Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-07-08
FIRE LOSS IN U. S. IS
$3.50, 600, 900 ANNUALLY

tThc writer OF this article b. the
chairman nf the fire prevention AMI
insurance committees OF the Nution-
al Association 81 Manufacturers. the
National Hardware association hnd
the National Association OF credit
Men. \ fire marshal law. which cm-
bodies many Of hie ideas. recently
passed IA" Pennsylvania legislature.
Thu great factory fires iu New York
and Newark give tim"lmoss To- his
Views
The entire lire vast" ct any roun-
t:N m u loss which is distributed over
the prupl" M large pt % tuN THIS is
what 81" p1y Ton Insurance ON prop
/ rrty together with what Is burned up
without insurance. How large b. this
loss which ordinarily attracts so littlc
attention The tou-Vrar average ui
fire LOSSES in tEr United states aud
canada mp 10 1895 was about f1Ou
900 400 For 1909 the sum was t2ld,-
Gn0 600; for 1905. te4l .000. d00. for
1909 S2U4 90 900. ana Tor 1910. S23i.
nHu, 0O0. Insurance authorities aver
age the loss at $4,000. 0Uu year
and They have unpl" authority fnr
doing su IN, United states erndctic
survey hurrau estimates SApU,UU0 UuU
10 bee tn" amount of the fine waste.
including the cost uf fire departments
and patrols 4 loss at $500 900. 600
means $500 per minute fur every
minute IN the - hours. ana every
hour Zee burn q certain percentage
of human lif". We have recently had
an excellent sample in N,W York
CITY
Another element which many
shrrWd business men do not count is
the interruption Of business, a man
who PAYS / per cent insurance Is pay
ing on the risk, $50 measured, OF his
building burning. II his building
takes fire ho loses something further
through the Interference with bust
ness which has bankr0pted many q
merchant
~ regard To- these totals have we
anything To quarrel about. or are they
inevitable in sia countries in west
cru Europe the per capita IRE loss Is
30 cents while ours Is over So. OF al
most ten things as much II We have
an this waste here. with an the dam
age 1t is doing which does not exist
in other countries. the most import
ant question Is, why We use too
much wood ln construction aud there
are too many badly built buildings.
Another criminal cause oi fire waste
Is dirty housekeeping not So much In
homes as ia oar places of business.
Fortunately all this H. rhung"ablo.
How shall We improve matters We
have today AUTHORITATIVE, Information
about how to build eight and how 20
prepare aud cnfurce laws. What We
need Is more concert ut action.
lu the first place. We want uni
form fire insurance policy The
American bar association is decidedly
pt the OPINION that IL Is necessary.
Tho basis OF credit ia almost every
merchants sale of bin eft goods is
the assurance that the money not paid
is protected by insuranr, policies.
Therefore the contract should he
reudabl, hy an men ana Identical IN
essentials Win the same Kind Of CON
tract every where n YOU have n
thousand accounts All over the coun-
try YOU have not time tu Investigate
oNers lGstrumcnt or rider. Thcre
should be a uniform policy and "
should be simpler than II Is today
rhr Interests that should unite 10
draw such a contract are the commit
tee on uniform laws of tia American
iinr association. the state insurance
departments. tho lire underwriters
organizations and representatives OF
the combined trade associations ~
this state. Tho state. the buyer the
settler end counsel are All needed 10
produce q proper contrhct
sound. honest Inspection of the IL
nnnciul condition of insRrancc COM
pnnirs ~ needed su that a policy viii
carry iis own state hrnnd of soiy"ncy.
besides this, every state should have
q fire marshal he viii be able To-
get an accurate record of fire waste
which to-day no5ody can give. Even
insurance companies have Ia guess il
by avernaing the facts they have. The
wrong cannot be redressed before Il IL
understood one obstacle TO the pass