New-York tribune., 1909-01-27
BLAME INSURANCE LAW
Neu York Companies No Longer
Lead IN Ne5c Business.

Figures given IN the annual report OF the state
Superintendent OF Insurance. which eho" thao
while New York State companies formerly ied IN
the amount Of new business written by more than
.b-s. h.ndred million dollars year they now take
second place. have brought out again the face th@l
life insurance officials believe that the Armstrong
law went too far in limiting the amount OF 6usl-
ness that could be done by any one company
TO De sure" said Darwin ?. Kingsley presi-
deat OF the New York Life. TO Tribune re-
porter yesterday the legislature intended 10 unit
only the business OF the large companies Bur
l,sa laws cannot be made work Just as you wish
them to- The fact is the state discredted It's own
souapanIes in the eyes the world by the restr1e-
tiors II put upon them. while leaving other com
panfes free except in the single Item or expense
II openly proclaimed that the large companies
merely because Of their size-were in danger OF De-
coming a menace to the state. and so 1t put re-
strictons upon most Of them, thus irFvoklng wrong
principles OF regulation"
NJ kingsley said there were four steps in the
rrocess that accounted for the increase In the new
business Of companies from other states and for
:hs falling of in the total business done II was
natural that the many agents whom the three
large New York companies had 10 drop when the
amount Of new business they could write vas cut
down hs said would not seek places with other
New York State companies. Rather, he said, they
would go to companies OF other states which were
not restricted by the same laws
Again" said Mr.. Kingsley when the various
companies in 1876 had informed their agents that
compensation would be considerably reduced. many
agents probably said themselves that they would
70 INTO another line of business. where their maxi
mum wage woulc not be fixed by the Legislature
The third step the change which life insurance
has undergone is this The average man takes in
OF the DAYS or weeks only the salient points.
OF the Insurance investigation he remembers that
some wrong practices were uncoverd in New York
companies and that the Legislature passed new
laws presumably TO prevent q repetition OF the
abuses and that II went further and put certain
limitations on New York companies that were not
put or other companies
10 his mind New York companies We're not only
discreeited for some things iii the past. but they
were under suspicion for the future So the dec
Earation of investigators and legislators that
the New York companies are the best in the world
made impression or the average man He only
remembered what they did; and, to paraphrase the
words OF the OLD Greek critic, what they did made
such laundering noise he couldn't hear what they
said and so he insured elsewhere.
Asked II he thought the Armstrong laws have in
themselves deferred persons from insuring, Mr..
Kingsley said:
'You are getting debstable ground. according
TO the Superintendent. OF course, I have my opn-
ION Granting that the investigation weakened the
confidence OF sore, and the hard times have Grip
pied the resources Of others. don't think both
these causes account for the wholesale slaughter
of the business that the figures show In discredit
ing the companies the Legislature TO a certain ex-
tent discreditei the business as a whole
by legislating along lines that counter TO
economic laws they awakened q suspicion that in
SONS way life Insurance not safe as
desirable as had been supposed Now, there are
thousands of persons who need great deal Of per-
suasfon before they viii insure. and they resist
every STEP IN the agents argument They are look
ing for objections for reasons why they shouldn't
insure. And so, when the state-or few of its
representatives-declared that companies might do
too uucn business for the public good, such men
hae found just the reason they were looking for
And they didn't insure anywhere