The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1906-02-03
INSURANCE RROBERS
Pennsylvania Legislative Commit
tee of Eleven Named.
WILL GET TO WORK AT ONCE
Fees Asgregating 100000 a Year
Extracted From Insurance compa.
MES, Brokers and Agents to Be

FeeS Nggregating 9lOO,UUO year
Extracted From Insurance compa.
MES, Brokers and Agents to Be
Investigated.
Harrisburg, Feb. 1.-The insurance
Investigation was formally launched
when the II members Of the legisla.
ture who were appointed earlier In the
day met in the Office of Senator John
L. Fox. Of Dauphin county. The lat
ter Is the chairman Of the body. His
conferees from the senate are Sisson,
OF Erie; Goehrlng. OF Allegheny; De
Walt. Of Lehigh. and banner; of North
ampton. while from the house are
Pussy. of Delaware; Stroup. OF Dau-
phln; Osborne. Of We ago; Duns'
more of Tioga; zimmerman, of Mon
tour. and McNeoly, Of Greene.
The committee began the taking OF
testimony today in order that the in
ycstlgation may be completed by Feb.
ruary 6. as directed by the resolution
authorizing the inquiry.
Not single Philadelphia appears
on the committee. AS the insurance
commissioner is A Philadelphia, and
as his prcdcc sors In collecting fat
feos have usually hailed from the same
city. the investigators were probably
picked from the rest Of the state so as
10 allay any suspicion that there Is TO
be a vindication of lsrael w Durham,
James II. Lambert and others.
The four Democrats are zimmerman,
McNeely DeWalt and Banner. This
list Is rather disappointing, as only
two Of thcm-Ammerman and McNee-
ly-are what are regarded as strong
men. The Democrats are pinning their
faith mainly on zimmerman, who has
already charged that fees aggregatlng
500. GOO n year have been extracted
from insurance companies. brokers and
agents. and that SGS.O00 OF these were
never even reported to the auditor
general. but found an underground
channel straight to the insurance com
missioncrs pockets. zimmerman, by
the way. is one OF the lawyers who
have been running the Storey Cotton
frauds to earth.
Subpoenas will almost certainly be
iseued for David Martin and J. Clayton
Erb The latter has declared that he
was the real actuary under Durham.
and served under Martin until the
fret Of this year. Erh is said to have
weadled all the fees Ter the Durham
regime and signed latter's name
to official document
Durham himself can not be reached.
1, IS in California, and it would be inn
q sibe to get him here, even should
he consent to come before next Tues
day. by which time the investigators
must report back to the legislature.
II has been suggested that a telegram
be sent him asking for a brief state
ment BY wire. but this is not consid-
cred seriously.
zimmerman. the fighter on the COM
mittee. SAYS that he means to bring
ont every shady thing connected with
the insurance department. He wants
to subpoena the editor OF a leading
insurance journal who knows a good
deal about the fees collected In the
past, Of which even Forster has not
given a hint He intends to find out
what became Of the So and $40 annual
license tax levied on 5000 insurance
agents and 2000 insurance brokers.
These fees. with the actuary's $4,000,
raise the golden stream that flowed
into the insurance commissioners Of
fee in 1905 to something like 100000,
and with the legitimate fees and in
come bring the value Of the job up to
effC Q4u "a srnnr