Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-01

these men, who had been unaccustomed to
the word failure, found that they could
not sell life insurance; Il was under such
a cloud that no one wanted Il.
Companies Feel the strain.
The companies themselves particularly
felt the strain Of these earlier days; with
hostile public and disorganized agency
force, they felt as II there was a struggle
before them almost for existence itself At
the same time the general public was in
dulsing In an immense amount OF pessioh-
ism. The man was very much In evidence,
who was continually saying, Il told you
so" There is graft in them all" or Every
man has his price"
AS the investigation proceeded, Il became
very evident that the grounds for making
them were well founded. Conditions in the
management Of some companies were
shown to exist, that were without question
bad, a total disregard of the rights Of
policy holders in some cases was revealed,
and in others a violation OF their most
sacred trusts by whole boards of trustees.
A marked result followed these dis
closures, the companies found that In
order to continue In business and re-estab-
lish themselves in the good graces OF the
public, certain changes must be made In
the management. and particularly that
show officers must be removed who had
been charged with gross mistakes or wrong
doing SO that before the~Armstrong COM
mittee had concluded its labors, almost a
complete change Of management was eff
fected in the three large New York COM
panies.
what Has Been Accomplished.
Now that the Investigations have been
completed, It may well be asked, what
have they accomplished?
In the first place, the public is more
fully and better informed in a general
way on the subject Of insurance: almost
every other person that one meets can
give some sort OF a definition for the
technical expressions used in insurance. 1t
may be true that much Of this knowledge
is only superficial, but even II slight, IL is
better than none at all, and may be an
incentive to a fuller knowledge of this
most important business,
Again, policy holders have obtained GER
tain and definite information of the stand
ing and condition OF their respective COM
panies. The, examinations have particu-
larly revealed one thing that should set
every policy holders mind at rest, and
that is the absolute solvency Of the COM
panies and their ability to meet all con-
| tracted liabilities. 1t has been made APP
parent that notwithstanding extravaganza
ana in some cases gross Inismanagement,
life insurance has stronger safeguards
thrown around it than has any other class
Of business. These safeguards being
| the strict laws regulating the maintenance
OF the legal reserve also the laws regu-
lating the character of the investments Of
funds.
The investigations have proven timely
in putting a check to extravaganza along
certain lines and in calling a halt in the
misuse Of funds tf1aht should properly be
returned to the policy holder in the way
| Of dividends.
End to the Speculative idea.
One thing that is being accomplished
should not be overlooked, and that is the
getting away from the speculative idea
which has had such an extensive range for
twenty-five years, and returning to the
original and fundamental idea of insur-
ance for protection only, at the lowest
cost. The actual results of the tontine or
semi-tontine plan of insurance as recently
revealed, when compared with the esti-
mates made at the time such contracts
of insurance were sold, are sufficient to
make any one pause for a long time be-
fore purchasing investment insurance.
AS to what will be the result OF the
misuse of funds that should properly be
aticalA The Armstrong committee has pro-
posed remedial legislation in New York,
covering some sixteen different subjects.
Some of the bills drawn are bitterly OPP
posed by the insurance companies, on the
ground that they are revolutionary and
will destroy all competition.
Many of the recommendations made