The Washington times., 1915-07-20

finished . few questions were asked him
and then q call was made for Charles A.
Stillings, former superintendent Of uov-
ernmeht printing and st present the
to the stockholders the history Of his
connection with the company, conciud-
Ing his remarks with the statement
that there were always In every busi-
ts ness =, men whc n Sid not have
ton II q little rough sailing. was en-
countered and that he supposed that the
present muddled condition Of the affairs
oi the company made p lot Of weak.
there there was any way q. letting them out
he wes In favor Of their going. but there
wasn't any money that Ne knew Of that
was available TO make them whole on
what h sssx n:s q DSs os. from som. of
the subscribers - to what In the way
Of financial records and reports he and
his associates had r9ceived whom they
took office, he said that they didn't re-
ssv' ss. S sen q & soeP' 81 wns
In the treasury ana an audit which he
said he understood accounted for the
moneys received by the agency COM
party; Asked u the agsacy company
the insurance company high and dry so
far AZ any legal claim that could be
made by the insurance company on It,
ne replied that he Gvsssed that It
could. According 70 Mr. stillipg,. re-
ceived only . very small proportion OF
the money that had been paid into the
agency company. and he supposed that
the rest OF It had been spent in selling
the stock, .-. -. >.
Put Up Own Money.
Following Mr.. stiliings' address there
was a demand for Groom W. Walker.
tho originator and promoter Of the
company who was at tho meeting ac-
companied by his attorney. Mr. Walker.
in response to some questioning, sx-
planned that all the money which had
not been turned into the treasury Of the
insurance company had been spent py
the agency company in marketing stock
and that q much larger sum. which No
estimated At moro than N7.OoO. he said
he had supplied from his own funds in
the financing Of the company. He had
been led along by questions OF stock
holders and attorneys to make the
statement that he supposed that tho
agents OF tho company in selling stock
had represented their goods in as at
tractive a way a. possible and perhaps
made promises which were not author
ised. when he was ordered by his coun-
0Ol not 10 0uyW0T any IuEtner Que0IlO00
and took his seat in the audience.
II was then proposed that the report
Of Mr.. Nesbit be referred to a commit
tee for action. and somewhat bitter
row arose over the naming Of that COM
lnittec. . part Of the stockholders wish
ed by the chairman Of the meeting.
the others desiring that a membership
selected by a group Of stockholders
supporting Mr. Walker and his friends
Ah ah, A..
mined to allow the chairman to appoint
the committee. and this committee Will
report in writing IT'S recommendation
REGARDING the future Of the company.
The committee will consist Of former
Dover. Del: w. N. Cooper. d Sails
bury. Nd: H. L. Smith. or warrenton,
Va. and ". Gwyn Gardner and Clar-
ence Weaver. OF Washington.
A representative from the District At
torney's office was an attentive liatener
to the proceedings. and there were ru-
meeting adjourned.
The organization Of the National
begun last November BY Groom W.
Walker. an insurance agent Of consider
able reputation In the South and West.
Associated with hin, was his SON. -in-law.
Mr. ohlin. who was the first subscriber
to the stock In the sum of sas. 900. al
though Mr.. Walker said yesterday that
he (Nfr. Ohlin) did not have such a sum
of money and that he (Mr. Walker)
In reality paid for the stock in 50 far
as It was paid for.
1t was the latter part Of April that
the first rumors Of trouble developed
and complaints began to come to the
insurance commissioner OF irreguIar,-
ties. These claims and reports have
been under investigation. with the re-
suit OF yesterdays public airing OF the
situation.
Several prominent men have at vari-
GUS times been connected with the COM
pany IN an official capacity. Ex-Govcr-
nor Merriam Of Minnesota was for a
was its treasurer. The present officers
are Charles A.. Stallings. president; DR.
c. p. Grardneld. ensurcr: D. L. Rich
mond. secretary.
Tho subsidiary company to which was
turned over the selling OF stock under
the plan objected to by tho comniS-
sioner included In It's personnel one or
two men who are we'll known to the In
surance departments all over the coun-
try since their records and methods
have been the matter Of Investigation in
several States. It Is understood that
some OF these men have already left
town aud that their present where
abouts are unknown to the Agency COM
pany officials.