The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-10-19

the glauC 1IlSuIdIlCe puS1IIcSi
 The meeting was held on the in- itiative of Lewis Douglas, former Director of the Budget, who when he became president of Mutual Life Insurance was amazed at the antiquated and interruptions methods he found prevalent in the business generally. He thinks the insurance business should do 8 little house cleaning.
 Others who join him in urging reform, and who met with Pike, are Carroll Shanks, vice president of Prudential; Ebert Brigham, president of National Life Insur- ance of Vermont; George Van Schaick, vice president of New York Life and former Superinten- dent of Insurance for New York State when Roosevelt was Cover nor.
 The SEC report, following it's thorough investigation, is ready for submission to Congress, but is being held up until after the elec- tion. Next move is then up to Con- gress tor Senator O'Mahoney's Temporary National Economic Committee), which will probably ask the SEC to recommend reforms The insurance meeting with Pike laid the groundwork for such re- forms.
 INSURANCE
 EVILS
 There is general agreement that something more than state regu- lation of insurance is needed. State examiners are usually picked from the rolls of insurance exec utives, and have the company viewpoint.
 The SEC investigation found striking examples of irregularity within a stones throw of Wash ington. One Virginia company, op- erating as a stock company, was permitted to convert to mutual company when it began losing money. This permitted stockhold- CTS to shift their losses to policy holders.
 Conversely. when a Maryland
 company, organized on mutual lines, found itself on the gravy train, it was permitted to shift to a stock company so that the stockholders rather than policy holders might have the profits.
 Bringing reform into insurance will stir up a big fight. The ''big five" are extremely powerful and they are already sore at the methods and findings of the SEC investigation. It was significant that Metropolitan and Equitable did not attend the Pike meeting. GERMANS AND PANAMA
 Although the Army and Navy are in on the negotiations, most of them are carried on by RooSe- welt and Juan Trippe, apple checked, charming head of Pan American, who bounces in and out of the White House lick an ani- mated shuttle-cock.
 Trippe, a brother-inlaw of U.
 S. Steel chairman E. Stettinius,
 is one of the most melliflu0us,
 contagious salesmen i'm the
 game, and thS President seems
 to be enraptured. If advisers try
 to check on Pan American's ac-
 tivities, Trippe virtually laughs
 in their faces and goes over their heads to Roosevelt.
 Also Trippe has been shrewd enough to invite a large number of high-up government officials, ex-admirals and ex-generalS, to say nothing of flying army, and other navy big-wigS up to his Southampton summer estate for week ends. This has been nick named the "silver plate" lobby and it functions potently.
 Only time when the Army ready cracked down on Trippe was year ago last September, when they demanded that he get rid of the German aviators who were flying SCADTA planes in Colom- bia, none too far from the Panama Canal. SCADTA was controlled by Pan American, and the Army pointed out that it was giving Nazi pilots an excellent chance to be- come familiar with the terrain in an area absolutely vital to the United States. Furthermore, the pilots were being sent out in TO- tating groups from Berlin, ap- parently to get experience in Co., luHnhia.
 Trippe backed-and-filIed about this for over six months, at first refusing to get rid of the Nazis.