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The Commoner.
VOLUME 5, NUMBER (
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IT IS A GOOD SIGN that many busy men are
paying more and more attention to the pro
tection of birds and beasts. Frank F. Palmer of
Philadelphia, writing to "The Bulletin" of that
city, says: "I would lllce very much to say some
thing on the sale of the little chickens which
takes- place now every Easter. While standing
last Saturday in one of the stores in this city
I could not help seeing the manner in which the
little ' fellows were treated by the public, and,
when one takes into consideration the fact that
the majority of the people buying these chicks
do so to delight some small child, who is per
mitted to maul and haul same around until they
are tired of it, I think such sales should not
be permitted. I know of cases where a very
small child, not knowing better, and when the
older person was not near, has hold a little one
so tight as to squeeze it to death. Also a great
many of the buyers live in the city, and have no
room, or time, to bother with the chickens, wh'ch,
after the person for whom it was purchased is
tired of it, is allowed to wander off, and the
chances are it does not live long. I feel sure
that your readers will agree with me when I
say that fully 75 per cent of the little chickens
bought at Easter and given away as presents die
through the carelessness or indifference of the
person buying them. Therefore, I say that such
a sale should, by all means, bo stopped, and ask
that you kindly insert this, with the hope that
the S. P. C. A. or some other person with the
power will prevent further cruelty of this sort."
REFERRING to the article entitled "The Price
of a Soul," Ave Maria, published at Notre
Dame, says: "An article written for, a religious
periodical by Mr. W.'.T. Bryan was refused pub
lication because of a reference to the business
methods, more oily than honorable, of a certain
millionaire who is known to be as pious on Sun
day as ho is, said to be unscrupulous on the other
days of the week. We are rather glad that the
article was rejected. In the periodical for which
it was written it might have escaped our. notice."
Ave Maria quotes certain passages from the article
referred to and adds: "If this isn't good preach
ing plain, practical, earnest then we confess we
are no judge of it. Mr Bryan ought to keep such
articles as this for his own paper, and write as
many of them as possible."
THE DIRECT TESTIMONY given before the
committee of inquiry by insurance mag
nates seemed bad enough, but the returns from
the "back precincts" result in disclosures equally
serious with those made before the main com
mittee. For instance, soon after the presidential
election of 1890 Governor Culberson of Texas
wrote to John A. McCall, president of the New
York Life Insurance company, demanding that
in conformity with the Texas law, President
McCall give the amount, if any, paid by or on
behalf of his. insurance company for political
purposes during the presidential campaign.
Replying to this demand, Mr. McCall caused to
be sent to Governor Culberson an affidavit by
T. M. Banta, cashier of the New York Life In
surance company, to the effect that "no moneys
were directly or indirectly paid by the company
to the republican campaign fund during the re
cent presidential election." Hugh S. Thompson,
comptroller of the New York Life-Insurance
company, also made affidavit to the same effect.
John C. Whitney, auditor of the Now York Life
Insurance company, made a similar affidavit.
TN HIS TESTIMONY before the insurance com
1 mitteo President McCall testified that dur
ing the last three presidential campaigns the
New York Life Insurance company contributed
nearly $150,000 to the republican national com
mittee. Governor Culberson was not content to
rest unon the affidavits made by Mr. McCall's
subordinates and so he sent to New York a
special representative. We are told that officials
of the New York Life pretended to disnlay to
Governor Culberson's representative all their
books, but these boolrs did not disclose anv of
the contributions to .the fact of -which Presi
dent McCall testified before tlw) insurance com
mittee. The. governor's -representative was re
peatedly assured that no such expenditures had
been made, while the insurance company's books
were entirely silent upon this question. It is
needless to say that the showing made to Gov
ernor Culberson's representative, arid the affida
vits made by President McCall's subordinates
directly conflicted, so far as facts are concerned,
with .the sworn testimony of President McCall
and Vice-president George W. Perkins. Governor
Culberson's inquiry was based upon the Texas
state law, which gives to the state superintendent
of insurance the authority to bar from Texas
insurance companies that have been guilty of
diverting funds from policyholders.
THE LONDON correspondent for the New
York Evening Post says that the British
public are always ready to buy a good American
article; that they are large Investors in Ameri
can railroads, but that in the management of
insurance companies America is not a good
model. This correspondent says: "For example
take the cost of administration and commission.
More than 25 per cent of the premium income
of tho three leading American companies doing
business in England is absorbed in this way.
The average cost, including commission, in
British offices js less than 15 per cent of the
premium income, a considerable number expend
ing less than 10 per cent. The amount expended
in the one item of commissions to agents, by
American offices doing business here, seems to
the British mind extraordinarily large, averag
ing over 15 per cent."
ACCORDING TO THE same authority four
Briv.jh offices pay no commission at all,
oltaining their business without agents. In the
case of British offices that pay commission, an
allowance of 5 per cent, is large. The British
practice is to pay 1 per cent on the sum assured
on the introduction of a proposal (averaging say
25 per cent of the first year's premium), and
only 2 per cent on all premiums after the first.
Fr.om one cause or another American offices are
paying away more than 10 per cent of the prem
ium in expenses in excess of what is usual in
England. Twenty-five per cent seems to unso
phisticated Britishers a very excessive rate of
expenditure in any business combining invest
ment with insurance. The best results can not
surely be achieved when a quarter out of every
dollar is sterilized at the outset. There may be,
for aught the "writer knows, more economically
managed American life offices, but he is speak
ing of the kind that do business in the "United
Kingdom, and it seems to him that those inter
ested in the last-named institutions should seek
to have their expenditure reduced more nearly
to what is the expense ratio in this country.
IT IS CLAIMED by The Post's correspondent
that on the face of the records the best Eng
lish offices are now making much more profit
from interest than are their American competi
tors in Great Britain. For instance, he says:
"The American offices are now earning little over
4 per 'cent, at which rate British offices find no
difficulty, in investing their funds. And it must
be remembered that the profit made by a life
office from interest is the dlCTerence between the
valuation rate and the realized rate. The reserves
of American offices doing business in England
are calculated on the assumption, for the greater
part of the business, that the premiums will ac
cumulate at 4 per cent. As they are earning very
little more than 4 per cent, their profit from in
terest is small. In England, on the other hand,
the reserves are in most cases on a 3 per cent
and. in a good manv instances, on a 2V per cent
basis; and the profit from interest is very larse
from 1 to 1V2 per cent on the funds being annu
ally received in -excess of the amount anticipated
for valu "on purposes."
THE EXPERIMENT of fastening, a tag to
some finny creature, liberating it in the sea
and then waiting for some one to cat-ch it and
report results has, according to a writer in the
New York Evening Post, often been ridiculed as
being merely the intentional putting of needles
into a haystack. But the Post writer savs that
scientists are refill v learning a srood deal from
these methods, .adding: "Considering the pro
verbial abundance of the fish in the sea the num
her of such labelled creatures to be caught again
is really so astonishing as to suggest that like
pet canaries, they must intentionally seek human
protection. For example, of 479 lobsters recently
Jiberated in and about Buzzards Bay, no leas than
seventy-six were traced. One fact brought out
in this way was that the lobster was able to
travel as much as ten miles in forty-eight hours.
It was in the same way that scientists learned
where the salmon spend the time between their
birth and their return to the fresh water rivers.
Some tagged salmon liberated when young in
the river were caught much later, by deep-sea
fisherman. It is said that the edible crab of
Chesapeake Bay is to be the next subject for in
vestigation by this method. One unforeseen re
sult of the ichthyologist's labors has been an addi
tion to the legends of the deep. The metal tags,
seemingly designed for the personal adornment
of the submarine dandies, are said to be in great
request among superstitious fishermen, especially
Greeks and Portuguese, as charms.
THE CANADIAN MINISTER OF JUSTICE has
finally issued a warrant for the extradition
of Gaynor and Greene. These men were indicted
in connection with the harbor improvements in
Savannah, and covering a period of six years
they have resorted to all sorts of methods to
avoid extradition through court procedure. Their
latest effort was to apply for a writ of habeas
corpus, and this being denied, the extradition
warrant was promptly issued, and Gaynor and
Greene will be returned to the United States for
trial. Referring to the efforts made on behalf
of these men, the New York World says: "The
nature of the technicalities made use of to defer
action, the long period of immunity secured to
the defendants, exceeding by nearly two years
the term of imprisonment served by Captain Ober
lin M. Carter, the engineer in charge of the
fraudulent work, and the great cost of the prose
cution to the government, iriake this one of the
most extraordinary dases of international law's
delay which can be recalled. For nearly six years
Greene and Gaynor have lived in comfort under
indictment, half of the time in luxurious exile.
For the young lawyer the proceedings will serve
as a complete text-book of legal subterfuge ana
defensive strategy."
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THE GOVERNMENT REPORT shows that so
far the wheat crop is five million bushels,
and the oat and barley crops two million bushels
each behind the estimate made on August 1. But
the Chicago Inter-Ocean points out that these
comparatively slight deficiencies are more than
made up by the corn crop, which is likely to be
more than 31,000,000 bushels more than was esti
mated on August 1. The Inter-Ocean says:
"Already it is certain that the wheat crop will
be above the average, and the yield of oats tho
second largest' on record. But the wealth now
maturing in America's corn is almost beyond com
prehension. The corn crop is expected to be not
less than 2,625,000,000 bushels, or 158,000,000
bushels more than the big crop of last year. II
anyone has .fretted a little over the weather or
the last few days he may be consoled that sucii
warmth is worth about $10,000,000 a day to me
country in maturing the corn crop."
THE VALUE OF THE YIELD OF CORN for
1905 is shown by the Inter-Ocean in the
following comparisons: "At an average of o
cents a bushel and corn is well above that price
in the Chicago market the corn crop will oe
worth $1,312,500,000. On September 1 our national
debt, including all outstanding greenbacks, was
$1,283,121,939. So with our corn crop, we coum
pay off the entire national debt, and redeem i ever
greenback in gold, and still have nearly $30,000,ouu
'left to celebrate the feat. We could, from our
corn crop alone, and if there were any reason lor
so doing, give every man, woman and child oi tn
80,000,000 people in this nation, over $10 pmu
to buy a Thanksgiving dinner. We could wiij
our corn crop pay off everv bond and reiK'
every, share of the United States Steel condi
tion, make the -shareholders forget that divj-icnu.
-were ever passed and have over $400,000.oou it
for the relief of other trusts. We could w,tn "'
corn crop pay the heirs of every Equitable o-J
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