The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-02
FOR MUTUAL
INSURANCE
Plan Advocated by a
HonoIuIan.
PROPOSES COMPANY HERE
Says That Safety Might be 0tained
at Cost and Money Kept
at Home.

made mention of the advisability of the
early formation of some kind of To-
cal fire insurance company and sug
gested the idea of limited stock COM
pany. The advantages to be derived
therefrom were briefly noted, though
the matter has not to my knowledge
received farther comment The article |
was an interesting and timely one, and |
would seem to open the subject for
consideration.
AS a business proposition mutual in |
surance has long since passed beyond /
the experimental stage and has in the /
central part of the United States, in |
particular, developed into large we'll /
organized and well-conducted institu /,
tions, which are giving entire satiSfac-
| ton to all those who are concerned.
Their rapid and healthy growth has
emboldened the writer to suggest the
mutual plan as a form of insurance pc
culiarly adapted to the needs of prop
/ erty-owners here in the Hawaiian ISL
ands, isolated as they are.
Mutual insurance in its many phases
/ has reached a high state of perfection
in the State of Iowa, and the method of
conducting the business there is well
worthy of investigation by local prop
| erty-owners here before the matter of
how to insure is finally settled upon.
In the State mentioned the Mutual
Tornado and Windstorm Association,
The Town Mutual Fire Insurance AS
ISOLATION and various county and dis
trict farmers mutual fire insurance
companies have enjoyed an extended
period of success and stand in high ia
vor there.
1t is true that the so-called "mu-
tual" companies, which are never mu-
tual in any vital sense other than the
name, have done much to retard the
development of companies which are
really mutual cooperative institutions.
And, too, some of the pioneer compa-
MES of the latter class, through some
now well-known and long since RENE
died defect in organization, proved un-
! satisfactory in few isolated cases
However, neither of these sources of
annoyance would have been operative
or worthy OF mention had it not been
that they were taken up by the regular
line stock companies, who, with vast
interests at stake, spared neither pains,
time nor money in hunting up even the
most remote rumor of dissatisfaction
and publishing it broadcast to the
| WI III dc piOOl anu dulnllllhS
of no reply-that mutual insurance
was a snare and a delusion and a gilt
tering impossibility. At the same time
they never failed to hold out as the
only alternative the Established and
to them profitable means of protection
against loss from wind, fire or flood.
We, as a people, cooperate under
proper legal regulations, to build school
houses, waterworks, sewers, libraries
equip and maintain a police force or a
fire company. When our representa-
tives levy a tax to support such insti-
buttons we, knowing that our property
is holding for the debt, pay the tax
feeling that what has been done has
been or should have been done at the
cost of doing. We know too that if II
: is not as we might wish it we have
some power in our own hands witt
which to correct the matter In a word
we regulate things which mutually
concern us on a mutual cooperative
plan. The above instances are similar
to though not parallel with the form o
mutual insurance which has been 81
successful in certain sections for up
wards of twenty years.
Briefly stated, the association il
formed in and is limited in its business
operations to a certain definite terri
tory-preferably a State-under tn
protection of the State laws, to con
duct it's business on a mutual cooper
~ alive plan-not for profit. The Off
;, GERS are the usual ones, elected by an
le subservent to the policy-holders of tn
= company. Their remuneration is reg
T! ulated by the insured.
The policy is usually similar to tn
one with which all property-holder
he are familiar, and takes the risk a
K two-thirds it's actual present value
which secures the company agains
villainy on the part of the insured
IT and is written up by an agent VINO
a property holder and a member, 70
a definite sum, varying in the compa
MES there, from two to four dollars
. A small contingent fee is collecto
when the policy is written, which
turned over to the treasurer. In on
company this small fee has been suff
cient to pay all the losses and the rur
ming expenses of the company for seN
en- years.
when a loss occurs il is appraise
nv a committee of members of tn
company and a pro rata assessmeI
levied on all the property insured
raise a sufficient amount to pay tn
- loss. The company authorizes i
r treasurer to borrow money, under o.
der from the proper ofnclals, III sun
cient money is not in the treasury
pay the loss, or until a sufficient nun
Iv her of losses have occurred to make a
assessment economically.
AS a business proposition the who
matter seems to resolve itself into Il
question: Shall we look upon insu
ance as an institution whose end al
= aim is profit, or shall it be regarded
=, a safe way of making a wise provlslt
against a loss through some unfor
seen calamity?
III profit be the object, one cou
scarcely suggest a more prohtan
ID means of conducting that business thi
is now in vogue, when princely sal
. ries. handsome dividends and coloss
th' buildings which the stock compani
eet, have been able to extract from the u
SGT suspecting insuree, Is taken into
. count. If, on the other hand, prott
49,, .;or 10 +ha ohiact the mutual pI