per share. (Northern Pacific and Great Northern stock in about the same
proportion.) In the sense in which the public look upon the old bonds of
railroads this "bond" is no more a bond than it is a Government bond. It
is nothing more nor less than a stock security, _and yet President
McCall says in his letter printed above and sent by him to
policy-holder DeRan that the New York Life does not and cannot invest
its surplus in stock securities_.

THE TRUE STORY OF HOW I WAS "BLACK-LISTED"

The publication of President McCall's letter and the charges which
accompanied it attracted so much attention that the "Big Three" were
flooded with letters from policy-holders demanding information. In the
January, 1904, issue of _Everybody's Magazine_, I continued the
controversy. After reviewing the conditions of the previous month's
argument, I went on:

In entering upon the exposure of the most powerful body of men in the
world, I knew quite well what I was "up against," and deliberately
decided that in the conduct of my fight I would use such strategy as I
believed proper to outwit so strong and so unscrupulous an adversary.
One can hang a dog as well with a cord as with a hawser, and in proving
my assertions I am quite willing that the insurance companies should
believe each play is my best card. I decline, however, to show my hand.

In reply to the charge that I was attacking the New York Life because I
had been refused insurance by that company, as positively stated in Mr.
McCall's letter, I reproduced a letter written and signed by President
John A. McCall, dated 1904, soliciting me to take out insurance in his
company. I printed parts of three other letters, one directed to my
office, also signed by Mr. McCall, another from the special agent, and a
third from the Boston agent of the New York Life, supplementing Mr.
McCall's letter and requesting the privilege of an interview.

This correspondence was put forth with a thorough understanding of its
nature. The publishers of _Everybody's Magazine_ and my own lawyers, to
whom I submitted it, both pointed out that the insurance companies would
undoubtedly take the ground that the McCall letter was no more than a
circular that had been sent out to a number of capitalists and had gone
to me by mistake. I replied that such a rejoinder would practically
amount to an admission that the statement and signature of the highest
officials of the New York Life were valueless and with