Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-06-06

II Hearing on Tetition OF brewer tor
Grade Crossing at Brewer Jet. Sta =
ton, Tuesday, June 7, at 2 p. M.
II A frequent complaint which one
hears is that, owing to the attitude
Of the great majority of the stock fire
II Insurance companies, farmers are not
able to get their property insured. But
1 while this is to a certain extent cor
rect, they have a remedy for this in
their own hands in the shapesof or
/ ganiZing mutual companies under the
/ general laws of the State. There are
now in the state AZ of these companies
ana practically all the business which
they do is on farms, and they furnish
their patrons insurance at much
L lower rate than do the stock COM
ranies. As is very well known, the
1 few companies which will write farm
\ insurance charge a rate that is almost
L prohibtivc and from the nature of
I the business and the methods under
I which they are carried on it has to be
| 50.
| The stock companies do n general
business and have many employees
VINO have to get their living out Of
| the business, which makes it cost
moro. On the other hand the mutual
| companies confine their business to n
| given territory, which is usually small,
| and write insurance upon n given class
| of property, usually farm buildings
| and equipments, and have n very
| small expense account. As an example
Of what it costs to run one of these
companies take the BOothbay Mutual
Fire Insurance Co, In 1902 the pay of
! the officers and directors was but $1.50.
while the total expenditures for the
year. for losses and everything. We're
but $32.A. OF course this was very
small, but it shows how cheaply the
insurance of one Of these companies
can he carried. This same company had
800. 705 of risks in force on December
31st. 1902. and had premium notes sub
! ject to assessment, to the amount of
$5,573.74
While the expenses of many of the
mutuals are a great deal more than
i those of the BoOthbay company they
Fare no where near what it costs to
handie he big stock companies. which
lis in n great measure the reason why
l they give their patrons insurance at
so low 4 rate.
These companies are formed under
the general law of the State and the
manner in which they do business is
| about as follows: They will insure
only n certain class Of property and
they insist that all possible prccau-
tionS shall be taken to prevent fire.
Instead of fixing a rate and insisting
upon its heing paid when the policy
is issued they make a rate per thOuS-
and and when n policy is issued take
a certain ppr cent, usually five. Of the
premium in cash ana a note for the
balance. When n loss occurs they
make an assessment upon all of the
notes which are outstanding for the
amount Of the loss. This assessment
is upon tn" percentage plan. each note
pay it's proportionate amount of the
loss. Ry this arrangement it is for the
interest Of the policy holders to Keep
the Losses down as low as possible. for
the smaller the losses the less they
have to pay per year for inurance. Fly
the insurance commissioners report of
1902 il is found that several companies
had not made an assessment since III
the nmctios, while one. the Fayette
Mutual had not had one since May
23rd. 1879.
The law requires that these COM
panips, in order to do business. shall
have at least premium notes due then
10 the amount Of four times the largest
single risk which they carry. For in
stance if the largest policy which the
company has issued is for $500 they
must have $4,000 in premium notes
subject to assessment due them.
ON December 3lst. 1908, the mutua
companies Of the State had policies t6
the amount Of $25.S2I 1896 in force
During that year they paid losses t'
the amount Of SG9023.9S and wrote new
policies to tn" amount of $6.I9l.o .o't
terminating in that time risks to th'
amount of $tS42 990.25. In the yea
they received from assessments upol
premium notes the sum of $63.29I. 81
and from cash premiums the amoun
of 800 O0GI 40. On the date stated, the!
Il had total assets to the value Of $1,59S,
: 234.26. of which S1.416,611.44. was il
premium notes subject to assessment
n The oldest of these companies is tn
Wells Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
Q which was organized in 1857 and is still
J., doing good business. In connectio!
with these mutual companies it is in
teresting to know that not n compan,
of this kind which has attempted t
do a general insurance business ha
ever made n success: only those VIII
have confined themselves to limite'
territories and to one class OF risk
Z having been successes.
Tomorrow. Tuesday. the regula
meeting of the State assessors for Jun
will take place. On Wednesday the
i will be in Skowhegan to meet the vii
/ land owners of Somerset county for tn
/ purpose of fixing the value of the vii
| lands. and on Friday they will be n
Dover. Piscataquis county, for tn
same purpose.
state Librarian l.. d. Carver is re
u e a frp