The Farmers' Alliance Insurance Swindle
A political organization's insurance arm leaves Palouse farmers in financial ruin while the leadership lines their own pockets.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Washington Farmers' Insurance Company of Spokane, whose swindling operations have received much mention recently, was organized a little over two years ago. The subscribed capital stock was $50,000, but only $900 in cash was ever paid in. The officers included Paul Bockmire, president and Farmers' Alliance leader, and manager James Hopkins. The books show outstanding policies of $2,118,000, yet there are no funds to pay claims. Having collected nearly $90,000 in premiums, the company leaves its subscribers to bear over $25,000 in losses. Contracts revealed that Bockmire was not only taking 10 percent commissions on capital stock and 35 percent on premium notes, but also drawing a $125 monthly salary. While trying to abandon the bankrupt wreck upon the farmers, directors even falsely claimed one organizer was worth $40,000, when records showed he owned only $340 in personal property.
“The most infamous part of the whole management of this company seems to be that wherein the Populist leaders, those on the inside, tried to get from under and leave the wreck upon the hands of the farmers of the Palouse country.”
This 1893 scandal highlights the historical volatility of populist movements in Washington and the vulnerability of rural cooperatives to mismanagement and grift. It resonates with contemporary concerns regarding the oversight of non-traditional insurance and the protection of working-class investors from predatory financial schemes.
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