The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-08
FIRE WASTE

ta Loss Nearly Ten Times
 that in Europe = Fire
 Marshal Laws Needed.
 Powell Evans.
 PreaAdent Merchant and Evans Com
 pany, Philadelphia
 rh writer of this article is the ohatrruan of the fire prevention and tnsurance committees of the National Association of Manufacturers. the Ma fional Hardware Association, and the National Association of Credit Men. A fire marshal law, which emDootes many of hfs ideas, recently passed the Pennsylvania Legislature. The great factory fires in New York and New ark give timeliness to his views.)
 Exchlsdve Service The Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 The entire fire waste of any coun- try Is . loss which is distributed over the people at large by a tax. Thds is what we pay for insurance on prop erty together with what is burned up without insurance. How large is this lous which ordinarily attracts so lit tie attention? The ten year average of fire losses in the United States and Canada up to 1898 was about s2o0, ,oO0, ,0o0 For 1907 the sum was $S215. 900. GOO; for 1908, $241 ,000, 900; for 1909, S204, ,O0O, 900: and for 1910, $234- o0o, GOO Insurance authorities average the loss at $25O. 900, 900 year, and they have ample authority for doing SO. The United States Geodetic Survey Bureau estimates $400, ,OO0, GOO to be the amount of the fire waste including the cost of fire departments and pa trods A loss of $250, COG, 900 means $500 per minute for every minute In tho twenty four hours. and every hour we burn a certain percentage of hu- man life. We have recently had an excellent sample in New York city.
 Another element which many shrewd business men do not count in the in terruption of business A man who pays one per cent. insurance is paying on the risk so measured, of his build ing burning. If his building takes ffre he loses something further through the interference of his business which has bankrupted many a merchant.
 Tn regard to these totals have we anything to quarrel about or are they inevitable? In six countries in. west ern Europe the per capita fire loss is 8 cents, while ours is over $3, or al- most ten times as much. If we have all this waste here, with all the dam age 1t is doing, which does not exist in other countries. the most important question is. Why? We use too much wood in construction and there are too many badly built buildings. Another criminal cause of fire waste is dirty housekeeping, not so much in homes as in our places of business. For tunately all this is changeable.
 How shall we improve matters? We have today authoritative information
 L prepare and enforce laws. What we need is more concert of action.
 In the first place. we want a uni form fire insurance policy. The Amer fcan Bar Association is decidedly of the opinion that it is necessary The basis of credit in almost every mer- chants sale of a bill of goods is the assurance that the money not paid is protected by insurance policies. There. for ethe contract should be readable by all men and identical in essentials with the same kind of contract every where. If you have a thousand ac- counts all over the country, you have not time to investigate every instru- men& or rider. There should be a Nrifurm policy and it should be sim pier than tis today. The interests that should unite to draw such a contract are the committee on uni- form baws of the American Bar As- eociataon, the State insurance depart memts. the fire underwriters organi- sations. and represent tatives of the combined trade associations of this State. The State, the buyer, the sell er, and counsel are all needed to pro- duce a proper contract.
 Sound AoneSt inspection of the fi- nancia1F condition of insurance com pan1es is needed SO that policy will carry its own State brand of solvency.
 
 fire marshal. He will be able to got an accurate record of, fire waste which today nobody can give. Even insurance companies have to guess it by averaging the facts they have The wrong cannot be redressed before 1t Is understood. One obstacle to the passing of fire marshal laws is the question as to who is to pay the bill. The people say, Let us charge it to the insurance companies" The latter declare. You must take it out of the tax ievy," while farmers mutual com panies say, Let the big fellow pay it." By dividing the cost between the companies and the tax levy more States would succeed in passing salu- tary fro marshal laws.
 The next thing required is proper of brokers. Once licensed he should be required to do certain things. Arson comes from the abil- ity to get improper insurance too cas- fly. The applicant for insurance, when he goes to a broker for a policy should. make an allegation of the in- eured Value and of the total insurance in force at the time. The broker to- day must allege that he finds the facts as stated, but this should be set forth in detail and not in a phrase. The statement should be signed by the aplicant, irdorsed by the broker. and sent to the fire marshal. If at the time of the loss it. can be shown in adjustment that the allegation was false, let the man suffer the. same penalty that he does today for pre- sentdng a. false statement for credit.
 Applications for insurance go to Q rating bureau which gives the broker . transcrfpt of the defects of the building and of what they would give In the way of a reduced rate if you Improve those conditions The broker! should pass the transcript to the fire marshal If by making $1,O0O inn a saving of s2OO in the premium can be effected, then the l should be able to compel you