Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-03-20
HORSE LIFE INSURANCE,
MANY COMPANIES ARE ORGANIZED
BUT FEW SURVIVE.

Rigid Conditions and Regulations Which
Are Deemed Necessary-The New York
Grocers' Observation-Disclosures Stat
istics for Horsemen.
Probably no kind of property in this
town is so easy to invest in and SO easy to
lose in as horses" said a former officer Of a
live stock insurance company that recently
went to smash. 'Horse life insurance has
been disastrous to every capitalist who has
touched it until within a short time, and,
after taking advantage of experience gain
ed in both Europe and America, horse life
insurance is still an experiment. In Eu-
rope horse life insurance has been tried for
more than 100 years, with fair share of
success to the investors in the enterprise.
In this country it has been conducted on
various plans, and many of the schemes
have failed to meet the end for which they
were designed. Though not over dozen
years have elapsed since the lives of horses
were insured on a large scale in New York
city there have been thirteen failures of
insurance companies. There are only two
horse life insurance companies, believe,
having.their main Offices in town. A live
stock insurance company in Buffalo has q
branch agency in town, but it does not do
a raft of business. 1t is probably shy of
any but the choicest risks, such as family
carriage horses and well kept business
horses doing light draught service.
REASONS FOR FAILURES.
1.-THE reasons why there have been so
many failures of horse life insurance COM
panies are undoubtedly because the COM
panies tried to insure horses too cheaply,
and also because the companies officers
tried to ape the human life insurance COM
panies and impress the community by set
ting up business in big offices, with plate
glass fronts and gilt lettering, while big
salaries were paid to agents and fat plums
fell to the lot OF the officers themselves.
There are now only two companies of any
size that underwrite horses in town, and u
bitter rivalry exists between them. One
company is up town and the other down
town. The uptown Office is chartered
under the insurance laws of the state,
while the downtown company was organ
lied under chapter 267 of the laws of 1885,
providing for the creation of mutual bene-
fit associations. Both are mutual benefit
associations.
glitter experience in the way of heavy
losses in insuring horses has led to the
adoption of rigorous ruling out as mad
Missile for insurance purposes a large
class of horses. No company will insure
car horses, livery horses, contractors
horses, race horses or any fancy priced
horses Other horses barred are runa-
ways, blind horses, cribbers, horses with
heaves or blind staggers or mad staggers,
cab horses, omnibus horses and business
horses. Owners are required to declare
whether their horses have had pinkeye,
collie, heaves, lung fever, poll evil. distem-
ner mad staggers, BAD sight, SPAWN, con-
tracted hoofs or ringbone.
Each of the insurance companies has a
veterinary surgeon in its employ, who
hammers on the horses chests, looks into
their mouths and puts the animals through
as thorough test of their physical health
as men undergo in life insurance COM
pany's medical examination. The price
for an examination is usually 50.
animals from one to twelve years are
insurable for terms of three years, over
twelve years old only from year to year.
Insurance is confined practically to mules
and carriage horses not worth over 500
aud not less than 500. No insurance GER
tiiicate can be had now, l believe, for more
than three-fourths the value of the animal.
The downtown company, moreover, has a
big pasture containing fifteen acres or
more of good land not far from Williams
bridge where horses are sent to pasture in
summer Horses only get oats a-plenty
when they are suffering from overwork Or
nervous prostration. The resort is free to
insured horses. With the consent of the
company one horse may be substituted for
another-that is, the policy may be trans
ferred from one horse to another. Inspect
ors make regular rounds among the in
s:lred horses and report their condition at
the companys Office. That has been found
10 be q necessary course to pursue in order
That INSCRIPTIONS owners may be pre-
vented from poisoning a horse when he
is in poor health, so that he may get
the horse insurance. Owners of horses
lnust notify the company if they change
their place of residence.
THE GRoCERs' ORGANIZATION.
SIS it worth while to insure a horse?
think so if you are lucky enough to own
an insurable horse The way the COM
panies are insuring you will have to pay
only per cent. annually on the value OF
the horse for your insurance policy. A
curious experiment in horse insurance has
been tried for a year by the Retail Grocers'
union of this town, an organization OF
about 500 members. Inside of the union a
horse insurance fund was started in Feb
iuary, 1880, and l u per cent. was collected
on the amount for which each horse was
Insured, while losses were sustained pro
rata by the members in the scheme. A
yearly examination fee of So was charged,
| 81 to be retained if the horse should not be
accepted. No horse was insured for over
IS per cent, of it's value.
"Most horse owners are satisfied If they
| insure their stables for a good sum, mag
| lining that most Of the danger to their stock
! dying suddenly is in the direction of fire
| Some interesting statistics have been col
! lected Hear them and then decide fol
| Yourself whether horses should be insured
| OF 704 insured horses that died in five
years and We're paid for by one of the in
sllrance companies 1873 died of collie, II Of
| inflammation of the bowels, "A of kidney
trouble, 81 of pneumonia, SO of sunstroke
80 of pinkeye, 81 of lockjaw % Of broken
legs, IL Of epizootic, 10 of heart disease, 4
Of blind staggers, killed by runaways, 4
were drowned, were killed by lightning
12S died of unknown diseases, and only
were burned. Probably more than S75,
0G0, 600 is invested in New York state II
| live stock on which no insurance is carried
for loss by disease or accident other thar
by fire, and the estimated loss will be 81
per cent, if not more than that, in tel
years. There are twenty-three time!
greater risk of a horses dying of collie THAI
by fire, three times greater risk of dying
from broken legs, five times greater rlsE
from lock jaw, nine times greater risk from
Inflammation of the bowels and six time
greater risk from pneumonia. The risl
from all causes is eighty eight times great
er than from death by fire.-New Yorl
| Sun.
| Bigger Salaries Needed.
''If any provide not for his own he
worse than an infidel," even if be neglect