The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-19
BY CHARLES YALE HARRISON.

IL Is now nearly three weeks since
you havo instructed Superintendent
Of Insurance James A. Bella to make
inquiries into the charges embodied
in The DAILY WORKER industrial
insurance exposure.
During this time Daniel F. Gordon,
Beha's assistant has written to the
Worker pointing out that one of its
charges are correct but was due TO
an terror" in printing Mr.. Beha
himself has not deemed it worthy
of his attention to reply to the serious
charges of fraud and misuse Of "mu-
tual' funds on the part Of The So
called "Big Four"
What About Misrepresentation
AS you are aware, among the many
charges adduced in this series OF az
ticles. is one that the directorates of
this enormous combine do not repre- |
sent the interests Of the 40 million 7
policyholders who are members Of
the companies involved.
We refer specifically to the fact
that Frederick H. Ecker. vice prcsi-
dent of the Metropolitan Life Insur- |
cause of his association with the
the Chase National Bank in which |
over 20 million dollars of Metropoli- |
tan funds are always on deposit.
Law Broken.
Mr.. Ecker is also the director of a
chain of railroads in whose securities
tens of millions of Metropolitan
funds are invested. This is in viola
tion of the Insurance Laws of 1909. !
We therefore ask that you instruct
Superin endent of Insurance James
A.. Beha to remove Ecker forthwith !
from his position with the Metropoli- |
ton and to make such inquiries as
viii result in further removals among
other officials as the facts may war
rant.
We ask that YOU order Beha to re-
move Charles NJ Schwab from the |
directorate Of the Metropolitan be- /
cause of this association with the
Chase National Bank which is also in
violation of the Insurance Laws.
Here's Another. /
We ask you to order your appointee
Reha to instruct the officers of tie
Metropolitan Life that the presence
&C Henry Ollesheimer. president of
the Chase National Bank. on the
Metropolitan directorate, is illegal /
and contrary to the intrests Of the &c
million Metropolitan policyholders,
and that he should. therefore be re-
moved Immediately.
We have charged that the whole
institution of weekly payment life in
surance is alive with overcharging,
cynical rulings harsh policy condi-
tions and fraudulent elections Of di-
rectors. We have addueed evidence
to support our charges. We have
quoted Beha's document to substan-
tiate our charges.
The five thousand industrial agents
in the city of New York will testify
that there are tens of thousands OF
policyholders Of the "Big -Four" who
are clamoring for a legislative in
vestigation into the evils of this
gigantic swindle.
Agents Wage Slavery.
Due to the merciless system of
wages under which these agents
work this expose has caused them
loss Of remuneration. They are an
xious to have you look into their
working conditions and render their
lot less uncomfortable.
We have submitted facts and fig
ures to Mr.. Beha, quoting his report |
to the New York Safe Legislature,
proving that more than 75s of ali |
weekly payment life insurance poll
cies lapse before they have accumu-
lated cash vadlue. Under the pre-
sent law the "Big Four" with the
exception of the John Hancockl are
permitted to forfeit all deposits on
policies until they have been paid on
for ten full years.
Insured For Three Years.
In view Of the fact that the aver
age life Of a weekly payment life
insurance policy is less than three
years the "Big Four" makes tens Of
millions Of dollars annually in this
respect. We ask that you instruct
Mr.. Beha to submit statistical data
showing why the John Hancock a
Massachusetts, company can allow a
five year surrender clause while the
New York and New Jersey companies
insist on ten year clause.
In spite Of the widespread inter-
est which this series Of articles has
provoked and in spite of the popular
demand for Legislative investigation
your superintendent has remained
silent.
In the interim between your letter
to him and thu day he has made no
serious effort to call the officers