The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-06
.S20,O0O IN HOLD-UPS
 PAID BY RESERVE LIFE
4 NUMBER OF INSTANCES IH WHICH COMPANY HAS
 TICTIMIZED.

In One Case s15,OOO Was Paid to . Phn-
 adeIphia Lawyer Who Had Been Ac-
 tive in Organizing Movement
 Against President Burnham-ASfhe
 Statement Tint s4O,OoO Was Paid Into
 New York Insurance Department
 When Lou F. Payne Was superIn- | tendent.
 New York, Dec. 5.-Instanees in which the Mutual Reserve Life Insur- ance company paid an aggregate Of about $2O.0O0 in what President George D. Eldredge, of that company, called "hold-ups'' were related to the life insurance Investigating committee by MT. Eldredge to-dauy. In one case Mir. Eldredge testified that in 1898 the company paid $15.OoO to John McDonald. Philadelphia lawyer, who had been active in organizing the policyholders of the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance company into a movement which charg- ed President Frederick A. Burnham, of y, and demanded his removal. The charges also reflected upon MT, Eldredge's management as vice-president and threat was made to ask for the ap- pointment of receiver for the com pany. Engaged in this movement of the policyholders also was J. s. Hof- fecker, a former auditor of the compa- ny, who had been dismissed or who 1 had resigned. Before leaving the com pany Hoffecker informed President Burnham that he resigned because | their ideas as to common honesty diff fered so much and because he knew of so many questionable transactions of which President Burnham had approv- ed. MT. Eldredge declared that Hof- fecker was not dismissed until he had | demanded an increase in salary from $35 to $100 a week and practically had said it was safer for the company to keep him than to let him go, in view of what he knew about the company. | Another instance of "hoId-up,s MT. Eldredge said, was in 1890, when Max Behler, "a so-called examiner of the Iowa insurance department, came to New York with his son as an assistant, 'examined the Mutual Reserve Life In- isurance company and presented to 1t a hill for $4S9 for the examination. Rath- or than pay the bill the company With- drew it's ss1siness from Iowa. but a it, tie later paid that bill and another of lSS46 to Max Behler for verifcation of I his previous examination in order to set permission again to do business in Ilowa. ,
 MT. Eldredge told also how he tried to secure a license for his company to do business in Missouri :n 1898 and found that it would have to employ w. H. Phelps as attorney before it could do so. Phelps got the license for the com pany in three days and was paid S3, 500 as illegal fees" Mr. Eldredge said | Mr. Eldredge told the committee also that he is certain there is no truth in the statement made to a Canadian irl- vestigating committee by James D. Wells, former vice. president of the Mu- tuaI Reserve. that President Burnham, of that company, had told Wells that he had to raise $40,000 to pay to the \ New York insurance department in 1899, when Lou F. Payn was superintendent of insurance.
 The witness had previously stated that a portion of a report made by Isaac Vanderpool, an examiner of the New York insurance department, after an examination in 1899, was Eliminated after a hearing before the insurance department and before it was placed on file. The part struck out reconl- mended that the company be not all lowed to call its lease of it's home office an asset and include it in it's surplur. MT. Eldredge declared that the Mutual Reserve company paid no money to the New York state insurance department in 1899 except for the examination.