The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-08-20
MANAGER OF FARMERS FIRE
INSURANCE COMPANY HAS
SOMETHING TO SAY.
NOCONNfCTION WITH POLITICS
na.,ores His Efforts Were Solely to
Defeat Legislation That Had Pass
al the Huse and Would Have Put
uoo 6,onnany Out Of Business.

ad tho Hmse and Quiz nave Fut
Home Company Out Of Business.
To the People Of Terrell County:
have been accused on the streets OF
ravson of playing an unfair trick
mon Hon 2. F. Melton. This charge
ling on 2 subject Of public interest
49, n state the facts in connec-
ZION with the same.
i is = fact generally known that
have for several years been con-
nerted with all Of the business OF
-ba Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance
Cnmnarv. Il is also well known that
for several years past there nave
been more or less efforts to have new
insurance laws enacted by the Geor-
,ia LEGISLATURE. ! have considered
i mari OF nv duty TO the members
~ tho Farmers Fire Insurance Co.
in the county Of Terrell, as well as
IN the other counties in which the
Farmers Mutual operates, to see that
LEGISLATION on the subject OF fire in
surance should not be hostile TO our
Interests if | could help it. The leg
ie1a+nre Of 1911 appointed an insur-
ance commission 10 revise all OF the
insurance laws Of Georgia and re-
mort TO the session Of 1912, which
has lust passed into history. ] was
invited 70 appear before the commits
sion while they were celebrating, and
7 made a statement 10 them OF the
nature Of our kind of insurance. The
members OF the commission present
expressed themselves as being friend
" TO our company and like compa
MES.
Also the Hon. B. F. Melton is now
and has been for several years pres
fdent of our Farmers Fire Insur-
ance Company; he has been our rep
resentative in the Georgia legisla-
ture; he has been member OF the
house insurance committee. l dis
cussed this matter with Mr.. Melton
several times, and was informed by
him that the needs Of our company
we're receiving all necessary atten-
ton. and were being properly cared
for. When finally the daily papers
gave synopsis Of the terms OF the
bill I observed from this synopsis
that under the terms Of the bill our
company would be forced to discon-
tinue for two main reasons. First,
the bill required a deposit OF $lO,-
600 with the state, the same as is
required of old line companies. Sec
ond, the bill required that all hre
insurance policies used in the state
of Georgia should be uniform.
wrote Hon. B. F. Melton calling his
attention to the above objections TO
the bill. I saw him shortly after
wards, and he told me that the mem
bers of the committee informed him
that they were willing for the objec-
tons to be removed, and that in fact
the above objections we're inserted
in the bill unintentionally. He as
sured me that there would be no
trouble in having our objections to
the bill removed.
Later on / observed from the daily
papers that the general insurance
bill had passed the house. To be on
the safe side / again wrote Mr.. Mel"
ton asking him to let me know II
the bill as finally passed was in sucn
form as to protect our company, and
if not to notify me Immediately IN
order that l might appear before the
senate. Also knowing that Hon. 4.
R. Shaw was not in Atlanta and that
Hon. ]. E. Shepherd from Americas
represented two counties as much
interested in this company as ours
is l also requested him to examine
the general insurance bill as passed
by the house and let me know
Farmers Fire Insurance Company
and if not to notify me Immediately
that I might have a hearing before
the senate.
I had no response from Mr.. Mel
ton, but on Sunday, August 11th,
received a telegram from Senator
Shepherd informing me that the Dill
as passed by the house and as ap-
proved by the senate committee re-
quired a deposit by the Farmers
Fire Insurance Company, and sug-
gested to me to be there on Monday
morning and that he would assist
me in getting hearing. l saw
Mr.. D. c. Pickett shortly after re-
ceiving the telegram and requested
him to go with me to Atlanta and
assist me in saving the Farmers
Fire Insurance Company. Mr.. Pick
EFT finally agreed TO do so, and did
go with me. We met Senator Shep-
herd soon after arriving in Atlanta,
went to examine the house bill as
approved by the senate committee
and found that Senator Shepherds
telegram was correct. We three
Senator Shepherd, Mr. Pickett and
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