The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-04-22
GENERAL AGENTS
VISIT HENDRICKS
Superintendent of Insurance Favors
Their Plan.
INVESTIGATION PROMISED
ONE PHASE OF THE EQUITABLE
SQUABBLE.

Syracuse. y. Y, April 2t.-The gen
cral agents committee of the Equitable
Life Assurance society arrived today
and arranged a conference with Super
intendent Of Insurance Francis Hen
bricks
Joseph Bowes of Baltimore was
spokesman OF the committee. To Mr.
Hendricks. the state superintendent Of
insurance, Mr.. Bowes reviewed the &C
ton Of the agents convention in favor
Of naturalization and then made an
address. He declared the agents were
In position to know what poIicy-hold-
ers wanted. The prevailing conditions
had alarmed the policy-holders. The
original plan of the founder, he said,
contemplated naturalization. For the
first time the question of ownership Of
the vast surplus had arisen. The time
had come for the change, and when the
society could no longer be regarded as
the patrimony Of one man. He was in
formed on reliable authority, he said.
I that thirty-eight or forty directors do
not own the requisite amount of stock
required by the charter. There is no
luminosity among the agents against
Mr.. Hyde. he said, but change must
! be made to deprive him Of the immense
power he yields. The compromise ef-
fected was a miserable one, which is
disappointing, the realization of which
.
cy-holders in the meantime suffer-
Patience Exhausted.
Mr.. Hyde's elevation. he asserted,
was due to sentiment because or his
descent from the founder. For five
years he had been watched, helped and
forgiven until sentiment was exhaust
ed.
e. A Woods Of Pittsburg. president
OF the agents next addressed Mr.. Hen
bricks. He told Of the immense tangi-
Die interests OF the agents, and de-
cleared that under the present system
of control the Equitable stock could be
transferred 20 a party even more dan
gerous than Mr. Hyde The agents
were opposed TO any change which did
mot conserve the interests of policy
holders, and had suggested a commit
tee Of pOliCy-holders as trustees ap
pointed by President Roosevelt, or 20
designate eX-President Grover CIeve-
land. or a committee of college presi-
dents. He believed adverse legislation
i'm other states could be prevented by
prompt action in New York.
Archibald Haynes of Portland, Me,
Followed with similar remarks.
Position of Hendricks.
superintendent Hendricks in reply
said that he had expressed himself
clearly in favor of naturalization and
that he was sure relief could be OBJ
tanned by legislation. He said that if
Judge Maddox decides in the Lord suit
that he has no power to put in force
the amended charter an appeal viii be
made to the court of appeals or to the
United States courts. He asserted that
he did not believe the HyGe interests
instituted the Lord suits. Mr.. Lord IS
opposed to the naturalization plan, said
Mr.. Hendricks. only because he believes
his stock viii be impaired by the
amended charter. Mr.. Hendricks eX-
pressed himself in favor of the prOpO-
sition in the hands Of the attorney gen
eral concerning policy-holders' repre-
Sentation upon the directorate, making
81 only a question OF time when policy
holders viii be in control. In closing,
Mr. Hendricks said.
And I Will tell you, too, that before
I get through with this company l will
find out who are dummies 1 will find
out absolutely You can rely on this.
When we get done we viii tell you the
true condition of the society. I cannot
tell how long il will be. whether days,
weeks or months, but il will be thor
oughIy done. IN the meantime the
Prick committee has asked questions
which viii take thirty or forty days TO
answer."
superintendent Hendricks statements
were appIauded by the agents, who,
( his afternoon left for Albany. where
they will call upon Governor Higgins