River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-11-09

The circular issued by the agents of
the Union Insurance companies
assumes that the paragraph which
appeared in last weeks JOURNAL re-
lating to the insurance furry was a
yarn" a statement fabricated ''out
of whole CLOTH" Such an assumption
will commend itself to very few
people. The JOURNAL has the
reputation of being conservative. Its
readers will give us credit for dill
gence and carefulness In the accuracy
of statements appearing in its local
columns. This paper has no interest
for it. A business man advcrtises
something he has to sell, and for the
purpose of securing additional sales
enlarges upon its merits. The local
columns of the JOURNAL commend
themselves to the consideration of
the people simply and entirely on the
reliability and accuracy Of statements
made therein. Mistakes appear
through misinformation, never with
wilful intent In the statement OF
facts the JOURNAL is disinterested
party; disinterested as far as any gain
or loss may be associated with the
subject matter; interested only to
know that the statements made are
correct in fact. Facts are stated as
we understand them with absolute
impartiality as far as their effects are
concerned.
People who read the paragraph
referred to in the circular will notice
what we said and how it differs from
what the author of the circular would
like to have them think we said. We
repeat from last weeks JOURNALS:
1.-THE Northwestern National Insur
ance Company has cut rates to one
third of what the Union Com panies
have been accustomed to charge. 1t
has been the general sentiment here
for years that rates as scheduled by
the trusts we're exacting. These high
rates have been maintained by means
of practical monopoly, discouraging
competition. Rates have been
doubled by this com bination since the
introduction of an excellent system Of
waterworks.
In 1885 our public school building
was insured at a rate of l.S5 per cent
for five years. This was before the
city water service was planned. After
the companies had associated, and
subsequent to the introduction Of
waterworks, the rate on this same
~ 4apftr Taicn1 n o.
spending to 1886 per cent for five
years.
Comparing this with the statement
of the Insurance Truths circular
one may see-with microscope (if he
is ''cross" eyed) = the insurance
truths in the circular.
Is it supposed that the JOURNALS
devil just picked those figures out
of the box and fstuck" them with
out any data or calculation? Even
the devil" isn't so ''loony'' as that.
These figures appeared in this paper
Thursday, March Il, 1895, in an
article on Insurance. which figures
we simply copied last week as a
matter of history. In that artic
this paragraph appears:
In this city insurance rates are
more than double what they were ten
years ago. This assertion is not
made at random. In 1855 the public
school house was insured for years at
a rate Of SIS per cent. The scheduled
rate for the same property at this
date March lS951 for five years is 1856
per cent, a rate considerably more
than double what it was ia 1857.
1t is our confirmed impression that
the figures as quoted were taken from
records before US at that time, and
we are not inclined to revise them
upon the interested declaration Of