Omaha daily bee., 1910-09-19
Things You Want to Know
Hire Insurance
Convention.

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erty With trees in front OF It should be In
sured or not. some asserting that trees
around a house prevented effective IRE
! fighting and others that they did not The
sign OF the dissenters was a green tree cast
In lead, affixed 60 a board which was at
tached to the front OF the insured property.
The National Board of Fire Underwriters
was organized in 1886. For many years
there has been such . reign Of justified
competition that the insurance companies
were in danger OF going to the wall. In
this embarrassing situation they got to-
Eether and organised the Underwriters as
ISOLATION, whose members were confronted
with the task Of adopting rates, rules. and
/ regulations that would permit the insur-
ance company to live and let live.
! In reviewing the history Of fire insurance
[ one Is impressed with the fact that there
/ IL nothing new under the sun, for although
/ modern insurance began with the great
London fire. the idea may be traced back
to the very dawn OF civilization. In Assy-
ria 1850 years ago. the country was laid
| off into communes. Judges, priests and
magistrates were appointed in these com
/ munes to levy contributions for fire loss
! on every member of the community, ana
| this form OF government insurance has
come down through all the succeeding ages,
and is in vogue stu in some parts OF
/ China. In. 1870 the laws Of Count Thomas
Of Flanders. provided decentralization for
| loss by fire.
i II is estimated that there are nearly
1900 mutual fire insurance companies In
the United States, 4 large proportion OF
these are small associations doing business
in rural districts where the fire hazards
are not great But while there are more
mutual insurance companies than any other
kind. the business they do is but a small
percentage OF the total fire insurance bust
ness OF the country. II II estimated that
more that 20 per cent Of all the fire in
! surance in the United States Is written by
! incorporated stock companies. These com
panies. as a rule. pay q commission OF is
per cent on all business written by local
agents. In some principal cities insurance
brokers are TO be found These men repre-
sent the insured. and deal directly with
insurance companies. They are paid a
, commission of from to per cent ana
while representing the applicants for in
, surance, their pay Is derived from the in.
surance companies.
The Mill Mutual Insurance companies are
. an interesting development in the insurance
. world. These companies are formed as
much for the prevention of fire as for the
payment of insurance. They have estab-
, lished a thorough system Of inspection and
: steps as preventive engineering may pre-
, scribe for the safety Of the insured prop
r erty. One of the installations for the pre-
> lvention of fire is an automatic sprinkler
: When fire breaks out In a factory as
soon as the heat reaches a certain degree
, the sprinklers are automatically opened and
a great volume Of water under high pres
, sure is forced upon the fire. These sprink-
2 lers have saved the Mil Mutual Insurance
/, company millions OF dollars.
$ 1t is estimated that 3 per cent of the
I fires in the United States are caused by
lightning. while 4 per cent are due to
: sparks from machinery and railroad en-
gines. Four times as many fires are caused
: by other lighting and heating apparatus
3 than by electricity. yet in the value OF the
% property destroyed. fires started by defec-
e tive wiring cause a loss OF N2.000Oo0 as COM
= pared with 100000 q year through fires
: from other lighting and heating agents.
S This. OF course, is due to the fact that
= nearly all large risks are lighted by cleo
z tricity. Children playing with matches and
men careless in smoking cause more than
, l,lo0 serious fires g year II has been esu-
I mated that NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF all fires
y represent only a partial loss.
n Some insurance companies retain the
{ privilege or reproducing the property de-
s stroyed IL they deem II to their advantage
: to do 80. But this privilege has its perils
I to the insurance company. A few years
ago a Tennessee building owner had a fire
5 which destroyed the property. The insuT-
h ance company concluded that It was a case
: OF fire by friction: that is, occasioned by
4 rubbing a high price policy on e low priced
e property. so they decided 10 replace the
= property. This they did. striving TO make
h st better than II was before The insured
4 carried his case TO court, declaring that II
= was not replaced in a satisfactory way, and
n sued for the full amount OF his policy. He
: got IL, and the building stood over his
I lot, he got that also.
e BY FREDERIC J. HAsKxN.
/ In Ara