Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-14
THE INSURANCE PROBLEM
COTTON EXPORTERS SEEKING
LOWER RATES.

The Southeastern Tariff Association in
Conference with Committees from the
Board of Underwriters and the Cotton
Exchange.
The question Of insurance is an import
ant one to the cotton merchant. In
Savannah the factors and insurance men
have for long time endeavored to
agree upon the establishment of some
uniform rate. The Southeastern Tariff
Association, charged with the regulation
OF cotton rates in North and South Caro-
lima, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, has
been engaged for some months in preparing
tariff and establishing a standard for
warehouse construction to which all
warehouses must conform in order to OBJ
tain the uniform rate. The object of the
association, it is claimed, is to prevent, If
possible, the recurrence of the extensive
cotton CONGREGATIONS of past years, SO
disastrous to the insurance companies
and communities, by asking necessary
| precautions to secure the proper storage
and handling of the inf1ammable staple.
Some time in May a committee from
| the association was in Savannah and
| visited the warehouses and congresses
| and defined what improvements must be
made to conform to the standard. Ac-
/ house must be, as nearly as practicable,
/ fre-proof structure; that is to say, the
conhning walls of brick, stone or
| iron, must be of a certain thick
ness and height, and the building
must have a capacity of 1000 bales
! or less, and be rooted over in a GER
\ tain way, the exterior surface Of the roof
| to be of metal or other non-inf1ammable
! material. The floor must also be Of metal
8 ~.
| ty Of 1000 bales and upward there must be
! brick partition wall, so that every thou
| sand bales, or less. will be in separate
/ apartment. The existing rate of insuT-
/ ance fixed for a warehouse built accord
/ ing to the standard is one and a half per
| cent. per annum, but if the floor is of
wood, or other infiammable material, the
/ rate is in excess of that referred to,
or il it contains more than LOCO bales and
no partition wall the rate in this case
| is also increased. In other words, for
| every deficiency that a warehouse may
have short of the standard the insurance
/ is increased.
| After prescribing what the standard was
| and what Improvements must be made in
| the warehouses to secure the rates al
| lowable when the standards conformed
! to, the committee reported the result of
, its work to the association.
was charged With applying the rates Gu6
| formed to the standard, accomplished its
work satisfactorily last month. The board
| found, however, that it could not salts
| factorily apply the ratings to the COM
presses which did not conform to the
standard. The committee having the mat
ter in charge reported to the board, and
In order to secure an adjustment Of the
matter as quickly as possible President
Knowles was asked to send a committee
to Savannah to apply the ratings, re-
| Ieying the local committee of the
! responsibility of the work.
On Friday the committee reached here.
J. u. tInnie, one of the gentlemen compos-
ing 1t, was also one of the committee who,
with President Knowles, inspected the
warehouses in May. The other was Mr..
Dean, of Atlanta. A conference was had
with a committee from the Board of I'm
derwritel s, consisting of E. T. Harden, e.
+. PrendeTgast and ID Johnston, and also
a committee from the Cotton Exchange.
The matter was thoroughly discussed,
and it was understood that the rate agreed
upon IN June would be adopted where the
necessary Improvements to conform to
the standard were not made, and where
they were made the rate would be the
lowest agreed upon at the meeting at Old
JIM NOAAl~A Al q NY AuS COudIAALbOO
from the Cotton Exchange
asked, however, that the matter
should be held in allegiance
until the exporters could be heard from.
Yesterday afternoon general meeting
OF the exporters, at which President Duck
worth presided, was held at the Exchange
rooms. The matter was thoroughly con-
sidered. IL was the unanimous sentiment
that lower rates should be obtained for
cotton in the presses. A committee,
consisting of President Duckworth, II.
Kuhn and @. Menelas, was appointed
to confer with the Tariff Association COM
mittee, but no satisfactory conclusion was
reached. The exporters are, however, in
favor Of introducing the Improvements
necessary to secure the lower rates, and
the enforcement Of the tariff has been
postponed until 1t can be determined
whether the Cotton Press Association will
conform to the required standard. It is
generally believed that the result sought
for will be accomplished.
A meeting of the exporters will be held
again next week, when the matter will be
settled definitely. Outside OF the COM
presses, every warehouse in the city has
been made to conform practically to the
standard and has been rated accordingly.
The congresses are still unimproVed, and
are rated correspondingly high. After
the conference yesterday, Mr.. Dean left
for Atlanta. Mr.. Finn1e will remain in
the city until tomorrow.