Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-04-23


the idea that any power could pull
him down from his position.
He was yet to learn that a new
power had come into existence, an
all-pervading, all-controlling, un-
traceable influence to be known in
time as '*the System The great
banking interests, the vast and slow
ly-merging railroad systems, all the
huge financial growths of the richest
nation in the world were within par
leying distance of Wall street. The
captains of industry" as yet I'M
known by that name, were moving
toward a vague and underlined COM
mon ground of interest
Mr.. Hyde. had both Imagination
and courage. He was pitiless to all
who dared to oppose him, and, al
though of fierce temper, he could
be patient. One of the clever things
he did was to secure the services OF
John A. Mccall as comptroller of the
Equitable company. Mr.. Mccall, as
state superintendent. of insurance
had developed a keen taste for hunt
ing down graft in the insurance COM
panies. Backed by Grover Cleveland
then governor of New York, he had
given Mr.. Hyde many an anxious day
. So Mr.. Hyde took Mr.. Mccall into
his own service and, curious1y
enough, Mr.. McCaH's place at the
head of the insurance department
was promptly taken by former Sena-
tor James F. Pierce, one of the Mu-
tual-company's reliable lawyers, a
well-worn political hack.
/. In the summer of 1891, President
Beers; who had almost forgotten the
threat uttered on the night he re-
fused to join in Mr.. Hyde's plot,
made visit to London. While there
the first blow fell upon HMM the
form of an announcement in the New
York Times that there had been a
large defacation in the funds of the
Spanish-American department of the
New York Life Insurance company,
coupled with suggestions of gross
negligence and Encouragement in
the affairs of that institution. Mr.
Beers promptly cab1ed to his assist
ant in New York asking that the
books be opened to everybody at
once. He expressed his willingness
to have a full official investigation
into his company's affairs. Thereup-
on the trustees of the New York Life
company invited the superintendent
of insurance, Mr. Pierce to go over
the company's accounts.
This investigation was made all the
more necessary by the fact that the
New York Times had begun vigor-
GUS and ceaseless warfare against the
Beers management. No one has ever
doubted the integrity of the Times or
questioned the honesty of its motives
in undertaking that fiereely pressed
crusade. But it is doubtful whether
the Times would ever have been sup
piled with the facts necessary to its
accusatory campaign, were it not for
the fact that Mr.. Beers had been
marked for destruction. .s: .s.
The Investigation made by Superin-
tendent Pierce showed that there had
been bad Judgment exercised in the
investment of the company's funds,
notably in the Plaza Hotel property
and Holbrook Hall, a New York
apartment house The value Of the
company real estate In Paris was
also proved to be hundreds Of thou-
sands Of dollars less than its cost.
There had been gross negligence In
the relations existing between the
company and its chief agencies. and
large advances Of funds made to
agents without adequate security.