The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-03-20

know what was going on. it excates
my laughter and derision-
In every administration Of a great
public concern there are many things
10 be done. which, in the hurried line
Of duty and in the desire for victory,
cannot always be delayed. But there
never was a line or a thing that was
done in the y. Y. Life in my admins
tration OF my department, but the ex-
ecutive officers, one and all. were con-
scious of what the purpose was. or
what the expense was. / say this
now, and when / look around / see
their faces before me, and / challenge
contradiction"
Referring to the expenses incurred
by him and the vouchers which were
approved by the committee, Judge
Hamilton said that no objection had
been made to them during his ten
yeas of service, but, when the cry
came out, they say, well, We did not
know anything about it. This is the
fellow. this is the man that has lone
it ALL
If they had stopped, If they had
performed their duty when they should
have done it, if it was a duty-but
mark, l am not assuming the asser-
ton or accepting that it was a duty
but if it was a duty, they should have
stopped it at its inception. And when
they continued and continued by me,
the faults. the blame, the responsible
ity are theirs and not mine"
And let me say further he added
that never a dollar of the New York
Lies money passed through my hands
to which I did not put my John Han
cock
1T simply eXcites my laughter when
| hear the gentlemen assert, those who
are here and in my hearing, and othsrs
that they did not know that Andrew
Hamilton was defending the New York
Life and the insurance interest gen
orally throughout the United Sta+es
on behalf of the principles which The
officers Of the insurance companies e.
lieved to be necessary for their success,
and for the benefit Of the policy hold
ers."
He created laughter and applause
when he detailed the CONSERVATION Of
the board upon hearing of certain leg
islation inimical to the company's in
t~erests, which needed to be looked af-
ter. They would say, he stated, "'well
e for the judge All right, the
judge will come. sit down Well,
what is the trouble?' Heavens if this
bill passes, we might as we | get ont
Of that state All right. we will have
to see what the objections are to it, we
will have to agitate, we will have the
press do something, we will have the
politicians do something, we will have
the agents do something. we will have
the policy holders do something. we
wi | get men of Influence to go ahead
and see if we cannot beat it. And
we would beat It. Then the word
would come 1t is beaten And they
would come in and pat me on the back,
these men that would not know me
now, would come in and pat me on the
back, and say You did it,"
After denying that he ever saw the
inside of the company's books, and
therefore did not know how the money
given him was charged up, Judge
Hamilton declared that If there were
errors and wrong in that, it lays right
down at the administration, and it
comes right back to the board Of trus-
tees Of the New York Life and to no.
UOuy else.
If, he said, the board did not approve
his vouchers, 'then they failed to
perform their duty, and the reason l
came forward now is not to say or not
to apologize for these vouchers, but to
say this, these men with their respOn-
sibilities upon their shoulders and
upon mine, they have something to &C
count for.
They may talk about the yellow
dog but the yellow dog is a dog Of
courage and of loyalty, but the ours
who stood around this funeral II"
has occurred, and the ours who know
of these transactions and shrunk into
their shoes-they are the curs-and
that is the reason that / come to speak
before you and say that the great in
terest of two billions of dollars Of life
insurance and four hundred millions Of
dollars of assets can never be safely
entrusted to the hands and administra-
ton of a lot of ours