The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-08-05
'mlERMYER SEEKS CONTROL,
.ssERT MUTUALS COUNSEL IN
THEIR --LATEST BRIEF.

,.,csd TO Think 50. They Say. by the Way
He's Gone About Getting 1hose -Four
Names M the Teket-Court Asked 70
peternines status Of Newspaper Reports.
rhe management OF the Mutual Life
,,.,rancs Company took another crack
:. samuol Untermyer, counsel to tho
,s,ornational policyholdeB' COMMITTEES,
yesterday. when 1t accused him. through
IL LAWYERS, James McKeen and Frederick
~ Alien. of being ambitious 70 control the
This latest shot Is contained In a supple
-.n,a,hrief which counsel to the M~utualhave
s,ed in the mandamus proceedings brought
M, Tntermyer ascounsel In the Supreme
co,rt At Albany to compel the State Super"
i,,ondent If Insurance to strike from tbs
asu,,al,a administration ticket the names
:, ,he four members Of the international
uol;ovholder,' committee who were nomi-
po,sd without their consent and against
,hsjr wishes. The relator in the proceed
inas ia Col. Alfred NJ. Shook, n OF the
roninee, who is also acting for the other
three. Judge George Gray, Cen. Benjemin
r Tracy and John N. Higinbotham. The
Manual life interviewed in the action and
,ho annlica.ion for the writ wa argued In
Albany a few days ago before Justice
Howard. decision being reserved,
The supplemental brief Just fled contains
,be news that the management Of the com
nany and the board of trustees "do not wish
~ seek to hold tho relator or any Of the
other three for whom it is claimed that he Is
acting as candidates upon the administra-
don ticket against their will What the
Mutual management does insist upon,
according to the brief, Is that such pro-
ceeding as is had in the matter OF the nom
i%nation and election Of trustees be had In a
legal and orderly manner. The relator, 1t is
anepe has not proceeded in an orderly
manner and for that reason the application
ought to be denied. He has sought recourse
10 The court in a mandamus proceeding,
and the court, the Mutual lawyers hold,
cannot grant a peremptory writ Tor o num-
OF reasons. Says the brief:
The trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company have complied with statute when
they placed in nomin alton the administra-
lion ticket, If any whose names appear upon
that ticket are dissatisfied they should ad-
dress themselves to the committee that made
the nomination or to the Superintendent OF
Insurance. in whose office the certificate OF
nomination is filed, not by ambiguous phrases.
but BY n direct declaration that they decline
the nomination and II elected would decline
TO serve. The record shows that they were
each formally notified of their election by the
secretary Of the company. and that no one
Of those associated with the relator has
acknowledged such notice or declined the
domination.
The brief advances an entirely new rea-
sn why the names should not be stricken
from the ticket by the court. 1t says:
Recognition should be given to the i'm
~portance Of the operation OF the newly
amended Insurance law OF this State. now
subject to It's first test. Relief here sought
by the ~relator. II granted as a matter OF legal
right, would establish as a proposition Of
law that by loosely worded newspaper re-
ported refusals to serve a candidate might
disturb the regularity OF an election without
the fling Of any formal. binding declln alton
All companies must obey this law and the
effect of contentious here made. II applied
10 all other insurance companies. should be
here considered.
1t would be absurd to argue that. because
bis Excellency the President Of the United
States has expressed In writing his dislnclina-
ton TO accept a nomin alton fol the office Of
President again. the act Of a regularly Or
ganized public convention that might place
him in nomination would not be legal and
that an application might lie on behalf Of
some one allie ging that he is a friend Of the
President to u his name from the
certificate Of %nomjnatlon before any formal
declnation OF the nomination should have
been filed.
The brief goes on to say that counsel for
the relator has INTERCEPTED into his moving
papers SO much hat is irrelevant and Inn
material to a proper application for a writ
Of mandamus-so much that Is not only
immaterial, but scurrilous and false-that
we are constrained TO believe that this
application itself was brought more in a
jealous attempt to find opportunity for
general newspaper consideration OF his
personal views and ambitions to control
the Mutual Life Insurance Company rather
than to assert or obtain for a client a strict
legal right"
1t has been Mr.. Untermyer's contention
all along that it was sufficient that he, acting
under Instructions from the four members
OF the poiicyholders' committee who were
nominated, notified the Mutual manage
ment thatthey would not accept the nomina-