Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1909-01-06
FIRES AND INSURANCE
What Being Burned Out May
Mean to Business.
DAMAGE ONE CANNOT COVER.
Enormous Losses Caused by the Sus-
pension Of Operations and the Drift
ing Away Of Trade That Are Not
Appreciated by the General Public.

ing Away Of Trade That Are Not
Appreciated by the General Public.
81 suppose you heard that Blank &
Co. were burned out from the roof to
the basement last ulght?" remarks the
man IN the car.
Mo- exclaims the friend who hasn't
seen the morning paper. Il suppose
they carried insurance."
ooh. yes-a hundred thousand OF it,"
returns the FIRST speaker. at which his
friend settles back with the comment
that everything is all right then.
This Is the layman's conclusion al
most Invariably. Some big concern
burns out, but with Insurance to an
amount seeming to cover the loss the
average man is disposed TO feel that it
is all right. He doesn't stop TO think
OF the enormous risks OF business
which cannot be covered 10y insurance
and which for weeks. months or years
after fire are Gripping and perhaps
ruinous to the fire victim.
Take. for example. a highly organ
lied factory plant I'm prosperous times
which has been turning out 4 vast
specialized product from the hands of
thousands OF expert workmen. This
plant. fitted with costly machinery. is
covered by insurance upon its visible.
material assets. Fire sweeps Il and
lays everything in hopeless rain. If
every piece OF machinery. every build
ing and all material adjuncts of the
plant have been covered 20 full value
in such 4 plant. viii the reader dare
make n rough guess as to what the
limitations OF loss may be?
Only the other day | stepped into
n bookhindery. transformations I'm its
street signs and occupying Il fifth
floor I'm an obscure street. In the Gle
vator shaft was that peculiar odor
which marks the track Of fire and fire
men days and weeks after such an
accident.
Most Of the fire was next door," ex-
planned The proprietor. "but guess
the smoke and the water were about
as bad for us. Sometimes 1t is almost
better TO have the fire yourself than
be next door 10 it."
Which seemed 10 be especially true
OF book material. Whore smoke and
SCOT had failed to blot and ruin the
stock. water from the engines in the
street had flooded 1t until ruin alone
was descriptive. Everything had been
closed down. workers i'm the plant
were idle. and the proprietor was
awaiting the adjustment Of the insur-
ance which he had been carrying. But
N no Of
was lnotty situation.
Ordinarily the house had carried pol
icies which would have left It the
minimum OF risk on its machinery.
stock and materials. Ordinarily 4 still
further blanket policy was carried for
the purpose Of covering the normal
amount Of book material on hand
owned by others and contracted for
reminding. But only Il few days be-
fore the fire the house had received
consignment Of 5000 worth Of law
books 20 he bound. These volumes.
aside from intrinsic value. represented
so much OF other value as TO make
the 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 SO. and when the fire dam
age came the disposition Of the owners
was 10 hold the binder for them under
one Of the binders blanket policies.
ON this one disputed point, taking il
into court. VIII some one make
guess rs TO what this one feature Of
the fire may cost the binder. who TO
all purposes was insured" il il should
he settled in the supreme court after
five or seven years. for example?
But in the case Of the big manufac-
tory, with its imported special machin-
cry. its season OF rush work and its
enormous and fluctuating stock Of ma.
terial-if on the morning after the
IRE the assuring companies settle in
full for the visible losses. how much
has the company been damaged?
OF first consideration, perhaps, is the
enormous payroll of the concern. If
most of the mechanical work of the
plant has been done by pieceworkers,
still the necessary force of directing
employees on salary is problem. The
N~eS- A4AAA-tANAoAA VI lilt ONlGIS Is TO
up anew. Tried and proved employees
must be retained while the work of
rehabilitation goes on. They must be
paid even if they are to do no more
than wait. Settlement of some kind
must be made with contractors who
have been supplying raw materials
from the hands OF other thousands of
workers. No matter what the clauses
IN contracts providing immunity in
case Of fires. strikes and acts Of Proyi
dence, every line Of business affecting
the welfare of the mandatory has
been affected.
The plant is a total loss. Before il
can be rebuilt the ruins of the old fac
tory must be cleared away.
In the meantime all those customers
OF the mandatory who have been
pressing for the filling Of contract or
ders find themselves shut out of any
chance for receiving them. They turn
at once to other competing establish
ments for the work. Not only does TIE
burned out firm lose all chance O.
profits from this work but ii is run
ming long chance OF losing some