Weekly Jeffersonian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1907, January 10, 1907, Image 1
Weekly Jeffersonian.
Vol. I.
A Passing Glance at the Netos of the Week.
The opening of the New Year was notable be
cause of the number of important laws which
then became effective. One of these con
sisted of certain features of the insurance
law, which gives the death * blow to the abuse
of deferred payments. As the law stands
now, all new business written must be on a basis
of an annual opportunity for policyholders to
. get the benefit of any profits which may have
ycrued, and to decide for themselves in what form
vkey will accept the benefit of these profits. The
anti-pass feature of the railroad rate law went
into effect, efforts may be made by the
present congress to modify its provisions. The
Pure Food Law, designed to make labels tell the
truth, has put the grocers and druggists, particu
larly, in a state of mind. There are some commod
ities of which they do not know the constituent
parts,, and they do not* know just what labels to
adopt. Denatured alcohol went on the free list,
and light and power, thanks to this reform, should
henceforth be considerably cheaper.
H It M
Two Notables Indicted For Forgery.
The courts continue to mete out even-handed
justice against those who have violated the law in
connection with insurance companies. George
Burnham, Jr., counsel and vice-president of the
Mutual Reserve Fund Life Insurance Company, was
and guilty of grand larceny and sentenced to
ve two years in State’s Prison. On December
an application for a cei rtficat- of reasonable
doubt was denied, and evidently he will have to
take bis punishment. During the last week of
the year, Geo. W. Perkins, former vice-president
of the New York Life Insurance Company, and a
partner in the film of J. Pierpont Morgan & Co.,
and Charles S. Fairchild, secretary of the treas
ury under Cleveland, and later president of the
New. York Security & Trust Company, a sub
sidiary company of the New York Life, were in
dicted by the grand jury in New York for forgery
in the third degree. It was developed during the
Armstrong investigation that, in order to evade
the insurance laws of Prussia, which was about to
bar the company from that country on the grounds
that many of its securities were in the nature of
industrial stocks, a transfer of these stocks was
made from the insurance company to the Security
& Trust Company. This transaction was entered
in one instance as a sale, in the other instance as
a loan. Fairchild and Perkins are charged with
having been a party to the. misleading entries.
The grand jury took occasion to state that these
men had not profited personally by the transaction,
and that, ip reality, it had been of benefit to the
stockholders. This supplementary presentment was
in the nature of an extenuation, but it will remain
with the trial jury to settle that point, and there
are demands that no mercy shall be shown them.
* H M
Ambassador James Bryce.
.The appointment of Hon. James Bryce as British
ambassador to the United 'States to succeed Sir
Mortimer Durand, has-met with favorable comment
all over the country. There were various rumors
as to the cause of the recall of Sir Mortimer, and
those who are alert for the human interest in every
event, lost no time in discovering that the perni
cious activity of a certain lady, high in diplomatic
circles, had been making mischief. It seemed to
be agreed, however, that while an able man in
every respect, the retiring ambassador lacked that
A T)eboted to the Adbocacy of the Jeffersonian Theory of Gobemment.
Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, January 10, 1907.
jit #
(GAr) 6 5-0 7J *
“HOW DO YOU LIKE MY NEW DRESS?” \ J ' *4
adaptability—perhaps it nyg% be called good fel
lowship—which would appeal most effectively to
the president. Mr. Bryce, who has been chief sec
retary of state for Ireland in the Campbell-Ban
nerman cabinet, was offered a peerage on his re
tirement, but this he declined, preferring to come
to America with the Democratic name which he
has made illustrious as the author of “The Ameri
can Commonwealth.” The retirement of Mr.
Bryce from the Liberal cabinet is a decided loss
to the government, and there is much speculation
as to who will be his successor, particularly in
view of the part he was destined to take in making
a fight for home rule in Ireland. Young Winston
Churchill has had his eye on the place, and strong
pressure has been brought to bear to secure for
him the appointment, which would give him a seat
in the cabinet. This he does not have as a mere
under-secretary of state for the colonies. But the
present indications are that the place will go to
Augustine Birrell, who, as president of the board
of education, has been the leading champion of
the education bill.
it it it
Revising Cuban Laws.
Provisional Governor Magoon, of Cuba, has, at
last, signed the decree appointing a commission
to revise the laws of the island. The commission
will submit to him the draft of an electoral law,
new provincial and municipal laws, a law defining
the organization and functions of the judiciary,
a civil service law, and, also, laws on such other
subjects of great interest as may be referred to it
by the provincial governor. The commission is
headed by Col. E. H. Crowder, of the judge ad
vocate general’s department, and Major Blanton
C. Winship, of Georgia, is a member. The first
meeting was held on Thursday of last week. This
action means that long steps are to be taken to
wards making home rule in Cuba a success. Three
of the real grounds of the Liberal insurrection
against the Pajma administration last summer
were: that it had removed Liberal judges and fill
ed their places with Moderates; that it had ap
pointed Moderate municipal officers in Liberal com
munities, instead of leaving the choice of them
to the people, and that it had interfered with and
conrolled the conduct of elections. All this might
have been avoided if the Cuban Congress had en
acted the laws required by the Cuban constitution.
But, for one reason or another, they failed and
refused to do so. The present commission will
see to it that these grave defects in which lay
the germ of insurrection, are remedied.
« < n
Insurance Presidents Organize.
In the meantime an association of life insurance
presidents has been organized in New York. Ten
of the fourteen presidents who attended the first
meeting voted in favor of the adoption of a con
stitution and by-laws, the others being excused
from voting until they could consult with their
boards of directors. They have until January 15
to vote by mail, and the meeting adjourned until
January 17, when an executive committee will be
chosen. The objects of the association are set
forth as being the improvement of the life insur
ance business by the inauguration of better prac
tices, with the aim. so they say, of finally'increas
ing dividends, and, thereby, reducing the cost of
life insurance to the policy holders. It was an
nounced that one policy of the new association
would be to present publicly the merits of life in
surance wherever the interests of policy holders are
assailed.
U M H
Gotham’s Forgotten Tax Claims.
Owing to the gross neglect and mismanagement
which have prevailed in the tax department of the
city of New. York for several years, the transpor
tation system, surface, sub-way and elevated, has
been allowed to fall behind in the payment of
sums due the city to the extent of practically $25,-
000,000. Claims against the street railroads have
No. 11.