New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-29

| object has been TO keep one company from
| pirating' on the business of the others. Rates
| really have not been advanced by such COM
bnatons, however, beyond what is just The
| companies that do hap-hazard business, those
which spring up like mushrooms do cut-thrOat
business in low rates for brief period, and Of
whose demise at the first destructive fire few
people save the policyholders hear, are RESPONSE
| BILE for the apprehensions among rural policy
| holders that they being charged eX0rbtant
rates of insurance, simply because the mushroom
companies gave them lower rates than the re-
| sponsible corporations composing the combina-
| lions. Still, as | have said, combinations are
! not absolutely essential. for each risk must be
| individually valued, no matter what company
| assumes il.
The petition in circulation recommends the
passage of bill providing that the amount of
| a policy. in Of loss, shall be deemed prima
| facie evidence of the value of the property IN
| sured such loss, when fully ascertained, to he
due and payable on demand
Now, isn't that an incentive 10 the applicant
for insurance 10 try TO get his property insured
for more than its real value. so that IN case OF
fire. instead Of recovering Just what he lost he
will actually make a profit? And If people can
realize n profit by being burned out, isn't there
an incentive to some people TO become lncendl-
aries?
Il am not an upholdcr of combinations, for,
| as i have said, while they do some good, they
are not really necessary, and they almost always
| fail-they always do in this city. When the
New Hampshire Value Policy law. which is sim
| liar in some respects TO the legislation now pc
| titioned for in this State, was passed in 1851
| and entered into an agreeTcnt not 10 do any
more business there. The Aetna of Hartford
| has now withdrawn from that combination, and
will resume business in New-Hampshire next
month This breaks the combination, and ! sup
pose other companies will follow suit.
NOT PROFITABLE YEAR
alas it been profitable year for insurance
companies? On the contrary. it has been very
severe upon them a popularity of the record
| of the last year is thai it shows number Of
| sweeping fires The companies lost heavily by
the fires at Seattle and Spokane Falls, in the
| extreme West. and lat Lynn and Boston in the
| East Altogether, it has been bad year for a
majority of the companies. Naturally the com
| NAMES with large accumulated assets have SUI
| Tered less than those without them, because Of
having interest earnings on their assets TO Onset
| their losses Some of the larger companies nave
five times as much assets as capital and IN spite
of all losses have been able TO pay per cent III
dividends. Others have paid their dividends ont
| of their net surplus. That there have heen no
| failures among the smaller or wca llcr companies
has been due 10 the wide distribution OF the
| losses II
over the country II is interesting 10 kho" thd'
rates in most parts Of the United states, as pre-
vailing now arc made nearly uniform as pos
| sble by associations of underwriters. Such rates
are the result Of dellbcraton ana long experience
and are not due TO exceptional periods elthcI oil
prosDeritV or rcveTseS. There Is no disposition
on the part of the companies to increase 1he
present rates anywhere. G
"Yon can Judge of the decentralization that lOl-
lows any attempt at combination among com
NAMES in New-York City and Brooklyn from me
! fact that there are 100 companies competing
for n class of business that one or TWO so"d
companies alone could handle comfortably WIN
| profit This applies to the insurance oil dWelnne
bausas ord furnifure These policies are very
numerous but the aggregate IS not lar2e enough
| for all and where there is 50 much competition
! there will be no combination.
AN EXTRAORDINARY TINE For BIG FlhhS'
According to the information gathered by The
| Chronicle" the property losses during 1889 Will
! be greater than for many years-perhapS upWarl"
If 500 600 600 For fourteen years ending
with 1885 according to tho same authority
! the year 1887 was the most disastrous III
! the matter of fire waste throughout the
United States. the property loss that year exceed
| ing Sl2OOOO.OOC Last year. the property
| loss was trihe less than S111,OOO,Ooo during
the same fourteen years the lowest poln' OF prop
erty loss touched in 1873, when IL was s0hie-
thing over S64, 000, 900. Since 1875 lhe-e III W
1eeu only three years in which there was "a de-
crease in the losses from preceding years !he s
were 1s7g-'sO. ISsl's5 and 1SS1-'sS. WIN these
exceptions there has been constant lhcTease IN
the annual property losses. SjdtlsucS 5dtieicd
this year show that IT has been an eAlTaoI ulli"IA
year for big fires, while the average Oh loSStS ~
smaller fires has been 1ully up 10 'he Ie0oi" VI
Discussing the question of insurance tariffs in
a recent issue OF " Tie Chronicle L. + DcDu'ii
= n has been held that if no combinations eX-
isted companies would go on undressing edcR
other until universal bankruptcy ehsueu oul 'lls
Drcdisposes the idea that they are dominated Dy
uossio, and revenge rather than by the desire OF
aain The erchant who has goods 10 sell asceI
tains by minute and careful CALCULATIONS al WIN
,ricp he can dispose of them so as 10 Nleld MN
IN adequate return on the capital invested, and
If This profit cannot he realized, owing TO hnancial
depression or from other causes he suspendo ms
sales until prices advance 20 IL WOuiu ne VIZ
ness was being conducted at loss reaction ny
those natural laws which regulate az conilqI sc
would quickle ensue, and in due time II would DC
placed on satisfactory footing again, as surely
without concerted action as with IL.
INSURANCE MEN vExED BY NovIcES.
Il will readily concede that if tariffs are TO
bc abolished and our business conducted without
the advent tous aid of combinations, il will be
necessary that only those who have been trained
in the work Shall be entrusted with managerial
functions The crank and novice will then find
no Mace in our ranks, and only those who have
made a practical study of the subject can nope or
oxuect 10 succeed We all realize that the inoS'
dangerous competitor with whom we nave 10 Cou-
tend is the ignorant and unsklllul uhuefWIeI ;
whose Vagaries YOU can never anticipate or qua iu
against and when he and such as ne are Wllh-
drawn from our arena our dlihcules VIII pe
measurably essened. IN - ,,o.oa i
The theory upon winch tarihs dIV a. .
that every risk shall bear its proper burden oil
rate. and the province of board IS TO see th3t
these rates are fairly and equitaby appl ct. II
this theory were carried out in practice our 'ariIs
would he much less open 10 crlGcism IMAM 'iVS
no,., nrr for every underwater knows that our
rail-; are most unequally and unfairly adjusted
such instances as a dry-gOods store al ~ 90 ana
paint and oil store at ] per cent III lile IAN
tor,p and having the same exposures are COIL
monty found In the wilds OF Ncw-lcrsey' re-
mote from any fire eXtinguisning appliances we
write furniture in a frame dwelling. at ~
civ of Washington with its admirably paved
streets excellent water supply and well-equlpped
fire department ask one per cent lput eei ,
yet H. for similar property in BRICK dwelling
for the same period When such irregularities
eXs, is it surprising that tariffs are the seoIn
and derision of the people, and that efforts f are
being made by our Legislators TO suppress uhein'
THE UTILITY OF PROPER TARIFFS
"Let our tariffs be what they ought to be, ana