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The case of Hyde is doubly appropriate for mention here, because he was a representative sinner in these corrupt practices, and because it was my fate to cross destinies at three critical moments in the life of his son and heir, and to be, at one of these crises, the Nemesis for his undoing.

Henry B. Hyde had organized the Equitable Life Insurance Company years before as a private stock company, capitalized at $100,000, of which he retained ownership of slightly more than $50,000 worth of the stock. The Equitable had prospered until it was one of the five great insurance companies. Its assets had risen to over $500,000,000, its surplus to an enormous sum. It was a moot question as to whether the stockholders or the policy holders owned the surplus. Though the stock was restricted to a 7 per cent. dividend, nevertheless its price had risen to $3,000 a share, which showed the value that experts placed upon opportunities for profit—whether legitimate or otherwise—that accrued to the possessor of the majority of the stock—and the control of the company. The insurance investigation conducted by Mr. Hughes showed the various methods by which the men in control of this and other insurance companies had abused this power and had personally enriched themselves.