Arizona republican., 1909-06-18
NEW LAW IS MILESTONE
 IN ACCIDENT INSURANCE
THE UNDERWRITERS WERE RE-
 LUCTANT.
Majority OverruIed Few Who Urged Voluntary Standardizins Before
 Compulsion Began.

Surance commissioners of the various states have won a notable victory for the Bill Smiths and John JOneses who take out accident insurance by bringing the accident insurance com panies to the adoption of plain. uni- form policies that contain no trick or evasive phrases. The uniform poli- cies, which the old companies so bit
 terly opposed, have not yet been adopted, but the white flag is f.y- ing, the committee of insurance com pany presidents, including William
 Bro. Smith, H. G. Alexander and
 George F. Seward having prepared
 the bill for the state of Ohio requir
 ing uniformity of wording that was
 recently requested" by the associa-
 tion of insurance commissioners.
 While specifically for the state of
 Ohio the bill was prepared for the
 approval of the commissioners as
 model for legislation in all the vari
 ous states. The draft of this bill, it
 is announced, has been prepared and submitted to the other eastern acci- dent underwriters. It's approval by the nation convention of insurance
 commissioners is yet to me secured ! but the determined stand taken by the convention, it is believed. has brought about the drafting of a bill
 that nearly will fill it's requirements. The first three sections of the
 draft for Ohio contain the revolution ary requirements against which a
 majority of the companies have put up a losing fight a contest fore casted by a minority contingent of
 underwriters as long ago as at the 1 twenty-fist annual convention of the International Association of Accident Underwriters at Atlantic City last | July when bitter feud was created 1 by efforts made to forestall compu.- sion by voluntary standardiZing of ! policies. At that time Robert E. Armstrong, former assistant secretary | of the treasury and now president of ! the Consolidated Casualty company
 of Chicago was severely arraigned for l ''irregularity" because of his advo- | cacy of voluntary action by the in | surance companies. The debate be- i came sensational and many personal | arrangements date from that occa- sion.
 The three important sections of the
 new proposed law are as follows: Section l. No policy of insurance
 shall be issued or delivered in this state by any company organized un- I der the laws of this state or by any 1 company authorized to do business
 therein which shall omit any provi- ] sion required by this act or contain any restriction prohibited by this act. nor until a copy of the form thereof shall have been filed with the super | intendent of insurance, nor thereafter ! or after the final decision of the | court in the event of a petition for | review as hereinafter provided, if the ] superintendent of insurance shall mo- | tify the company in writing that such | policy does not comply with this act. | The superintendent of insurance shall ! specify the reasons for his ruling to the company affected thereby, which | ruling shall be subject to review by any court of competent jurisdiction upon petition of the company filed within sixty days after the receipt | thereof by the company.
 Section II. Every policy of insur-
 ance against accidental bodily in | juries or disease, or both, issued in this state shall be printed in type not smaller than long primer or ten | point type, and shall have printed on the face and on the back thereof d | title correctly describing same, and shall state the time when the insur- ance hereunder shall become effec- ! tive.
 Section III. Every such policy,
 with a copy of the application there | if of other mar as may be attached to or endorsed thereon, shall constitute the entire contract of insurance, except as the
 same may be affected by any table
 of rates or classification of risks filed
 by the company with the superinten-
 dent of insurance.
 During the memorable debate of presidents of insurance companies MT. Armstrong, who was then president
 of an eastern company, said among
 other things:
 'I do not believe with some that
 the purchaser of accident insurance is
 getting more than he is entitled to in
 the main features, but I do think
 that up to the present time in most
 cases he is buying q very peculiar
 document. Many of the policies
 which are now issued are complex and complicated in their verbiage, pe-
 culiar in their construction and in-
 volved in their arrangement. l be-
 lieve that the greatest service that
 can be rendered to the companies to-
 day is to issue frank, plain simple,
 unambiguouS policies and to render the service therein agreed, rather
 than to- tack on each year upon the already archaic structure of the poli- cies, new and peculiar architectural devices known as additional, special, extraordinary and grandiloquent ben efits.
 'I feel confident that l speak by the card when l say that it is only a question of a very short time when the present ambiguous complicated forms of policies and agreements which are now in use will receive the drastic attention of the insurance authorities throughout the United States. l believe that a word of warning along this line should be given by some one. No one has yet seemed to feel it his duty, and there fore l am prompted to suggest the introduction of simplicity in the writ ing of our policies.
 "The policies in the first place need simplification, encouragement, and sensible, consistent rigid enforcement. |. T.