Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-12-17
CLOSE OF INSURANCE
ELECTION At HAND
HAS BEEN A GREAT FIGHT FOR
THE CONTROL OF NEW YORK
LIFE AND MUTUAL COMPANIES.
Special to the Herald.


the great fight for the control of the
New York Life and Mutual Life In
surance companies and their hundreds
of millions of assets is at hand. Since
October IS the policy holders of the
two companies have been voting for
the election of new set of trustees
in each company. The struggle has
been the most remarkable in the fin
ancial history of the country, with
scattered, unorganized people of small
means on the one side and the great
est moneyed powers in the United
States on the other. That the result
is awaited with intense interest goes
without saying.
The election will determine whether
the present management of the two
companies, which we're legislated out
of office by the enactment of the re-
form insurance laws following the
Armstrong committees revelations,
will remain in power, or whether the
policy holders will put their own men
in charge of their own funds, amount
ing in the two companies to S97O,OO0,-
900.
Irrespective of the outcome, the
election will show for the first time
in the history of the insurance BUSH
ness in the United States a very large
vote by the policy holders, the vote
being due to the wonderful campaign
made by the international Policy
Holders committee to bestir the pol
icy holders to the Importance of show
ing sufficient interest in the safeguard
ing of their own funds to cast ballots.
That the present arrangements have
spent several millions of dollars to re-
tain the control of the companies is
the opinion of experts who have
watched the present fight since the
report of the Armstrong committee.
During the past two months the New
York Life is said to have spent up
wards of S2,000,000 to secure the vote
of the majority of its million policy
holders for the administration tick
ct" headed by Alexander E. Orr and
placed in nomination by the old NC
Call ring" officials controlled by Geo.
W. Perkins of the Wall Street firm of
]. P. Morgan & Co., and Thomas A.
Buckner, vice president in charge of |
agencies.
The Mutual, having about half as
many policy holders, is said to have
spent hslf az s1sieIhi to t. secure win.
Ssing vote for the Standard Oil ticket,
headed by Charles A. Peabody. which
was nominated at the direction of H.
H. Rogers, and for which members
of the discredited McCurdy regime
have been working with might and
main.
In the New York Life there are two
tickets in the field, the administration
nominees and those named by the In
ternational Policy Holders committee.
In the Mutual there are three tickets.
One is the ticket nominated by the
present management; the second is
the united committees ticket, jointly
nominated by the International Policy
Holders committee and the Mutual
Life Policy Holders association; the
third, or fusion ticket, was nominated
by the agents of the Mutual.
In the New York Life the number
of policy holders is 977,441. OF these
7S3,661 reside in the United States and
Canada. The remainder are scattered
throughout sixty-nine foreign coun.
tries, representing every corner of the
world. In the Mutual Life the total
number of policy holders is 1895,
of which 1879 live in the United
States and Canada, and the remainder
in other parts of the world.
In the election the administration
tickets" have had an incalculable ad-
vantage, in that they have been able
to get into direct touch with the pol
icy holders not only in America but
throughout the world by means of
their agents. In addition to working
through the thousands of agents, the
present arrangements are charged
with having employed the medium of
circulation to aid them in their cam
paign to an enormous extent. At
least five circulars of various sorts.
bearing on the campaign and in sup.
port of the administration tickets, are
said to have been sent out since July.
AS high as 10 cents postage has been
required to carry some Of the bundles
of campaign literature thus sent out.
which means that hundreds of thou
sands of dollars of the policy holders
funds have been used for this purpose.
To combat the electioneering work
done by the agents and other en-
ployes of the two companies through.
out the entire world, the International
Policy Holders committee has had to
depend solely upon circulars. Since
the campaign began every policy hold