The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1913-01-10
FACTS REGARDING
EXCESSIVE FIRE
WASTEDUR|NG1 1912.
FIGURES ARE GATHERED From
STATE FIRE MARsHALS
REPORT.
FIRE LOSSES ARE INVESTIGATED

Many Suits Have Been Brought and
Over insurance Is Said to Be the
Strongest Incentives to the ooera-
ton of Fire Bugs.
NASHVILLE, Jan. al. e. Oliver,
State Fire Marshal, has completed
his annual report for 1912. He urges
the public, and especially the sherlas
and deputies, to take an active inter
est in reporting suspicious fires to
the department He says in pat'
THE fire waste in Tennessee for
the past year on general stores has
been excessive. Merchants have eth
err been hard-pressed in maintaining
balance in their favor or business
has been unusually dull. Many gen
eral stores have been under our in
spection, and in nearly every case it
has been shown to our satisfaction
that the merchant had been losing
money or that competition in the
vicinity was growing SO strong that
they could foresee trouble and in
which even they would conclude to
sell out to the insurance companies
rather than be closed up by their
creditors.
On the question of over-insurance,
the Fire Marshal says:
I'm previous, bulletins I have call
ed the attention of the insurance peo-
pie and public as well to over-insur-
ance and Its hazardous results.
Over-insurance is the great induce
ment and incentive to the excessive
fire waste in Tennessee and the
country generally. The situation In
this respect can be shown by refer
ence to certain towns and counties
in which an excess of incendiarism
has been prevalent in nearly every
single instance where these incen-
dia'. conditions exist the cause and
e
origis OF fires were traced in 80 or
cent CT the losses to over-insuran e.
In humber Of such cases / made
recommendations to the proper au-
thorities to inspect their risks and
reduce the insurance to a safe basis
or to the cash value of the prope ty
insured, and when our recommends.
tons were acted upon favorably
fires ceased and condition improved
instantly.
I'm Tennessee and in almost ev-
cry state of the Union we have a
surplus of incompetent local iIsur-
ance agents who refuse to look to
the company they represent. Some OF
these agents are so worthless they
do not endeavor to famiilarize them
selves with the cost of material used
in building, or consider the cash
value of the contents of the build
ings insured. They willingly, and
I might add, wilfully, write any
amount the applicant demands re-
gardles of the intrinsic value or the
moral hazard involved. Such agents
are breeders of incendiarism, and
should be eliminated from the SER
vice. They are not worthy If al
commission or privilege to write
business, and the sooner the insur-
ance companies realize this situa-
ton the better it will be for the pub
lie, the assured and the insurer.
Local agents have their troubles and
should not be criticised in many
instances in which losses occur. 1t
is too often the case that state and
general agents demand Of their local
men more business, which invaria-
bly, results in securing a class of new
risks that should be rejected and ig-
nored by the companies"
The Fire Marshal recites the In
cendiary fires investigated during the
year and the convictions under the
law. They number TIA. The ma
jority Of said fires we're not reported
to the department as being suspi-
cious or Of incendiary origin, but in
spections we're made for the moral
effect, and to publish in the vicinity
in which the fires occurred the fact
that we had Fire Marshal's law on
our statue books in Tennessee.
Fifty-one warrants have teen
sworn out and issued against persons
on charge Of arson. Six of said
defendants left the State before ser
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