Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-03-10
The DeIuSiOn Of Low Rates
Cor Fire Insurance.

OF all the fallacies to which the
public is given, none Is more paipa-
Die, and yet none Is more universally
prevalent, than the notion that cheap
insurance is real economy. Men,
shrewd in their own department Ol
business, skillful financiers, success.
full merchants, will, in the matter Of
insurance, commit the most glaring
absurdities by practically relying for
security upon parties who are newt
ably running themselves by selling
their wares below cost. They do not
net thus in other business. SagaciOus
men will not ordinarily entrust the
protection Of valuable interests to
those who manage recilessly; but
insurance seems to furnish an excep-
ton to all sound rules, for good bust
ness men DO take the policies Of in
ferior companies, frequently, in
preference to those Of solid ability,
because the rate Is II shade lower in
the former. Is not this because the
subject has never been placed before
them in it's proper light? DO not
men confound the purchase Of an
insurance policy with ordinary mer-
camille transactions, not comprehend
ing that the policy Is not the thing
itself, but merely the representative
Of n future possible something "A
mere promise to pay uIon the occur
renee of a distant contingency.
IfOne buys a house and pays for it,,
he enters Mt once into the enjoyment
OF that for which he spends his mon
ey, by possession of the thing itself;
but, ii one obtains insurance and pays
for it, the policy Is not the thing it.
self, but Is merely the evidence of an
expected benefit in the indefinite
future, under certain contingencies.
The power to confer the benefit may
cease before the contingency arises,
or may never have existed. He did
not secure the thing itself in the
policy. for which he paid.
Ifhe purchase boots for two dollars
that cost the maker five, he may
wear them at once, enjoying the
purchase and testing its value inn
mediately; the seller may be ruined
before the bOnts arc half Worn, but
that does not injure either the pur-
cf1aspr or the DOJLs, Not so with n
cheap Insurance policy: the very
figure ut viii. h he buys 1t, instead OF
suggesting tho notion of good bar
gain, furnish es most substantial evil
dence that II is swindled, because its
value lies in its future strength, and
that strength comes solely from the
price which he and others are now
paying. The money for losses and
expenses must come from the pre-
nliuns, and II the premiums are
inadequate, he Is leaning for future
support upoa a broken staH, which,
instead OF proving stay, will, In
due time, p4erce the hand that rests
upon It. The conclusion IL in
evitahle. .ss.iig o
Let this distinction be well UNDER
stood and frequently talked about by
officers, solicitors, agents and others
who come In direct contact with the
public. Let gentlemen understand
that there is no similarity whatever
between an ordinary purchase and
the purchase Of an Insurance policy,
because the result of the one Is inn
mediate possession, while the other
is mere promise, a deferred deliv-
cry of the thing itself to some point
placed indefinitely in the future.
Let them Also understand that by
long experience, the better co,npa.
MES have coJnc to know just about
what the risks are worth. and any
departures from the
rates established by companies of
long standing, wide experience and
good rcpute, are sure to be ruinous
h com panies who make them. And
II rnino,,A to Companies, Just as cer-
tainly ruinOus to those who accept