Devils Lake weekly world., 1913-05-02
Do NOT LIKE THE NEW LAW
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR AN
swERs CRITICISM.

oAs'AJ w" u"'An6 AAo dGG0AGAVu CaI'
ed to an article in the United States
Review, an insurance publication, stat
ing that the National Fire Insurance
Co., of Hartford had advised its
North Dakota agents that it would
write no more hail insurance in this
state hereafter because Of the recent
enactment Of an Objectionable law.
Commissioner of Insurance Taylor said
"This department has not been off,
cially notified by the National of
Hartford of its purpose to cease writ
ing hail insurance in this state, but
the report that it has reached that lie.
cision is doubtless well founded.
"The 'objectional' law referred to
is Senator McBride's bill, which pro-
vides that every insurance company
writing hail insurance in this state
shall be bound, and the insurance shall
take effect from and after "a hours
from the hour and day the application
for such insurance has been taken by
an authorized agent of the company.
This bill had stormy passage thru
the Thirteenth legislative assembly,
but finally reached port and receiyed
the approval of the governor. The "a
hours provision is somewhat drastic,
but something Of the kind was neces-
sary for the protection Of the insuring
public. Undoubtedly the law presents
some difficulties to the insurance COM
panies" but tlley are by no means in
/ superable. A readjustment of the
method of handling the applications
is all that is involved. I do not anti
cipate that many companies will fol-
: low the lead of the National of Hart
i ford.
J "However, I would like to call at
| tention to the fact that two of the
], objections raised by: the Hartford are
:! without foundation. It is true tha
:. the act provides that ''no provisions
: herein shall apply to the State Rail
I insurance department. The reason
for this exception lies in the very i'm
J. portant fact that the state hail insur-
i ance act specifically provides that the
insurance shall be in force and effect
d for the time of the fling of the appli-
cation in the office Of the county au.
. ditor.' Many of the applications are
written by the auditors themselves, IT
. which case the insurance becomes i'm
, mcdiately effective. And in no case
! should more than twentyfour hours
= elapse Between the taking and the fiji
ing Of the application. There was Mt
$ reason why the Mcbride act SHOULD
u, not have been made to apply to the
e state hail insurance department, ant
!. there is no merit in the suggestion
% that failure to make it thus apply re
}, suited in 'class legislation
10 "The second objection is that tn
g two and a half per cent tax which
9 the companies were required to pa,
6 on their hail insurance premiums il
i. this state was diverted into the
4 estate hail insurance fund, which
has never been able to pay its nd
8 justed losses The National is mos
n 'aggreviously mistaken in this matter
d Not penny of the insurance tax in
j come has ever been paid into the stat
hail insurance fund. After deductin!
? operating expenses. the balance II
D used to pay the losses in full if tn
$ sum remaining is sufficient; if no
!. then pro rata. In short the state hal
: insurance department is absolutel.
self sustaining.''