Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-10-12
VI. MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY,

The Thirty-Third Annual Report Of this
most reliable Of all Insurance Companies
shows that its merits are more and more APP
preciated from year to year. It has issued
| this year $3.50 policies, teing 2347 more
than its average number per year. The
amount Of property now insured in it is
nearly t,rsnty-one millions Of dollars. The
amount of premium notes on which assess
ments are made from month 70 month-to
cover the losses Of each month. as they oc-
| cur) is above si1teen hundred thousand dol
lars. It is not possible for any insurance
| company to be safer TO the insured nor for
any to insure with any safety at lower rates.
There can be a siol9 Of insuring at lower
rates, but in reality nothing Of the sort can
be done, except when a company is on the
high road to bankruptcy The distribution
Of the actual expenditure by the company to
meet losses and pay for salaries and inciden-
tai expenses, is on the most equitable plan
conceivable, according to tie risk Of the
property insured, with this exception that
the less hazardous property insured (full
three-fourths of the whole) has not g,tite paid
its fair share, for the last fifteen years, tax
en- together. The past year has been one of
more expense than usual, the heavy fires in
Benson, Poultney, Woodstock, Bellows Falls,
70 eroIIipr, Tho o,ocv,+ of ioes rpusroI
". The average annual assessment on pre-
MUM notes for thirty three years has been
three and G quarter per cent. This year the
s5ess ment is four per cent. There have been
eleven years previous to the present, when
the assessment has been four per cent or
more, in three Of which, 1888, 80, and rs
it reached fee per cent. This annual assess
ment, strangers to the Company will observe,
is not per centage on the estimated value Of
the property insured, but percentage on
per cenfqge oftsGt, determined according to
the degree of hazard. The annual charge
according to the value Of tho property,
docs not average more than one.ftih
Of one per cent. on property CT al kinds
of course on slightly hazardous property it
falls far below that.
The steadily growing confidence Of the
people of this State in the " Old Vermont
Mutual, -" as it is often called, is attributable,
we suppose, to the fact that the active officers
are kept in for long period Of years (some
of them were concerned in laying its found
alton stones, and have been laborlng in it
ever since) and that they make a thorough
exposition Of its receipts and expenditures
from year to year, in detail, 50 that those
who are interested can compare the transac-
lions of each year with those of the years
which have proceeded it.
We believe we must find fault d little. |
where we have so much to praise. We have
thought for some years that its annual reports
have been published In rather shabby style
for concern of such magnitude-and this
years report, it strikes US, is shabbier than
usual. We co not believe in extravaganza IN
such matters; but. it seems to US, that a de-
cent respect for the public demands change
of hand. The down-hill style in paper and
printing has been tried long enough it is
time to work up hill.