The age-herald., 1901-01-16
By Birmingham on Account of
 Inadequate Fire Department
EXTRAORDINARY FIGURES
Showing That Whenever Atlanta, Mo- bile or Montgomery Pays $50 for Insurance Birmingham Pays
 $75-Self-lmposed Burden.

"For $50 an Atlanta man engaged in the mercantile business gets an amount of in- surance against fire precisely equal to the amount which, under idential conditions as to the business itself, a Birmingham man similarly engaged pays $75 for securing; or, in other words, if 1000 insurance costs an Atlanta merchant $50, $1 600 insurance will cost Birmingham merchant $75." said Gen. Louis V. Clark, of Louis V. Clark x Co.,, Birmingham, one of the largest and highest-classed of southern insurance agencies.
 ITO employ another illustration, the Bir- mingham Age-Herald must insure on sev- enty-five cent basis, while the Atlanta Journal insures on fifty cent basis TO begin with, The Age-Herald-and I cite the newspapers merely as examples-faces seventy-fve cent basis. and in addition thereto must pay other premium on ac- count of exposure, and other things, where- as the Atlanta Journal simply faces the fifty cent basis. Insurance, say of s1,eOO for argument, which cost the Atlanta Journal $50 will cost the Age-Heraid con- siderably more than $75.
 Even Mobile and Montgomery are ranked above Birmingham by the Southeastern Tariff Association, those cities being prac- ticially of the ffrst-class as to certain in- surance risks, while Birmingham is poor second-class town for such risks. The Mo- bile Register, for example, can get full in- surance by simply paying for 1t, while the Birmingham Age-Herald cannot get cent more than three-quarters insurance-that is, the Register insure to the full value of its plant and stock, and collect every dollar of it in event of total destruction by fire, but the Birmingham Age-Herald can cover only three-fourths of it's property ana collect only seventy-five cents in the dollar in event of total destruction. Same with any reputable printing establishment in Montgomery it can insure for its full value. So can the merchants of Montgomery and the owners of residential property there' all of whom can secure full protection by the ordinary act of paying the premiums.
 Thus the merchants and property OWL CTS of Birmingham pay. at the lowest cal culation. seventy-five cents for insurance against fire to every fifty cents paid by merchants and property owners Of Atlanta Mobile, and Montgomery; although, It IS proper to say, Mobile and Montgomery are not in every particular first-class cities Ill 4he meaning of the Southern Tariff Associa- tion of fire insurance companies, yet for the purposes of this argument they are prac- tically first-class.
 1.-The aggregate sum, proportionateiy m excess of the other cities, paid by Birming- ham for fire insurance is enormous, and Is reouired solely on account of the made ouacy of the Birmingham fire department. AS Fire Chief Mulln pointed out, in his ad- mirable and exhaustive interview in to- days Herald, Birmingham has no hook and ladder truck in use, directly contrary to insurance rules, and the engines are old, worn, and obsolete, facts which are perhaps more familiar to the Southeastern Tariff Association than they are even to the City Council of Birmingham. -----.--.
 "The rules and regulations of insurance require for a city, in order that it have first class rates and privileges, that 1t have full paid fire department electric alarm system, adequate water works, with pres sure sufficient to throw water over the highest house, hook and ladder trucks and steam fire engines in first class condition In view of these requirements, it will be seen that Birmingham is poor, even in the second class.
 And here comes in, in part, the exposure of Birmingham property. The actual rate being 75 cents as basis, then account is taken of exposure, the material and con- struction of buildings, their location, and the character of adjoining buildings But the point of strongest emphasis is in, where Atlanta pays $50 for a specified risk, Bir- mngham pays s75 for an identical risk.
 "The only way out of this great disad- vantage to Birmingham is to perfect the fire department. If that department be made first class, increased in its fire fight ing force, then will Birmingham be graded first class, and thereby be enabled to secure its fire insurance for at least one-third of the sum it now pays. The Southeastern Tariff Association is eager to help Bir- mingham, but Birmingham must first help itself. It is purely a matter of business. In protecting Birmingham, the insurance ha tpd v