St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-04

mistake. There can always be found
some one who is willing to criticise any
body and everybody, as his fancy would
seem to dictate. E zen Moses, the grand
old captain, is accused by one of our
most talented citizens with making
many mistakes"
1.-The insurance papers claim that by
explaining how frauds are committed
dishonesty inclined persons may be
given valuable hints on how to proceed
in their nefariOus work."
81 deny that l have ever given any
pointers on the subject of how to COM
init fraud, as that sort of information
is wholly unnecessary. l have only re-
ferred to some methods of detection,
and you may have observed that no two
frauds were detected in the same way.
AS the chances are that no two frauds
will be detected the same way, don't
see how any one can be put upon his
guard upon point that never has been
exposed"
Are there many cases of fraud that
are followed by criminal prosecution by
the insurance cOmDanieSw
Yes; there are great many in the
aggregate; but nothing like as many, in
my opinion, as there should be and as
there will be in the future. Until pub
lie sentiment changes. and the public
learns by experience that every fradu-
lent loss that is paid not only encOur-
ages others but the public foots the bill,
and that the only way to put stop to it
is for courts and jurieS to look upon a
fraud committed upon an insurance
company just as they do upon one COM
mitted against private individual
until this state of affairs comes to pass,
companies and adjusterS must content
themselves with settlement of a loss
on the best terms possible to them
selves. This can be done quite often by
showing the fraud to the insured in
such way that he has no heart to con-
test the case in court of law. He fire.
quently finds it to his interest to accept
a sum that
INCREASINGLY DISCOURAGES
further specializing in this direction.
Now, that leads us to point where the
Insurance companies suffer greatest in
the eyes of the unenlightened public"
''1n what manner?'
"When a person has committed a
fraud there is, of course, no one who
knows it so we'll as himself. When the
insured and the adjuster both come to
that conclusion they are generally ena-
bled to come to terms that would sur
prise the public if it was to be ac-
or later, however, the claimant must
present his check for payment, and
then the cat is out of the bag and every
body in a small town knows how much
sO-and-sO got on his policy. The next
thing is to inquire of the insured how
he came to settle $1,000 loss for very
much less sum. The insured only way
out of this dilemma is to go for the in
surance companies and their Swindling
adjusters, claiming that the sum of set
Element was all they would pay without
a suit. He can say this or anything
that occurs to him. AS the insurance
adjuster is usually miles away when
the insured'S assertion is made, the
public hears only one side of the story.
l venture to say that it is owing to such
cases that the insurance companies are
given so little credit in certain lOcali-
ties, where alleged unjust settlements
are held up as illustrative of character
iStic unfairnesS. am going to tell you
little story just to illustrate this one
particular point. In Eastern Indiana an
| adjuster was called upon to adjust a
| loss on the contents of doctors office.
| The old doctor had lived in
the town for forty years. He
| had four grown sons. Two of them
were practicing physicians, and two
| had been admitted to the bar. The doc
| tor had become little short in his bank
account, and felt that he must make a
| raise. As he had $500 insurance on his
| Office and contents, he concluded that,
| as he was over sixty years old, he would
| dispense with them; hence the acct
| dental fire. The adjuster had not been
long on the premises until he pointed
out to the old doctor just how the acct
| dent occurred. The argument was so
convincing that the
PRICE OF INSURANCE
policies took a wonderful drop. l think
that $3.50 was all that the $500 policy
would bring in that market. But for
fear that the neighbors would find out
how low the market had dropped, the
doctor suggested that the adjuster had
better send his livery hOme-the town
being about three miles from the depot
the adjuster reached the depot
all right. As the doctors
horse swas lame he borrowed a
neighbours, and sent his young son to
take the adjuSter to the train and remain
with him to be sure that he got on it
and that nobody else interviewed him.
This ended the matter for month or
so, until the doctor was obliged to part
with his check for $3.50. This exposed
the settlement. and that little town was
just too hot for anything. Same old
story doctor claimed the company was
fraud and the adjuster had swindled
him. AS there was no one to explain
the other side of it, the citizens held an
indignation meeting and sent remon-
STRANGE to the company, demanding
readjustment. But as the company had
been informed of the nature of the case
and knew that the doctor was Obliged to
ing about the matter. and it soon quoted
down so far as the doctor was concerned.
Undoubtedly, however, people in that
part of the state of Indiana feel that
there are, at least, one insurance COM
pany and one adjuster that are wholly
6ayoid Of oancoiapoa :,