The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-01

GoOd-FIour VIII Be Advanced.
After a somewhat stormy session,
which lasted fcr nearly two hours, the
local Board of Fire Underwriters, by
a vote of 9 to 8. yesterday afternoon
defeated the resolutions introduced by
H. P. G.. Coates at the previous meet
ing, which provided for the suspen-
sion of the nonintercourse clause Of
the governing code Df the board and
also for other changes relative to the
cutting of rates in the future. The
vote was a surprise to even the men,
bers of the board, for it was not
thought that the resolutions would
develop such strength when the mat
,fer came to the final scratch. Upon
&.le adoption of the resolutions the
vote was a lie until the president, H.
W. Lawrence, cast his lot with the
friends of the nonintercourse provi-
sion of the bylaws and the resolutions
went out into the cold. The rrlendS
of the measure con tend, however, that
they will make still another effort TO
secure its adoption, and 1t Is antlcl-
pated that at the next meeting OF the
board they will reintroduce the resolu-
lions, or a set of the same import, and
the fight will be on again. Unless
there should be some conversions, now
ever, it is not likely that their success
VIII be any better then than 1t was
yesterday, for the vote was not taken
until after every member of the board
had received an opportunity Of express
sing himself. At any rate, however,
the agents who contend that the en-
xorcement of the clause is prejudicial
IL.
efforts and endeavor to secure the
adoption of their pet measure. In the
event Of their meeting with defeat
second time they may make some sort
Of a split.
As has already been outlined by The
Herald, the friends of the Coates reSO-
iutioaS contended that the enforcement
OF the nonintercourse was no longer
necessary, but that on the other hand
ct was seriously interfering with the
business of the smaller agents, and
also that of the larger, in addition to
casting suspicion upon the board by
reason of the refusal Of the members
TO accept any business already par
tally covered by the policy or policies
OF a nonbOard company. The claim
IS made that the property owners look
with suspicion upon such actions and
contend that they should have the
right To select their own companies
and not be forced to insure in union
companies or none at all, in cases
where the property can not be entirely
taken care Of by the nonboarders. On
the other hand, the larger agents and
those who were strenuously antagon-
! is-ic to the resolutions held that the
s>cement Of the nonintercourse-
'N1lse was q. Just measure Of self pro-
'sestion and should not be interfered
with at this time, in view of the condi-
ton Of affairs in insurance circles
They
enforcement of the provisions now OBJ
3ected to by certain members of the
board had saved tc the union agents
q great amount of business which
would otherwise have gone to the OUT
siderS. These same gentlemen also
declared that the adoption OF the reso-
lutions would be revolutionary in the
extreme and equivalent to the disrup-
ton of the local board, which was
proving such factor for good il the
local insurance world. The speeches
made, Of which there were several on
each side, were warm ones and the
spokesman for the contending factions
were very earliest in either their de-
nunciation or approval Of the nonin-
Sercourse clause. Captain DonneH.
now manager OF the local board, was
an interested listener but took no part
IN the debate which was on It all
resulted in the killing of the resolu-
tons by the vote stated, which in de-
tail was as fOllOWS: AyeS-COates,
Cannon Brothers, Sprague & Sharp,
Moore, Thomas & Diehl, Jennings &
Game company, Windsor & Hudson,
Taylor corporation and Young Broth
erS NOeS-Heber ]. Grant and COM
pany, Anderson, Smedley. Rogers &,
Walker, Whittemore, Cooke and COM
rany, Harris & Wilson. Ferris and
Lawrence. This carried the day and
left the advocates of suspension with
out foothold, for the time being, at
least.
Fixed the Limit of Cuts.
In addition to the provision for the
suspension Of the nOnintercourse /
clause, the resolutions introduced bv
Coates contained an official limit 10
rate cutting. This placed the cut on
residences at not more than rs per
cent and on business property of not /
more than 81 per cent. This provision
VS. also very hotly opposed and
largely contributed TO the defeat of the
resolutions.
It has been stated that in the event
of second failure several of the |
agents who favor suspension will
secede from the membership of the
board. The other side hold, however. +
that shoGld such move ever be made
the compa MES directly interested
would take a hand in the matter and /
either force the recalcitrants pack into
line or forfeit the agencies.