The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-15

''Ine reverse IS. true, which has been emphasized within the past five years | by the conf1agrations in Baltimore, Toronto. Rochester and San Francisco, whereby property losses were caused amounting to S415,00O. 900, representing losses to the insurance companies of i $221, ,309,857. Understand these lossees | were in addition to the ordinary losses | which the companies expect.
 '"This excess loss in a brief period would have caused the bankruptcy of | many fire institutions but for the fact that the stockholders of domestic com panies advanced nearly $40000,000 to reha bilitate the American companies and notwithstanding. suffered the
 diminution of $36, 1000 in the surplus | reserves of those companies, while the foreign companies remitted $40, ,00O, ,000 to avoid impairment of the United States assets of their companies. Had they not done so. the commercial inter est of the United States following those fires would not have been able. to buy sufficient reliable insurance i'll the world to protect property values. quote President Campbell of The American Central Insurance Company. For the period. ending January 1. 1908, l underwriting for 10 years, of $35, ,174, ,S23. The thirty foreign companies for the same period of time showed an under | writing loss of $42046, 719. '"The Spectator reports disclose that in the last forty years, one thousand and eighty-four stock fire insurance companies have been organized in this ] country, which includes foreign com panies entered in the United States. Of that number eight hundred and thirty six have from various causes retired from business Or :, been lQuidated and the assets of those companies, ap- proximating four hundred millions of hoU oif in trade channel of Fire Insurance or re- tired and invested in other directions. During the year 1907, Al new com panies were organized. and 32 went out
 of business. Some of the same ones that started failed before the year ex-
 complete the figures for 1908 are not. obtainab ble. but to my knowledge, dozen or more have ceased to do busi- ness.
 This condition is startling and while we concede that a few of the com
 panies have shown large underwriting
 profits. the fact remains that the rates
 the country over are not excessive, and
 for the past ten years at least. fire in-
 surance has not been profitable to the
 stockholders.
 'tWhile we have the foregoing figures
 fresh in our minds. particularly An re-
 gard to the losses. let us go little
 further into the question of fire waste
 in our country. for while it may not
 have it's direct result on our present
 rates of insurance. this evil, if we may
 term it so, must ultimately be covered
 by a rate collected for the. indemnity
 required by the nublic. and it rests
 with the peop1e and their representa-
 tion to unite with the companies in
 correcting some of the existing abuses.
 "Do you know that our annual fire
 loss $28S, ,O0O, 900 in 1907 and $238 100000 i'll
 Nf oil Nfn n11>- products of the entire State of Con-
 necticut per annum and amounted to nearly five times the total wages paid in Connecticut in 1908.
 And understand that property de- stroyed by fire, is gone forever, and IS not replaced by the distribution of in Surance.
 '.And a comparison of figures show ing the losses per capita in this coun- try and in Europe shows that this enormous waste and drain are avoid able The irreputable evidence of this is the extraordinary difference in fire waste of European countries and the United States. CThe speaker then quoted, extensively. facts and figures from the Address of the Fire Waste of a Special Committee of the National Board of Fire Underwriters at the Joint Conservation Conference held in Washington; on Dec. 9th and 9th, 1908, 1 as a basis for his argument.)
 '"To the end of following out these recommendations and furthering this work, an organization has been effect ed in Connecticut, largely through the efforts of it's first president. MT. A. H. Bullard, of this city.
 Having said so much the question ma turally arises in our minds. What are the present conditions in Bridge port? What has been accomplished along these lines, and with what re- suits?
 "NVhen the committee on Fire Pre- vention of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, more commonly called the Committee sof Twenty made their inspection of local conditions, some four and half years ago. 8 raise in fire insurance rates was imminent. Our city had grown so rapidly and extended so extensively that the conditions re- sulting therefrom were such as to in- crease the general hazard very mater 1 ially. The water mains were not large enough to give requisite pressures in many locations. Our fire department tion both by reason of lack of per- and equipment and the character of | our buildings was such as to greatly in- crease the cOnhagratiOn hazard, parti- | cularly in our congested value districts. l
 But some improvements were eff | fected and others promised so that the | impending raise in rates did not ma terialiZe, and year ago, conditions | had improved sufficiently to warrant l decrease in rates.
 "Some of the Improvements made l were: '.