Mr. Olney to Mr.
Runyon.
Department of State,
Washington, January 3,
1896.
No. 510.]
Sir: Referring to the Department’s instruction,
No. 499, of the 19th ultimo to you, relative to previous correspondence
concerning certain action of the German authorities inimical to the
interests of American insurance companies doing business in Germany, I
inclose an original communication dated the 23d ultimo from the
insurance commissioner of the State of Connecticut, addressed to the
Prince von Hohenlohe, chancellor of the German Empire, in relation to
the subject in question.
You are instructed to make such use, in your discretion, of the
accompanying paper as will, in your judgment, best promote the very
important American interests concerned.
I am, sir, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 510.]
Mr. Betts to
Mr. Olney.
State of Connecticut,
Office of the Insurance
Commissioner,
Hartford, December 23,
1895. (Received December
31.)
Sir: Permit me to request that you will
have forwarded through the proper channels to Prince von Hohenlohe,
chancellor of the German Empire, the accompanying communication from
the department of insurance of the State of Connecticut.
Believe me, very truly, yours,
Frederick A. Betts,
Commissioner
.
[Subinclosure in No.
510.]
Mr. Betts to
Prince von Hohenlohe.
Office of the Insurance Commissioner,
Hartford, December 23, 1895.
Sir: The undersigned, the commissioner of
insurance of the State of Connecticut, desiring to communicate with
the proper authorities of the Kingdom of Prussia, and learning that
the late minister of the interior of that Kingdom, in whose
jurisdiction is the supervision of the insurance business, has
resigned his office, begs leave respectfully to address this
communication to your excellency, as president of the Prussian
ministry, and to ask the attention of your excellency to the
following facts:
It has been represented to me by certain corporations chartered by
the authority of the State of New York, and doing business in every
State of the United States, and in particular in the State of
Connecticut, that recent official acts of the department of the
interior of the Kingdom of Prussia have been oppressive in their
nature and have resulted in great loss and damage to the business of
these companies; that in particular the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, the New York Life Insurance Company, and the Equitable Life
Insurance Society of New York City, have each at different times
obtained from that department concessions to transact insurance
business within the Kingdom of Prussia, and as soon as their
investments in the Kingdom have been made and their success in such
business secured, they have been
[Page 452]
met by the Department with successive decrees
imposing upon them conditions of continuance in such business which
were increasingly burdensome, and finding it impossible to comply
with such decrees, have either withdrawn under compulsion from
Prussia, or have been excluded therefrom.
Convinced that the fundamental principle of all business relations
between countries subject to different jurisdictions is one of true
reciprocity, I beg respectfully to say that the insurance department
of Connecticut will do everything in its power to maintain true
principles of reciprocity in such cases. If the facts brought to my
attention are correct, it is plain that the action of your
department of the interior is not in harmony with the liberty and
reciprocity guaranteed by the treaty entered into in 1828 between
the United States and the Kingdom of Prussia, wherein the
contracting powers granted each to the other “liberty and
reciprocity of commerce and of navigation.” That reciprocity of
commerce includes reciprocity in the insurance business is an
accepted doctrine in the interpretation of all such treaties. That
this reciprocity has been violated in the measures adopted by the
interior department of the Kingdom of Prussia toward the companies
in question can not, I think, be successfully disputed, if the
representations made to me are true.
As commissioner of insurance of the State of Connecticut, I
respectfully call upon your department for a formal statement of the
reasons for the alleged unjust treatment of the American companies
referred to in this communication. It has seemed to me wise to ask
your excellency’s attention to these facts, and to request, with
respect, that you will direct a reconsideration of the action of the
department of the interior, to which reference has been made.
I remain, yours, respectfully,
