The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-07

ttal to develop our resources. Give us all of this you can. and we will be happy.
 Since our last convention (taking the underwriting of America as a whole) companies have, with the prevailing rates been able to make a better showing to their stockholders than for several years past. But what shall I say of Alabama? 1 fear that If we were to take our State separately and compare notes, the bal ance would still be found on the wrong side of the ledger. The question comes to us all what are we to do about 1t, and it is for me hard question to answer. I think. however, the companies will try to solve it soon, by having better inspection of the risks and the business methods of the assured than We have had before.
 Cause of Fire Losses.
 There are many scauses that contrih- ute to the fire waste that have not been fully understood and must be before we can hope to make a change in our loss ratio. or show profit for our companies. Among these are the gasoline lamp and stoves, electric lights and defective fiues. These with bad business management and carelessness go to make the sum total of our losses. To correct the electrical defi- ciencies companies now have experts in The field that are looking after this line
 
 check the-hre waste from this cause But the gasoline stove and defective fiue (the
 horror of all horrors) will still remain until there Is some State legislation against them, or companies take some
 radical step, such as making the assured pay D per cent more for fues not stand ard. And for the use of gasoline lamps
 and stoves, will each of you try the pres ent year to see what you can do to abate the nuisance?
 Now that there has been a suspension
 of hostilities between companies, man.
 agers and agents. let us all get together and reason among ourselves. and see
 what we. as the initial men in this great
 work, can do to better underwriting con- ditions in Alabama; let's try to get on the same high plane as many of the un- derwriters ir our sister States, and by combining for good become an important factor in the business interests of our State; companies are standing more firm ly together than they have ever done be- fore, and If we will do likewise We will do much towards the betterment of the situation and in the end get better rates for our clients, and better results for our companies.
 Local Agents and Rating. One serious trouble the Alabama agent | has to contend With IS the SoHcltiHS ot | business in an unfair manner by agents | going to the assured and telling him his | rates are too high. at the same time get | ting the aspirations to solicit the bust- | ness of your competitor. Some agents go
 so far as to blame their fellow agents for the rates and apologize for their com ] panies. saying they would write it for | less, if they could This is unfair com-
 petition, and I am sure that the compa-
 nies do not want or need your apologies | A local agent who understands his busi- l ness will not solicit business in this un- l derhanded way. What We want and need l is good, fair, open competition, and when 1 soliciting remember we are not the com l pany or the company's manager. Our l mission as local agents Is to write and | collect the premium, and remit to the | companies, leaving the question of ad- | justment of losses and making rates to | the companies and managers to whom ! they belong. In saying this l am not un-
 mindful of the fact that there are diff ! tercnceg of opinion about making rates,
 between companies, managers and agents.
 and before passing this phase of the l question I want to say that I heartily ap- | prove of the article in the December | number of The Insurance Economics, on ] the local agent making rates. While 1t IS 1 true there are a few agents who from ! experience and training could make rates. | 1t Is also true that q majority of them
 are today inca pacitated for this work. , Rating to do justice to the companies | as well as the assured should he scientif-
 eally done, and there are the fewest num-