About The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907 | View Entire Issue (June 4, 1887)
f VOLUME xm.' r ' Evolution is too large and grand a theme to * he sneered at or rfdieufed,’or tobe killed off by, throwing the “monkey”'at k l Try again. wMj Respecillillv, , \jJk fG, JUNE 4,1887. PRICE: $2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE. Shaking Across the Bloody Chasm. SO OIKERIwAR SONGS. Poetic Echoes From the Dead Past. For Sttiwy Soura. THOUGHTS FOR MEMORIAL DAY Ton lore yonr heroes ot trie sinthern Gray, We love our heroes ol the Northern Buie. The sun shines brightly on their graves to-day, We scatter n >»’rs, and, hum ily kneeling, pray Tnat ev’ry btiter thought he wiped away— They fought and died, each to his own cause true. And tney were brothers, all. Let nothing mar. To-day the friendship of the N nth and 8 juth. Gad marked the struggle—marked each wound and soar, And planed the vlct’ry, like a shining star. Where He saw Sc, H i rules the fates ot * ar— Now birds build lUsts within Ut6 cannon’s mouth. The musket and the sword row rest In peace, And old fort walls are crnmbllog to decay So let the (euds that marked the oid days cease, From ev’ry lingering oate seek q tlck release. Let frlaods'ilo’s voice be borne on e*’ry breeze— Give love the key to ev’ry heart to-day. And while we scatter floWrs above our dead. Close by their graves we kneel aDd humbly pray: “God b ess t; e land for which our heroes bled, May heavenly bsoedic Ions e’er be shed On ev’ry home, and North and South be wed.” And on, we pray: 3s ol the Blue and Gray.” “God rest our heroes South Pueblo, OoL Annie Wait, SHEKMAFSIAKjfi*, Through Georgia and the ondiioted in - Accordance With Modern Civilized Warfare? AN ANSWER TO BADEAU. ► g *■ 8K £ Editor Sunnt South: In a recent issue of the Sunnt Soutii there appeared a lengthy ar ticle by Badeau, copied from St. Nicholas for the young. Prolific Northern writers like Ba deau are attempting to make history—at our expense. Badeau attempts to make his young readers believe that Sherman’s wanton de struction of undefended homes and private property, come under the rules of civilized warfare, and that war was “nothing but or ganized robbery.” Let us see about that. Be low I make lengthy extracts from Zeb Vance’s address before the “Old Maryland Line,” which completely answers Adam Badeau. “On the 1st day of February, 1805, Sher man’s movement began for the borders of North Carolina; with irresistible force his col umns began their march through the southern regions of South Carolina, towards Columbia and apparently Charlotte, North Carolina, and so on to Virginia, along the track of Sher man’s last great predecessor, Lord Cornwallis, in 1781. But whether it was he feared the winter mud of the North Carolina hill country, or that he did not care to trust himself to such a combination of the Confeds as might cross his path so far into the interior, he left Lord Cornwallis’ track near Wtnnsboro, South Car-1 olina, and turning to the right, made for Fay etteville. Crossing the Catawba and the Great Peedee, his army marched in two great divis ions near a day’s march apart, thus covering and devastating a wide expanse of country. With reference to this famous and infamous march, f wish to say that I hope I’ n too much of a man to complain of the natural and inev itable hardships, or even cruelties of war; but of the manner which this army treated the peaceful and defenseless inhabitants in reach of its columus, all civilization should cam plain. There are always stragglers and desperadoes following in the wake of an army who do some damage to and inflict some outrages upon help less citizens in spite of ail efforts of command ing officers to restrain and punuh; but when a general organizes » corps of thieves and plunderers as" a part of Us invading army, and lice tses beforehand their outrag- s. he aud all who countenance, aid or abet, invite the exe cration of mankind. This peculiar arm of the ilitary service, it is charged and believed, r as instituted by Gen. Sherman in his inva sion of the Southern States. Certain it is that the operations of his ‘ Bummer Corps” were as regular and as unrebuked, if not as much commended for efficiency, as any other divis ion of his army; and their atrocities are justi fied or excused on the ground that “such is war.” In his own official report of his opera tions in Georgia, he says: “Weconsumed the corn and fodder in the region of country 30 miles on either s.de of a line from Atlanta tc Savannah; also sweet potatoes, hogs, sheep and poultry, and carried off more than 10,000 horses and mules. I estimate the da mace dtpte to the State of Georgia at one hundred million dollars, at least twenty miles of which inured to our benefit, and the remainder was simply waste and destruction!’’ The same cbivalrij coarse of warfare was continued, only worse, throuch South and North Caro lina The ‘ remainder” delicately alluded to— that is to say, the damage done to unresisting inhabitants over and above the seizing of nec essary army supplies, consisted in private Louses burned, stock shot down and left to djd the-’ upimtbe infernal' tained their high repttf . t thieves on earth, by fable place of concealmenl suspicious spot of earth' w.Ayr,t and bayonets, searching-- every house, nook and gratify. If these^foiled, and they sometimes did,' torjaia^fjf the inhabitants was freely employed eo 'force disclosure... Some times, with noble rage at disappointment, the rif tires were.left 'dead, as a warning to eft ciders who should dare to hide a jewel ora family trinket froin the cupidity of a "soldier of the Union.’’ 1 No doubt the stern necessity for such things' caused great pain to those who inflicted them; but the Union must be restored, and how could that be done whilst a felonious, gold watch or a treaspuable spoon Was suffered to remain in the land, giving aid and comfort to rebellion? For such is war! . Are such things -war, indeed? Let ns see. Eighty years before that time-there was a war in that.same country; it was rebellion, too, and an English npV*;nan led the troops of Xireat BritaS^hns/ that same regjmfc^ver muofc'ofthABBOtte, in his effortsBUlqb- due that The people through^JWse lands he marched, were bitterly hostile; they shot his foraging parties, his sentinels and stragglers; they fired upon him from every wood. He and his troops had every motive to hate and to punish those rebellious and hostile people. It so happens that the original order- book of Lord Cornwallis is in possession of the North Carolina Historical Society. I have seen it and read it. Let us make a few ex tracts, and see what he considered war, and what he thought to be the duty, of a civilized soldier towards non-combattants and the help less. “Camp near Beattt’s Ford, January 28, 1781. “Lord Cornwallis has so often experienced the zeal and good will of the army, that he has not the smallest doubt that the officers and soldiers will most cheerfully submit to ill conveniences that most- naturally atteni war, so remote from water-carriage and m? zlnes of the army. The supply of rum ft time will be absolutely impossible aud that of meal very uncertain. It is needless to point out to the officers the strictest discipline, and of preventing Che oppressed people from suf fering violence by thd r, Paa«.i iron, whom they are taught to look for protection. ■ Now Gen. Sherman was fighting, as he said, for the sole purpose of restoring the Union, and for making the people of the rebellions States look to the Union alone for protection; does any act or order of his anywhere indicate a similar desire okprotecting the people suffer ing at the hand£?Wf those whose duty it was to protect them? > Again— i f‘Lord Cornwallis Is highly displeased that federal houses have been set on fire to-day du- ig the march—a disgrace to the army—and he wiU pttnikh, with the utmost severity, any who shall bo found guilty >f isgraceful 'an outrage. Bis .. . . . the eomttMtQiding offioera of the. corps wi 1 endeavor to fin# the persons who set Are to the houses this day.” Now think of the march of Sherman’s army, which could be discovered a great way off by the smoke of burning homesteads by day and the lurid glare of flames by night, from Atlanta to Savannah, from Columbia to' Fayetteville; and suppose that such an ordpr as this had been issued by its commanding officer and rig idly executed, would not the mortality have been quite equal to that of a great battle? Arriving at Fayetteville on the 10th of Jan uary, 1805, he not only homed the Arsenal, one of the finest in the United States, (which perhaps he might have properly done) but he also burned five private dwellings near by. He burned the principal printing office, that of the old Fayetteville Observer; he burned the old Bank of North Carolina, eleven large ware houses, five cotton mills and quite a number of private dwellings in other parts of town, whilst in the suburbs a clean sweep was made. In one locality nine houses were burned. Uni versally houses were gutted before they were burned; and, aftel everything portable was se cured, the furniture was ruthlessly destroyed. Pianos, disloyal bureaus, traitorous tables and chairs were cut to pieces with axes. And fre quently, after all this damage, fire was applied and all consumed. Carriages and vehicles of all kinds were wantonly destroyed or burned. Instances could be given of old men who had the shoes taken off their fe ft, the hats from their heads and clothes from their persons— their wives and children subjected to like treat ment. . In one instance, as the marauders left, they shot down a dozen cattle belonging to an old man and left their carcasses lying in the yard. Think of that, and then remember the grievance of the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, who came in all seriousness to complain to Gen eral Longstreet, in the Gettysburgcampaign, of the outrage which some of his ferocious rebels had committed upon them by milking their cows. On one occasion, at Fayetteville, four gentlemen were hung up by the neck, until nearly dead, to force them to disclose where their valuables were hidden, and one of them was shot io death. Again— “Headquarters Dobbins House, February 17, 1781. Lord Cornwallis is very sorry to be obliged to call the attention of the officers of the army to the repeated orders against plundering, and he assures the officers that if their duty to their King and country and their feeling for humanity are not sufficient to force their obe dience to them, he must, however reluctantly, make use of such powers as the military laws have placed in his hands. * * » * It is expected that Captains will exert them selves to keep goud order and prevent plunder ing. * * * Any officer who looks on with indifference, and does not do his duty to prevent shameful marauding, will be considered in a more criminal light than the persons who cominit these scandalous crimes which must bring disgrace and ruin on his Majesty's ser vice. All foraging parties will give receipts for sipplios taken by them.” “Now, taking it for granted,” says Vance, “that Lord Cornwallis, a distinguished soldier and a gentleman, is authority on the rights of war, could there be found anywhere a more damnatory comment upon the practices of Sherman and his army?” Again— “IIkadquartbrs Freelands, February 28, 1781. MEMORANDUM. A watch found by tne regiment of Bose. The owner may have it from the Adjutant of that regiment upon proving property.” Another: “Smith’s Plantation. March 1, 1781. TO GEORGIA BOYS. New York and Its Golden Gods. rot, bed clothes, money, watches, spoons, plate and ladies’ jewelry stolen, etc., etc. A lane of deso.ation, 60 miles wide, through the heart of three great States, marked by more burn ings and destruction than followed in the wake of the wildest cyclone that ever laid forest lowl A silver spoon was evidence of disloy- a!ty, a ring on a lady’s finger was sure proof of sympathy with rebellion, whilst a gold watch was prima facia evidence of most damn able guilt on ihe part of the wearer. These obnoxious ear-marks of treason must be seized and confiscated for private use—for such is war! As a proof that these things met the appro bation of the officers of that army, hundreds of instances can be cited where the depredations were comuutieu in full view of the officers. Many can be shown where they participated BRIGADE ORDERS. * * * A woman having been robbed of a watch, a black silk handkerchief, a gallon of peach brandy aud a shirt—and as by descrip tion, by a so'dier of the guards—the camp aud every man’s kit is to be immediately searched for the same by the officer of the brigade.” Let us quote further from Vance’s address. “Time and your patience forbids I should furtaer quote from this interesting warot 1781. Suffi :e it to say that the whole policy and con duct of that British commander was such as to indicate unmis.akabiy that he did not consider the burning of private houses, the stealing of private property and the outraging of helpless, private citizens as war, but as robbery ard ar son. I venture to say that up to that period, when that great march taught us the contrary, Concluded on eighth page. Evolution and" the Monkey. Reply to Notos of a Traveler,^ Eq*TOH Schst.Smml Uteisaufi- 5) Susnv Bon i ll, I ■ .votes'or a irave by Prof. J. L Jones, Columbia, S. C., in which he takes occasion to say: “Two arguments, alone, prove ho v absurd is Evolution. First: Nature always operates under general laws, and under like circumstances, like results veil always follow—hence, if it were, or ever had been, a law in monkey race to be transformed into men it would have been a general law, and we would have had a whole race of mon keys ‘evoluted’ into a whole race of men—but strange to sav—it is only claimed—that one bright morning, there was but one old rusty monkey, fortunate enough to be transformed into man, called Adam, while all the rest of his race remained inferior animals as before, through mere default of nature. How absurdl” “Again," he continues, “if this law of nature ever was in force, there i8 no reason given, why it should have ceased, and therefore this wonderful transformation scene, within the historic period, would still be going on, and, occasionally, we would hear the giad tidings of not another Daniel, but another Adam come to judgment.” And then again he says: “No truta is better known than that nature forever vetoes the transfusion of different species— both proximate and remote. But for this wise decree, the world would soon be filled with monsters, aud animal creation end, in ‘con fusion worse confounded’—yes—even in anni hilation.” When the professor assumes that if there be any evolution nature has to do the work. It seems to me that he bigs the question. Nature being the creator, 1 dare say the professor is right in supposing that after she had convert ed one monkey into a man she would have con tinued the work under her ‘general laws’ and have mads all the monkeys into men,or suppos ing that, under his view of the case; she made man from a clod of earth, she would, under the same general laws, have made all the earth into men—and then the professor would be in the predicament of his argument aud have nothing to stand on. For uuder his vie ws the proposition would read: “Nature works under general laws, and hence, if it were, or ever had been a law on earth to be transformed into men, it would have been a general law, and we would have had the whole earth ‘■evolu ted' into men, but strang9 to say, it is only claimed, that one bright morniug, there was but one solitary clod of earth,fortunate enough, to be transformed into man c filed Adam, while all the rest of the earth remained dust as be fore—through the mere default of nature ” But seriously, professor, there is no cause for alarm. We shall not suffer from the de faults of nature, nor by her works uuder the general laws bv which she is governed. She will never 'evolute' a monkey into a man, nor directly a clod of earth into flash and blood—a very good and sufficient reason is given, why she should not, aud why she could not—and that is, that God the creator having seen, that each step in His creation was good from the first to the last—from the minutest vegetable to the highest animal—man—then it was He stopped His creations, and arranged the ma chinery of nature to carry on her work after the plan, and under the general laws He h d esUb.isked; viz: that each created thins should have its appropriate teed, seed after its kind, by which it should be propagated, and by which He commanded it to mulupy and replenish the earth.” He rested on the seventh day, but did not delegate to nature any power to create or to ‘evolute', otherwise, as the profes sor sagely opines, the world would be fined with monstrosities. Nature works under general laws, but not under the two opposite law3 of germination and evolution. The truth is, min—all men and everything that exists on this globe—is formed (rum the dust of the earth. The evolu tion of earth into vegetable and animal file has not ceased, aui will cot so long as there is life upon earta. All our subsistence is derived from mother earth, directly or remotely. Every vegetable and every animal his its appropriate work to do in preparing and fitting the ele ments for use and assimiiat’on by other living beings. Our Heavenly Father, infinite in all His at tributes, has chosen to work by means—and the universe is His laboratory—and each indi vidual creation is a special apparatus for the accomplishment of some specific end. He. made nothing srnaii, nothing insignificant, noth ing superfluous, and nothing to be destroyed, but that all things should continue to mount, by steps, higher and brighter and nearer and nearer to pert-c’ion, through ah.the ages of eternity, by an unceasing, eternal, progressive evolution. ‘ ■ Is v core emulation of that he Old Customs of a of MesMtfcgmi'Rg • The Business Enterprises and Habits of the Residents of Key West. Created things, by steps, we May ascend to God.”—Milton. [New York Mail and Express.] Perhaps there is no place in the United States so much talked about in New York and so little known as Key West It is generally associated with cigars. It is the largest of a series of coral islands, called keys, which dot the ocean at the southern end of the peninsula of Fior da. It is entirely away from the main land, which is only to be reached by steamer. Bu t in this coral reef is a city containing 20,- 000 inhabitants, consisting of Conchs, Cabans and negroes, with a few Americans. Perhaps the island has a bright future before it, for it ha* had no past and very little present. While other cilies in the Union have been up and doing, this coral key baa been asleep in the Gulf. It is the most southernly part of the Union—in fact, the very end of the United Statr s The city is the only one in the country where neither snow nor frost has ever been seen; the temperature is about 75 or 80 de grees in the day and about 05 at night. Com munication is kept up with the rest of the world by means of a line of steamers from New York, another from New Orleans, and a mail steamer two or three times a week by way of Tampa, Fla. By the last we get New York papers about three days old. The island is as fl it as a pancake, the highest point being only 12 feet above the level or the Hea. One would think that during a storm the sea would roll over the island and drown out poor little Key West. The city proper is densely popu lated, but it is as unlike an American city as possible. All the houses are made of wood and built quite plainly. There is no stow of ornamentation or decoration, to say nothing of what is called architecture. Once in a while you may detect something that looks like lat tice work, but it is plain, and is not intended to display anything. Many of the stores have no sign upon or about them, and the store keepers look as if they did not care whether they sold anything or not. There are no ho tels, aud those who deBire a „temporary resi dence have to huut about for.a boarding,house. The streets are wide and dusty, for there are no sprinklers. In fact, water is such a luxury in the dry season that it cannot be wasted in sprinkling the streets. It is rain water caught in cisterns when the heavens fur nish a supply, and is often carried from plac6 to place in pails supported by a yoke from the shoulders. An attempt was one time made to drive an artesian well, but the water when reached was so brackish that it could only be used for the extinguishing of tires. The dust flies continually. The roadway is hard, being the solid coral rock itself. There is no surface soil. What passes for soil is nothing more than this rock ground-up. It is a nice thing to have blown over new black clothing, and s-ill a nicer thing to get oat of the cloth after wards. As before stated, the popula ion con sists mainly of Cubans, Conchs and negroes. Tne Conchs are in reality natives of the Baha- ♦m.i Isiauis, but every body in Key West cails them by that name. Cigar making is the prin cipal employment of the Cubans, aud there is plenty of work for them, as Key West contains 125 cigar fact jries. It is said on good autaor- iiy that 90 000,000 cigars are shipped away from the island every y ear. The Cuban is not very strong locking. His sports are gambling and rooster-lighting. The women are fairly’ good looking, given to wear ing high heels, lace shaw.s and face powder. Both men and women smoke and canter like magpies. Tneir food is principally oil, pork, bananas and coffee. Their coffee is good', but made so strong that it will stain the cup from which it is drunk. When in a restaurant the Cubans appear to talk all at once, each trying, as it were, to drown the other’s voicS,' and gesticulating as if about to strike each o.her. on the face T ne Conchs are the fLiiermen of the island and the gatherers of sponges. They are a large, rough class of men, and apparent ly very ignorant. One marked feature is their I accent, which is considered the characteristic ; of the Londpiiar—the dropping of the aspirate I where needed and usiDg it excessively where J 1 nos wanted. * Tasy use their fists when fight- j are ready with the re- The Tricks and Crooks of Life Insu rance Companies. My Dear Young Friends: My first duty is to redeem my last promise, aud I shall do so' by calling your special attention to the tricks and frauds of life insurance. I know one of you to be about thirty-five years of age, at which age—on a whole life policy for $1,000— the annual premium charged by these compa nies is §26 38. Contemplating making such an investment myself, I once had a confidential interview with an agent, when the following dialogue transpired, my portion of whifch you will find in interrogatories. Q. What is this sum paid for? A. Well, §3.52 is the death loss premium, which we load with $3 41, which makes S1E.93. The law requires the Company to deposit annu ally §10.32 to secure the payment of every pol icy issued for §1,630. That §10.32 we load with §1.13, to pay us for taking care of it and making it yield you an interest. Q. What do you load the death loss premium for? A. To cover incidental expenses. Q. Did you ever read Martin Chnzzlewit? If nay should you do so, you will find the fol lowing diahgue between a life insurance Pres ident and a friend he was importuning to be come a stockholder. Of course his friend de manded an explanation of their methods, which was given by a description of the dance they ^ed Mr. B , whom he described as an applicant for a loan and a policy. “Well, the law being hard upon us, we are not exactly soft upon Mr. B., for, besides charging B. with regular interest, we get B.’s premium and B.’s friend’s premiums; and whether we accept him or not, we charge B. for enquiries, (we keep a man at a pound a week to make ’em) and we charge B. a trifle for the secretary, and, in short, my good fellow, we stick it into B. up hill and down dale and make a devilish comfortable lit tle property out of him.” Having read the above passage, I propounded to the agent the following further questions: Q. What is meant by B.’s premium and B.’s friend’s premium? A. That is an usury dodge. These compa nies have millions to loan. B. wants §20,000, which the Company contracts to let him have upon approved security, lawful interest, and ■ee to takeout ten policies on ten i, each for the sum of §10,000. B. money, end accepts their terms, are issued and the premiums you, only once. The policies where usury vacates con- ‘ sometimes the prin- r esidcnts,Tla‘^f^ereT& h Hec a re e exhortfers for agents—fob from 25 to Jg»er cenV interest, while the deacon, class- _ jader and exhorter come in for a well-buttered slice of the bonus paid a broker to secure the loan. Q. Is that sort of jugglery going on here? jy. Certainly. Q. Does this not prove the truth of the French aphorism, “L' adversitie fait I'homme et le bonheur les monslres 1" A. 1 have nothing to do with the solution of moral riddles. Q. What is the average of the annual forfeit ures in the United States? A. Elizur Wright, the greatest living actu ary, says 150,000 occurred in one State last reserve surrender value paid in 1876, which is the money value of the vital deterioration by reason of withdrawals, is §569,395.11.” Does this not mean that out of the reserves on the surrendered policies the company appropriated that snm as a compensation for the loss of members whose vitality was above the average of those remaining, and then paid over the balance? year. j i ;g, wL-le the Cab: ; voiver or stiletto. Q. What were the new issues in that State? A. He says only 139,000. Q. Does this not .look like the peoplegwere getting their eyes opep? . A. fit would seem soj but the fluctuation next year, it is more than probable, will be in the other direction. Q. What is the per cent, of the Company’s risk? A. That is supposed to be regulated by the death loss premium; but as that is fixed by the Company, if it is not accurately correct the margin must be in favor of a probable profit. The source of the risk is mortality, the causes of which are casualties and diseases. Casual ties are rare, and constitutional diseases are never insured, which reduces the causes of risk to infections and contagions. Neverthe less people will die. As Major Bagstock said, “They will do it; damn me, they will. They are obstinate.” Q. Did I understand you correctly that com panies require policy holders to deposit enough to cover their gross death loss premium? A. Yon did. That is called the reserved fund. Q. Then do yon not—after charging me to insure my life—make me become my own in surer? A. That is true, as any agent would have told you had you asked him the same question when you applied for your policy. Q. Then that reserved fund, although in your hands, is my money. A. Sheppard Homans, one of our most cele brated actuaries, recently testified uuder oath to that effect. Q Does the simple existence of the re served fund increase your expenses? A. Not one cent. Q. Then if it is my money, what right have yon got to loan it? A. That is a style of conundrum, the solu tion of which is not in my hue. Q. What do you loan it for? A. For making it yield you interest. Q. How much interest? A. Four per cebt. Q. Then for loaning you the amount the law requires yon to keep on deposit to meet the contingency of my death, it would seem you charge me forty per cent for making that snm yield me four per cent. A. It would seem so. Q Seem so; is it not so? A. Well, applications for policies are received on the basis of what insurance experts techni cally term the “expectation of life,” and the further expectation, (which is fictitious) that yon will continue to insure until yon are sixty years of age, when your death loss premium would be §20.70. Now the terms of your pol icy will permit no increase of jour premium, so in making you pay §26 38, at the age of thirty-five, they are only making you au.ici- pate what jou ought to pay at sixty. Q. What is the average period men continue to insure? A. Seven years, at least several great actua ries have recently so testified. Q. Then when yon take a man’s applica tion is it- not with a knowledge approaching certainty, that he will not continue to insure over seven years? A. To be ingenuous, I must say yes. Q. Do you tell him all that? A. Never. Q. Tnen you accept payments in advance for his insurance for years, when you have every confidence in an overwhelming proba bility that his policy will be void, and you couid compel him to pay nothing? A. Yes, verily. Q. When you are expecting a policy to lapse, what can “expectation of life” have to do with it? A. Noihng under heaven, but you should not forget lawyers are not entitled to a mo nopoly of fictions. Q. I sec ti e Vice President of the Mutual Life has testified that “ihe difference between A. I suppose so. Q. What was the rale of charge applied to individual policies surrendered, and who made that estimate? A. I am glad I do not know. Q. I* not the calculation scandalously Inac curate? .Can the money value of the vital de terioration -by reason of withdrawal, exceed §100,000? A. To your first question, I must say yes, and to your last, no. Q. What relation has the Equitable Surren der charge, to the reserve? A. None. Does it not grow less as the reserve grows larger? A. Certainly. Q. Does not, then, the equity of the reten tion of that §569,39-3 11, by the Equitable, de pend wholly on the value of the insurance re maining to be done under policies liable to lapse, and in cases of average vitality, is not the risk balanced by that from which surren ders relieve the company? A- Yes, Q. Then Is not this estimate for 1876 a dog matical assumption that the average vitality on surrendered policies (reported to be §4,517) was such that their present value to their com pany exceeded the company’s risk at least twenty per cent, aggregating over §500,000? A. That is true. Q. How, tnen, can a rftau testify at this reckless rate and look honest met in the face? A. Only Insurance men understand how this is, and “a fellow feeling makes us won- derous kind.” Q. Is it true that when once a set of officials get possession of a company’s books, it be comes impossible to oast them, and if so, how is that? A. It is so, and happens in this way. The principal source of official elections is proxies. The next source of their power is the posses sion of the books of the company. Tuis sys tem of proxies is rotten to the core. A proxie is given for one purpose, and is often prosti tuted to another, and may be to any, and when once given, is irrevocable, and can be voted on after the policy has lapsed, or its holder is dead, or its term has expired by lim itation, and yet it can be utilized in an elec tion for fifty years after any or all of these contingencies have happened. Q. Can such abases not be prevented? A. How can yon prevent them, when the books are in the hands of the officials and every stipendiary of the establishment is de pendent for his bread and batter upon his loy alty to his superiors? Q. Are not, then, these Life Insurance Com panies petty despotisms? A. To half of your question I must say no, but to the other half, yes—and to all of it, if* you will drop the word “petty,” you must re ceive an afki-inative reply. One single compa ny here holds $100,000,000 assets and this is a community in which a §100.000,000 can send a profc-miocal-thicf to the Legislature -ftr-i -an Aristides to the States Prison. If you refer to the despotism with which they automatonize policy-holders, that is nothing new as you can earn from the following dialogue that occurred between that same Mr. Montague, the Presi dent of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Insurance Company and one of his stock holders, who exclaimed to him, “Pm not satisfied with this state of affairs.” “Not sat isfied, the money comes in well.” “The mon ey comes in well enough, but it don’t come out well enough. It can’t be got at easy enough. I hav’nt sufficient power; it’s all in your hands. Ecod! what with one of your by-laws and another of your by-laws, and your votes in this capacity, and your votes in that capacity, and your-official rights, and yonr individual rights; and other people’s rights, who are only yon again, there are no rights left for me. Everybody else’s rights are my wrongs. What’s the nse of my having a voice if it’s al ways drowned? I might as well be dumb and it would be much less aggravating. I’m not going to stand that you know.” All of which clearly proves to my mind that Dickens had been coached by a Life Insurance Expert. Q. Did not a recent Legislative el imination of Life Insurance officials elicit from one of them after admitting that he held over 10,000 proxies a denial that he knew the residence of one of their authors? A. That is true. Q. Is not the residence of every stock-holder and policy-holder a matter of record in the Company’s books? A. Yes. Q. How, then, could he truthfully give that answer. A. That is his business, not mine. Q. What is the meaning of yonr technical term, “surplus?” A. It is the accumulation in the Company’s treasury over and above the reserved fund and the liabilities of the Company, and belongs to the policy-holders. Q. Suppose, then, when I have in your treas ury a surplus amounting to more than my pre mium that is due, will my policy lapse if I fail to pay it? A. Undoubtedly. Q. Do you mean to say that when the Com pany is in my debt, they would declare my policy forfeited because I did not pay them the premium when they in fact, already had in toeir hands an amonit of my money double the amount of that premium? A. I do—why it is so I am unable to ex plain, and since Sheppard Homans was dis charged from the position of actuary for refus ing to audit an account of an Insurance Com pany containing false statements, he or Elizur Wright are the only men I know wise, honest ard bold enough to tell you why. The Mutual PERSONAL MEOTIOI, What the People Are Doing and Saying. The resignation of Dr. McBryde leaves the presidency of the South Carolina college va- "ant. Un ted States Treasurer Hyatt has qualified and formally assumed the duties of his new office. Women pat on the Boar I of Eluoation iu New York have shown themselves capable and valuable workers. Andrew Carnegie recently presented the Brotherhood of Locomotive engineers with a check for §1,000. Boulanger is still the issue in France. Hia hold upon the people is firmer than that of any living French leader. It is said that a physician always sits at the bedside of the Emperor William watching tho monarch while he sleeps. Queen Victoria has in Winsior Castle three vases valued at §100,000 and a Sevres dinner service worth §250,000. Senator John Sherman has promised toad- dress the Illinois Legislature on Jane 1, if cir cumstances will permit. The richest young man in Philadelphia so ciety is August E. Jessup. He is only twenty- four, and has an income of §70,000 a year. An American lady has contributed §10,009 toward the founding of the American Itstituta of Komau History and Arcaseology at Home. Ex-President Hayes has beea urgently solic ited by tne 1’rustees of the Ouio State Univer sity to accept the Presidency of that institution. Mr. Daniel Manning will leave Bouremonth Monday next for Liverpool. He will sail for New York on June 1. His health is much im proved. Mrs. Abram S. Hewitt has been elected; President of the Ladies’ Committee of the American Association for the advancement of Science. President Cleveland has accepted an invita tion to visit St. Louis during the Grand Army Encampment, to be held the latter part of Sep tember. G iorge W. Cable, the distinguished South ern antuor, will deliver the commencement ad dress at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville. Jane 14 th. Andrew Carnegie paid §3-30 for a box at Walt Whitman’s lecture in New York, although he could not be present. It made the old poet’c benefit a success. Of those famous octogenarians, Simon Cam eron, George Bancroft and W. W. Corcoran, Cameron is said to be the moat active in mind and the youngest in spirit. The ill health of Mr. Parnell, ’the Irish lead er, is reported to be not only serious but posi tively a,arming. Cancer of the stomach is said to be his ailment. The indignant oitizens of Henderson, Ky., hung Gov. Proctor Knott in effigy because he reprieved the murderer McElroy. Here is the Mtest wriuitlo, of “the Kentucky idea. Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague is growing wealthy by the advance in real estate values, having but recently been offered §150,000 for her Edge wood estate, near Washington. Mr. William O’Brien, the editor of the Irish American, recently in Canada, has been unanimously electee a member of Parliament for the NorJaeaat division of Cork. MiS3 Emma Abbott says she is the only priuia donna m the worm who sings publicly seven nights a week, aud she can sing throe notes higUer than any excepting SemDnch. Nate Salisbury, who is Buffalo Bill’s partner, proposes to introduce pop-corn m London this summer. He has ordered 100 bushels of the uupopped vegetable from a New York dealer. Prince Napoleon’s younger son, who now- bears the uue of Count Luigi Moncaiieri, has entered toe Italian servioe as sun-lieutenant in the Third regiment of cavalry, now stationed at Verona. Hon. Samuel Pasco, Senator-elect from Florida, was born aud partly raised in Eng land. His predecessor, the fugacious Jones, was born in Ireland aud educated at Trinity college, Dnbnn. A special to the New York World from Lon don says Mine. Decca, the American singer, sang before the New English Art Club and a lasuionabfe assemblage, and was applauded ihost enthuriasiicaiiy. The Duse of Cohnaught is a well-paid young Britisher. He is allowed by Parliament $100,- 000 a year, or double what an American Presi dent gels, and draws §50,000 a year salary as Commander-in-Chief at Bombay. Senator Leland Stanford has been inspecting his vineyard at Vws, Tehama county, Califor nia. It is the largest in the world, having not less than 3,500 acres of bearing vines, and the entire tract contains 30,000 acres. Capt. li. W. Andrews, of Sumter, S. C., having walked from Texas to Maine, was at Lowell this ween, stopping for a fe v days. He is now on his way home, which he expects to reach July 4tn, his 97th birthday. Miss Jennie Miiier, the dress reformer, of W asnugton, delivered an address beiore the students of Vassar College the otuer day, and the girls agreed to wear a costume without corsets, to be designed by Mrs. Miller. Senator Matt. W. K msom will deliver the Literary Address at Wake Forest College, N. C., on Wednesday, June 8th, at 11, a. in. At 8, p. m., R-jV. T. Armitage, D. D., of New York, will preach the Baccalaureate sermon. The old Indian chief, Tadahassee, was in Bartow, Fla., last week, and had his photo graph taken wmle in tne center of one of tne thoroughfares, tor the Booth Florida railroad. Life, Mr. Homans testified, had to pay §2,000,- The ugly “puiz” of the aucient chief did not 000 for distributing the surplus of the Company | even crack the camera, illegally, complaining as he did, at the same time of the refusal of the officials to permit the Trustees of the Company to know anything of their methods. The Vice-President, he said, controls the minutes of the Insurance Commit tee, and that they were manipulated in a man ner that prevented them from knowing the truth of the matters before them. He said, “they were kept from them, and misstated time and again. What that Company wants is a fair and full investigation by disinterested persons on those allegations. I have made them iu ray official capacity as Actuary, and they have been investigated, and the facts have been proved. They have been condoned and covered up. By condoned I mean they haze been covered up and concealed, on tne ground that their exposure and ventilation would do some harm—the investigation of the Hudson loan, the Seymour and North loan, and young Winston’s policies, aud other matters. Tne manner of making post mortem dividends was one among them. Tney must be paid. There is no getting out of it. Mr. Winston caused to be written and gave the order that in future no postmortem dividends should be paid to any one by the company. There was the order. It was my duty for fifteen years to audit the receipts and payments of money. Here was an account which I said was wrong. I tried to object to it in the manner least calculated to make any trouble or friction and all result ed from that. It is now the rule of the Mutual L:fe, and they have had to go back to the sys tem which was abandoned and depart’d from, to the injury of ttie policy-holders, and at a great expense, solely to protect Mr. Win3ton iroiu the con sequences of his illegal order. I have the most ample proof, two m.lliondollars have b -en paid to correct this error.” Q. Was that not Mr Homan's ev.denee be- Conduded on etjhlhpaye. Lord Lansdowue is ten times a peer. He is Marquis of Lansdowne, tares times an eari, by the title of Wycombe, Kerry and Suel- burne; tnree times a viscount, ay the titles of Caiue, Cianmaurice and Fiumiuricc, and three times a barou, being Ljrd Chipping Wy combe, Lixnard and Dunkerd. The fall which Mme. Jaaauschek had the other day at Newport, U. I., resulted serious ly. Ooe of her arms was broken, and subse quent inilmunition has made her condition critical. Her company has been disbanded. Mme. Jauau3Ciiek is a favorite in the South, and her misfortune will causa general regret among Southern theatre-goers. President Cleveland left Washington on the 2otn, in a special car of the Pennsylvania road aud proceeded direct to S aranac L ike. in the Adiiuudacks, making only the uecessary stops on the route. He wss accompanied by Mrs. Cleveland and Col. and Mrs. Lam ant, and ex pects to return to Washington inside of two weeks. TTie will of Washington C. Da Fanw was probated at New Aloany, Indiana, ou the 19.h of May. It covers thirty-three sheets of closely written legal cap, and beqneatas §3,- 000,Odd to his family, and the residua of his estate, estimated at §5,000,003, is devoted to benevolent and educ.u i onal purposes, includ ing a'Deques, of §1,025,000 to Do Tau ,v Uni versity. S.nyvesant Fish, who has just been elected President of the Illinois Central railroad, is one of the most promising young railroad men iu the country, and oa» bt.eu connected with tin- Illinois Central almost since the beginning of his business career, lie is the youngest son of Hamilton Fish, ex-Governor of New York and Secretary of State uunng Gen. Grant’s two terms.
