Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-05-26
|. s. IS BIGGEST INSURANCE AGENT
 IN THE BUSINESS
Has Insured 1,s00,000 Sol diers for Aggregate of
 $16,000, 900, 900.

Washington, May 25.-More than $16,OOO O0O, 900 insurance on the lives of more than 1,SOO,0OO soldiers and sailors already has been written by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. That is said to be more insurance, all written since the middle of last Oct Ober, than is today on the books of the twenty largest life insurance companies in the world. All kinds of problems have been met with in achieving this gigantic task, according to information furnished to congress by Thomas B. Love, assistant secre- tary of the treasury in charge of the bureau, and other officials.
 The war risk law provided for pay ment of family allowances and allot- ments and for administration of compensation insurance law appli cable to 100000 risks and for the
 writing of this insurance on the lives of a posibsle 100000 soldiers and sailors. The applications for allow ances and allotments of the soldiers pay had to be obtained from the ends Of the earth to which those in war service have been scattered From De-
 cember 20 until the beginning of this month the bureau mailed cut 2,30O.' 900 individual checks to families of dependents in the United States, ap- proximately $6O,0OO,0O0 has been paid out in allowances and allotments: and in addition many thousand claims for compensation have been made, some paid and others disallowed
 More than 95 per cent of the sol I;oro toto o< Inc 1,,Ir
 have taken the insurance and applica-
 tions for it have come in at daily rate involving from $50000,000 to $100O00,O00 of insurance during the last month. A clerical force of about
 4,300 people is employed by the bu- reau in the work. A bill is now pend ing in congress favorably reported by the house interstate commerce com mittee, amending the law in number
 of details.p roviding for instance that
 automatic insurance shall be payable to the mother whether deDendent or
 not and to the father as well, and
 making other broadening. features in the interest of the soldiers nearest of kin
 Bureau records show that there are 1,062,091 application blanks returned 1 on which the man states he has no dependents of any kind. There is
 surprisingly large percentage of those
 men who do have dependents, the first Knowledge of whom the bureau learns | when the dependents write in for in l formation.
 One of the surprising developments 1 is the member of complaints that the 1 bureau is getting from men who have asked exemption from their | wives or who claim they have no ! wives" In one city recently Com
 missioner Nebit, of the bureau, has I advised congress, he recently sent an ] investigator to look into B cases where men had claimed exemption I from their wives and said they did ! not know where the wives were liv- ing. The bureau located 31 of B wiv- 1 es within week and the government has absolute evidence that many of these men knew where their wives
 were. The men did not want the wiv-
 es to get the money.
 In the course of the testimony re- gently given before the house commit tee Paymaster General Cowie, of the
 navy, declared that in the exceptional
 cases where naval officers do not ] support their families they are made , to do so very quickly. About six 1 weeks ago a wife called at the navy ] department about failure of support
 and ''inside of fifteen minutes" said ! Admiral Cowie, "that gentleman was sent such a letter that he looked out for her in proper order and inside of three days had an allotment in my office from him."
 The war risk amendments are be | ing handled on the floor of the house by Representative Rayburn, of Texas.
 member of the interstate commerce | committee.