Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-03-27
STATE BOARD OF TRADE.
CONTINUED from Page Eighty

| mav escape. They may become defec-
| tive by settling or cracking, due TO III
| sufficient support or because the puilo-
| ing is moved or shaken in consequence
Of a tornado or wind storm or II struck
| by lightning. In 1902, over li,'Do nfes
| or 13 Der cent. Of the total NUMBER CT
| fires were attributed to defective hues'
| and the total property loss resulting
was over $1,000. 600. Other fires due to
methods of heating were caused by not
ashes and Goals, improperly deposited
| in dangerous places. (woOden DarfelS
and boxes for eXample) or through
| carelessnesS OF defective apparatus al
| lowed to come in contact with COM
bustible substances. Still other fires
are caused by hot stove and furnace
pines and by Over-heated stoves and
| furnaces and the list includes the fires
| caused by steaInpipes passing through
| or adjoining unprotected wooden sur
| faces In all, about 90 per cent. of the
| total number Of fires are directly trace
| able to the use of fire for heating
| purposes.
1.-THE fires due to methods of illumi-
nation included in one year over 400
| caused by candles, over 300 from ac-
ClCenCS 10 III hoAS
| than 81, 200, 900 of losses, $40 from gas
| jets and over 1000 from electric wires
which are classed with the methods of
| illumination for convenience, though
electric wires are often used to con-
| vcy power The losses due to the use
of electricity are larger by far in
amount than those due to any of the
other means of Illuminating, chiefly.
| no doubt because electricity is now so
| generally used in buildings and locali-
| ties where large values are collected
while candles. lamps and even gas arc
now principally used in dwellings.
small stores and small factories: fur
| thermore, fires of electrical origin are
often not discovered until they have
| gained considerable Roadway. The val
ue of property destroyed by fires of
electrical origin in 1902 was $12 100000.
| Fires due to other methods of illumi-
nation were more than four times as
| numerous as the fires of electrical orr
| gin. yet the ensuing loss was slightly
below $1,000, 900 or less than one-half
the amount due to use of electricity.
THE fifth general division of inter-
nal hazards includes everything not
already classified. The various fires due
to accidents and carelessnesS find Il
| place here. The list includes oil and
| gasoline stove accidents, oily waste,
fires from accidents, oily waste caused
in one year 1000 fires. with a loss Of
over one and a half million Of dol
lars, children playing with fire, cigars.
| cigarettes and tobacco pipes. sawdust
| spittoons and the numerous other
| causes of comparatively smaller i'm
portance which have not already
| found mention.
'All of these classes and sub-classes of
hazards might still be almost Indefinitely
re-subdivided. for new hazards and new
manifestations of old hazards are to be
met with daily. If the causes of the So
900 fires which occurred in a single year
could be ascertained with accuracy each
would be found to differ in some respects
from every other. When all ascertain
able hazards have been classified and the
causes for fire SCI forth so far as we can
| ascertain them. there vet remains about
l6 per cent. of all fires for which the
causes cannot be discovered. It is not
strange that the causes of many fires es-
cape detection. In the first place many
| incendiary fires, if fully successful, de-
stroy all traces of origin. The same is
| true of fires caused by electric wires, de-
fective ftues, spontaneous combustion.
sparks and many other obscure or hid
den causes. In fact, whenever fires ac-
| quire such proportions before their dis
cOvery as to prevent subsequent inspec-
| ton of the points of origin, or when the
amount of destruction is sufficient to OBJ
| literate any indication of the cause Gn
| cases when the origin is not witnessed)
| that cause will usually remain a mys-
| terry. 1t will be readily seen that this
very considerable percentage of fires of
unknown origin renders anything like an
exact estimate of the effect of the various
hazards impossible. and one of the diff
culties of making n scientific and accu-
rate apportionment of rates is therefore
| at once obvious.
THE foregoing must be considered to
be merely a rough general index of the
nucmrous heads included in the very i'm
portant subject of physical hazards.
I'm this discussion we must now pass
on to the consideration Of the other grand
division Of hazards. usually called moral
hazards. Moral hazards arise from the
personal Including the Financially cir
cumstanceS which affect risks. They are
indefinite, incapable of analysis, separa-
ton or estimation. yet they are of the
greatest importance in fire insurance
Some authorities believe that more fires
are attributable, directly or indirectly, to
moral or personal causes than to physi-
| cal. and, while any such attempt to esti-
mat the results of moral hazards must
be largely conjectural. it is quite certain
that they are accountable for a very large
percentage Of the fire waste. Moral haz-
ard is said to exist in regard to a par
ticular risk whenever a benefit, real or
| supposed. direct or indirect. would ensue
to anyone. especially the c.rner. by
reason of the destruction of the insured
property: also. and nearly as important,
whenever for any reason no one has 4
strong interest in its preservation.
I'm other words. not only the desire to
destroy. but also the lack of q strong
desire to preserve, creates moral hazard,
SO called, and it is hard to say which
condition is the more dangerous. The
prospect of a profit from fire or the abb
sence of financial incentive to preserve