The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-06-25
Losses by Fire in the United States.


The losses by fire in this country for the past
five months amount to $3SOO4, 500; the losses
to insurance companies have been S19,1 129930.
AT this rate we are burning up property to the
value of S912l1 ,016 per arnuna; and the insur-
ance companies are paying abou. 90 per cent of
that loss, $45, ,911 ,S12 per onnum These are
easy words to write, but how few comprehend
their significance. This loss is the irremedia-
BILE loss of nearly SlOO,OOOOOO of the products
of human industry. It is the conversion of the
brain and Drawn and blood necessary to create
$91, 100000 of value into ashes and smoke and
the original elements out of which that value was
created. Assuming that the labor necessary to
produce this value is worth three dollars per
diem, the annual loss is the loss of the COM
bined production of one hundred thousand men
for one entire year.
But the property destroyed is surplus pro-
duction. 1t has been accumulated by the own
ers after earning livelihoods for themselves,
supporting their families, paying their share of
the cost of government, and bearing their por-
tion of all the burdens of society. The loss,
then, is that of the surplus production of one
hundred thousand men for not less than twen-
ty years. This annual loss is a direct tax upon
every industry and every department of trade.
1t is tax which enhances the cost of every me-
cessty of life, and diminishes the purchasing
power of every days labor. We buy nothing
of the price of which this tax is not part. We
possess nothing from the value of which it is
not a continual subtrahend. The rate at which
we are burning up property in this country is,
of itself, enough to account for the present
nafiOn of frada-a1p,Oof r 90
perpetual panic. The causes of this frightful
destruction are not difficult to discover. Chief
among them is the fimsy character of our
buildings aided by the liberation, in such loca-
tions as 10 perpetually threaten our cities and
towns, of extra hazardous risks, especially
woodworking establishments.
In looking over the list of specials" burned
in May we find that, out of 1868 of all kinds, IA
were carpenter shops, 10 furniture factories, 9
planning mills 10, lumber yards, and 80 saw
mills. We persist in cutting down our forests
and building our frontier towns of wood. The
Justice visited upon us is poetic. The destrus-
tion of the forests causes frequent and severe
drouths. Everything is dried to a tinder, when
the fire originating in some saw mill, planning
mill or lumber yard, makes an easy way to
complete victory. 1t is worthy of remark that
several of the larger fires of the past two dis
astrous months originated in this way. The
figures are full of warning and instruction to
everybody. Let us hope that they will also
prove to be profitable for reproof and correc-
tion to those callous underwriters and foolish
property owners, who think that insurance
rates are too high and insurance companies en-
rich themselves too rapidy.-Iasranc Chroni-
Gle, June II.
LIFE INSURANCE LOSSES.
The Secretary of the Chamber of Life Insur-
ance in New York reports the amount paid by
q companies during the month of May 1875
upon policy claims, was as follows, viz:
Losses by death. 81, 100, ,50S50
Matured endowments. ....-....... 95,450.71
Total .................. ........S1 ,S55 ,9y9H