However, the representatives of the companies that had
made up their minds that their honor and contracts were worth dollar for
dollar had little to say and were not influenced by the alleged
arguments of the "six-bit-ers."
They felt that in the last analysis there was no logical, honest
argument for the discounting of payments unless it were a case of
absolute insolvency with individual companies. It was maintained by the
opponents to the "six-bit" policy that the insuring public had paid for
what it assumed to be valid contracts and was entitled to just indemnity
and payment in full. Finally, the roll call came to ascertain the sense
of the meeting - seventy-five cents or one dollar. The roll call was
thrilling in the intensity of feeling it developed and in the position
in which it revealed each company's standing, whether for an honorable
fulfillment on the one hand or a dishonorable scaling of losses on the
other. Alphabetically, the California Insurance Company came early in
the list and I voted with those who felt their obligation to be one
hundred cents on the dollar. The position which the California would
take had been awaited with considerable interest. The public
announcement that the company would pay dollar for dollar was still
recent and this announcement had appealed to nearly every person at that
gathering as a promise which the company was absolutely and physically
unable to perform.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38