The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 27, 1901, Page 7

b 0O v MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO.| CONN. MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO. holder. OF THE— COMNECTICUT WUTUAL LIFE INSURMNCE COMPANY, A RESUME OF INTERESTING HIS-| and =0 long as companies kept their ex- TORY AN i 2 penses down, this kind polictes served a AND A REVIEW OF RE | fairly good purpose, although the endowment SULTING CONDITIONS, feature costs m in a life: insurance | company than in a savings bank, because of 3 the much higher rate of general expense. Along these & whi within | judiclous limits, were mostly lines of distinet - improvement, the development went on with- out any striking divergence from certain in- . disputable universally a a principles gov- | erning sound and equitable practice, until . rates of interest on | #bout 1570, P general tendency New Departures. - . The previcus decade had seen the formation | of a multitude of new o panies which copied e &L ::;' the plans of clder ones and_promised to couliod. * | repeat thel But. in order to attract ¥ a » ralio. has ness, they found or feit save the > pay such commissions real “entate, 4 such other expenses, = a order to put 1 their s tion pend- <ales take while some- , was =0 far in- for by our tables that $:13.362: the market h kad ruled lower for penic of 15%, were for two or three less surplus Steadiness in Dividends. ntury and the New. f the general e and calling pay = ial Summary of Fifty-Five Years. no-other rate of icy-hold small a Life Insurance Past and Present. at is of profo expenses. imple. They a life in- ves and to fum-payers and all ex- Rates of > provision was icles. I a T payments. ter how Bad been ac- Ppolic P to the me o tection of their needed ¥ lapsed the sese and be a Nability. Dividend Periods. view of the lack «of experience and the amount of business, and following again sh precedent, Gividende were made only he.end of five-year periods, or were not © any policy until it had run five t and the savings from the low all contributed, in the carefully panies, R Qividends beceme the general | prectice Non-Forfeiture. Presently, the inequity of keeping a man's rge a propor- | > provided a reserve fund, | profits from forfeitures, the high | to make the dividends | It was mot many years | Ate &nd put it at §531 70; but they paid only Changes in Plans and Premiums. As an alternative to annual premium pay- Quring life, rates were made for the ¢ all premiums in a limited period of years, as ten, fifteen, etc., while the policy ered the whole term of life. Life endowment policies were introduced. to cover a certain term of years as an i #nd payable at their face value at end of the term if the insured eurvived it. Where the policy term was long enough to cover the period of life when one has others dependent on him, and the policy-holder was £0 young at the outset as to make the endow- ment part of his premium comparatively smali, rplus, but so the most of = late '80's the ) properly organized lite could fafl. The early 'T0's was quite as vital as a the cxpense mecount Jeath the most correctly organ- 3 they died by the dozen, insurance ecompany Motive for New Schemes. he competitors of ‘that nies which were trring the front by such high other considerations to, raw them away from the mpanies, and so build iicy-holds and their ne with alarming ray es could mot be gott the agents. There was for attraction. Therefore, the only he fate of so many others lay ‘n me to get the dividend question out ¢ the way. £ least a long time; such a Scheme Based on Forfeitures. the scheme devised was the es which the companies had vied » getting rid of in the name * was revived for the it up as a prize for some- tabulated and exhibited isfied polic: an amount uf reserve would these would ag- g perfod of years, at the end of the vidend each ome of were then divided ng ated ne time or leaving only 1000 pe: that ons, cal m ears 544 would at another was s Bhve b lapsed forf, an, the surpi premiums, and t the ¢ 1 case of those who died be paid, and should be for- wenty years alive and still trat with 1000 persons, 0 each, n annual the forfeited reserves icy holders a: The Attraction. 14 = The ghly educated to belie wise have purchase e and perfectly < ned as immoral e was offered in the be- ny the immorality t sight of 1f a sufficie brilliant speculation in their profits was | eented. Its Popularity. The forecast was correct. People could not at e turn back upon all their convictions and sense of justice. But the glittering estimates won their way, and men put thelr own pay- ments and the protection of thelr families at the haza the game for ten to twenty years, with the distinct agreement, still in use, that no accounting sha! his made; each s to accept rd without question, what- to him | @ his true sha longer presented life insurance for the protect vestments n of familtes, but estimates of “in- for the policy-holder himself. The the more eagerly it was made the companies promoting ageressive. Instead of a struggle for existence it became a race for size, Hosts of agents were employed to do the ea of s tat based on seem- The scheme took so 2 time It threatened to com- 4 Arive out true life insur- to its own proper ends. So worked that gradually, ome after of the companies followed more el the wake of the ors of the scheme, until ance. depending for th o ponement”” of dividends, is the dominant with most companies. Their contracts volicies but are o ntracts of sale,” ete. At bottom they are all one dividend is postponed on the in. itures of the unlucky large. Estimates Fzil and Why, But the wisdom of estimates has not been al. together justified of her children. The rivalry of the speculating companies In thelr strugeie for pre-eminence hae led them to an unhearq. of expense. They Wave written an enormous amount cf business; thousands of mill 1n: dreds of millions of reserves plus have been forfeited as was hoped. 50 much has Been absorbed by hizh commis- sions to agents, by rebates and the many ex- penses incident to an abnormal rivalry, that the expected results have not appeared; to this the decline In interest has contributed some- thing, but comparatively little. Estimates and Results Compared. The -details of their fallure are extremely in- teresting. As we have seen, the calculations in 1871, In the example taken, promised a dividend in 1861 of $1135 4. But the 1891 result was only $438 70. In 1573 they somewhat moderated their esti- T supplent ance adn eastly was another, or Jess co forty ducemen many.in the mesatime tr few may be correspondingly But $376 70 ‘at the end of the t years in 1893. [ They continued to make this" same estimate | until 1§78, when they again reduced it to $623 70; they used the same estimate, $625 70 in 1881, @nd are paying in 1901 only $297 70. The differ- comtribution to the reserve on a policy which | ences between estimates and actual dividends ned lspsed and ceased to' be a liability, and | in the ten and fifteen year postponements are the current cost of which while it was in force | £till more striking. he had fully paid, began to be more clearly #een and more generally understood. *‘Nom- forfeiture” - became one of the strongest com- New Stimulants Needed. Obviously, such wide discrepancies betveen petitive attrgctions. Companies vied with each | estimate and reeult, betveen brilliaat prospect THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1901 e e —————————— CONN. MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO. and comparative fallure, pointed toward the ultimate break-down of the speculative attrac- tion, and other novelties of plan and practice began to appear by which to Incite agents and draw the public. Concealment of Forfeitures. Much criticism of the forfeiture investment schemes, as & gross injustice alike to policy- holder and beneficlary has led the companies to adopt forms of contract as remote as pos- sible from life insurance polictes in form, and celled by every sort of name suggesting ‘‘In- vestment” instead of insurance. Commissions and Rebates. Agents have been attracted and stimulated by commissions and allowances from two to five times what they were thirty years ago, and have, In their turn, used these to stimu- late the public by giving away In “rebates” t3 new blood whatever was necessary to secure it, until, in many of the companies, & new insurer can get—if he stands out for It—a rebate of from 50 to 100 per cent of his premium, drop his policy at the end of the year, go to another rival and repeat the process each vear, so léng s he s willing to take the risk of being able to pass a new examination. This makes business easy to get but hard to | keep, as the lapses of such companies show. Competition by Liberality. Another means of stimulating business has | beea the rivalry in “lfberality.” It began in dropping more or less of the defense: against fraud. Fraud may be committed in two ways: The appli t may deceive the. company by false statements as to his family or-personal history, habits of life, present condition, ete., ®0 that it issues its contract when it wouid not have done s5 had it known the truth, or jsissues it at a difterent rate from what It would have charged had the real risk been disclosed; he may wilifully troy his own life, caus- s when there should have been none. All things, !f successful, cost; and the cost orne by the policy-holders who do not de- and do not willfully destroy themselves. It therefore the duty of a company’'s man- agers to protect honest policy-holders against such frauds and losses. When one Is asked to make & contract based on the statements of the other party to it, he has.a right to know the truth of them and to be absolved from his promise if they prove to be false. That is the simplest equity and morality. That is the rule in every other kind of contract. | Incontestability. | The first “liberality”” proposed was that it a man could conceal his deception for a year or two, or three, his policy should be *‘incon- testable,”” no matter how gross the fraud. valry has caused such liberality that now some companies call their polictes incontestable from the very outset; if the decep | pa: muster its later discovery w regarded Will Courts Pernfit Fraud? however, such a thi morals” and a “public pollc thereto; and the courts are regarding fraud and contracts permitting fraud es offenses against public morals, and forbldden by public policy, and of dealing w cases of fraud accordingly: and it is not prob- able that, in the end, fraud in life insurance { will be found to be less fraudulent, more laud- able, or more conducive to commercial and public morality that fraud in any othér mat- ter. If the courts permit it in life insurance, | they must permit it in all transactions. They can permit it In any case only if there i no dif. ference begwien right and wrong, and {f the truth and & lie are of equal moral and com- ae, and of equal safety for the Permiesion to any fraud is an invi- to all fraud. Liberality as to Self-Destruction. There regard in the habit of Another liberality is permission to destroy one's self in any manner and make the rest pay for it company would, in these day at least, conte cide which w t & claim growing out of a sul- under any fair presumption, the leg ome of disease. But the cowardl ide of a fane man—and there aie ¥ of them—is a distinct fraud against men have the courage to live. and the homor to Annual Cash Values. Another liberaiity is the “annual cash value,” Which cne may, any year, demand back 1 the ccmpany his contribution to the re- thus at will changing the transaction {nsurance 10 a savings bank deposit. hole theory of life insurance and all calculations are based on the duration of its insurance contracts to natural maturit Only %o can it fulfill its special purpose, secure that average experience which gives security to its undertakings, protect Itself against those fluctuations of mortality and in general financial conditions which might destructive of a co 20 can the & give the low The annual cash valus makes It possible to wreck or cripple a com- pany in a ¥ Its policy-holders may all witharaw, many of its healthiest may withdraw, taking its quickest and best assets, leaving only impaired lives to cause an abnormal death loss to be met with reduced fn- come ani poorer assets, as to leave it unable iness with advantage or even no true liberality to those surance undertakes to protect, for it was created and for whom It should stered. Life insurance companies fros servel fros pany’'s existence: and only or sc cannot serve as savings banks without danger | of dastruction or of serfous impairment in effi- ciency for their own special purpose. However willing they mav be to take up thelr policies for cash when the conditions make it conveni- ent and safe to do S0, an agreement to do it at any time and under any conditions adds a deepest element of danger to the future. Loans on Policies. Another and kindred liberality is *loans’ privilege to borrow his contribution to the re- serve, pledging his policy collateral, paying or nn‘pa)‘(nl his debt as he pleases, and he rarely "pleases to pay. meet the stock argument of the assessment companies—that a man should pay each year only the mortality cost for that year and keep the reserve in his own pocket. This again is o seeming liberality to the policy-holder, but not to the family out of whose policy the loan must finally be pald. No one who has seen the hardships and the disappointments to familles caused by such settlements can covet the task of having to make them: no man who stops {o realize what it means to his family can willingly leave such a shadow on his memory. Life insurance is a sacrifice of one's self for the imperative and unavoldable duty he owes his family. Loans and cash values are the sacrifice of his family for himself. | The Iliberality to the policy-holder himself is less than it is made to seem. Under the usual forms of policles the reserve increases o slowly that no coneiderable sum could be borrowed until after many years. For instance: A man insured at 2 for $10,000, | with an annual premium of about $215. would pay for forty 53090, in two, but he would still pay his $215 and 5 cent Intérest in advance—$250 more—in order to get his reserve back into his own ket; and when, as i3 often the case, tiring of this, he gives up altogether there is little or nothing left to give his family paid up insurlirce, which, but for the loan, would probably bave amounted to $T000 or $3000. Present Status of Competition. Out of all this the situation as respects the life insurance business—that which is offered the public in its name and the methods by which business is promoted, by a great ma- Jority of the companies—has developed into this: There Is practically no attempt to sell life ineurance as such and at annual cost; it is not offered unless men insist upon having it, and the agent gets but a very small com- mission for selling it; the companies push and | pay the high commissions for. some sort of | “investment” bond or contract; the essential | feature of the Investment is the forfelturss | which can be worked into it. This takes time; | €0 dividends are deferred for five, ten or | twenty years—the longer deferred the higher | the commission—in order to secure &s many | forfeitures as possible. All contract safe- guards against even wholesale frauds are practically abolished, and the protection of honest jolicy-holders is left to what the various courts may regard as expedient for public morality. The companies are, by the | unnual cash value, putting thelr corporate in- tegrity and the validity of thefr insurance contracts completely at the mercy of those Who, for personal convenience or in a panic, may wish to withdraw, taking with them the be handled in a manner to | vears before he could borrow | His policy would then be virtually cut | fion whose growth we | | | | | CONN. MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO. offer him every facility to sacrifice to his personal convenience as la crown all, the fight between the companies which do all these things is made mainly by “‘rebates”” of premiums, carried to such a degree that devices are mow being adopted which may enable a company to dispense with any legal reserve liabillty for the first year, leaving almost the entire first year's premium available for expenses; a device which can be extended to any number of subsequent pre- miums when the exigencies of competition, which have caused its use to the extent of one premtum, shall have so grown by what they havegfed upon as to require an absorption of more, Where The Connecticut Mutual Stands During all the long struggle out of which this situation bas developed, and amid the many schemes devised to attract public attention and favor to something else than lite insurance, the attitude and position of The Conmecticut Mu- tual has never been doubtful. It has held to the cardinal facts: Life insur- ance 1s for the protection of those depcndent on a man’s life; thetr dependence makes it his unavolcable duty. Those dependents we ascume to protect by our contract, at his personal cost; our duty to them Is to make that protection as | large, as secure and as certainly avallable to ther as possible; our duty to him is to make iis cest to him as small as possible, These things are axlomatic, and certain defin- fte and indisputable propositions grow out of them. Our polictes should be framed in every detatl to give the protection intended to those for whom it is Intended. They should not set up a scheme bf speculation in the forfeiture of that protection by those dependent on It, nor of his payments by the man who has patd for it. | The inducement to a policy should be the pro- tection it ofers; the motive In taking it should be the falthful performance of his unavoidable duty by him who has made others dependent on his life. Business should be gotten by educat- ing men to this standard of duty and of its performance, and not by changing the business into something else and something which ap- peals to selfish interest first and leaves duty to take its slender chance in a five to twenty year lottery. Annual Dividends, and Why. The cost of the protection to the man paying | for it is the Qifference between the premiura charged on the face of his policy and the .ur- plus returned to him. In this adjustment he pays his actual share of the mortality and ex- penses, and is credited with his share of any surplus interest earnings. The savings from mortality, expenses and interest are determined each year. Each Year the company knows just what his risk has cost them to carry; therefore each vear the man ghould pay that cost and no more. In other words, as t fcy 1s annually determined the surplue, If there is any safely divisibie, should be annually ro- turned, so that only the actuzl annual cost is annually pald. The only proper reason for deferring divi- dends is either that there is nothing to divide or that there is something in the conditicn of the company or its business which renders a division highly inexpedient. What Deferred Dividends Conceal. Annual dividends put the management cf a company to a constant test. Deferred dividands put off that test to the end of a long period of vears. By annual dividends a man knows all the time just what his insurance is bim. With deferred he lives and holds on; but if he dies before tk e it will have cost too much by unt of surslus forfeited, and if he lapses it will have cost him too much by the amount of surplus forfeited and also by the amount of reserve forfeited to stiil further increase the surplus. The annual dividend is a steady and powerful incentive to prudence and economy. The ferred dividend gives a wide and long oppcrtu- nity for the extravagance and consequent high t am cost which it was originally invented to con- | ceal, and which have been further enhanced l» the rivalry made possible by taking some of th. deferred dividend materal to uSe In more vig- orous pushing for business. Reason of Qur Cwn Course., Holding such views, our course has not been optional. Our duty has been not to offer some- thing else than true life insurance on its own right lines because it could easily be made popular, but to try to make the true thing popular by telling the whole truth about it, by administering it in its true spirit, working out its own proper results in our owr company and letting these stand in judgment against | | the results of the expensive “investment’ spec ulations. We have appealed only to those wh | desire life Insurance only for the protection it | gives and not for the speculation that can be | made of 1t. stherwise be | lives | Therefore have we refused to fol- low any of the methods of the speculators. Such changes in policy plans and conditions as ex- perfence has shown to be desirable have been freely n:ade. Every condition not found to be necessary to the meh and the soundness of the company has been eliminated. But we have not built with | one hand and with the other prepared the way to tear down. The Connecticut Mutual remalns a lite Insurance company. | Expenses Cut in All Business but Life | | | | thirty vear: Insurance. One of the most striking Incidents of the last has been that general and exten- sive reduction of expenses in all commercial, | manufacturing, transportation and other enter- prises, by which only have these enterprises been able to prosper in face of an unprecedent- «d competition. Present profits are largely, and often entirely, savings by reductlons from former expenses. Lower cost fs the strongest factor In general business competition. So it should be In life insurance, of all things. But 0 it is not. The expgnse account of the com- panies pushing the deferred dividend Invest- ment schemes is from twice to three times the former standard of the most prudently managed companies. But, the dividend thereby aftected on | heing so long put off, the fact passes long un- policies, by which the policy-holder has the | noticed. When at last settling day comes, the striking fallure of the dividend to realize the estimate is explained on other grounds than | high commissions and expenses. We have refused to compete in this way. the great body of policy-hokders we already havs we have kept expenses down to the old standard, and added only such business as could be had on the same terms. The Difficulties of Our Course. It must not be supposed that the maintenaace of our position in all_these matters has been free from difficulty. The high commissions of those companies have tempted away many of | our former agents and made it the more diffi- cult to get others. Our agents with fair com- missions, with no margin in them for rebating, have worked up business only to see it taken | irom them by men whose commissions and al- | | lowances are such that they can rebate from ;wmch our poliey-holders have continued on | surrender: 5 to 100 per cent of the premium, and yet have enough left to compensate thelr work. But, happily, we have been able to get and to hold as dgents the men who take their work so seri- Ously that they will not tempt their client ta speculate in his family's protection, or, for higher pay, place him where his poliey will cost him more than it ought. Adverse Criticism. The position so steadfastly held by us and the eftorts we have made from vear to year to set forth the stmple truth and expose the true character and evil effzct of the demoraliza- have here sketched, bave, ac a matter of course, brought upon criticism and misrepresentation without Success In gLLNg business by esti- which have not been half fulfilled, has ted, as the complete justification of that method. In the heat of speculative competition we have been labeled with every epithet sig- nifying want of entarprise, ultra conservatism and lack of the modsrn spirit. Even the extraordinary persistency with has been, ignorantly perhaps, alleged danger because older men die fa younger; as if the panies must nct and did not amply provide for the whole mortality’ of its membership and not mer"ly for the younger or middle- rt of it. . \ 260 Do the great multitude of lepses and that the ccinpanies offering “‘in- vestments” hope for a profit; staying solldity of our membership that we can get those best resuits which we seek. However agents of cther companies might strive against each oti:er they have joined to attack The Connecticut Mutual. Insinuaticn, depreciation, siander, can do in a moment and by a word that which much time and many words may fail to undo. The abundant defamatory literature of other compantes has been suppiemented by the highly paid services of certain Insurance journa; Effect on Our Business. And all this was 70t without effect. Tt hindered our business. From 1874 to 158 our v than amount at risk declined from $185,366,638 to a part of his family’s protection as he can borrow; and, to cost of each pol- | costing | dividends he cannot know | what Its cost is until the end of the peried, it | de- | proper protection of honest | In | This was adopted to | grder to maintain the low standard of cost to o1 calculations of all com- | it is by the CONN. MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO. Failure of the “Investment.” As a device for Investment the scheme has fafled; as a device for cheapening the insur- ance of even those who live to test the hope deferred it has failed. For the simple annual dividends of the Connecticut Mutual, with no speculation in them, ure exceeding the out- come of the estimates; and no man's surplus and no family’s paid-:p insurance has bebn taken to do it with. Let an example serve: Fifteen years ago one of the deferred dividend compantes issued a $10.000 Rfteen-vear endow- ment policy, at age &, at a premium of $67S 50, on an estimate that the dividend would be 34950, In fts settlemen:, just made, the divi- dend was only $2010. Was it worth while, for this 40 per cent of an estimate, to run the risk for fifteen years cf losing ali? The same year The Connecticut Mutual issued a policy of the same kind, amount, at same age, at a | premfum of $589 00, annual dividends, which the insured preferred to leave with the com pany to accumulate until his poliey should mature. His dividend, just paid, is $3163 80; and neither it nor his policy has been at the risk of forfeiture. The Tide Turned. Our amount in force has siowly risen from in 18%5 fo $161.566.603; our assete from 1 95 to §64,965,176 15; meanwhile we have returned §17,202,52 4 in dividends and have in- creased our surplus from $4,557,977 91 to $7.151.- 245 44; and, notwithstanding the fact thaf, by reason of our few lapses and the persistence of our policy-holders, our business has attained an average age far greater than that of the de- ferred dividend companies, with their enor- mous Iapses,; our mortality has been far irsid: that predicted by our tables and which we were prepared to meet. That is not the kind of “dr¥ rot” that de- stroys its vietim or impairs its witality. It | seems more a process of sound growth and frultfulness than that of deeay. It is not the size of the company, but what it-does, for its | policy-holders that most concerns them. W have not been racers for size; we have strivs for the highest Guality of performance. Those of our members who are insured in other co panies know how far we have sveceeded. We are many times more than large enough for absolute stability and for the accomplishment of the highest results to our policy-holders. | We shall be glad to extend our service to such | wider clientage &s we can secure without in- creasing the cost of our policles either to the new or to the 65,000 present members, who are our first care. It is with such a history of perzormance and of fidelity to true standards, rewarded by un paralleled results to owr members, that we of | fer ovr service and our simple best endeavor |to those whose families need protection and who “themselves w that protection to be sccure, and to n: only its lowest cost. | Respectfully submitted, | JACOB L. GREBENE, President. | “artford, February 9, 1901 GAS AND WAT RATE DISCUSSION Corporation Representatives | Make Pleag Before Su- | pervisors, Several of the Members of ths Board | Are Said to Be in Favor of Reducing Price H of Gas. ELERE OB The Board of Supervisors met in special | session yesterday afternoon and resumed | the Investigation being made preparatory | to fixing gas, electric light and water rates for the coming year. When the lighting matter was taken up Mayor Phe- | lan called Supervisor Hotaling to the chair in order that he might conduct the | examination of the witnesses. | Jacob W. Pauscn, secretary of the Cen- | tral Light and Power Company, In answer to questions asked by the Mayor, testi- | | fied that the company he represented is | | selling light and power to the San Fran- cisco Gas and Electric Company. He could not state how much power and light | the San Francisco Company bought, but he estimated that the bills amcunted to between $4000 and $000 a month. | “‘How many shares of the Equitable Gas | Inghl Company stock dces the Central Light and Power Company own?" asked | * was | the Mayor. ““The company owned 60,000 shares at| | one time,” answered Pauson. “When were they sol ““They were not sold,” replied the wit- | ness. “They were distributed among the shareholders of the Central Light and Pcwer Company as a dividend.” | “Is it not a fact,” next asked the| Mavor, “that the 60,000 shares distributed to the ‘Central Light and Power Company stockholders reaily belonged to the San | Francisco Gas ahd Electric Light Com- pany?" “It is not,” answered Pauson. S. L. Naphtaly, manager of the Equit- abie Gas Company, was called. He tes- | tified that the stock of the company is | ! now s2lling at from $3 to $4 a share, but | does not pay dividends, as the earnings | and profits aré being used to extend tne | | plant. Naphialy sald that the company cleared $32,000 last year on an Investment | of $304,000. | | _“At what price do you sell gas?" asked | the Mayor. | _“One doliar a thousand cubic feet," the reply. 1 “What does it cost your company to | manufacture gas?’ | “It costs us about 50 cents a thousand | feet in the holder and between 6 and | | cents in the burner.” ! “You make a profit of 3) cents a thou- | sand cubic feet.” remarked the Mayor. | “Can you explain to the Supervisors how | it Is that the San Francisco Gas Company claims that it cannot sell gas at less than $1 40 a thousand cubic feet?” “I cannot,” replied Naphtaly, “I know | nothing of the business affairs of that | company.” | “Don’t you know as a fact,” asked the | Mayor, “that the San Franelsco Gas Com- pany owns the controlling interest in the Equitable?" “I know as a fact that it does not,” an- swered Naphtaly. E. C. Jones, chief engineer of the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company, was | equally positive that his company had no | interest in either the Central Light and | Power Company or the Equitable Gas ! Company. - He explained that while his | company produced gas at a cost of forty- eight cents a thousand feet in the holder, it cost more to distribute it, as the pipes | covered the whole city, while the other | companies are confined to small districts. “These small companies have the cream of the business,” said Jones. “All that | we ask is a fair deal. Any rate lower than $1 40 a thousand cubic feet will be unjust. We are now engaged in an un- healthy competition at is a serfous ; menace to our business.” Further consideration of the lighting question was then continued until to-mors row afternoon,:when it is probable that the rate will be fixed. Some of the Super- visors are said to be in favor of making a_cut to $1 35 a thousand cubic feet. The Supervisors then met as a commit- tee of the whole to discuss the water rate questicn. A voluminous report from Chief Engineer C. B. Grunsky was on motion of Supervisor Reed ordered print- ed, so that the members might have an oeportunll}' to read it at leisure. Grun- ! gky values the glanl and properties of the | Spring Valley Water Company at $24,667, 800, while Chief Engineer Schussler values them at $15,000,000. The vaiues of the Spring Valle&/ system as found by Grun- aey are divided as follows \ Pilarcitos system San Andreas Searsville system Alameda Creek sy City reservolr and pipe system, ing meters but not services. Property on hand . 000 Lake Merced, drainage and dams. 232,000 Pumping staticns . 1 Li%.000 Real estate, city ressrvoir sites....... 64,000 Other city real estate . L 955,000 Land outside of San Francisco, ex- clusive of Lake Merced lands' ..... 4,565,500 Rancho Laguna de la Merced and con- property . 1,927,100 er rights In addition to those in- cluded in land valuex .. . 810,000 For value due to the fact that the business of the water company is established at 25 per cent of items Nos. 7 and 11 and part of 10. . 1,400,000 Pipe and other material on hand and not included in above . Total -$24,667,800 The report deals extensively with the city distributing system Mnmd ts out.| where it ‘might be ‘While ! ITust Allow Customs Officers to Board | | toms | there were o COLUMBIA WINSLOW GETS LITTLE SOLACE The Protesting Captain of | Transport Finds That He Transgressed. SR G, i His Craft to Search for Smug- | gled and Contraband t Axticles. SR T Captain Herbert Winsiow of the United | States transport Solace, who, on Sunday, | defiantly refused to allow customs inspec- tors to board his vessel and search for smuggled goods, of which there were a soodly quantity, has been indirectly re- proved by the Secretary of the Treasury ! and must submit to the ignominy. The quietus to the gallant naval officer was given in a telegram received by Cus- ! Collector Straicon . yesterday. It | reads as follows: Collector of Customs, San Francisco: C toms officers are authorized by sections 3061 and 3067, Revised Statutes, to board and search Government vessels on which they suspect there are goods, wares or merchandise im ported contrary to law. Be governed aceord- | ingly in the matter. O. L. SPAULDING. Assistant Seeretary. Collector Stratton ai once notified Cus toms Surveyor Bpear cf the order of the | Secretary and - furnisiied him with the necessary papers to enforce the authority | of the Collector, notwithstanding the pro- tests of the captain of the Solace. At 3 o'clock _yesterday afternoon Deputy Sur- | ivevor St. John started for Mare Isiand | with eight customs searchers to invade the Solace and unearth whatever smug- | | gled goods there may be concealed upon her. The search will be instituted this morning and that it wali be thorough goes | without saying. ~There have been inter- cepted already on the way from the tra: port to the wharf tairty-five packages containing dutiable goods. One small package alone contalned dutiable jewelry of the value of $200. Captain Winslow on Sunday decla that he could take his Bible, oath that | dutiable goods on board. | He has since then sworn off swearing. There may be more ‘ribulation in store | for Captain Winslow. The customs people | say that the discovery of the smugg! articles thus far proves that he is guilts | of a violation of articie XII of section 1621, | which provides that nc person connec with the navy shall under any prete: fmport in a nublic vessel any articla which Is llable for the payment of ducy INSOLVENT YUBA FARMER—E. E. Law- en. farmer of Woodland, Yolo County. uetition in insolvency in the Uni District Court vesterday. He cwes §i3 has §30 50 assets. ————————— PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM of railroads. Office. 30 Montgomery street. AMUSEMENTS. LEADIAG THEATRE NOTE—No telephone or mall orders accepted. | EXTRA MATINEE TO-DAY In Addition to the RECULAR MATINEE SATURDAY. MRS, LESLIE CARTER | After Her London Triumph, as ZAZA in DAVID BELASCO'S PLAY Seats for second week ready to-morrow. LGREAR LAST WEEK OF What Happened To Jones.” MATINEES SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. | | | {3 Countess Guck!.” i 1 Next Week—Augustin Daly ——Phone South 538— TO-NIGHT and Every Evening This Week. | MATINEE SATURDAY and SUNDAY, i th. Production of Belasco and Fyles' | Mammoth B cat Military. Play. | 1 THE GI3L | LEFT BEHIND ME d Exactly as Seen at the Academy of T on Musie, New York. | +24 BMost Elaborate Producticn b G Biven m This City. First Appearance at This Theater of 1ORENA ATWOOD and CLIFFORD DEMPSEY. PRICES | §uiimess: NEXT WEHK—"THE BLACK FLAG." RACING! RACING! RACING! 1500~ WINTER . MEETING—1801. CALIFORNIA JOCKEY CLUB. OAKLAND RACETRACK. | Racing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thurs. | day, Friday and Saturday. Rain or shine. i Efve ot more vaces each- day. Races start. at 2:15 p. m. sharp. Ferry-boats leave San Francisco at 12 m. and 12:30, 1. 1:30, 2, with trains ferry tickets to Shell Mound. All trains v Qakiand mole conneot with San Pablo avenue electric_cars at Seventh and Broadway. Oak- fand. Also all trains via Alameda mole con- | nect with San Pablo avenue cars at Fourteenth and Broadway, Oakland. These electric cars g0 direct to the track in fifteen minutes. Returning—Trains leave the tfack at 4:15 ant 45 p. . and tmmediately after the last race, THOMAS H. WILLIAMS JR., President. R. B. MILROY, Secretary. MECHANICS’ PAVILION lEX?‘S’TLl:l‘IAY March 2. i Commencing NI ATUI .. Marc] Performances at 2:30 and $p. m: Dally. NORRIS & ROWE'S { BIG TRAINED ANIMAL SHOWS. “The more 1 see of dog the less I think o!‘l "'—Dr. Johnson. i 300—PERFORMING ANIMALS—300. The Greatest Aggregation of Educated Animals in the World. Tlephants, Zebras, Goats. Sea Lions. Ponles, | Monke: Dogs. Ant Eaters and Zebus, First Time in This City of Mr. Winston and ‘His Wonderful Schoo! of EDUCATED SEALS, the Most Marvelous Animal Act in the World, HERR SETLER. the Famous German Animal Trainer and His Small Clown Elephant. A Grand Free Illuminated Strest Parade WiR Be Given Friday Night Next at § o'clock. Bring the Children. Seat sale opens at Pavilion Friday 10 a. m. PRICES—ADULTS, 25¢; CHILD] , 0. TWO LAST APPEARANCES THE HENSCHELS. METROPOLITAN TEMPLE. TO-MORROW Al OON, SATURDAY ,Qfl. 15 _o'clock. Reserved seats 30c, T5c and §i. Seats now on sale at Sherman, Clay & Co's. PACIFIC CAT CLUB EXHIBITION | SPECIAL 'MR.HO | l‘A = SAN FRARCISCO'S ; ter 7 ADVERTISEMENTS. A GOOD DEAL OF NONSENSE About “Blood Purifiers” and “Tonies.” Every drop of blood, évery bone, nerve and tissue in the body can. be renewed in but one way, and that is_from wholesome food properly digested. There is no other way and the idea’ that a medicine in it- self can purify the blood or supply new tissues and strong nerves is ridiculous and on a par with the fol-de-rol that dyspep- sia’ or indigestion is a geérm disease or that other fallacy, that a weak stomach which refuses to digest food can be made to do so by irritating and inflaming the bowels by pilis. and catharties. Stuart’s Dyspepsia Tabiets cure indiges- tion, sour stomach, gas and bloating after meals, because they furnish the digestive principles which weak stomachs lack, and unless the deficiency of pepsin and dias- tase is supplied it is useléss to attempt to ple by the use of “ton- s and “cathartics” which have no digestive power, and their effect is to give a temporary stimu- iation. Ore grain of the. active principle in Stuart's Dyspepsia Tablets will digest 3000 of meat. eggs and similar foods, 1 experiments have snown that they will do this in a glass bottle at proper temperature, but of course are much more effective in the stomach. There IS probably no remedy so univer- sally used as Stuart’'s Tablets, because it is not only the sick and ailing but well »ple who use them at every meal to in- perfect digestion and assimilation of the food | _People who enjoy fair health take Stuart’s Tablets as regularly as they take their meals, because they want to Keep well. Prevention always better than cure, and Stuart's Dyspepsia Tablets do both:; they prevent indigestion and they remove it where it exists. The regular use of one or two of them after meals will demonstrate their merit and efficiency better than other ar AMUSEMENTS. MOROSCO’S GRAND OPERA HOUSE MATINEES SATURDAY and SUNDAY. ALL THIS WEEK ENGAG T of the Favorite In the Dr ma of His Own Composition, HUSBAND'S HONOR.” g In “‘ent of the Piece Will Be Mr. 's Entry Into a Den of Lions to Secure a Lady's Glove. PRIC 1 . %c, 3. A Few F Rows in Orchéstra, Te. Good Reserved Seat in Orchestra at ANl Mat- ‘nees, 3 BRANCH TICKET OFFICE EMPORIUM. NEXT WEEK-“AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS." The California A THIS EVENING ) ALL THIS WEEK. LT Only Matinee Saturday. A Truly Beautiful Story, Weil Told. MR. W. E. NANKEVILLE PRESENTS 1 e —_—— e THE VILLAGE [7reemrmneta H f OF PLAYER! f lled with intense human in- taged. You will wish the u might see it overagafn. 25e. 50e and TSe. -.....25¢ and 5Oe. March 3d—LEWIS ent Production of mpany and Production A play terest. Beautifully . that MATINEE TO-DAY (WED.) Feb. 2. Parquet, 2e, any seat; baleony, c; children, | 10e, any part excent reserved. VAUDEVILLE'S MOST PROMINENT HEADLINERS ! ROBERT HILLIARD & CO. KATHERINE BLOODGOOD. JOHN LE HAY, THE BROTHERS BARD, A. L. GUILLE, DUMOND'S MINSTRELS. AL 'AND . MAMIE ANDERSON, KELCEY SISTERS, THE -BIOGRAPH. *TIVOLI* EVENINGS AT 8. MATINEE SATURDAY AT2 CROWD THE HQUSE NIGHTLY. “THATS ONE THING A WIZARD CAN DO.” WIZARD e NILE! FERRIS HARTMAN as THE WIZARD. “HOOT MON WHELAN as THE KING. POPULAR PRICES 25 and 50 cents “Telephone—Bush 9. The ‘Alhambra —Pt South TO-NIGHT 32 57505 8% THE BEST, GRANDEST, BIGGEST! AL G. FIGLD §&es MINSTRELS. The Entire Performarce. New and Novel to is t; l‘l\——?Et’JPLl:~,\I-Ll ’;\Rfl!‘fs—“ SEE-The Novel Street Parads. Daily il & m. Open-Air Concert. Alhambra Entrance. EVENING ....28¢. 25e, S0e and The. MATINEE. 15¢. 25¢. 35e and Soe. SPECIAL—CALIFORNIA THEATER. Next Sunday Evening. March 3d—LEWIS MORRISON'S Magnificent Produetion of FAUST. Sz en’ S5 THE SAN FRANCISCO JOCKEY GLUS, TANFORAN PARK. T0.— wous Racing. Beginning Monday, Febree S ary 11, 1901, | SIX OR MORE RACES EACH WEEK DAY. Six Stake Events, Three Hurdle Races and Six Steeplechases. 7 OF THE DAY AT 2:0 P. M. R A Third and Townsead, siebets: e Tanforan Park at 7. 10:40, 11:30 a. m., 12:40, L 1:3 snd 2 p. m. Trains leave Tanforan Park for San Francisco at 4:15 p. m., followed after the last race at intervals of a few minutes by several specials. Seats in rear cars reserved for ladies and their escorts. Admission to courss, including raliroad fare, §1.35. 2 MILTON S. LATHAM, Secretary. EDWARD POWERS, Racing Secretary. CHUTES AND Z00 %7z BIG VAUDEVILLE BILL. TO-MORROW NIGHT, THE AMATEURS And.a Ladies’ Running Race. " Telephone tor Seats. Park 2. FISCHER’S SONGERT, HOUSE. Fiechtl's Tyrolean Troupe. Antonio and Con- R N Zertie. Amsell and Hinriche" OF: N hamtra. Heserved Seats. Zic. Matinee Sunday. pointments perfect cuisine American and Eu-