The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1912-12-23
"Ihe Criminal AGENT"


Trough Notes, !" one of the leading
insurance journals of the world:
H. g. Hoffman, of Mt. Sterling,
KY, in a defense of the insurance
commission of his State, the action
of this official board in ordering a
reduction in rates on dwellings
having been widely criticised, at
tributes the bad fire insurance
record of Kentucky to The Grim
inal Agent" He says that much
has been laid at the door of THE
Criminal Match, The Criminal
Chimney" The Criminal Cigar
ette," The Moral Hazard" and
other specific causes, but he be-
lieves that most of the ills under
which companies are suffering in
Kentucky are due to the promis-
cuous appointment of agents,
chiefly in little towns where special
agents are pressed to secure rep
resentation and are forced to take
almost anyone who will promise a
few hundred dollars of premiums.
These side-liners in many cases
are ignorant of the business of fire
underwriting and are not appreci-
alive of the Importance and sig
nificance of the fire insurance
policy and are ready to issue them
to any applicant without regard to
moral or physical hazards that, if
known by the company to exist,
would call for immediate cancella-
ton.
The very significance of the
business of such a small agency
tends to, prevent close supervision
10y the field man, it being so rela-
lively small as to result in his
passing it by again and again until
some more convenient time. One
or two such agencies might not
make much difference to COM
pany, but, where it is the COM
pany's policy to deal thus with its
field, the careless and Indifferent
agent becomes a most important
factor and a large volume of such
business on the books is certain to
have a bad effect upon the COM
pany's loss ratio. Then, when,
instead of a single company, it be-
comes the practice of a majority
of companies to exercise so little
care in the selection of agents in
a particular State, it naturally fol-
lows that the loss experience of
the whole State will be bad. Such
seems to be one of the coutribu-
ing causes to the unsatisfactory
that exist in Kentucky
from an underwriting standpoint,
though it is doubtful if the compa-
MES will be induced to exercise
much more care because of a re-
duction in dwelling house rates.
1t seems to be a failing of the
business that greed for volume is
too prone to result in an indiffer-
ence as to the quality of the agen.
cy representation.
But the first indictment for this
is not returnable against THE
Criminal Agent" who is but the
product of such methods. but the
companies that practice it are pri-
marily to be held accountable. A
vast amount of fire insurance is
written every year that should not
be carried by any company and it
is chiefly from this business of in
ferior quality that losses come and
it is because of the fact that fire
is so easy to get that
more care is not exercised to pre-.
vent fire. If there was some pen
atty for improper construction,
careless introduction of additional
hazards and lack of cleanliness
from the fire prevention stand
point, there would be prompt ac-
ion on the part of the property
owners affected to eliminate the
conditions. One of the
most effective penalties that could
m dau;cad and ono which conld ha