The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-10-05
On MUNICIPAL INSURANCE.
Further Elaboration of Chief HuSSey's
Views on The Subject.
DISCOUNTS STOCK COMPANY INSURANCE

Cities Could Adopt the Average Policy
Conditions and Limitations OF Liability
OF the Present Companies.
Recently Mr. J ]. Husscy, chief OF the
Houston fire department, through the me
dium Of an interview In tbs columns Of
The Post, expressed a favorable opinion
on the subject Of municipal fire insurance,
the Interview with Nix lIuSsey hcing sug
geSted by an editorial TO which The Post
gave uttcrance aud which set out some
Of the advantages claimed for the system
OF municipal insurance which has taken
hold in some cities
To Post reporter Mr.. Hussey reiterated
his Views previously expressed and sup
plemented them With extracts from paper
on state Fire Insurance VS.. stock COM
pauy Insurance. received from MIR, David
J, Lewis, an attorney of Cumberland, Md
In inclosine the paper Mir, Lewis stated
that he had seen Mr.. Husscy's views on
municipal Insurance, as expressed through
The Post
The views of Mr. Hussey and those of
Mr.. Lewis coincide so thoroughly that to
quote one is to quote the other, and the
same arguments used by Mr.. Lewis IN
ADVOCATING state fire insurance are made
applicable BY Mr. Hussty to municipal IN
surance. Quoting from the FORMER.
Manfestly, the only economic justihCa-
uon Tor hrc Insurance lies in the function
OF lhqemmfylng owners OF property for
their losses by FIRE Ans other feature Is
pure irreleyancy uuless demanded for the
purpose OF CARRYING out this cardinal OBJ
entitled to live merely to distribute divi-
dends, pay enormous salaries to superin-
Irhdlng ofncerS and furnish easy JOBS Tor
an army OF agents students of economy
must Judge II, according TO It's ethcency
| Tor the object SET before H. take 10 Tor
granted ih9t Insurance corporations may
ne judged by TINS standard
II the law. of the survival OF the attest
Is 10 mold IN Industrial ECONOMY and all
SS disS , 3l thinSerS socialist ana l2lSsgz
anCc companies can JUSTIFY their continued
That they do insure property ana tndem-
MY losses. >, That they discharge thus
| function in the most economic manner
practicable; The object Of this paper is
TO, show that they do neither.
Here is the proof;
Iotal losses by. fire In 1881.
as given by the standard, $40, o,- ~,
Total losses paid by insur.
ahce companies Tor the
same year, .;........:...... 654lTSll
Leaving, a balance not in ..-....
/ demnlhcd Of ............. 35.S4L6S9
/ According to the Chronicle
/ IRE tables, the total losses
in the Inned states, for
! the last twenty three
years, have been ,,.....,, 2426,23T9ll
1 The losses paid during the
shulV peIl"u' "'I''+..'''s' l'f-'i lH'""N
Showing losses in twe"tv
three years not indemni-
/ ned, of ....,,.. .,......-.... h9noo7 COB
{ It would therefore appear they have not
! Unidentified losses by fire. But 1t viii be
/ answered that the companies had not writ
! ton policies for this unredcemcd loss of
| property Granted they have not But
| they have collected premiums. II they
/ have not written the policies. For the iast
! thirteen wears their total losses to frcir
| total premiums for inland fire insurance
! have not exceeded the ratio of - per cent,
and in the year ending pecemOrr, 1871:
1 the premiums they collected. Following
Totals fot all stock companies, 1897,
| ratio 1919.
Totals for all mutual COMPANIES, 1871.
premiums S9.1so,S2s; losses LBS, '6l; ratio
25.3.
Thus we have total premiums collected
1897, Sl3S,Os262S; total losses paiu were
only S65,4l7,sl1:- premiums collected above
Oh, that is but one year, How about
other years? Here they are. CTheSe slauS
tics are, taken frCm Spectator company
! ports of all the companies 10 New Nurb
and Massachusetts State governmental:
Total premiums received by
all fire companies in United
states during thirteen ycars,
Total losses paid during same
period ..................... 9s2, 7O6, Is;
-
Excess Of premiums received ,..
over losses paid ,........... $7769950j
| Percentage Of losses TO pre-
mlumS, 1897 Observation-Disclosures, Al.
Percentage Of losses to pre-
miums thirteen years ..........,.... 90!
The figures for thirteen years includ,
marine insurance. which taken alone 70
1897. shows n percentage of losses To pre-
mlums Of CSC | can not separate th'
marine insurance from the regular fr'
for the previous twelve years, because tn,
dgures for both are blended as 20 thos
wears However. including that business
with inland fire insurance. the ratio o
| losses 10 premiums Tor thirteen year
Ii would seem then, to say the least, tina
| the comnanies have collected enough Z
nav losses mud achieve their functiona
, purpose namely: Payment of losses. ]
would further seem that they have sig
nolIy failed in the second condition .
their existence, namely "Economy,' The,
have not paid all losses although me
have collected more than enough to hav
done so.