocrat1c Party and I got after each
other hot and heavy. and, as that dear
old thing had possession OF all the
machinery, it finally did all it wanted
to do to me, protests Of mine to the
contrary Notwithstanding.
Hard up? Yes, I got very hard up.
No Congressional salary, no law-case
fees. heavy expenses. everything tend
Ing to tho '''demnition bow-wows."
The sheriff got me-sold some of
my land (that Tolstoy is worrying
@bout). the sale taking place while I
was on the stump making speeches
for ''the people"
SO you see the morbid appetite Of
the insurance policy TOR the yearly
premium was most inconvehient at
times. It made me grunt, as I paid,
more than once. And there did come
time. II my memory serves me right.
when dear old friend came forward
and voluntarily paid the premium for
me, he knowing how very hard I was
pressed for ready money.
But the Equitable got Its premiums.
No matter how much I needed the
money at home, the yearly premium
had to go to New. York; and it went.
What became Of it after it got to
New York? All, there's the joke, the
cruel poke of the whole matter.
My money went into tho pot Of the
Equitable. Society, together with that
OF thousands of other plain, average
American FOOLS until a huge accumu-
lation was there.
And then there was a merry dance
indeed among our trustees.
Salaries twice as big as that of the
President Of the United States were
paid to men who were foully abusing
their trust and shame)essly betraying
me and the other thousands Of dupes.
Doodle money was paid to both the
great political parties to keep down in
vestigation and exposure. Lobbyists
were SHRED at lavish expense to keep
the Legislature asleep. Lawyers were
paid hush money" by the tens Of
thousands to stave off legal inquiry:
directors were allowed to steal our
money under the shallow device of
1endln8 1T to corporations owned by
themselves. Greedy spectators were
given control of our funds in the car
rytng out Of marauding deals. "A car
ntval; Of fraud and thtevery and extra
vagance took. place. the laws being
broken with braEen confidence In the
power Of the rescals to bribe their
way to safety. ~.
Yes, the Equitable Society of New
York has swindled me and thousands
Of other dupes out Of honest, hard
earned money. Each Of US who< con-
tributed to make tho Equitable what
1t was had an interest In the earnings.
In the surplus That was the harvest;
We made tit was ours.
Where ia 1t? What share Of it will
any Of us ever get?