Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-06
THE INSURANCE QUESTION.
Something TO be Read by Property
Holders Really Desiring Good and
Reliable Insurance.


To the Union and American:
In the year 1865, and at or about the
time the agents of the Amazon and Clay of
Newport (Which has been slighted hereto
fore for some reasOn) begun to store their
minds with that immense fund Of insurance
knowledge now possessed by them, one
Patrick Henry made a speech in Virginia
in which he said: Caesar had his BrutuS
Charles the First his Cromwell, and
George the Third-Inay profit by their ez-
ample" This warning, as warning usual
" are, was unheedsd, but Henry had not
reckOned without his host, and the result
is known to all. Recently the Board Of
Underwriters issued a circular on the sub
ject Of ''cheap insurance" which so far
from being secret went forth openly
avowed by them and for which each men,
Der acknowledges a responsibility in its
fullest sense. In it they adverted to the fact
that three companies had been organized by
the same men in Cincinnati, and of these
three companies, two, the Andes ana Tri-
umph, had failed and they kindly warned
the Amazon that "new departure was in
order for her. The fact is, We
believe, admitted that the Andes had its
Brutus-that the Triumph had its Crom-
well, but the agents of the Amazon see no
reason why that company should profit by
their example, and think it proper that it
should tread in the path that leads 10 in
evitible ruin.
The line of argument used by the Board
was that selling goods below cost always
resulted in the ruin of the firm doing il.
Will not the merchants Of this city recall
many, many instances that cOTrObOTate this
statement OF course, the cost of carrying
insurance is somewhat open, but who has
the best right to speak on this question, the
Amazon, which has hardly been in bust
ness two years, or the companies that have
endured for more than two generations
that have an experience Of reliability, and
can by reference TO their statistics tell what
it has cost them to carry risks? In making
the prevailing rates, the combined expert
ence of some seventeen of the leading COM
panies of sAmeTica was considered. There
is no chance of luck about this matter.
They make rates and tell you if these
rates are paid they will engage
10 pay their ordinary losses and TO lay by
that surplus necessary in these days when
whole cities burn down. 4 man who has
a broken leg and sends for a doctor does
not wish him to sit by his bedside, lament
the accident, give him narcotic and allow
him to awake suffering more acute pain.
He is willing to endure present pain if fu-
ture recovery results from it; so when we
see over one hundred companies swept out
Of existence by fires and the capital of others
depleted, the true insurance man is he who
states candidly to the public that if they
really want good Insurance they must pay
for it, and that if they do so, it will be
guaranteed that such companies will not
"be found wanting" on the day of disaster.
Have not our citizens yet had their salts
faction of the policies of companies offered
below cost in this market? We ask the
question of such as have been entangled in
swindles of this kind, whether the hook
that caught them was not baited with
''cheap insurance" always?
The last illumination of the agents of the
Amazon and Clay of New York Eve are
very kindly disposed to the Clay. never
did any harIn-yet) shows the result of
the business of eight leading companies of
1872, TO substantiate the charges they bring
against them of recllleSSneSS. When a
company has existed some sixty years and
''toed the mark as New York, Portland,
St Louis, Charleston, Chicago, and BOs-
ton, any explanation of this charge as made
by an agent of the Andes, Friendship or
Amazon would be viewed in the same light
as the bull viewed the apology of the gnat
that lit upon its horns, as entirely unneces-
sary. UnconSciOuSly the figures furnish
the strongest argument for adequate rates.
In 1872 these eight companies lost nearly
S4,OO0,OO0 over their receipts. \ little cir
cumstance, very trivial one, true, occurring
that year will throw some light on the
forced comparison, with this result of the
AmazOn's business. In 1872 the city of
Boston was visited by a fire, and these COM
panles lost from S50O,OOOto 81 10000 each
by it. The Friendship quietly gave up the
ghost here, and its risks and assets went
into the Amazon, as those of the Andes had
gone into the Friendship. The Amazon
lost only $4,000, not "being represented
iu Boston" Many Of our merchants
who know the streets destroyed in Boston,
can vouch for the fact. that it was consid-
cred hardly possible for any number Of such
houses 10 burn.
Having our attention called to the New