The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1908-12-02
FIRES AND INSURANCE
What Being Burned Out May
Mean to a Business.
DAMAGE ONE CANNOT COVER.

pension OF Operations and the DRIFT
ing Away of Trade That Are Not
Appreciated by the General Public.
Il suppose you heard that Blank K
10 We're burned out from the roof Il
the basement last night remarks the
man in the car
'Not" exelaims the friend who hash
eeen the morning paper = suppose
they cnrried insurance.
"Oh. yes i hundred thousand Of IT.
returns the first speaker, al which his
friend settles back with the comment
That everything is all right then.
This Is the layman's conclusion al
uost invariably. Some big concern
burns out, but with Insurance 10 an
umoun seeming to cover the loss the
average man is disposed 10 feel that IL
Is all right. lie doesn't stop 10 think
of the enormous risks of IL business
which cannot be covered by insurance
and which for weeks, months or years
after II fire are crippling and perhaps
fuinous 10 the fire victirI.
Take, for example II highly organ
lied factory plant In prosperous times
which has been turning out vast
specialized product from the hands Of
thousands Of expert workmcn. This
plant fitted with costly machinery, Is
covered by insurance upon It's visible
material assets. Fire sweeps It and
lays everything In hopeless ruin. II
every piece of machinery, every build
ing aud All material adjnnets of the
plant have been covered 10 full value
In such plant will the reader dare
make n rough guess as 10 what the
limita ions Of loss may be?
Only the other day stepped into
bookblndery, transformations In It's
street signs and occupying u fifth
fieor In an obscure street In the ele
vator shaft was that peculiar edor
which marks he track of lire and fire
men days aud weeks after such an
accident
.'Nlost Of the fire was next door ex
planned the proprietor but | guess
the smoke and the water were about
as bad for us. Sometimes II Is almost
better II have the fire yourself than
10 ncXt door te Il
Which seemed 10 be cspec Tally true
Of book material. Where smoke and
scot had failed 10 blot and ruin tho
stock. wafer from the engines IN the
street had flooded 1t until ruin alone
was descriptive. Everything had been
closed down workers In The plant
We're idle, aud the proprietor was
awaiting the adjustment of the hsur
ance which he had been carrying But
In the extent of this Insurance Itself
was kHottY situation
ordinarily the house had Carried pol
icics which would have left 1t the
minimum of risk on It's machinery,
stock and materials. ordinarily still
further blanket policy WAS carried fot
the purpose Of covering tile normal
amount oil book material on hand
owned hy others aud contracted foi
rehindiu% Bnt only n few DAYS be
fore the fire the house had received II
consignment of 5000 worth of law
books 10 he bound These volumes.
aside from intrinsic value represented
so much of other value MS to make
Tie risk abnormal for almost any sea
son And these books were ruined
Before receiving them the binder
had asked the owners to take out n
policy for themselves protecting them
against such fire loss The firm had
not done 50. and when the fire dam
age came the disposition OF the owners
wan 20 hold the binder for them under
ole Of the binders blanket policies.
on this one disputed point taking il
into court Will semc one make a
guess as To what this one feature of
the lire may cost The binder who 10
al! purposes was insured. = II ii should
be settled in the supreme court after
hNe OF seven years, fer example?
Inn N the easc of the big manufae.
tory. with It's imported special machiu
cry, It's season IF rush work and it4
enormous and luetuating stock of ma
terial If on the morning after The
IRE the assuring companies settle in
fun for the visible losses. how much
has the company been damaged
or hfst consideration, perhaps. is the
e''o' '''e,'s pay rp'' et Tue concern. II
inasi Of the mechanical work Of the
plant has been done by picceworkcrS
w. '''' i'' eSs'iA l"r'' OF directing
s''iF','FNVH w N",'iN ~ ''"p'e'h ne
o'''' '''''''',,'u " tue OWNERS IS to start
W ~" t''' .l'la proved 't'1f'Net'
H'.'' u' '''a'''' "'e ln' WORN ut
lith even II they are to do no uure