, 1865-02-28
Wbicagb Trtbnrlee
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY %, 1895.
KNsURANCE-esA TALE OF Two
C{TJES.s9

nc SUCCESSFUL unless Tue hil*3aEte MelcunAk uan
The same facilities for buE1ness a. The merchant
rites charged, 20 hr d they 70, arr sufficient
ese5 eye snse.s ,ssnss L. III,
being ereater than close competition wonlo al-
low in The margin Of profits"
We arc glad to see the merchants Of Nil
waukce Investigating some Of the Eeasons
which have for years past prevented that
town from competing with the city Of chica-
20 for the tradc Of any part Of Wisconsin, ex-
cent tic few counties in its immediate neigh
lorhood. We can readily appreciate the mag
n,tude Of the insurance. difficulty, and cAn
easily perceive that Of itself 1t is sufficient to
-ptcvent The Milwaukee merchants from com
petipg with those Of Chicago. It Is very ab
s,ud, however, In the Milwaukee merchants
to suppose that the insurance companies are
not better posted than they, on their own Pc
culiar business, or that the companies arc not
as anxious to insure property in Milwaukee,
as elsewhere, at the same profit, or that the
resolutions Of the merchants of Milwaukee
to organize home companies will effect any
thing, As capital Is dcarer In Milwaukee
than where the companies now doing the
business are located, it is evident that the
<shome .companies'' to be organized would
have to Insure at loss, or charge higher
rates tl1an those now paid. Especially is
nothing TO be gained by misstat{ng the facts
as the Milwaukee merchants do, In the
following extracts from their circular:
"The loss by fires In the city Of Mtlwankee for
The 1ss q io.s II
f. r. ~ ~ Of Chicago during the came time was
Byrcfe,cnce to The yaluable annual review
published by us OF the first Of January, 1866,
il will be found that the total loss by fires in
Chicago during The year 1864 was not $4,000
but $5e9, 400, Of which only 1850 VAS in.
zurcd. But even Of this loss more than one
lal1 was owing to two or three heavy fires,
one of which, i.ill's Brewery, A1as as great
within $22 600 as the entire losses OF 1861.
But before any compal ison can be Instituted
between the liability to loss in Chicago and
in Milwaukee, the Merchants' Association
should have furnished the relative value OF
the property injured In both places which
they have not done. II, as they state, rates Of
insurance are twice or three times as high
there as in Chicago, probably q much smaller
aggregate OF property In proportion to popu-
luton is insured there than here. The differ
cncc in the rates Of insurance undoubtedly
a,ises from incontroverhble proof that since
the employment ofour paid firemen and steam
fire engines, the actual loss, in proportion to
the aggregate Of property insured, is zone
hundred, Two hundred, or even three hun
dred per cent higher in Milwaukee than in
Chicago. We know that under the system Of
volunteer f3rcmen and hand-engines, our loss
es were, for 1859, s6os 4oa, and for 1860, $685.
6B5. But On the adoption Of our
present system, our Losses dropped, the
first year, to k167, 40. As here Was q
saving of over half million Of dollars
10 the insurance companies, or Of about four
hundred per cent, they made corresponding
reduction in orr rates Of insurance.
Since 1861 our Losses have risen about in
for 1864, when they were rendered unusually
large BY exceptional causes, but have never
been 80 large as during the last two years OF
the old hand engines. Even LAST year they
were probably not so large, In proportion to
The value insured Is those Of Milwaukee, In.
surance companies cannot be condemned for
respecting paid steam-dre-department. On
the contrary, they will 1aneh at the merchants
Of Milwaukee for expending their fury In
empty resolutions containing statistical mis-
statements and appealing to vulgar and ex-
.ploded notion Of tayoritism towards met
1opolitan city, when it would be so much
wiser to rid themselves Of The Coppsrhead
city government which retards the progress
Of the city, and elect, as we did, 3 Republican,
wideawakc, go-ahead city government, which
has saved us half million every year since.
On fires and premiums, by giving us paid
steam-fre department. copperheadism, if 1t
continues to reign there, wall give over NIL
waukce to the Jews, as Its twin sister seccs
sienlam has Chatleston:
100000 REASONS
The zeal and aspe1ity with which the Stat
Journal denounced everybody who hn'
any 1ault Win Inc acts o. Inc 1lllno's Aceis
latnre may oe accounted 'or ~ sianse
me appfopf'anons oa enas nv eooS' oo M "aasu W
tno inc staatl ateta oI stoov Aof .a; p'Aa'"s
II occurs 10 us tnat 1ne 1'em 10 e1.es'aes' .s
large-large enough IN 'act 10 pay Ing e''a'
"o"'s.@ fos al tne pruning ano sooo oea'
oi eoi'ot.M oeslaes. Inc seguaal aPpsoP11A
non 1of tne pnonc printing OF 1ae on.Ieo
esases sosesnnen1 LOT tne nsca' year Aoo77
For the publfc printing. tnr1udiur post
Office blanks ..,.......,,,,,...,,.$ $sao, is
For Pspes tos tie public printing. zGa,17