The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-14
NEW INSURANCE LAWS.
American Bnr Association VIII Make
 some Important suxgestfens.

some Isnportnnt suR9estfens.
 Omaha, Aug. i3-The report of the committee on insurance law of the American Bar Association to be sub mitted to the convention of the asso- ,ciation. which meets at St. Paul. Au- kust 2s-s1.s was made public today by Ralph W. Beckenridge of Omaha, chairman of the committee.
 The report goes into the subject very exhaustiveiy and the conclusion Is summed up in the following recommen- dations:
 1. That the insurance committee be directed to draft and report to the next annual meeting of the association bill that shall safeguard the interests of the life insurance companies and their policies to be conditionally ap- portioned. credited and certified to fhs holders of such policies.
 2. The repeal of the so-calied reci- procai. or retaiIiatory tax laws.
 3. The repeal of the valued policy laws.
 4 The creation in each state of the office Of fire marshal.
 stricter incorporation laws fin ths several states with particular reference to the capital stock and stockholders obligations in insurance companies.
 6. The enactment of a federal stat ute forbidding the use of the rnaiI@ to persons. associations. co-partnerships. or corporations. conducting any kind of insurance business in the United States who are not licensed to transact such business by the state where such persons. associations, co-partnershaps or corporations are domicIIed CT under whose laws any such corporations are created.
 T. The enactment Of federal stat ute providing for the supervision of interstate transactions in insurance.
 ThaeM van Y4Aa a ow ell a.l by Ralph ". Breckenridge of Omaha. chairman: Burton Smith. Of Atlanta, Ca, Roddy A. Aecer of Tonawandaz Pa.
 Appended to tho report Is q copy Of bill proposed for enactment by Con- gress to establish in the department of commerce and labor. bureau of tn- surance.
 This committee made recommenda- tions in insurance laws on the last Iconvention but the matter was report ed back for further confederation Ar ter giving figures to show the imnaen- sity of the insurance business in the United States, the report says: More people are. therefore. con- cerned with insurance than any other institution of modern life. and the pub- lie interest In Insurance is intense, but the almost universal ignorance with regard to 1t and the principles upon which it fs based has made pos- sible. through Legislation, ostensibIy supervisory but actually destructive in its tendency. greater menace to the Interests of the policyholders than they have suffered through the misjudgment and dishonesty of company officials and the incompetence and unfaithfulness characteristic of the majority of the State insurance departments.
 The most conspicuous exhibition of legislative unwisdom Is found in the bills prepared by the Armstrong com- mfttee and passed by the New York Legislature. the more conspicuous be- cause 1t has had the widest advertise- ment and because of things which the committee might have done, but failed to do and its ignorance of the subject confessed
 The opinion Is expressed that the ac- emulation of enormous dividends is responsible for corruption developed in the conduct of life insurance companies. Government supervision of insurance companies is urged as a necessity. but burdensome taxes levied against the companies by the various States arc declared to be unjustihable. These taxes. which are said to amount to S25.00 900 a year ago. are ultimately protected by the policyholders. The policy of some States of taxing
 
 home companies, the report declares. Is hostile to the spirit of the Federal compact"
 Of State insurance departments. the repoge says: '4rhe trouble is that the state insurance departments are sine- cures. They are political prizes. Con- sideration of insurance is the last thing required. They are mere collecting agencies. They offer the most seduc- tive opportunities for fraud and graft that exist in the United States"
 The report adds: "As a matter of fact, the system of state supervision as administered under the laws now in finance is a miserable failure. The honest and intelligent commissioner IS barred from supervision by the very laws he Is bound to enforce. which af- ford golden opportunities and dishonest officials have been quick to grasp" After analysing many Supreme Court decisions. with the purpose of showing that they do not have the effect att tributed to them by opponents of the Federal supervision. the report says:
 "The real opposition to the Federal supervision of insurance does not rest upon the absence of Congressional pow CT, but rather in the disinelination to exercise 1t. Their Jurisdiction Is po- litical power, in power which has no snifd foundation"