Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-19
VOTE COUNTING SLOW
Insurance Companies May
Have to Spend $4,000.
HEAVY COST OF CANVASS
Election Expenses Will Fall on the
Policyholders.
INSPECTORS GET $35 A DAY
New York LIES Supervisors Confident
They Will Have Result Before
Mutual-Daily Outlay $500.

NEW YORK, January 19.-'rhe days have
heightened into weeks and the weeks have
now become full month since the ballots
We're cast in the Mutual and New York
life Insurance companies without substan-
tial progress in the counting Of the vote
in either concern. In insurance circles at
tention is Centcred on the enormous eX-
pcnse to which the elections are putting
the companies and through them, the
policy holders. 1t is estimated that the
elections will cost each company from
Se0,coo to $4,000 before the final certif-
Gates of election are issued to the winning
tickets.
Roughly speaking, the expense Goes not
fail far short of $500 a day in the Mutual
Life. and it will approximate that figure
in the New York Life The beginning of
the actual counting of the ballots is still
several weeks off in the New York Life,
and the estimates that have come from
the inspectors show that from SIX weeks
to two months more Will be required for
the canvass of the votes.
The New York's Count
The New York Life inspectors are con-
fident that they will beat the Mutual's
board in getting the vote counted. From
present Appearances it looks as though
tItS "OuIu 40 81 IL tlitS Colllt any w mere
near to the time limit that they have estab-
lished for themselves. In the Mutual this
week the number OF votes counted in a day
has varied from votes on Monday to an
estimated 5000 on Wednesday. But this
count has been made without taking into
consideration the challenges that will be
filed when the tally sheets are made up
The international committee contends that
the system by which the ballots are record
ed is so complicated that the clerks cannot
make the V3riouS entries Sppp6
CURED without an enormous percentage of
mistakes.
So, in the Mutual. after the entire vote
is "counted' according to the present sys-
TEN, the whole thing will have to be gone
over again on the challenges. Ut cannot be
estimated how long all this will take 1t is
generally thought that the vote in the Mu-
tual will not be complete before the middle
of next summer. This would mean about
seven months at $500 day cost to the COM
pany for the working days.
Items of Expense.
The expenses are made up of the follow
ing items: First, the board of five inspect
Ors of election draw $35 day each so long
as they are engaged on the count. Their
compensation was fixed by Superintendent
of Insurance Kelsey. The expert account
ants add 500 a day for the expert in each
company and his assistants. Then, In the
Mutual Life, there is secretary to the
L.
Their pay comes to $50 day.
In the New York Life one of the men,
bers of the board acts as secretary, but the
board has a representative of an expert
stenographic firm always on hand to record
the arguments that come up from time to
time, and while the compensation of this
Stenographer has never been announced, it
may be estimated from the fact that expert
stenographers in general get high as %
or 30 cents folio on highest grade work.
That is from 81 cents to 10 cents a page
and where days record runs at times into
forty or fifty typeWritten pages the stem
ographic bills offset the pay for the Mutual
inspectors secretary.
In the Mutual Life varying number Of
young women clerks at $1.75 a day have
been employed. The first of last week there
next day the force was cut down to 60, and
so on. Taking 60 as an average, a daily
expense of 500 is represented BY Inc clerks.
sos a Day for Clerks.
The forty or fifty clerks that have been
employed at the New York Life represent
an outlay of so day and upward. In ad-
dition, the board of inspectors in the New
York Life proposes to employ ten '.adjudl-
Gators" who will preside over the five "ad-
Indicating tables the exact function of
which shas not been fully explained as yet
Further than this. various minor en-
ployes of the New York Life have been
giving their time in greater or less degree
to watching the count. The company has
had Harry Bottome, one of its counsel In
almost constant attendance, and James H.
Mcintosh, Its head counsel, has been on
hand whenever needed The Mutuars law
yers, James McKeen for the company and
James NJ. Back for the administration
ticket, have also been called in from time
to time, and their remuneration represents
no small outlay of the company's money
Finally there Is considerable expense
Irjnf nd or
estimate can be put as yet
What the total cost means may be real
lied by the fact that lie Mutual Lie saved
100000 a year by reducing the salary of
the president from $15O,O00 that Mr.. Nc
Curdy got to $4,000 for Mr.. Peabody The
New York Life saved $4,000 in the reduc-
ton of its presidents salary to $4,000 a
year, and it now faces an expense exceed
ing that amount for the canvass of the
votes, while the prospect in the Mutual Is
not very much more cheering In point of
economy.
The inspectors. however. are their own
bosses In determining how the canvass shall