The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-19
INVITING FIRES.

made, but when thesc rules are departed
from, there ia danger These rules declare
that property has an insurable value only
for certain percentage Of its actual value,
aud that, in no case, shoul it be insured
for more than this proportion. In insur-
ing buildings, this percentage is calculated
on the value of the building above its foun-
dation in personal property, such as goods
in stores. etc, it is based on the average
amount and value of stock kept during the
year. However careful companies and
their agents may be, it will sometimes hap
pen that stock is insured for more than its
actual value, but a strict enforcement of
the rules will reduce these cases to very
small and exceptional number
Dun, Barlow & Co., in. one of their re-
cent circulars, called attention to the fact,
that, from the general reduction of values,
large amount of property all over the
country was insured for more than it
should be, and predicted, as Il result,
large number of incendiary fires. That
prediction is being verified day by day
We know not whether any, or If any, how
many, of these fires have their origin in
that cause, but certain it il. there is a wide
spread suspicion that by far the greater
proportion OF these fires arc traceable di-
rectly to over insurance and a desire to
realize thereon. As a rule. such fires are
more apt to result in total losses than those
occasioned by accident, because only in
this way can the object of the incendlary
be attained, and the traces of his guilt be
covered up. The time and opportunity are
Of his own selection, and he generally
makes thorough work of it.
Especially is this the case, when 1t is q
heavily insured stock Of goods that the in
cendiary desires to dispose of. Only by
total loss can he realize on his insurance,
and, at the same time, cover up the slen-
derness and small value of his actual stock.
In one of cur Rutland fires, it was claimed
that it was Of incendary origin, and that
the incendiary's object was to realize his
insurance. 1t was claimed that his stock
was less than two thousand dollars in val
thousand dollars. Whether the stock was,
in The first instance, insured for more than
its value, whether the stock had been de-
pleted by removal, or whether, ia fact, It
was insured for any more than its insurable
value at the time of the fire, we will not
undertake TO say. The loser is under in
dictment in our courts, and the question of
his guilt or innocence ia one hardly proper
to be now considered. We only alude to
it to show the general feeling of the CON-
munity, and of insurance companies, on
the subject
If, however, the stock was insured for
eight thousand dollars, when its real value
was only two thousand or four thousand
dollars, it was direct invitation to burn
it, was it not Z? When business is de-
pressed, when values are unsettled, when
there is necessity to realize money, is it
not dangerous temptation to place before
certain class of men What more can
be expected, than that these men will burn
their buildings, or their stocks of goods,
when, by so doing, they can obtain double
of their actual value for them The his
tory of the country for the past year, shows
that it is temptation, and temptation,
too, that is not resisted-and we fear that
a true history of our Rutland fires would
bear the same testimony.
The fault is not always with the insur-
ance companies and insurance agents, al
though, at times it is. We fear that, too
often, 1t happens as in case we wot of,
that merchant, knowing that in the vicis-
STUDIES OF trade bis stock is largely re-
duced in value, desires to cancel part of
his insurance, but instead of an alacriiy on
the part of agents to aid him, they rather
endeavor to persuade him to retain his full
line Of insurance. We fear that, in the
case referred to, commissions" rather than
the good of the company controlled the
agent. But the honest merchant succeeded
and had his policies cancelled.
This over insurance, besides inviting
actual technical crime, engcnders careless
ness. Often. how often we shall never
know, men neglect to take the usual pre-
cautions because they know and feel, and
sometimes so express themselves, that a
fire would be their gain rather than their
loss. Asimllar degree of "carelessness" is
sometimes displayed al actual fires in the
endeavor to save property. We have been
OF fires, where it seemed as If all must be
destroyed, but with ample time to remove
all personal property, and have heard the
owner of goods direct that certain goods
should not be removed, saying they "would
as lief they should burn as not" Insur-
ance companies and their agents are, in a
measure, responsible for some of these
fires, for some of this 'carelessness, and
they can remedy 1t If they will.