LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, To His Excellency, SIR: Hon. Charles N. Herreid, Governor of the State of South Dakota: I have the honor to herewith transmit to your excellency the annual report of the Department of Insurance of the State of South Dakota, as required by law, covering the period from July 1st, 1903, to June 30th, 1904, inclusive. On July 1st, 1903, there went into effect the so-called AntiCompact and Valued Policy laws. A case to test the former law was commenced in September, 1903, in the Federal Court, and is now pending in the United States Supreme Court. The proceedings had in said case are given in full in said report. In June, 1904, an action was commenced in the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, in this state, by several foreign fire insurance companies doing business in this state, touching, among other things, the Valued Policy law, but at this date no appeal has been taken from the ruling of said Court, which sustained this department. During the year 1903 there was paid for all classes of insurance by the people of South Dakota over two and one-half millions of dollars, and a due consideration of this fact leads me to the conclusion that the interests of the insuring public demand that every reasonable safeguard be enacted, and that the Department of Insurance have adequate facilities at its command to properly protect such interests. I believe that agents, placing a policy of insurance with an unauthorized company, should be made personally liable for any loss sustained under such pol icy, and further, that agents of life insurance companies should be prohibited from submitting any figures, except such as are authorized and verified by their companies under proper penalty. There appears to be a conflict in the laws relating to surety and fidelity companies, and I would recommend the enactment of laws governing such companies, both domestic and foreign. In conclusion I wish to express my appreciation of the efficient services rendered by the Hon. Philo Hall, attorney general of the state of South Dakota, in the litigation involving this department. Respectfully submitted, JOHN C. PERKINS, Commissioner of Insurance of the State of South Dakota. PROCEEDINGS IN ANTI-COMPACT CASE. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN AND FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. The Hartford Fire Insurance Company of Connecti-] surance Company of New York, a Corporation; The IN EQUITY. vs. John C. Perkins, Commissioner of Insurance of the State of South Dakota, Defendant. To the Honorable, the Judges of the Circuit Court of the United States, for the District of South Dakota : The Hartford Fire Insurance Company of Connecticut, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of that State, having its principal place of business in the City of Hartford, and a citizen of said State; the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, New York, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of that State, and having its principal place of business in the City of Brooklyn, and a citizen of said State; the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool, England, a foreign corporation created by and existing under the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and having a general office and a general manager and place of business in the City of Chicago and in the State of Illinois, having its principal place of business in the City of Liverpool, England, and a citizen of Great Britain; the German-American Fire Insurance Company of New York, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of that State, and having its principal place of business in the City of New York, and a citizen of said State; the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Massachusetts, having its principal place of business in the City of Springfield, in said State, and a citizen of said State, suing on their own behalf, and on behalf of all other fire insurance companies similarly situated, who may come in and contribute to the expenses of this suit, bring this their bill of complaint against John C. Perkins, Commissioner of Insurance of the State of South Dakota, who is a citizen of said State of South Dakota. And thereupon your orators complain and say: I. Each of your orators is a corporation created, organized and existing and having its principal place of business as set forth in the title of this their bill, and is a citizen of the State therein stated in that behalf. The defendant, Perkins, is, and for some time last past has been, Commissioner of Insurance of the State of South Dakota, and is a citizen thereof. The amount in controversy in this suit between each of your orators on the one side, and the defendant on the other, exceeds $2,000 over and above interest and costs. II. More than twelve years ago, and prior to the time of the admission of the State of South Dakota into the Union, and upon a day which your orators are not able at this time particularly to state, each of your orators furnished to the State Auditor and the Commissioner of Insurance of said State of South Dakota, under the oath of its proper officers, a statement in writing of all such matters as were then and are required to be shown to that officer, to entitle the company presenting the same to its certificate, authorizing it to transact the business of fire insurance in said State which statement or statements, having been duly examined and approved, were duly filed in the oflice of said Auditor or Commissioner of Insurance, and became a record therein, and at that time was, and ever since has been, and still is in all respects competent under the laws of the State of South Dakota, to engage in the business of insuring parties against loss or damage by fire; and thereupon at all times required, it paid to the State Auditor or Commissioner of Insurance the sums of money as he required, and thereupon that officer issued to it his certificate in such form and substance as was required to be taken out by any company engaging in that business. Thereupon, each of your orators made such publications and filed in the proper offices such other and further papers, and did all such other things as were required by the laws of said State to be done by it before entering upon its said business; and each of your said orators entered upon the said business in said State, and has carried on the same therein ever since, annually paying to the Commissioner of Insurance or to the Auditor of said State all such sums, and also doing all such other things as are required by law, and thereupon became entitled to, and received from him the proper certificate, setting forth that it had complied with the insurance law of this State, and was authorized to continue the business of fire insurance therein for the then current year, or during all such time as required by law, all which statements, documents and papers remain on file and record in the proper offices of said State, and your orators pray leave to refer thereto, should it be necessary to do so. On or before the first day of January, 1903, your orators caused their agents doing business in said >tate to procure licenses to do their business as such agents within the State; and within two months after January first, 1903, your orators made statements each showing the condition and business for the year ending or preceding December 31st, 1902, and paid to the Commissioner of Insurance on account of the charges against it provided by law the whole sums to which he was entitled, and which he exacted from each of them, and heretofore at all times it has paid to the said Commissioner of Insurance the whole sums to which he was entitled, and which he exacted for examination of the condition of it. |