The Indianapolis journal., 1897-01-04
INSURANCE RATES ABROAD.
Depend on the Risks. Not on the Fire
Depa rtment.

7. III. Gibson calls attention to feature
of the insurance agitation. Says he:
There is one feature of the question OF
insurance which has not been sympathet,,
caIly considered by the underwriters. and
the owners of destructible property to-
gether, and that is that losses make the
rate of insurance. In American clties the
cost of insurance is, say, about one nun
dred cents on a hundred dollars. In the
city of Paris il is cents. Certain 1actcI'es
and mills in one section of this country pay
from 2 to : per cent. in another section of
this country factories and mills DONG the
same kind of business, under less hazardous
conditions get their insurance at cost or
less than one-fourth of per cent. This the
result of method. The difference in cost or
insurance between Paris and the American
cities is not in the fire department. but the
buildings-the cause of loss. 1t is one OF
the effects of a higher civilization In the
city of Glasgow, where the rate or lnsur-
ance is very low / noticed that the ilremen
went 10 the fire with the hose uncoupied-
This was done BECAUSE the hose would thus
last longer. Oftentimes the engine was In
one building and the horses in another. Tnis
was so that the men would not be dis
turbed by the smell of the norses- O1ten-
times the firemen slept in adjacent builc-
ings. 1t was cited that they could be more
comfortable in this way. This did not indi-
cate carelessness or a short-sighted policy.
There no occasion for hurry. GOOD
building regulations were we'll enforced
THE question of insurance Is largely
matter of construction. In a well-built city
the rates of insurance are low. The rates
OI .
from prophesy. Our cities have disagreea-
BILE history in the matter Of fires. This
makes high rates. Losses in this State are
over 90 per cent. of premium receipts. II
costs the average company more than 30
per cent to do business. 1t Is only within
recent years that we have had building
regulations When one considers build
ing nearly two hundred feet deep, with thin
party walls. light floor construction over
loaded and a fire and collapse in the GEN.
ter he may realize a very common condi-
ton and maker of rates.
''The owners of property have suffered
rates. Risks which were entitled 10 pay
larger rates have paid In their general class
an average rate. Good constructions which
were entitled to low rates have helped to
carry the more hazardous risks. Any one
who stops to think about il must know that
in the center of the city there are CONNER
cial properties on which the rate Is rela-
lively very high; that there are other prop
critics which the rate is relatively very
low. Hitherto there has been little induce
ment from the insurance companies for
good building. There is at this time, be-
leve. an indication of a more rational clas-
sification. Those who insist on building in a
common way should be compelled TO pay
not only for the hazard which they bring
10 their own property. but that which they
bring TO others. In some of the foreign cities
an owner takes out three classes of poll
cieS at the same time-one wherein he in
sures against loss which he may cause 10
adjacent property, another in which he in
sures against loss 10 the stock therein and
a third policy wherein he insures against
his varying liabilities. This is a just refine
mpnt i'm insurance