The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-06-11
Minnesota NelUS
and Comment
BY r. w. HITCHCOCK

ance has sent out rather 1OrmluaDle
document which is causing good deal
of F. comment in insurance circles
throughout the state.
This document purports to be an zap
plication to qualify for agents or solicit
tors license" 1t demands that the ap-
plicant to sell insurance come clean
with intimate details of his personal
life. If he cheated at "mibs" in his
boyhood days or failed to touch third
base when the umpire wasn't looking,
he must put that down. If he finds
fault with the mornings porridge or
stays down town at night too often to
"see man." he must put that down.
Here and there throughout the four
page QUESTIONABLE he is warned not to
leave out details on penalty of being
preemptorily refused a license. Not
only is the applicant suspected of moral
delinquency throughout the question
naire, but one series of questions as
Sumes that he is not what he pretends
to be but that he is trying to horn into
insurance business for dark and SIMS
ter reasons. Until he has barred his
soul to the commissioner of insurance
and is mayhap graciously certified as
pure and undefiled, he is assumed to
have trifled with the Ten Command
ments and is suspected of dark inten-
tfOns to nick them in the future.
The low opinion of insurance agents
betrayed by the QUESTIONABLE, however,
is a comparatively small matter. 1t is |
the somewhat insolent and dictatorial |
attitude of the QUESTIONABLE that is +!
noteworthy. Most queStionnaireS long
for legibility in the answers, but this |
one, in bold, black type on the first |
page announces, This application will !
not be accepted unless completed in
the handwriting of the applicant" and |
elsewhere the QUESTIONABLE is pre-
emptOry in its requirements. Small !
potatoes for a Hitler but a good be-
ginning for Yetka.
But even the high and mighty atti-
tude of the QUESTIONABLE, betraying the
fact that the department of insurance
is somewhat touched with the Alex
ander Selkirk idea of being lord of the
fowl and the BRUTE" is not the most
extraordinary thing about this new
QUESTIONABLE. The climax is reserved
for the fact that the department is shy
and chOoSey about letting the taxpayers
Of the state know about the question
naire. This particular public document,
they seem to say, is not for the COM
mon herd, the eyes of the hoi poloi
must not see it; they refuse point blank
to give out copies except to the elect.
Even insurance agents are denied more
than one copy which they must fill out
as commanded and return p. d. q. If Il
the QUESTIONABLE is a good thing why
can't the taxpayer who is putting up
for it know about it? Why must it be
kept dark?
Politicians are admittedly queer lot,
but hoity-toity, holier-than- thou pub
lie office holders are querrer.
The fifteen year period Immediately
preceding 1881, when the present state
administration took charge, is the
period with which the farmer-labor
party particularly finds fault in Mime
sofa history. The state was run by the
Republicans during that time.
What republicans did: In that
fifteen year period the highest state tax
rate for revenue purposes was 31a mills,
three times in that period the state tax
rate for revenue purposes was l mill
only, once it was only eight-tenths of a
mill, twice no tax was levied, and over
the whole period of Is years the average
state tax rate for revnue purposes was
l 80 mills
What farmer-labor did: Contrast
this record with that of the five years
Of farmer-labor rule-the state tax for
revenue purposes has now risen to 81
mills and the entire state levy to 1887
mills.
What republicans did: During the
fifteen years of republican rule prior to
1881 the soldier boys were paid a bonus
Of sos, 100000, the highway county re-
endorsement bonds assumed by the
state were reduced $4,000, 900, the state
was maintained on a pay-as-you-go
policy and there was cash in the strong /
box on January l, 1881.
What farmer-IabOr did: Contrast
that record with the five years of far
mer-labor rule beginning in 1881; today
the state faces a deficit of $4,000 600
and is SAL 100000 more in debt than
when farmer-labor took charge.
Wait a minute, says farmer-labor, it
is true we were in power, but We did