The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-25


ness at all unless he supposed that his premiums
would cover all possible losses and ieave balance
In his favor II Is upon that basis that oil his cal
1t has been long since decided that the value
sured in absence OF fraud is not an element OF con-
sderaton in determining who Is entitled 10 the IN.
surance money In case Of loss. He who mas pa,a
the premium shall receive the insurance. Anybody
may insure another bodys property II he chooses
by paying the requisite premium yet IRON motives
requires that the assured should have an interest
In the property But that interest need not De at
all commensurate with the whole value OF the prop
erty, as when the equity man insres his equity or
redemption to the amount OF the whole properly,
although the larger portion OF its value may nate
been conveyed by him In pledge or mortgage. Inis
principle has been nowhere better lustrateu anu
argued than in the opinion OF the late ChieI justice
shaw, OF Massachusetts, in the case OF hinS vs.
State Insurance Company. Cnsh (Mass), X, p. !.
In view OF these Considerations your committee
have assumed that the underwriters have received
already an decentralization for the losses sustained
by them from the aggregate OF premiums they nave
received ana .nas nd hch 's sbnnd be- devoted to
pay the unremunerated losses OF the cizens OF tne
government TO add TO the profits OF the insurance
companies the amount which they nave rece'eu
already from their premiums .,.
To an inquiry why your committee have decided
not to place the claims OF the underwriters, even
where their business shows that there has been upon
the whole a loss In fact, among the other classes
OF losses which to be paid in fun at all events
from the fund.- we say that the claims for losses by
owners OF vessels and cargoes, and offlcers ana
crews whose property and persous were at sea
when these cruisers came out or who must allow
their vessels to rot at the wharves unless they
ventured forth In spite OF the enemy on tine water
commerce Of the country In the face OF the
enemy, and aiding the nation IN the war, ought TO
be considered more mertorlous than those or IN
surers who entered int the business OF making u
profit out Of those very depredatiOns Ivy calculating
the risks and adding very large war premiums 10
their rates for insurance, and thus, rghtully
enough, but in perfect safety 10 themselves anu 10
their profits, made money out OF the war; Inc aar
as business and should assume all the conse-
quences of that business, which your committee
firmly believe were not Improbable 10 them as
rule and IT. in any case, their ventures turned out
upon the whole to be a loss, your committee
this fund.- but in subordination to the more
meritoriOus classes who were specially injured
by the ravages OF war in the prosecution OF which
the nation that they should carry on
CLAIM OF INSURERS THAT THEY HAVE RIGHTS DIFF
FERENT FROM OTHER LOSSES REFUTED.
Your committee are not unaware that the in
surers make claim upon the fund arising out OF the
award something which belongs 20 them, ana
contend that their claim to 1. is to be considered
equal, certainly, If not superior to any other.
far as your committee are advised is put upon two
grounds First, that payments by the insurers Tor
losses were presented TO the tribunal al Geneva
and passed upon by the arbitratOrs, and form part
OF the award itself and therefore should be dis
tributed to them, the insurers, II not to the eXcu-
sion Of all, yet to the exclusion OF some OF the
other classes of claims which we have provided
for. Secondly, that by the principles oil mer-
total loss is suorogated to the rights Of the
assured in all the property which may be saved or
recovered upon which the insurance attached.
These considerations gravely put forward, lnvov-
ing consequences and amounts the most consider
able, supported by the arguments and statements
OF learned counsel who have been employed by the
insurers to give opinions thereon and furnish
copies for the newspapers and to be distributed TO
ING their minds and prejudiclflg their Judgments as
legislators, entitled to iull examination, as the
decision upon the question VIII De OF the highest
moment both to the insurers and the other Suiier-
ers by these losses who have not yet appeared be-
fore Congress by counsel to represent their claims.
Upon the best consideration which we can bring
to the first ground of special claim by the insurers
your committee believe II to be untenable in this,
that while 1t Is true that the claims of the insur
ance companies for losses paid were presented by
this government to the tribunal at Geneva as
part OF our claims against Great Britain, and, as we
are ready to admit, rightly enough presented, yet,
as the case before the arbitration shows that
the claims of the assured were also
property destroyed, the allowance Of both
claims would have been, In the language Of the
q the Rtn an OF double
SO that IN this distribution OF the award 1t seems
to your committee impossible to say that any one
of the claims Of the insurers were allowed in the
award. Indeed, II the conclusion be correct to
which your committee came, Us ut first herein set
claims for the great wrong done the United States
by Great Britain, II Is impossible Tor any man to
say any given claim was sail allowed however merito-
We adhere, therefore, to our opinion, herelnbe
fore expressed, that the money received from this
free from all claims or liens by any persons whom
soever, and that 1t is a moral duty only OF the
United States to distribute 1t equitably among Its
citlzens.
seems inequitable to pay back to the insurers,
amount insured, all that they have paid. to the ex-
cusion OF the uninsured who have suffered loss or
those losing AGyond the value OF the insurance re-
ceved, who hAge received no indemnity whatever,
and who ~ nG voluntarily In many cases, II in
any, put themselves in the positions which brought
IN
Yourconimittee are not pnmindul of the fact that
many vessels captuseds@ere whaers and vessels
months some Sr yes4s before the Alabama and
her consorts were loose upon them. Can 1t be
surance in many cases are not to be Unidentified
from the fund while the insurance companies, who
which they believed to be, and which the principle
of insurance was, sufficient to indemnify them Tor
all their losses shall be paid In fullS
The second ground upon which the insurers put
their prior claim to this fund Is, before stated,
that In each case where the underwater paid the
law well understood in this country and in Europe
to all the rights of the assured in the insured prop
sr prncpe OF law but is It mors than ird s II
the assured has received full pay from the
insurers for his property as total loss, then any
demnity, II ever afterward found or saved, be-
comes the property of the insurer.
In some cases, indeed, the underwriters show
that they took assignments of all claims OF the
assured upon the government OF the United States
or upon the government OF Great Britain Tor the
destruction OF property before they paid the losses
Without stopping to inquire by what right an
derwriter demands such assignment before he
pays the losses for which he's has received pre-
MUM, which obiges him to pay IL, your committee
are quite willing to admit the TACT OF such assign
ment and their full legal force and effect.
We may be permitted to remark, however, as
showing the strong conflict OF ideas OF the assured
and the underwater as to their rights, thatin very
many cases the destroyed vessel and cargo es-
pecially OF those captured by the Shenandoah, the
owners Of vessels when presenting their claims Tor
their loss distinctly protest against any dimnu-
| ton OF the indemnify for their losses because OF
any money received as insurance. This claim so
distinctvely pu. forth by The assured, must be upon
| the ground plainly that they believe their war
! premiums nave more than UNIDENTIFIED the under
| writers FOR payments made by them.
| Ii seems TO your committee that there is fun
dancnta error In this claimed effect OF the subrO-
CATION and assignment OF the rights OF the assured