Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-16

committee agreed upon. II that is not $,
| wish to be corrected by any member {
the committee. desire that the thin
should be treated on its merits. The r,
quest of the Insurance companies Was tn,
the Legislature should not interfere i
them in the matter of co-issursnc. an
that they be permitted, differently fro,
what has been the custom heretofore. ,
bring in an insured as taking a part of tl
risk. provided he does not insure the whol
of his property; that is. that if they insur
half the value OF the property, in case 0
partial loss the insured shall bear half tn
loss. That is fair as far as ii goes, but
order to make it perfectly fair an
to make the insured safe the valu
of the property at the time
is insured should he expressed in the policy
II is simply q question as to whether tn
insurance companies will stop doing busi
ness in this State if they have to put sue
clause AS that in their policy. Withon
any further argument of the matter vii
leave it there for the Senate to decide.
Mr.. Holman of Franklin When the sen
ator from Sagadahoc offered his amend
ment the other day read this law for III
| first time, and | must say that don't know
what this means as reported from the com
mittee on insurance cannot understan,
just what this law means. MY own iudg
ment is that the whole thing ought to b,
postponed. but if the bill is TO 90 through
| think that the amendment of the senate
from Sagalahoc should be adopted.
Mr.. Swanton The act rs reported doe
not mean anything. The whole pith of tn,
matter lies i'll the amendment.
At the request of Mr.. Peaks of Piscata
quis the Chair read the amendment.
Mr.. Hersey of Oxford; For the beneti
of the Senate might enleavor to make thi
matter more clear. presume ii is wei
known that on the first day of January o.
this year the New England Exchange which
controls the insurance companies in III,
state of Maine, passed an order directing
a co-insurance clause to he placed on al
policies of insurance. There is an aiterna
tive in their order that if eo-insurauce is no
accepted by the insured then they may har,
insurance as heretofore by paying 50 pei
cent. additional to their premium. That
understand to he the action of the nsuranc,
companies in relation TO the people of Main,
today. This co-insurance applies only to
specially rated property, stocks of goods OF
all kinds, and does not apply to farm
property. The bill came into the
House introduced by the gentle.
man from Monson. The companies,
through their agents and attorneys, i'm.
mediately desired hearing, and two ex-
haustive hearings were had upon the mat.
ter. Finally, as understand ii, an agree.
ment was made upon this bill and another
bill. The agreement on this bill was that
it should stand so that people knew what
they were getting, or had signified their de-
sires in regard to co-insurance in writing
There is in the State an insurance CON
Germ known as the Mill Mutual, managed
in Boston and il is managed on the co in
surance plan. The members of it claim
that they get their insurance at very much
lower rate by this plan. The people should
have a right, il they desire, to get coin
surance.
Now, in regard to this amendment, 1t is
claimed that there is a large class of people.
traders and dealers who find it impossible
TO tell how much stock they have on hand
at any given time. If a man insures his
stock on a co-insurance plan at certain
amount and his stock increases meantime
and then is burned he will get only the pro-
portion of the original amount not of the
value of his stock The amendment works
in this way, when the agent comes to the
dealer he will say, I'VE will insure you for
so much on the co-insurance plan, provided
yon carry so much stock" think the
amendment is a wise one.
Mr.. Peaks of Piscataquis | always dis
like very much to say ANYTHING about Il sub
ject that know very little about | sup
tI,,, ,I,,,.
which the insurance companies have been
issuing in this State since the first of .Janu-
ary last. will state an incident that came
under my own observation, which will illus,
trate what the companies are doing. An
agent went to man know who wanted to
insure his stock. They said they would in
sure him for per cent if he would take
$1,000 insurance. He only wanted to insure
about half his stock, $500. They said they
would write S2500 at 2 per cent, but would
write $1,000 at per cent. Now they have
adopted policy like this: "We will in.
sure you for per cent if you will take
$1,000 insurance, but we will charge you
more than that if you take less
They issue policy which provides
that in case of loss the in
sured must bear one-third of it. That is
you insure for two.thirls, and you have
paid the insurance company for carrying
the whole amount. Unless You do thai
they won't insure you so cheaply. Now
this bill is aimed at this thing, and wants tt
amend the law so that if you insure fol
$1,000 and pay the premiums for $1,000 an(
should have a loss of $1,000 you should re
ceive $1,000. Why shouldn't you. Yot
have paid for it. | say that these insur
ance companies when they insure mani
property should pay the loss.
Mr.. President, | move that this bill b,
laid on the table. want to examine It.
Mr.. Hersey of Oxford said that ther,
were millions of dollars insured in the Stat.
on this co-insurance plan, and he would no
for a moment think of disturbing this insur
ance.
Mr.. Holman of Franklin don't know
but that am little thick about this mat
ter. go back to my original proposition
say that under this bill the insuranc,
companies can sell just such contract a
they have a mind to, and people can acccp
it or not. If they won't accept that polio
then they go without their insurance.
Mr.. Peaks of Pscataquis pointed out tn
desirability of having some evidence beside
the policy showing that the insured under
stood and wished the co-insurance plan
and said that he thought the companie
should be compelled to produce such evi
dence. Mr.. Peaks then added to his mo
ton to lie upon the table that the amend
ments be printed.
Mr.. Thatcher of Penobscot If this is &c
lie upon the table to be printed | will "a,
that have an amendment to offer that
would like to have printed at the sam
| time. 1t seems to me that we are in tn
dark about this insurance business. Tbi
| bill, in my opinion, does not give the in
sured any relief at all. For instance, tax
| it in my own business. As | mannfactur
| my lumber pile it up in the yard near tiI
| mill and take out an insurance of $1,000
upon it. ] cannot tell how much that stoc
may decrease or increase from week to week
| cannot tell for co-insurance how mucl
there may be there at any time. It seem
to me that there shonld be some arrange
ment whereby the insured can have a fixe,
| sum, ana in case of loss the amour, to b
| paid should be that sum If the loss amount
| to that.
Immediately this law passes the com
panies will agree upon a standard polio,
which shall read according to the co-insur
ance plan, and to have it any different tb
burden will he upon the insured It seem
| to me that the burden should be the othe
way.
Mr.. Thatcher then presented his amend
ment, and pointed out the advantages to b
derived from il.
! The bill and amendments we're then Iai
on the table in order that the latter Nigh
be printed.
Special assignment. druggists bill, Gen
ate document No. 81. On motion Of Mr.
Peaks of Piscatsquis' bill was read frs
time. and tomorrow assigned for its furthe
consideration.
I Grao.at Gnu.+x