Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-04
THE BOARD OF TRADE.

|
regular meeting of the board Of trade held
yesterday morning.
R. a. johnson, recently from Trenton,
| N. j., was elected member of the board.
| The special committee, which spent sew
eral weeks in Investigating facilities for
| distinguishing fires, together with the mat
| ter of the extOrtionate rates of the board
of underwriters Insurance, reported
through the chairman, Capt. Merriman, as
follows:
Your special committee, upon whom was
placed the duty of Investigating the causes
of the recent advance in insurance rates,
made by certain insurance companies, do
ing business in this city, beg leave to state
that in their Judgment the best method
which could be adopted by them in order
to do equal and exact justice to the COM
panies complained against for the imposi
ton of alleged e1tortionate rates; to the
city council, upon which the law places,
primarily, the responsibility of furnishing
all the means necessary for the
prevention and extinguishing of
fires; to the board of water commissioners,
whose duty it is to execute the will of the
council in relation to the important mat
ter of water supply; to the fire department,
upon whose energy, intelligence, and fidel-
ity, SO much depends In time of danger;
and to every officer connected with the ad-
ministration of city affairs, as we'll as to
furnish an opportunity to every citizen to
prefer and substantiate any charges he
might have against any Of these persons
or corpol ate bodies, was to appoint and
hold certain public meetings, at which
should be present said insurance compa-
MES. by their duly accredited agents, all
city officials whose duties were in any man
ner connected with the subject matter to
be investigated, as we'll as such of our fell
low citizens as felt sufficient interest there
in to attend these public sessions of the
committee.
They accordingly caused notice to be
given through the newspapers published
in the city, of the time and place when
and where such meetings would be held,
and extended to all persons and parties
above indicated an invitation to be present;
and pursuant to such notice, held at the
city hall twelve public meetings, at which
the statements of alIarge number of per-
sons were taken, having bearing more or
less directly upon the facilities possessed
by the city for the extinguishment of
fires.
The reporter of the Minnesota Tribune
kindly consented to act as secretary of
your committee. His minutes, as pub
lished from day to day, are herewith sub
mitted as the testimony taken at these
meetings.
The insurance com panies whose officers
had imposed upon our citizens the rates
complained against declined to accept your
committees invitation to take part in the
work which you had given US to do. A num-
Der of our fellow citizens engaged in the
business, and whose names appear in the
journal of our proceedings, of insurance
were in attendance, and gave to your com
mittee such assistance as they were able;
but each and all declined to bear any share
of the responsibility for the advance IN
rates. On the contrary, as we believe, all
concurred in the words of one of their num-
Der, that sit was arbitrary, unjust and indie
fensible." And perhaps we might as well
state in this npection, as at any tune,
that the compact" companies, as they
style themselves, seem for some reason
unknown to your committee, to have come
to about the same conclusion, and hence
have, as we are informed, removed the 25
per cent. advance.
This much having been accomplished it
might perhaps be sufficient for US to return
to you the testimony taken and consider
our labors finished.
But it seems to US that this subject of
insurance, together with those matters
necessarily related to it, is of so much i'm
portanee to our people that it ought not to
be dismissed without further notice. 1t is
understood in general way by every in
telligent citizen, that we must have an
abundant water supply, and an effective fire
department, and all the necessary
equipments for the extiDguishment of
fires when they occur; and hence the eff
forts that are constantly being put forth
to increase our pumping capacity, extend
water mains and increase their size where
necessary, to increase the number of the
firemen, to add to the number of steamers,
the hose carriages, etc.. etc. But your
committee apprehenG that our people gen
orally are too much absorbed in their pri-
vate affairs to stop and look carefully into
the causes of fires and the cost of fires.
We have therefore made some effort to
learn, if possible, the amount of the iusur-
ance tax annually paid by the city of Min
neapolis.
There are no records open to Us showing
the exact figures. The estimate of per
sons who have given more to the sub
1ect than your committee have
been able TO dc, places the pre-
miums paid to companies authorized
to do business IN the state at the large
sum of 100000 and to those com panies
not so authorized at $28O,OOO; making q
total of S880,000 annually paid in this one
| item OF insurance.
1t is clear to the dullest apprehension
| that
THIS SUM Is ALTOGETHER TOO LARGE
to be paid annually by this city for such a
purpose. Let US recommend, then, to
our fellow citizens Of the city council, the
expenditure of any reasonable sum of
money inspermanent Improvements which
shall diminish the fire hazard, not only for
to-day but for the future, and thus put a
portion of this immense tax to better
purpose.
But there are many other elements very
| important to be considered, which enter
into this problem, and among them are
| thee auses of fires; and of these we men
| ton:
The faulty construction of buildings, the
carelessness of occupants and over insur-
ance. 1t appears to US to be matter of
the first Importance that sound and strin-
gent regulations be established by law
governing the construction of buildings,
| II