first issued contained no non-forfeiture clause, but this has since been incorporated. The company issues a 5-year dividend policy, with options of settlement similar to tontine options at the end of each 5year period; also 10-year renewable term policies, and insurance bonds with guaranteed interest. This has been held for consideration by new management of the company. The company's latest form of policy issued in 1890, was designated as "A combination term and life policy." This policy was the outcome of the so-called ordinary life distribution policy, which was objected to by the Massachusetts department. In 1892 an " Accumulation Policy" has been issued.

October 28, 1885, William H. Beers was elected President Franklin's successor, being advanced from the vice-presidency, which he had held since 1868. President Beers became the actuary of the company in 1864, and was substantially in control of its management for twenty-five years. November 11, 1885, Henry Tuck was elected vice-president, Archibald H. Welch, second vice-president, and Rufus W. Weeks, actuary.

In consequence of an attack made upon the company by the New York Times in June, 1891, the board of trustees promptly requested the state insurance department to make an examination of its condition. After an exhaustive examination by the department covering several months, the superintendent of insurance reported that it was in the highest degree sound and able to carry out its contracts, and he allowed it a larger surplus than it had claimed in its last annual

statement.

Following the report of the examination, a reorganization of the official force of the company took place. President Beers resigned, and the Hon. John A. McCall, former superintendent of the New York insurance department, and subsequently comptroller of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, was elected president in his place. George W. Perkins, superintendent of agents in the western department, was elected third vice-president, the Hon. Hugh S. Thompson, one of the United States civil service commissioners, was appointed comptroller, a new position, and the Hon. Darwin P. Kingsley, former superintendent of insurance for Colorado, assistant superintendent of agencies. Charles C. Whitney was appointed secretary. Under the reorganization_the_trustees now are, William H. Appleton, C. C. Baldwin, William R. Grace, William A. Booth, W. F. Buckley, John Claflin, Charles S. Fairchild, Edward N. Gibbs, W. B. Hornblower, Woodbury Langdon, Walter H. Lewis, H. C. Mortimer, Richard Müser, Edmund D. Randolph, Hiram B. Steele, William L. Strong, Henry Tuck, A. H. Welch, William C. Whitney. The business of the New York Life, from 1880 to 1891 inclusive, will appear from the appended figures, showing the annual income, premium receipts, expenditures, disbursements to policy-holders, and assets:

The total number of policies in force December 31, 1880, was 48 covering insurance to the amount of $135,726,916. At the close the number was 193,452, the amount of insurance in force 614,824,713. The average annual increase in the number of policies in force since 1880 has been 11,356, insurance in force $43,361,181. The increase during the past five years has averaged 15,150 policies, and $61,932,845 insurance annually.

THE ATTACK UPON THE COMPANY IN 1891-ITS EXAMINATION AND THE OFFICIAL CHANGES.

The series of attacks upon the company and its management by the New York Times, alluded to above, began with an article which appeared June 12, 1891, charging that the firm of Sanchez & Merzbacher, managers of the Spanish-American department of the company, were defaulters to the company in an amoumt estimated at from $100,000 to $500,000, and that the officers of the company had knowledge of the fact, but had carefully concealed it from the policy-holders. To this, one of the vice-presidents replied to the press interviewers, that Merzbacher's shortage was to his own partner Sanchez, that the company held by assignment from Sanchez all his future interest in the renewals and other commissions of his department, which more than covered the indebtedness, that Sanchez had been paying off the indebtedness, and that the company would and could not lose anything by the defalcation of Merzbacher.

The Times continuing its attacks, assailed the president of the com- · pany, William H. Beers (who was then in Europe), stating that he was privy to the criminality of Merzbacher, that he paid his expenses to Europe to get him away from New York, that he supplied him with money to live in luxury in London, that he consorted with Merzbacher there, that he had speculated in Wall Street with him, that he owned a one-third interest in the profits of the Spanish American department, that he caused the books of the department to be removed from the country to avoid investigation, and finally that he (the president) had run away from the United States on account of these transactions, and did not intend to return to it. As soon as these charges against the

company and himself reached Mr. Beers by mail, he cabled that he would return home at once, and suggested that the insurance department of the state of New York be requested to make an immediate examination of the company. The following dispatch was also sent to

the company:

"Kind greetings, warm thanks to each and every loyal friend. I don't intend they shall be disappointed. In business of our magnitude mistakes are inevitable, and we compare favorable with others, but my integrity of purpose cannot be shaken. General net results are the touchstones in every business."

The finance committee of the company met June 16, four days after the appearance of the first article in the Times, passed resolutions denying that the company had suffered any loss from the Merzbacher defalcation and approving of the president's proposition that the insurance department be invited to investigate the charges and the condition of the company. Vice-President Welch thereupon, the same day, addressed the request to Superintendent Pierce. Two days later, June 18, the superintendent announced that the deputy superintendent, Mr. Shannon, with a corps of assistants, would begin an examination of the company.

The examination began June 21, Mr. Shannon being in charge. Mr. Michael Coleman, late president of the New York board of tax commissioners, was selected to appraise the real estate, and ex-Judge James C. Spencer to examine the titles thereof. Mr. Van Vranken, exdeputy superintendent of the state banking department, was sent West to value the company's real estate there. Dr. P. F. O'Hanlon was appointed to investigate the medical department, and Mr. Patterson, the actuary of the state insurance department, was placed in charge of the actuarial work. The foreign real estate of the company was valued through the state department of the United States, which willingly gave its assistance.

President Beers reached New York on his return from Europe July 6, and July 7 addressed a letter to the New York Times pronouncing its accusations against him ": absolutely and unqualifiedly false," and demanding a retraction. July 8, the board of trustees of the company, at its regular monthly meeting, passed resolutions declaring that the articles in the Times were "false, malicious, and libelous," approved of the action of the finance committee in asking the superintendent of insurance to make an examination, and also of the action of the officers in instructing counsel to begin a suit for libel against the editors, publishers, and proprietors of the Times. The newspaper had been notified by Mr. Hornblower, counsel of the company, of this suit on July 6. Damages were laid at $1,000,000. A second suit was begun on September 26 following for $750,000 damages, for defamatory matter printed by the Times since the beginning of the first suit.

In the course of the controversy which continued, certain charges which had been made by Theodore M. Banta, the cashier of the company, in October, 1887, against the management, were spoken of. These charges, twenty eight in number, were printed in the Times August 3. They consisted, substantially, of accusations that the management had wasted the money of the company in extravagant allowances to general agents and in useless schemes; that it spent enormous sums in corrupting legislatures and preventing exposures of its own misconduct; that it did business in deadly climates, swelled its reports of business

by including policies not taken, and deluded intending policy-holders with false estimates of profits; that it concealed defalcations of agents from the trustees, falsified the company's books, committed perjury in swearing to false statements to the insurance department, speculated with the funds of the company in Wall street, blundered in the purchase of real estate, and violated the laws of the state in various ways. Mr. Banta also prepared figures to show that while in January, 1876, the company had, on assets of $30,082,931, a surplus of $1,758,592, in January, 1887, on assets of $71,320,098, it had an apparent surplus of only $130,000, and actually an impairment of two or three millions of dollars.

On August 4, the day after the publication of these 1887 charges by the Times, the trustees of the company made public the conclusions of their investigating committee appointed to examine into the Banta charges, which were reported to them February 2, 1888. The committee claimed to have made an exhaustive investigation. The following is an extract from its report:

Your committee, after careful investigation of the affairs of this company by every means in their power, have satisfied themselves that the officers of the company have honestly endeavored to administer the affairs of the company with a single eye to the good of the company. No instance has been brought to our attention where any pecuniary advantage of a personal kind has been brought home to the officers in any act on their part. Your committee, therefore, without hesitation report that there is no evidence whatever of bad faith or fraudulent dealing on the part of the officers; but, on the contrary, there is evidence of the utmost good faith and zeal on their part for the welfare of the interests committed to their charge.

On August 28 a letter from Mr. Banta appeared in the Times, in which he reiterated some of the accusations against the management which the trustees had dismissed in 1888, and defended himself against certain counter charges. In concluding his statement, he expressed the belief that the company was "legally solvent," and that if "radical reforms" should be made, it would be to the interest of policy-holders to continue their policies in force.

The board of trustees met August 31, and passed a resolution to the effect that Theodore M. Banta, the cashier of the company, having published a communication in the Times to the injury of the company and its policy-holders, the president be directed to remove him from the position of cashier and from the employment of the company. On the same day Mr. Banta was dismissed.

A movement of certain policy holders began November 5, at a meeting held at the Windsor Hotel, New York. A resolution was adopted to appoint a committee "with authority to employ counsel, to take such action as they may deem necessary to correct abuses in the management of the company, restore public confidence, and generally to protect the interests of the policy-holders." The committee chosen was composed of Gen. Henry W. Slocum, chairman; Francis W. Glen, secretary; Rev. Henry M. Sanders, C. P. Huntington, Frank Dickinson, A. G. Paine, Frederick Harris of Springfield, Mass., and C. M. Lea and Gilbert H. Sherer of Philadelphia. Ex-Gov. D. H. Chamberlain was retained as counsel.

Superintendent Pierce's report of the examination of the New York Life insurance company was made public January 22, 1892. The examination had begun June 21, 1891, and the report was dated January 19, 1892, so that six months and twenty-nine days had been

consumed in the examination and the preparation of the report thereof. The report of the superintendent summarized and commented upon the report of the examination of the company by Deputy Superintendent Shannon, which accompanied it. Regarding the financial condition of the company, Mr. Shannon found assets of $120,710,691, and liabilities of $106,002,015, leaving a gross surplus of $14,708,676. The assets were nearly $5,000,000 more than were claimed by the company in its last annual statement. The report condemned the agency management of the company. Extravagant commissions and unwarrantable allowances were paid to agents and the accounts with them were very loosely kept. There were serious errors of judgment in some of the company's real estate investments. There was a loss on Holbrook Hall in New York of $529,867; on the Plaza Hotel of $283,994; on real estate in Paris of from $315,404 to $632,204, according to different appraisements. The course of the management in allowing Loomis L. White, one of the trustees, to purchase and sell all the company's securities was condemned. The account books of the company were badly kept. The Banta charges were examined seriatim. Some were of no importance and none were of much. The integrity of Mr. Beers and the officers was not impugned by the report.

On January 25, the trustees of the company met and appointed a committee of five "to consider the report of the superintendent of insurance and consider what action should be taken in review thereof." The committee was William L. Strong, C. C. Baldwin, John Claflin, Walter H. Lewis, and Edward N. Gibbs. On February 2, an address by President Beers to the policy-holders of the company was issued. He reviewed the report of the insurance superintendent in detail and explained and defended his management of the affairs of the company. He suggested several reforms, among them the prevention of giving rebates or commissions to the insured and the limitation of the amount of insurance that companies may put on their books.

Six days after the publication of this letter, on February 8, Mr. Beers resigned the presidency, to take effect February 10, giving as his reasons that at his advanced age and after the ordeal to which he had been subjected, he needed relief from labor, and that he recognized the fact that the assaults upon him, however unjust, might, if he remained in office, prove detrimental to the interests of the company. In accepting the resignation the board of trustees adopted resolutions of regret and eulogized Mr. Beers for his great services to the company, in recognition of which it authorized the execution of an agreement with him to pay him an annual salary of $37,500 during the remainder of his life, in return for which he was to render service to the company in an advisory capacity. On February 12 the board met and elected John A. McCall, then comptroller of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, president of the New York Life insurance company, to succeed Mr. Beers. George W. Perkins, the western agency manager, was elected third vice-president. Messrs. Charles S. Fairchild, William C. Whitney, Woodbury Langdon, and E. D. Randolph were elected trustees to fill vacancies. Rufus W. Weeks was appointed secretary of the board of trustees. At a meeting of the board held February 24, C. C. Whitney, many years the private secretary of exPresident Beers, was appointed secretary of the company. Soon after this the suits of the company against the Times for libel were with