The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-31


Before the annual convention of Off
GERS OF township mutual insurance
companies yesterday afternoon Gov. Lind
advocated very strongly the subject of
Minnesota carrying its own insurance on
the various institutions of the state as
means of great saving to the state.
He also struck a popular chord in sug-
costing that the counties of the state
could organize an Insurance company for
the purpose of protecting court houses.
Il think the state can safely and profit
ably carry it's own Insurance." said the
governor. 81 shall recommend to the next
legislature that the amount paid in
premiums annually by the state be set
aside as an Insurance fund The state
institutions are all well scattered through
the state, and, with the large risk area.
believe that 1T would be a most satisfac-
tory venture. While I have no criticism
to make of the st. Cloud reformatory, and
intend to find no fault, yet I am free to
confess that affairs have not been in
good shape at st. Cloud. A portion of
the institution recently burned by which
the state sustained a heavy loss, as no
| insurance was carried. 1t was the bus
| mess of the board to have seen ina; Tie
institution was properly covered by in
surance. 1t is very important that all
the states property be insured, and I
| think. as business proposition, we can
well afford to carry our own insurance.
| The amount set aside each year would
| soon grow to a large sum, and the risk
area would protect against any very great
| disaster.
| Gov. Lind complimented the gathering
! upon the splendid work being done by the
farmers mutual insurance companies.
+ Insurance Commissioner OShaughnessy
read paper of great interest to the dele
gates, because it dealt largely with the
matters which the delegates came to st.
! Paul to get light on. Mr.. O'Shaughnessy
thought it unwise for the farmers COM
| panies to carry creamery risks, or hail
| insurance. The secret of success in the
| Insurance business was the scattering Of
risks, and if companies confined their OPP
! erations to farm property they would con-
| tinue to enjoy success. The insurance
| written during 1898 by farmers mutuals
| was $96,000000, with an aggregate loss of
| S122.4S5, making the cost to the farmers
| of Ii cents per 500, with 5 cerIts per $100
cents per SLIGO. Straight insurance
would cost about As cents. Mr..
O'Shaughnessy figured on this basis that
! the farmers were $26l 900 to the good
every year on premiums. In nine years
| the business of farm companies trebled iii
| amount. One happy feature about the
cooperative plan was that little COM
plant was heard, and no cases carried
into court.
| ofN
| that in fifteen years his company has had
but five assessments. They were 1919
mills on the dollar, or $1.05 per thousand
on the insurance carried.
| Others reported insurance carried for
amounts very close to that in Rock coun>
ty, while others had suffered more losses
which had increased their rate Of insur>
anee.
The companies represented were all re-
ported to be in good condition.
! President A. T. Stewart, of Redwood
county, called the meeting together.
A committee on constitution and by
laws was appointed-M J. Feaney, J. H.
| Pettis, ]. j. Sullivan Otto Hansen, M. ].
Rosenwald, A. J. Bornaux and A. Hall.
| r. c. Won Lehe, of LIE Sueur county;
| F. J. Thoe. of Dodge, and III. W. Wads-
worth. of Watonwan. were named as
| committee on credentials.
| President Stew lrt said that the asso-
citation represented cooperation of the
most practical kind. Their success was
! due to intelligent cooperation between
/. the members and the companies they rep
| resented. This was a period of colossal
| industrial enterprises reaching beyond
! the scope of the individual; hence the as
| ISOLATION Of men into corporations, ard
the smaller corporations into larger ones
known as trusts.
! If the trusts were an evil, they are a
necessary one, and the big enterprises
and big corporations had come to stay.
| Properly controlled they might be made
| a blessing to the people. If not they
might become oppressive.
But there were other influences at work
| in the industrial world, influenced by DIFF
| ferent considerations than those which
| Influenced the trust. He referred to the
mutual fire insurance companies, which
had proven highly beneficial to the people.
| The dairy business in the state. in
which the farmers were 50 vitality inter-
ested, had been revolutionized by the in
/! PRODUCTION of machinery too expensive
and of too great capacity for the individ-
| ual to employ to advantage. This result
! ed in the formation of the cooperative
creamery associations, which were large
| ly represented by the delegates in at
/ tendance upon the insurance convention.
! The convention will continue in session
| today.