New-York tribune., 1905-12-28
7,RIFLING WITH THE COMAITTEE.

If the New-York Life Insurance Company
trustees can be satisfied with Andrew HaInll
tons statement, they can be satisfied WIN any
thing So far as the insurance investigator IS
concerned young Mr.. Mccall might as well nave
stayed at home. So far as the regulations OF
Judge" Hamilton and Mr. John A. Mccall are
concerned. he might better have stayed at home
The statement reveals nothing and vindlcates
nobody. On the contrary, 1t allows the public
fulI onnortunitv to believe the worst which has
ever heen alleged about Judge" Hamlltons IL
legitimate expenditures for legislation and even
to suspect that Judge" Hamlltons secret
service" work was an excuse for enaDIlng hlIn
to milk" the policyholders. If these suspicious
are unjust it is the Judges" own fault, Tor ne
could hardly have made up statement better
adapted to excite derision and to dlscredlt MIN
self and the men in charge of trust FUNDS OIL
verted to his use.
Judge" Hamilton sends the names OF law
yers TO whom he gave money, but refuses 10
fell what Iaymen were in his pay. Why! EVl-
IDENTIFY because be thinks the word retainer
can be made to cover a multitude of sins ana
knows that no legitimate service by laymen
can account for the sums given to them 1hese
man rendered "secret service" he says, and he
has promised to protect them. That was about
as much of confession anybody could de
sire but. as if he feared he might not be su1l-
ciently discredited. he gives few examples OF
the legislation which he employed to Kill
bv this vast expenditure of trust funds ana
employment Of secret agents. One bill was to
punish any agent who entered an office display
inc tho sign NO agents wanted here An
other was to excuse a sick man from paying
his insurance premium while i'll. Both OF these
bills could have been fought IN the open' ana
there should be no need TO protect anybody
who did legitimate work for their defeat More
over as TO the first mentioned bill. it was SO
ridiculous that good laugh costing nothing.
would have been enough to defeat IT. IL
"Judge" Hamilton was spending hundreds of
thousands Of dollars of policyholders money
for the suppression of jokes. he must have been
an extravagant legislative agent for Mr.. Nc
Gall IN emDloy Whatever may be said about
the moral aspect of the subject, from the prac-
tical point of view of the policyholder the brlb-
ing of legislators is no worse than the throw
ing of money out of the window on Such
freak" bills. If Judge" Hamilton and MS
EMPLOYERS think that anybody will take serl-
ously these explanations, they are much mis-
taken The whole expedition to Paris to bring
back such a ridiculous statement appears much
like trifing with the Armstrong committee ana
the public,
II Is nerfectIy clear that Judge" Hamilton
does not dare come back. and only less clear
that there are others who do not want him to
come back The money spent by him cannot be
honestly accounted for. Like Mr.. Jordan ana
Mr.. Mcintyre and Mr.. Fields. he will keep out
of the Jurisdiction of the committee so long as
II is in existence 1t might be we'll for the new
legislature to create new committee TO take
the testimony of these fugitives hereafter or to
keen them in the exile which they have chosen
apparently as a convenient form of confesslng
guilt so much worse than any when their col
hat 4hnT-
their transactions. like those of many others.
would be paIliated by public opinion on the
ground that they meant no harm, but fell in
nth q had system i, g careless age.