, 1880-09-12
The State Superintendent Close
Their Deliberations.
The Wisconsin Law and Its Evils
Fully Considered.
Interviews with Commissioners
About the Cooperative
Business. 4
Their Reasons Why the Public Should
Shun Such Companies. .


The National Insurance Convention roassom-
bled ut tho Palmer House at 10:45 yesterday
morning, President McGi[t in the chair, and oil
the Commissioners present
MIR. Whiting, Of New York, road paper on 49,
FIRE RESERVES,
| in which he advocated a new basis Tor the cal
clation Of tho liabilities Of une1pircd fire poll
cir5. The present plan OF the State Depart
1neuts was to charge the company so per cent
Of the amount of premiums on unex-
| pired risks. The workings Of this plan
were absurd and unjust, because d
company which charged an orthodox rate, say
per cent on q certain risk. was CHARGED with 81
cents reinsurance liability, whereas Wildcat
company writing on the same risk, and cutting
down the rate ona-halt, was only charged one
half Of what it had charged c5 cents, which con-
stItuted premium upon underwriting and mal-
practice. The proposed plan WIS to have the
Statn Departments establish n schedule OF t1tes
whereby the liabilities OF ouch oompany should
be determined without any regard what
ever to the. aetuhl'- price charged
by the companies, upon the theory
that certain ST, ,0oo, $50 of risk, whether written
in one company Or another, involved precisely
the same liability: and hence the desire was to
to arrive at somc oven scale Of charging up these
liabilities in order that justice may be done to all
A long discussion followed, during tho course
Of which Mr.. Heuld, Of New York, said that ex-
pcrience had demonstrated that one-haf Of
all the losses by fro In this country
were attributable to design. How could TINT
liability be formulatcd? 1t the Legislatures
would say to poltcyholdcrs "You shall have IS
per cent OF your lqss,' = the destruction Of prop
erty would be limited to iuceudtarisui; thore
would be no arson. Owners should have In.
terost-5 TO- Is, 10, or rs per ceut-tn the pt eser.
walton Of their property. a man VINO would
cheat under the present system, Disregard his
oath, aud forfeit bis character for honesty a1d t
integrity, would do it utmost under any blank.
The only way to prevent dishonesty and per
jury On the part Of officers was to nuke
q personal examination Of the con,pany.s nj
fairs. There were companies which needed It.
The Doald companies would not furnish the de,
taiis for The proposed schedule, since 1t would
panies, and inlure che business OF the others.
Mr. Harvey said one of the great dii1cutties
Of 1nuktng nnlmum rate for tire-insuranco
companies themselves they being unwilling
gcnerssliy to lot their experience b9 known to
other companies or to tho Stato Insurance Dc
Mr. Clark eaid new plan was necessary. The
reserve. as now computed, #as fallacy, ana ~
@ pocvnoIders' @ % The be @ Subject M was & So much in IN
portuncc that 1t might be referred to q commit
tee for Investigation. Ho made motion to that
Mr. Wright, fron the Committed to whom was
referred tho matter OF foreign companies, re-
ported that the Committee wore unablet to agree,
citation in executive session. SO
THE VALUED r0LICY Law.
Bfr. Pillsbury, from the Committee on Legtsla-
ton, submitted the following:
law, su-cailed. was born Of prejudice and has
boon nurscd BY the sumo indeanablo influence;
that, while aimed specially az insurance con!- :
suring public BY inviting the fraudulent dastruc-
uon Of property that may be ovcrinsured,
thus increasing the burdens Of Insurance to
GDrfAtv. since I'LL t143HH and HFnenS03 and
must necessarily be, levied upon the insur1ng
public:
companies is 70 net ip tho capacity OF middle
men in distributing the aggregate Of losses up
on the asgsegnte of properly insured: there
deceive, derraud,- or circumyent them In ther
legitimate operations must result in inpairing
eo eas ss'ay q aey .o a pa5 a& in the
REso(pEd, That the owner Of property Is fairly
presumed. to bo the best Judge Of its actual
part is prima fac!e evidence Of fraudu-
lieut. intent; that the destruction Of such :,
overiusured property strongly confirms this
commissions, md contrary to their instructions.
1nay he, and doubtless often are, partakers IN
the crime, both owner and agent should, instead
their criminnlity: and that insurance above tho
rcal value Of the property destroyed never
Rcsotucd, Thut we deprccate any efforts to
procure slmiaar legislation in other States. be-
1icving that It leads to temptneon, invites
fraudulent fires, eOrrupts public morals. results
In tho wantan apnihilati0n of property, and
thereby dimintshes the taxable wealth Of the
country.
Mr. kow said all the States would seek to
remedy overinsurance; and those that didn't
adopt u valued policy law would pace the COM
panies under an iron policy The remedy Tor
evils should come from the companies or tho
Legislatures 1t seemed to him TINT the tlulo
was near ut hand when the Legislatures we're
going t{s put the companies OIL uniform policy.
Hf mnSP6 0nnn1 hr- ndf}iT1sr TINT # WNS rho
sense of the Convention that the Legislatures of
tho different States should put into their insur-
nnce laws clause prohibiting any company
from paying more thun three-fourths of tho
actual value Of the property in any case.
MIR. Harvey said the com lpanfes could easily
beat tho valued policy law by u proper pro-
vision in their contracts
Mr.. Finch urged that the Wisconsin law was
born Of ignorance, and not Of prejudice.
A communication was received from J. Stod-
dard, Secretary of the Northwestern Masonic
AID Association Of Chicago. which has mem-
in1ion which would protect hciuterests Of mem-
bors OF cooperative organizations rs well as the
interests Of the general public. and asking thlt
he bo accorded the privilege Of presenting his
views.
The document was referred to the Executive
Committee.
Pending action on the resolutions Of Mr.. Pills
bury, motion to adjourn till half-past was
ExRGuT1vE SESSION.
The Convention went into executive session at
The following resolution Of Mr. Bow was
Ilesolretl That the Convention does not APP
prove Of the tnws which have been enacted IN
Missouri and Ohio making tho face vnluo Of tho
policy oil buildings the measure OF qanage5 In
case Of total loss regardless Of the true valuo OF
ouE moro ontltabtc to enuct q law that would |